objective correlative

American  

noun

Literature.

1. a completely depicted situation or chain of events that objectifies a particular emotion in such a way as to produce or evoke that emotion in the reader.

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Etymology

Origin of objective correlative

First recorded in 1840–50

Example Sentences

Auden once said, “to this day, I have never understood exactly what the objective correlative is.”

From Washington Post • Jan. 5, 2022

In “Homeland’s” case, it’s not for lack of material; if anything, as we approach 20 years of the war on terror, the series’ continued relevance has become an objective correlative of the conflict’s endlessness.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 7, 2020

It’s as if some protective instinct had kicked in around the objet d’art and a decision had been made: sell the author, and then sell the book as the objective correlative of her sensibility.

From Slate • Feb. 2, 2016

Manic dance interludes are also interspersed throughout the show’s 90-minute running time, mostly as a form of aerobic connecting tissue, occasionally as a kind of objective correlative for the characters’ manic, confused inner states.

From New York Times • Jun. 25, 2012

So, too, is the external world to the mind; which needs, also, as the condition of its manifestation, its objective correlative.

From Lectures on Art by Allston, Washington