objective correlative

English

Noun

objective correlative (plural objective correlatives)

1. A physical representation or manifestation of an abstract concept; especially, a symbolic artistic representation of a particular emotion, feeling etc.
   • 2007 February 2, Mat Snow, The Guardian:

     Neil Young invented strung-out country-rock in 1975 with his album Tonight's the Night, its bittersweet desolation finding an objective correlative in the setting of America's south-western desert states.

   • 2009, Karen Armstrong, The Case for God, Vintage, published 2010, page 46:

     Eleven years later, in 586, after another senseless revolt, Jerusalem was destroyed and Yahweh's temple, his objective correlative on earth, was burned to the ground.