Why symbology?

I chose this as my title because, really, what are words exactly? is a word an ink stain on dead carcasses of trees? is a word to a human as is a "meow" to a cat? A word is not a thing that you can touch. If you are touching the pages of a book you are touching paper and ink. A word is simply a representation or a symbol of ideas, feelings, or things that we can touch. Therefore, when we read a book, we are deciphering symbols so that we understand the meaning that the writer is trying to communicate to the audience.

I first saw the word "symbology" when I was reading Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code. The main character of the book is Robert Langdon, who is a professor of symbology and is also the main character in some of Dan Brown's other book such as Angels and Demons and The Lost Symbol. The reason it struck me that the word "Symbology" would be the perfect title for my blog is because Robert Langdon was always solving riddles to get to the bottom of the mystery. So whenever I try to interpret a poem or a piece of literature, I feel like Robert Langdon or Sherlock Holmes trying to solve a puzzle or a clue.