Home/Symbols/Walking stick (anchor and measure)Walking stick (anchor and measure) SymbolismAn emblem of guidance, support, and the human attempt to orient and steady oneself before vastness.Common ThemesThe divine & the sacredHeroism & the testMimesis vs. abstraction (truth vs. artifice)Nationalism & patriotismLandscape & placeHuman vs. natureFashion & adornmentThe sublime & aweArtworks Featuring This SymbolThe Wanderer above the Sea of FogCaspar David Friedrich (ca. 1817)Caspar David Friedrich’s The Wanderer above the Sea of Fog distills the Romantic encounter with nature into a single <strong>Rückenfigur</strong> poised on jagged rock above a rolling <strong>sea of mist</strong>. The cool, receding vista and the figure’s still stance convert landscape into an <strong>inner drama of contemplation</strong> and the <strong>sublime</strong> <sup>[1]</sup><sup>[3]</sup>.
