In William Faulkner's "A Rose for Emily," list and explain several symbols and their meanings.

There are a number of items that may be considered
symbolic in William Faulkner's "A Rose For Emily."

The
first is the "rose" mentioned in the title. Michael Ferber in
A Dictionary of Literary Symbols
writes:

Almost
any flower can represent a girl, but the rose has always stood for the most beautiful,
the most beloved.

There is
also the reference, noted by Ferber, that the rose is something with a short life, but
the rose is also something that has thorns. Emily Grierson is a
rose: for a time she may have felt greatly loved by Homer Baron (or
perceived his attentions as such); the relationship between the two
was short-lived—and Emily's chance at love dies quickly; and, without a doubt, by the
story's end, we know that Emily had
"thorns."

In some ways, Emily may symbolize an
old way of life. When her father was alive, she was the picture of propriety.
When he died, Colonel Sartoris, in the manner of an old Southern gentleman (coming to
the aid of a "defenseless young woman") deferred her taxes for the remainder of her
life. However, she became more independent: for example, she does not live with another
woman in the house, and goes out riding unchaperoned with Homer—she may well represent
the decline of the South over time.

Emily is referred to as
a "fallen monument." This might refer to the
fact that she was once symbolic of the upper-crust of society and has fallen on hard
times, lacking a means of support. Her house is old and falling apart—it has seen better
days, as has Emily. So while she may have been put on a pedestal by some, those days are
gone. However, there is also the sense that "fallen" could
symbolize her sexual relationship with Homer, as unmarried women who engaged in sex
before marriage were called "fallen" women.

There are
numerous references to dust. When the representatives of the
community come to her home to collect Miss Emily's taxes, the house smells old, and as
they sit, the dust begins to move around them.

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It smelled of dust and disuse—a close dank
smell...and when they sat down, a faint dust rose sluggishly about their
thighs...

The dust may
symbolize death, and may even then foreshadow the discovery of Homer's body later in the
story.

The
breaking of the door seemed to fill this room with pervading dust...A thin acrid pall as
of the tomb seemed to lie everywhere...Among [the man's toilet things] lay collar and
tie...which, lifted, left upon the surface a pale crescent in the
dust.

Looking at the body,
having rested in the bed so long, Faulkner describes the dust
again:

...upon
him and upon the pillow beside him lay that even coating of the patient and biding
dust.

It is interesting to
remember what is often said at funerals—"ashes to ashes, dust to dust"
which...

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...is based on scriptural [text]
such as "Dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return" ( href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Genesis">Genesis
3:19).

Smell is mentioned
several times. It also seems to by symbolic of death and/or decay. When the men visit
the house at the beginning of the story (to collect taxes), the house smells—"of dust
and disuse"—like a tomb. Later in the story there is the incident of the terrible smell
coming from Miss Emily's home: we later learn that it was a dead body. Finally, at the
end of the story, the "bridal room" smells:

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...and leaning forward, that faint and invisible
dust dry and acrid in the
nostrils...

Additional
Source:

Ferber, Michael. A
Dictionary of Literary Symbols. New York: Cambridge University Press,
1999.