How To Use Symbolism Effectively In Your Poem

How can I use symbolism effectively in my poem?

In a way, when you write, you can't escape symbolism because if you just say I'll now write about a table, the question in the reader's eyes , well, why have you thought about that table? A wood table, as you write about it will always be representative of something more then the table because you've chosen it. At the same time there are things that are obviously more symbolic in our culture than other things. You know, if you use a word like shield, or if you use a word like sword, you know these have long symbolic meanings that stretch right back through hundreds of years. My own feeling as any prejudices, if you try to write modern, emblematic symbolic verse, we find it quite difficult to unlock. But that's not to speak against it. Where would we be without symbolism?