The theory of the objective correlative as it relates to literature was largely developed through the writings of the poet and literary critic T.S.
Eliot uses Lady Macbeth's state of mind as an example of the successful objective correlative: "The artistic 'inevitability' lies in this complete adequacy of the external to the emotion….
The objective correlative's purpose is to express the character's emotions by showing rather than describing feelings as discussed earlier by Plato and referred to by Peter Barry in his book Beginning Theory: An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory as "...perhaps little more than the ancient distinction (first made by Plato) between mimesis and diegesis…."
He acknowledged that such a circumstance is "something which every person of sensibility has known," but felt that in trying to represent it dramatically, "Shakespeare tackled a problem which proved too much for him".
A famous haiku by Yosa Buson entitled, The Piercing Chill I Feel illustrates the use of objective correlative within poetry:[5]The piercing chill I feel:my dead wife's comb, in our bedroom,under my heel...In the Clint Eastwood movie Jersey Boys, songwriter Bob Gaudio of The 4 Seasons is asked who the girl is in his song Cry For Me.