Billie Holiday has been many things to many people over the years: matchless jazz singer, poignant symbol, cautionary tale.

The graves soon became a poignant symbol of the oppression and segregation faced by black New Yorkers at the time of the American Revolution.

Battle is done over a bizarre game of cricket, which serves not only as the novel's comic counterpoint but also a poignant symbol of the world around them.

The handsome structure became a poignant symbol of the brief flowering of Western-style liberalism in the prewar era.

They toppled a bronze statue called "Grief," the poignant symbol of the cemetery, which portrayed a seated and exhausted soldier.

After her death, JonBenet became for many Americans a poignant symbol of parental manipulation and child exploitation.

As the youngest known victim of the violence, Iman quickly became another poignant symbol of violent conflict.

The most poignant symbol of the distinction between Island and City are the captains.

But even at a distance, there are few more poignant symbols of New York than the Chrysler Building lit up at night.

To encounter these poignant symbols unexpectedly is most affecting.