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What details support that Faulkner uses symbolism in "A Rose for Emily?

One instance of symbolism in "A Rose for Emily" is in the title itself. The rose is most often thought of as a symbol for love in which case Homer is the "rose" or love for Emily.  Her father thought no man was good enough for her or for the Grierson family.  Therefore she was never able to experience passion or the rose of love until she met Homer.  However, there is another meaning of rose to consider.  In Medieval times the rose was used as a sign of silence or secrecy.  A rose was hung from the ceiling at a meeting of secret societies indicating a demand for discretion.  The rose in the title of the story could therefore stand for Emily's secret; that is Homer her "rose" whom she cherished, loved and kept to herself even after his body was corrupted by the decay of time.

Other instances of symbolism include how Emily represented the "Old South" that was slowly dying and making way for the newer, industrialized South that was on its way in.  The South was lagging behind the North in technology, and it took the South longer to become an industrialized society.  Miss Emily, with her dilapidated mansion in the middle of the town that around her was demonstrating growth and changing with the times, was the last remnant of the "Old South" in the town, really.  She refused to change and this was one of her tragic flaws, really.

A significant theme in A Rose for Emily is death which is symbolic of both Emily's life and the life of the old south.

After the South is defeated in the Civil War, Emily's life is symbolically over in the same way that plantation life becomes a memory.  She lives, but has no life.  She becomes enamored of the dead which is first depicted when she resists burying her father.   

 "Emily is a necrophiliac (literally, ‘‘one who loves the dead’’)."

Her attempt at grasping at life through her relationship with Homer Barron also results in death.  She would rather kill him than allow him to leave her. She then lives with death by sleeping next to the corpse of Homer Barron for many years.  

After Miss Emily's death, the decomposed corpse is discovered, along with a strand of gray hair found on a pillow next to the long dead Homer Barron.

Death is both a theme and a symbol in the story.  Sadly, Emily's life is defined by death, symbolically, like the old south, she fades from real life, although continuing to physically exist, everything that mattered to Emily has passed away.