symbolism answer

7/30/2019 Symbolism Answer

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Symbolism

During the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century, Paris was the

hub of the avant-garde and modernist movements. Symbolism, a leading fine

art and literary movement, started as a reaction to the Naturalism and Realismmovements of the period.

ORIGIN & DEVELOPMENT-

In literature, the style had its beginnings with the publicationLes Fleurs du

mal(The Flowers of Evil, 1857) byCharles Baudelaire. The works ofEdgar Allan

Poe, which Baudelaire admired greatly and translated into French, were a

significant influence and the source of many stocktropesand images. The

aesthetic was developed byStphane MallarmandPaul Verlaineduring the1860s and '70s. In the 1880s, the aesthetic was articulated by a series of

manifestos and attracted a generation of writers.At the end of the nineteenth

century, Symbolism lost it dominance in France. Yet, the movements

popularity increased and spread to continental Europe, England, Russia, the

United States, and South America.

WITHIN BOX- The name "symbolist" itself was first applied by the criticJean

Moras

FEATURES-

1. The Symbolists emancipated their writing style and subject matter from

a scientific description that eliminated all fantasy, all emotions, and

inconsistencies.

2. Symbolism shook the foundations of Naturalism by rejecting, though

not entirely, the use of the law of cause and effect in literature.

3. Pythagorean and Kantian concepts were introduced to explain the

movements disdain with a constricting approach to fiction, and to

advance the writing on the mystical realm of human existence.

4. Even though showed an affinity to Catholicism and Christian mysticism,

Liberalism thrived in the new movement.

5. Distinct from, but related to, the style of literature, symbolism of art is

related to thegothiccomponent ofRomanticism.

6. The symbolists continued to admireThophile Gautier's motto of"art
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for art's sake", and retained and modified Parnassianism's (is a

Frenchliterary style which began during thepositivistperiod of

the 19th century. The style was influenced by the

authorThophile Gautieras well as the philosophical work

ofArthur Schopenhauer.) mood of ironic detachment.

7. Symbolists believed that art should represent absolute truths that could

only be described indirectly.

SYMBOLIST MANIFESTO-

On September 18, 1886, infuriated by critics who associated the dcadent

writers with the Symolists, Jean Moras (1856-1910) published the manifesto

ofSymbolisme in Le Figaro to distinguish the symbolists from the

relateddecadentsof literature and of art. Moras announced that its goal is

'to depict not the thing but the effect it produces'.Though Moras published

the manifesto of the emerging movement, Mallarm is considered its leading

theoretician.

MAJOR PRACTITIONERS-

The symbolist poetics was further elucidated in the writings of Paul Verlaine

(1844-1896), Arthur Rimbaud (1854-1891), and Gustave Kahn (1859-1936).

W.B. Yeats (1865-1939), Ezra Pound (1885-1972), T. S. Eliot (1888-1965),

Wallace Stevens (1879-1955).

WITHIN BOX- basic principles of symbolism: free verse, dense syntax,

figurative language, and rhythm.

IN LITERATURE-

Translations of the French symbolist poets emerged in England during

the 1890s. The Irish writer George Moore (1852-1933) was the first to write

about the Symbolists in English. The onset of Symbolism in English literature

was clouded with skepticism and to some degree unfavorable criticism. Even

so, thanks to Oscar Wilde (1854-1900), W.B. Yeats, John Millington Synge
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(1871-1909), and James Joyce (1882-1941), French Symbolism had an

immeasurable impact on modernist English and American literature.

Yeats defines the symbolist poem as a short lyric, perpetuating an

emotion that is then transformed into some great epic, empowered by

symbols, and compared to a ring within ring in the stem of an old tree. W.B.

Yeats' "Byzantium" is a highly symbolic poem. It contains variety of symbols.

W.B. Yeats interweaves several different threads in "Byzantium", thereby

granting the symbols richness and intricacy. Byzantium was the capital of the

eastern Wing of the Holy Roman Empire. It was known for its works of art;

especially mosaic work and gold enameling. In W. B. Yeats' poem Byzantium

ceases to have its traditional meaning. It typifies a world of artistic

magnificence and permanence. It is a world of immortality beyond limits of

time and space. It also denotes a place of unity; spiritual or otherwise.

The "gyre" is an important recurring symbol in Yeatss poetry. Technically,

it stands from the alternation between two historical cycles: onecharacterized by order and growth, the other by chaos and decay.

T.S. ELIOT

In Eliots poetry, water symbolizes both life and death. Although water has

the regenerative possibility of restoring life and fertility, it can also lead to

drowning and death, as in the case of Phlebas the sailor from The Waste

Land. The Fisher King is the central character in The Waste Land. Eliot saw the

Fisher King as symbolic of humanity, robbed of its sexual potency in the

modern world and connected to the meaninglessness of urban existence. But

the Fisher King also stands in for Christ and other religious figures associated

with divine resurrection and rebirth.

In Fiction

Symbolism's style of the static and hieratic adapted less well to narrative


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fiction than it did to poetry.Joris-Karl Huysmans' 1884 novel rebours(English

title:Against Nature) explored many themes that became associated with the

symbolist aesthetic. This novel, in which very little happens, catalogues the

psychology of Des Esseintes, an eccentric, reclusiveantihero.Oscar

Wildeimitated the novel in several passages ofThe Picture of Dorian Gray.THEATRE Infuses all the other arts into Symbolic Theatre.Focuses on the human

consciousness and emphasize on moral problems.psychological >external actions

Loses human characterization, dramatic action and realistic stage-

settings for theatre effects of mystery and mysticism

Aims for a stage with qualities ofrhythm, tone and harmony in the

unfolding movement of its actors and accented by the play of varied

lighting

Auguste Villiers de l'Isle-Adam's dramaAxl(rev. ed. 1890) is a definitivesymbolist play.Maurice Maeterlinck, also a symbolist playwright, wroteTheBlind(1890), The Intruder(1890), Interior(1891),Pellas and Mlisande(1892),andThe Blue Bird(1908).IbsenandStrindberg.[20]

The later works of the Russian playwrightAnton Chekhovhave been

identified[as being much influenced by symbolist pessimism.
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