THE S

YMBOLIS

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MOVEMENT

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L M H

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PH

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YS

CHARACTERISTICS OF SYMBOLIST POETRY• Symbolists believed that their work could represent

absolute truth, but they sought to represent these truths indirectly

• Played with conventional symbols and archetypes while also ascribing their own meanings to the symbolism infused into their work

• Symbolist structure is based around grand, illogical intuition

• Founded on ESSENTIALISM

• Marked the beginning of a trend towards free verse poetry

• Bridged the aestheticism of the Romantic period with the individuality of modernism

• The Symbolist movement was based in Paris

• Started in 1857 by Charles Baudelaire

• Linked closely with decadence because of the lifestyles of many symbolist poets

• Preceded by the Romantic Movement, the European Industrial Revolution, and the abolition of slavery in Europe

HISTORICAL CONTEXT

• (1821- 1867)• Wrote Les Fleurs du Mal

in 1857 as a reaction to the increasing industrialization of Paris

• Friend of Edgar Allen Poe, translated many of Poe’s works into French

• Fathered the Symbolist Movement with his use of extended metaphor to illuminate “higher truths”

CHARLES BAUDELAIRE

• (1844- 1896)• Known as a decadent

and a “cursed poet”• Published Romances

sans Paroles in 1874• Involved in an affair

with Arthur Rimbaud, which culminated in Verlaine shooting Rimbaud in the hand and going to prison

PAUL VERLAINE

• (1854- 1891)• Only wrote poetry

for five years of his life

• Published The Drunken Boat in 1871

• Had a short and torrid affair with Paul Verlaine

• Died of cancer

ARTHUR RIMBAUD