The Symbolist
19th century
The Symbolist Movement
To make the invisible visible
To convey individual emotional experience through the subtle,
suggestive use of highly metaphorical language.
Symbolist dramatists relied on myth, mood, and atmosphere to reveal
only indirectly the deeper truths of existence.
Link between Romanticism and Modernism
Romanticism: Intense yearning for love
Modernism: Sexual frankness
Opposed Naturalism and Realism
T.S. Eliot
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Born from St. Louis, Missouri during
1888, and died in 1965.
Went to Harvard University attaining
Doctorate in Philosophy
Became a great poet when he settled in
London, being influenced by the poet
Ezra Pound
Influences
• Loved 17th century poets. (most
notably John Donne)
• Other symbolist poets (such as
Baudelaire from France)
• Wrote in a Pre-WWI Perspective,
with social and religious
conservatism mixed in.
Notable Works
“The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”
(1915)
“The Waste Land” (1922)
“The Hollow Men” (1925)
“Ash Wednesday” (1927)
“Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats”
(1939)
Adapted into the Broadway show
“Cats”
“Four Quartets”
Consists of Four Long Poems:
“Burnt Norton” (1936)
“East Coker” (1940)
“The Dry Savages” (1941)
“Little Gidding” (1942)
Hysteria
By T.S Eliot
Analysis
Figurative Language
Diction was used to convey that the speaker (The Old Man)
had a deep sense of detail, ultimately conveying a deep sense
of Hysteria.
Symbolism: The feelings the Old Man feels during his date
with his old beloved secretly symbolizes the harsh realities of
old age and accepting the inevitable.
How it all fits into the Symbolist Genre
T.S. Eliot touches the feelings of death, knowing that nothing
is ever permanent, and the mixed feeling of both dread and
acceptance.
Born on October 16, 1854 in Dublin.
Oscar Wilde
(1854-1900)
Attended Trinity College.
Won the Berkeley Gold Medal as
Trinity’s best student in Greek.
Imprisoned for being gay.
Known for writing the novel “The
Picture of Dorian Gray” and the play
“The Importance of Being Earnest.”
Involved to a rising philosophy of
aestheticism.
Literary techniques: Simile, Symbolism,
and Decadence.
Analysis
Diction
Theme: Love is a bliss.
Sestet: a six-line stanza.
Compares the woman to features seen in
natural settings.
Simile
Most comparison also has colors: red, gold,
and silver.
Symbolism: “With the spilt-out blood of
the rose-red wine.”
Red: Usually means love and
passion but can also symbolize
death.
Harmony
Oscar Wilde
William Butler Yeats
(1865-1939)
About the Poet
Born in Dublin
In 1889 Yeats met Maud Gonne, an Irish beauty, ardent and brilliant. He fell in love with her, but his
love was hopeless, Maud Gonne liked and admired him, but she was not in love with him.
In 1899 Yeats asked Maud Gonne to marry him, but she declined.
In the crucial period from 1899 to 1907, he managed the theatre’s affairs, and contributed many of his
own plays.
His themes are the contrast of art and life
Cyclical theories of life, the ideal of beauty, masks, desire and the afterlife.
In 1923 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature
Notable Works
Poems (1895),
The Secret Rose (1897),
The Wind Among the Reeds (1899),
Diarmuid and Grania (1901),
The Pot of Broth (1902),
In The Seven Woods (1903),
Where There Is Nothing (1904),
Collected Works in Prose and Verse (1906),
The Green Helmet and Other Poems (1910),
Responsibilities: Poems and A Play (1914),
At the Hawks Well (1917),
Michael Robartes and the Dancer (1920),
Four Plays for Dancers (1921),
The Tower and Other Poems (1928),
Words for Music, Perhaps (1932),
The Winding Stair and Other Poems (1933),
A Full Moon in March (1935),
Dramatis Personae (1935),
Essays 1931-1936 (1937),
New Poems (1938), and
Last Poems (1939).
Analysis
Theme: Beauty, desire and afterlife.
Repetition of ‘S’ creates a despairing tone to the poem
Yeats hopes for renewal by making several illusions to
heaven. (line 21)
In the ending lines he accepts that his relationship is
something of the past and realizes that there is no
point.
Broken Dreams
William Butler Yeats
Jean Nicolas
Arthur
Rimbaud
(1854-1891)
About the Poet
Young French Poet
Died at the age of 37
Influenced Symbolist, Dadaists and Surrealist.
Influenced artists and musicians.
“The idea is to reach the unknown by the derangement of all the senses”
Satirical toward other poets
Free Verse
Notable Works
Le Soleil Était Chaud (1866)
Poésies (c. 1869-1873)
Voyelles (1871)
Le bateau ivre (The Drunken Boat) (1871)
Proses Évangeliques (1872)
Une Saison en Enfer (1873)
Illuminations (1874)
Lettres (1870-1891)
Vowels
Arthur Rimbaud
Analysis
Symbolism, Metaphor, Imagery
Influenced by the Catholic Religion
At a young age, he was subtle and obeyed his mother
who was heavily influenced by religion.
Theme: The world is filled with unscrupulous
phenomena
The Smiling
Spider
By Redon (1840 – 1916)
Beata Betrix
Dante Gabriel Rossetti
(1828 – 1882)
1. Which of these authors is NOT part of the
symbolist movement?
A. William Butler Yeats
B. Robert Frost
C. Oscar Wilde
D. Arthur Rimbaud
2. Oscar Wilde’s Poem “Harmony” is mostly
about…
A. Love
B. Hatred
C. Racism
D. Sadness
3. What time perception did T.S. Eliot
write after?
A. 1950s
B. New World
C. Pre-WWI
D. Industrial Era
4. What does symbolism link?
A. Romanticism and Modernism
B. Naturalism and Augustans
C. Modernism and Postmodernism
D. Metaphysical and Harlem Renaissance
5. What movement influenced T.S.
Eliot?
A. Romantic
B. Symbolists
C. Seussean
D. Industrial
6.
What are some recurring themes
that W.B. Yeats conveys?
A. Friendship, social status, society
B. Cynical theories of life and ideals of beauty
C. Bravery, love, culture
D. Dreams, fantasy, loyalty
7. When did the symbolist movement
start?
A. Late 1700s in England
B. Late 1800s in France
C. Late 1900s in Great Britain
D. New millennium in Germany
8.
is a movement in poetry that emphasized
disconnected descriptions of thoughts and feelings.
A. Romanticism
B. Symbolism
C. Modernism
D. Expressionism
9. Which of the following is NOT a
principle of the symbolist movement?
A.
Abstraction
B.
Poetic encapsulations
C.
Fantastic visual effects
D.
Careful detail
10. Which of the following is true
about symbolism?
A. Through images and metaphors symbolism explored the inner realities,
which cannot be directly or literally perceived.
B. Symbolism exposed the social injustices of the working classes by means of
irony.
C. Symbolism tested the limits of language and animal utterance.
D. Symbolism uncovered the hidden subversive relationships in family histories
by means of extended exposition.
AP prompts
Life is what one makes it to be for themselves, having period of
sadness yet also have times of triumph and joy. While all this is good,
the only thing that is certain in life is death. With death always
following us, is it best to accept the helplessness of death or live in
fear and rebellion of it? Select a literary genre (novel, play, etc.) of
merit to write an essay of how humanity should deal with death.
Love is a feeling forever tied with humanity, varying from different
levels for certain people. While love is always tied to feelings of joy
and euphoria, all things have a dark side. With that in mind, is love
something humanity needs to be successful, or is it a weakness not
needed by the strong. Use a novel, play, etc. of great literary merit to
write an essay explaining if love is a good thing, or a bad thing.
Bibliography
http://www.enotes.com/symbolism
http://www.world-class-poetry.com/symbolism-poetry-movement.html
http://www.radford.edu/~rbarris/art428/Chapter%202%20Symbolism.html
http://www.enotes.com/vowels-salem/vowels
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/652421/William-Butler-Yeats
http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1923/yeatsbio.html