CHARACTERISTICS OF SYMBOLIST POETRY
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Symbolists believed that their work could represent absolute truth, but they
sought to represent these truths indirectly
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Played with conventional symbols and archetypes while also ascribing their own
meanings to the symbolism infused into their work
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Symbolist structure is based around grand, illogical intuition
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Founded on ESSENTIALISM
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Marked the beginning of a trend towards free verse poetry
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Bridged the aestheticism of the Romantic period with the individuality of
modernism
HISTORICAL CONTEXT
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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
CHARLES BAUDELAIRE
• (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”
PAUL VERLAINE
• (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
ARTHUR RIMBAUD
• (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