Editing Symbolism (movement) (section)

==Movement==
===The Symbolist Manifesto===
[[File:Henri Fantin-Latour - By the Table - Google Art Project.jpg|thumbnail|[[Henri Fantin-Latour]], ''By the Table'', 1872, depicting: [[Paul Verlaine]], [[Arthur Rimbaud]], Léon Valade, Ernest d'Hervilly and [[Camille Pelletan]] (seated); Pierre Elzéar, Emile Blémont, and [[Jean Aicard]] (standing)]]

[[Jean Moréas]] published the [[Symbolist Manifesto]] ("Le Symbolisme") in ''[[Le Figaro]]'' on 18 September 1886 (see [[1886 in poetry]]).<ref name="Figaro 1886">[https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k2723555/f2.item.r=%22Un%20Manifeste%20litt%C3%A9raire%22 Jean Moréas, ''Un Manifeste littéraire'', ''Le Symbolisme'', Le Figaro. Supplément Littéraire, No. 38, Saturday 18 September 1886, p. 150], Bibliothèque nationale de France, Gallica</ref> The '''Symbolist Manifesto''' names [[Charles Baudelaire]], [[Stéphane Mallarmé]], and [[Paul Verlaine]] as the three leading poets of the movement. Moréas announced that symbolism was hostile to "plain meanings, declamations, false sentimentality and matter-of-fact description", and that its goal instead was to "clothe the Ideal in a perceptible form" whose "goal was not in itself, but whose sole purpose was to express the Ideal."
:''Ainsi, dans cet art, les tableaux de la nature, les actions des humains, tous les phénomènes concrets ne sauraient se manifester eux-mêmes; ce sont là des apparences sensibles destinées à représenter leurs affinités ésotériques avec des Idées primordiales.''

:(Thus, in this art movement, representations of nature, human activities and all real life events don't stand on their own; they are rather veiled reflections of the senses pointing to archetypal meanings through their esoteric connections.)<ref name="Figaro 1886" /><ref>[[Jean Moréas]], [http://www.ieeff.org/manifestesymbolisme.htm Le Manifeste du Symbolisme], ''[[Le Figaro]]'', 1886.</ref>

In a nutshell, as Mallarmé writes in a letter to his friend [[Henri Cazalis]], 'to depict not the thing but the effect it produces'.<ref>Conway Morris, Roderick "The Elusive Symbolist movement" – ''International Herald Tribune'', 17 March 2007.</ref>

In 1891, Mallarmé defined Symbolism as follows, "To name an object is to suppress three-quarters of the delight of the poem, which consists in the pleasure of guessing little by little; to ''suggest'' is, that is the dream. It is the perfect use of this mystery that constitutes the symbol: to evoke an object, gradually in order to reveal a state of the soul or, inversely, to choose an object and from it identify a state of the soul, by a series of deciphering operations... There must always be enigma in poetry."<ref> [[Edward Hirsch]] (2017), ''The Essential Poets Glossary'', Mariner Books. Page 314.</ref>

While describing the pre-[[World War I]] friendship, which defied the pervasive [[anti-German sentiment]] and [[revanchism]] of the ''[[Belle Époque]]'', between French symbolists [[Paul Verlaine]] and [[Stéphane Mallarmé]] and young and aspiring German symbolist poet [[Stefan George]], Michael and Erika Metzger have written, "For the Symbolists, the pursuit of '[[art for art's sake]]', was a highly serious – nearly a sacred – function, since beauty, in and of itself, stood for a higher meaning beyond itself. In their ultimate higher striving, the French Symbolists are not far from the [[Platonism|Platonic]] ideals of [[Transcendentals|the Good, the True, and the Beautiful]], and this idealistic aspect was undoubtedly what appealed to George far more than the [[Aestheticism|Estheticism]], the [[Bohemianism]], and the apparent [[Nihilism]] so often superficially associated with this group."<ref>Michael and Erika Metzger (1972), ''Stefan George'', Twayne's World Authors Series. Page 21.</ref>

===Techniques===
[[File:Étienne Carjat, Portrait of Charles Baudelaire, circa 1862.jpg|thumb|Portrait of [[Charles Baudelaire]] (c.&nbsp;1862), whose writing was a precursor of the symbolist style]]

The symbolist poets wished to liberate techniques of versification in order to allow greater room for "fluidity", and as such were sympathetic with the trend toward [[free verse]], as evident in the poems of [[Gustave Kahn]] and [[Ezra Pound]]. Symbolist poems were attempts to evoke, rather than primarily to describe; symbolic imagery was used to signify the state of the poet's [[soul]]. [[T. S. Eliot]] was influenced by the poets [[Jules Laforgue]], [[Paul Valéry]] and [[Arthur Rimbaud]] who used the techniques of the Symbolist school,<ref>Untermeyer, Louis, Preface to ''Modern American Poetry'' Harcourt Brace & Co New York 1950</ref> though it has also been said{{By whom|date=February 2013}}  that '[[Imagism]]' was the style to which both Pound and Eliot subscribed (see Pound's ''Des Imagistes''). [[Synesthesia]] was a prized experience; poets sought to identify and confound the separate senses of scent, sound, and colour. In [[Charles Baudelaire|Baudelaire]]'s poem ''Correspondences'' (which mentions ''forêts de symboles'' ("forests of symbols") and is considered the touchstone of French Symbolism):<ref>Pratt, William. ''The Imagist Poem, Modern Poetry in Miniature'' (Story Line Press, 1963, expanded 2001). {{ISBN|1-58654-009-2}}</ref>

:''Il est des parfums frais comme des chairs d'enfants,<br />Doux comme les hautbois, verts comme les prairies,<br />– Et d'autres, corrompus, riches et triomphants,<br /><br />Ayant l'expansion des choses infinies,<br />Comme l'ambre, le musc, le benjoin et l'encens,<br />Qui chantent les transports de l'esprit et des sens.''

::(There are fragrances that are fresh like children's skin,<br /> calm like oboes, green like meadows<br />– And others, rotten, heady, and triumphant,<br /><br />having the expansiveness of infinite things,<br /> like amber, musk, benzoin, and incense,<br />which sing of the raptures of the soul and senses.)

and [[Arthur Rimbaud|Rimbaud]]'s poem ''[[Voyelles]]'':

:''A noir, E blanc, I rouge, U vert, O bleu : voyelles…''
::(A black, E white, I red, U green, O blue: vowels…)

– both poets seek to identify one sense experience with another. The earlier [[Romanticism]] of poetry used [[symbol]]s, but these symbols were unique and privileged objects.  The symbolists were more extreme, investing all things, even vowels and perfumes, with potential symbolic value. "The physical universe, then, is a kind of language that invites a privileged spectator to decipher it, although this does not yield a single message so much as a superior network of associations."<ref>Olds, Marshal C. [http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1027&context=modlangfrench "Literary Symbolism"], originally published (as Chapter 14) in ''A Companion to Modernist Literature and Culture'', edited by David Bradshaw and Kevin J. H. Dettmar. Malden, MA : Blackwell Publishing, 2006. Pages 155–162.</ref> Symbolist symbols are not [[allegory|allegories]], intended to represent; they are instead intended to [[evocation|evoke]] particular states of mind.  The nominal subject of Mallarmé's "Le cygne" ("The [[Swan]]") is of a swan trapped in a frozen lake.  Significantly, in French, ''[[wikt:cygne|cygne]]'' is a homophone of ''[[wikt:signe|signe]]'', a sign. The overall effect is of overwhelming whiteness; and the presentation of the narrative elements of the description is quite indirect:

:''Le vierge, le vivace, et le bel aujourd'hui<br />Va-t-il nous déchirer avec un coup d’aile ivre<br />Ce lac dur oublié que hante sous le givre<br />Le transparent glacier des vols qui n’ont pas fui!<br />Un cygne d’autrefois se souvient que c’est lui<br />Magnifique mais qui sans espoir se délivre…''
::(The virgin, lively, and beautiful today – <br />Will it tear us up with a drunken wingbeat<br />This hard forgotten lake that lurks beneath the frost,<br />The transparent glacier of flights not taken with a blow from a drunken wing?<br />A swan of long ago remembers that it is he<br />Magnificent but without hope, who breaks free…)

===Paul Verlaine and the ''poètes maudits''===
Of the several attempts at defining the essence of symbolism, perhaps none was more influential than [[Paul Verlaine]]'s 1884 publication of a series of essays on [[Tristan Corbière]], [[Arthur Rimbaud]], [[Stéphane Mallarmé]], [[Marceline Desbordes-Valmore]], [[Gérard de Nerval]], and "Pauvre Lelian" ("Poor Lelian", an anagram of Paul Verlaine's own name), each of whom Verlaine numbered among the ''[[Poète maudit|poètes maudits]]'', "accursed poets."

[[File:Eugen Bracht - Das Gestade der Vergessenheit (1889).jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|[[Eugen Bracht]], ''The Shore of Oblivion'', 1889]]

Verlaine argued that in their individual and very different ways, each of these hitherto neglected poets found [[genius]] a curse; it isolated them from their contemporaries, and as a result these poets were not at all concerned to avoid [[hermeticism]] and idiosyncratic writing styles.<ref>[[Paul Verlaine]], ''[http://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/Les_Po%C3%A8tes_maudits Les Poètes maudits]''</ref> They were also portrayed as at odds with society, having tragic lives, and often given to self-destructive tendencies. These traits were not hindrances but consequences of their literary gifts. Verlaine's concept of the ''poète maudit'' in turn borrows from Baudelaire, who opened his collection ''[[Les fleurs du mal]]'' with the poem ''[[Bénédiction]]'', which describes a poet whose internal serenity remains undisturbed by the contempt of the people surrounding him.<ref>[[Charles Baudelaire]], ''[http://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/B%C3%A9n%C3%A9diction Bénédiction]''</ref>

In this conception of genius and the role of the poet, Verlaine referred indirectly to the [[aesthetics]] of [[Arthur Schopenhauer]], the philosopher of [[pessimism]], who maintained that the purpose of art was to provide a temporary refuge from the world of strife of the [[will (philosophy)|will]].<ref name="ReferenceA">Delvaille, Bernard, ''La poésie symboliste: anthologie'', introduction. {{ISBN|2-221-50161-6}}</ref>

===Philosophy===
[[Schopenhauer's aesthetics]] represented shared concerns with the symbolist programme; they both tended to consider Art as a contemplative refuge from the world of strife and [[Will (philosophy)|will]]. As a result of this desire for an artistic refuge, the symbolists used characteristic themes of [[mysticism]] and otherworldliness, a keen sense of [[death|mortality]], and a sense of the malign power of [[human sexuality|sexuality]], which [[Albert Samain]] termed a "fruit of death upon the tree of life."<ref>''Luxure, fruit de mort à l'arbre de la vie... '', [[Albert Samain]], "Luxure", in the publication ''Au jardin de l'infante'' (1889)</ref> Mallarmé's poem ''Les fenêtres''<ref>Stéphane Mallarmé, [http://cage.ugent.be/~dc/Literature/Mallarme/Mal08.html ''Les fenêtres''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041209140346/http://cage.ugent.be/~dc/Literature/Mallarme/Mal08.html |date=9 December 2004 }}</ref> expresses all of these themes clearly.  A dying man in a hospital bed, seeking escape from the pain and dreariness of his physical surroundings, turns toward his window but then turns away in disgust from

[[File:Félicien Rops - Pornokratès - 1878 (2).jpg|thumb|''[[Pornocrates]]'', by [[Félicien Rops]], etching and [[aquatint]], 1878]]

:''… l'homme à l'âme dure<br />Vautré dans le bonheur, où ses seuls appétits<br />Mangent, et qui s'entête à chercher cette ordure<br />Pour l'offrir à la femme allaitant ses petits, …''

::(… the hard-souled man,<br />Wallowing in happiness, where only his appetites<br />Feed, and who insists on seeking out this filth<br />To offer to the wife suckling his children, …)

and in contrast, he "turns his back on life" (''tourne l’épaule à la vie'') and he exclaims:

:''Je me mire et me vois ange! Et je meurs, et j'aime<br />– Que la vitre soit l'art, soit la mysticité –<br />A renaître, portant mon rêve en diadème,<br />Au ciel antérieur où fleurit la Beauté!''

::(I look at myself and I seem like an angel! and I die, and I love<br />– Whether the mirror might be art, or mysticism –<br />To be reborn, bearing my dream as a crown,<br />Under that former sky where Beauty flourishes!)

===Symbolists and decadents===
The symbolist style has frequently been confused with the [[Decadent movement]], the name derived from French literary critics in the 1880s, suggesting the writers were self indulgent and obsessed with taboo subjects.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.wisegeek.com/what-was-the-decadent-movement-in-literature.htm|title=What Was the Decadent Movement in Literature? (with pictures)|website=wiseGEEK|date=5 June 2023 }}</ref> While a few writers embraced the term,  most avoided it. Jean Moréas' [[Symbolist Manifesto|manifesto]] was largely a response to this polemic. By the late 1880s, the terms "symbolism" and "decadence" were understood to be almost synonymous.<ref>David Schimmelpenninck van der Oye, ''Russian orientalism: Asia in the Russian mind from Peter the Great to the emigration'', New Haven: Yale UP, 2010, p. 211 ([https://books.google.com/books?id=Kk8XrtXe3IcC&q=decadence+symbolism&pg=PA211 online]).</ref> Though the aesthetics of the styles can be considered similar in some ways, the two remain distinct. The symbolists were those artists who emphasized dreams and ideals; the Decadents cultivated ''[[wikt:précieux|précieux]]'', ornamented, or [[hermeticism (poetry)|hermetic]] styles, and [[morbid]] subject matters.<ref>Olds, see above, p. 160.</ref> The subject of [[Decline of the Roman Empire|the decadence of the Roman Empire]] was a frequent source of literary images and appears in the works of many poets of the period, regardless of which name they chose for their style, as in Verlaine's "''Langueur''":<ref>[http://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/Langueur ''Langueur''], from ''Jadis et Naguère'', 1884</ref>

:''Je suis l'Empire à la fin de la Décadence,<br />Qui regarde passer les grands Barbares blancs<br />En composant des acrostiches indolents<br />D'un style d'or où la langueur du soleil danse.''
::(I am the Empire at the endgame of decadence, watching the great pale barbarians passing by, all the while composing lazy acrostic poems in a gilded style where the languishing sun dances.)

===Periodical literature===
[[File:TheKnightAtTheCrossroads.jpg|thumbnail|upright=1.2|[[Victor Vasnetsov]], ''The Knight at the Crossroads'', 1878]]

A number of important literary publications were founded by symbolists or became associated with the style. The first was ''[[La Vogue]]'' initiated in April 1886. In October of that same year, [[Jean Moréas]], [[Gustave Kahn]], and [[Paul Adam (French novelist)|Paul Adam]] began the periodical ''[[Le Symboliste]]''. One of the most important symbolist journals was ''[[Mercure de France]]'', edited by [[Alfred Vallette]], which succeeded ''La Pléiade''; founded in 1890, this periodical endured until 1965. [[Pierre Louÿs]] initiated ''[[La conque]]'', a periodical whose symbolist influences were alluded to by [[Jorge Luis Borges]] in his story ''[[Pierre Menard, Author of the Quixote]]''. Other symbolist literary magazines included ''[[La Revue blanche]]'', ''[[La Revue wagnérienne]]'', ''[[La Plume]]'' and ''[[La Wallonie]]''.

[[Rémy de Gourmont]] and [[Félix Fénéon]] were [[literary criticism|literary critics]] associated with symbolism. The symbolist and decadent literary styles were [[satire|satirized]] by a book of poetry, ''Les Déliquescences d'[[Adoré Floupette]]'', published in 1885 by [[Henri Beauclair]] and [[Gabriel Vicaire]].<ref>[[Henri Beauclair]] and [[Gabriel Vicaire]], {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20000816032204/http://www.bmlisieux.com/archives/deliqu01.htm ''Les Déliquescences d'Adoré Floupette'']}} (1885)<br />[[:File:Floupette - Les Déliquescences, 1885.djvu|''Les Déliquescences'' – poèmes décadents d'Adoré Floupette, avec sa vie par Marius Tapora]] by Henri Beauclair and Gabriel Vicaire {{in lang|fr}}</ref>