Symbolism

Poetry of suggestion rather than statement: private symbols, musicality, and the unseen behind the visible world.

Specifications & Metrics

era

c. 1857 – 1914

region

France, then Europe-wide

key figures

Baudelaire, Mallarmé, Verlaine, Rimbaud, Yeats, Rilke

exemplar

Les Fleurs du mal (1857); L'après-midi d'un faune (1876)

introduced

1857

Core Principles & Analysis

• Baudelaire's Les Fleurs du mal (1857) is its founding text.
• Jean Moréas's 1886 manifesto gave the movement its name.
• It fed directly into Imagism, Modernism, and abstract art theory.

Sources

• Wikipedia: Symbolism (arts)