SYMBOLISM

Prepared by:
LEONIDA R. JACULBE
SHIELA P. REPE
 SYMBOLISM

-is the use of symbols to signify ideas and qualities, by giving

them symbolic meanings that are different from their literal sense
which take different forms

-gives a writer freedom to add double levels of meanings to his

work: a literal one that is self-evident, and the symbolic one
whose meaning is far more profound than the literal
 Influencers of the Theory

Charles Baudelaire Stéphane Mallarmé Paul Verlaine

Charles Baudelaire
-(1821-1867), was a French poet most known for his
involvement with Symbolism

-gained notoriety for his 1857 volume of poems, Les

Fleurs du mal (The Flowers of Evil)

-his themes of sex, death, lesbianism, metamorphosis,

depression, urban corruption, lost innocence and alcohol
not only gained him loyal followers, but also garnered
controversy

-The courts punished Baudelaire, his publisher and the

book's printer for offending public morality, and as such,
suppressed six of the poems
 Key Tenets of Symbolism According to Baudelaire
-created the system of symbolistic correspondences between the spiritual
and material world, through the symbol

-the open-ended symbols brought the invisible into being through the
visible, and linked the invisible through other sensory perceptions, notably
smell and sound
Stéphane Mallarmé

-(1842-1898), was a French founding father of the

symbolist school of poetry

-His work anticipated and inspired several

revolutionary artistic schools of the early 20th century
such as Cubism, Futurism, Dadaism, and Surrealism
 Key Tenets of Symbolism According to Mallarme
-Theorized that symbols were of two types. One was created by the projection of inner
feelings onto the world outside. The other existed as nascent words that slowly
permeated the consciousness and expressed a state of mind initially unknown to their
originator.

-Mallarmé’s theoretical thinking was accompanied by a theory of the poetical language:

“To name an object is to take away three quarters of the charm of the poem, which is so
constructed as to reveal itself little by little; to suggest it, here is the dream” (Mallarmé,
1970: 869).

-He emphasized the importance of emotion in poetry, proposing that “an idea is always
wedded to an emotion. Ideas must be felt. A symbol is a synthesis of signs into a union
of concept and feeling”
 Paul Verlaine

-(1844-1896), was a French poet and a Symbolist leader

-If his production varies widely in quality, technique and

theme, certain constants nonetheless emerge in those
texts usually considered his best: evocation of subtle
‐moods and states of soul, through metaphor, sense
imagery, and “symbolic” landscapes; a bias toward
suggestion and indirection; experimentation in rhythm
and meter (whence constant reference in the critical
literature to “music” and “harmony”).
 Key Tenets of Symbolism According to Verlaine
-The contributions of Paul Verlaine to the aesthetics of Symbolism are two. The first
concerns the symbol. Symbols create parallels between external reality and the succession
of affective responses that make up much of our inner life.

-Verlaine made his second major contribution to Symbolist poetics in relation to meter.
Possessing an unusual facility with the French poetic idiom, he used rare rhythmic
combinations to great effect, as in “Chanson d’automne” (Autumn Song, 1866) which
establishes a pattern of two lines of four syllables followed by a line of three
 Guide Questions:
Why do writers use symbolism?
How does symbolism impact or enhance what we read?
How are the ideas/information presented connected to what you
already knew about symbolism?
What new ideas did you get that extended or broadened your
thinking in new directions about symbolism?
What challenges or puzzles have come up in your mind from the
ideas and information presented about symbolism?