Literary Symbolism

Both a literary and artistic movement, symbolism developed in Europe towards the end of the 19th century (1870). In literature, we generally associate the official birth of symbolism in literature with the appearance of the "Surrealist Manifesto" published in the Figaro by the poet Jean Moréas on September 18, 1886. This movement was inspired by German romanticism and English Preraphaelism.

Tinged with mystery, symbolism stood opposed to the movements of naturalism and Le Parnasse by its spiritual vision of the world. The Symbolists, whose figurehead was the poet Stéphane Mallarmé, rejected descriptive poetry and attempted to find a new means of expression, such as free verse. Poets Paul Verlaine, Arthur Rimbaud and Jules Laforgue are just a few of the representatives of literary symbolism in France.