| Basic Concepts: Symbolism (Symbolist
School)
The "Symbolist School" was one of the first "art-for-art's sake" movements to grow out of the Romantic Period and, in some sense, in reaction to it. The movement's principles focused on the representational power of the word and image to suggest complex meanings drawn from any culture. In literature, rather than in merely stating the meaning directly, symbolist writers (poets) preferred to let the meaning flow from the nuances of the imagination as the reader followed through a poem. The symbolists agreed that the imagination was by far superior to reason alone in enhancing meaning from verbal or visual cues. . The "Symbolist Movement" began in France, led by writer Charles Baudelaire who was almost single-handedly responsible for introducing the writings of Edgar Allen Poe to a Western reading audience. In American, Poe's sagging reputation (following the publication of the Griswold biography) was restored by Baudelaire's laudatory praise for the American writer whose works had so richly inspired his own. . Online Connections Read "Symbolist Movement" for a useful overview of the aesthetic school. For a discussion of the philosophy behind the Symbolist Movement, see "Inner Visions and Deeper Meanings: The Symbolist Movement." See also "The Symbolist Movement--An Introduction" for additional commentary and references to Poe. . Our Course Connections Edgar Allen Poe and his innovative literary creations is the sole American writer who anticipates the works not only of the "Symbolists," but the "Expressionists," and "Surrealists" as well. .  |