The Symbolist Movement in Literature

Fiction & Literature, Literary Theory & Criticism
Cover of the book The Symbolist Movement in Literature by Arthur Symons, Arthur Symons
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Arthur Symons ISBN: 9788822886163
Publisher: Arthur Symons Publication: January 8, 2017
Imprint: Language: English
Author: Arthur Symons
ISBN: 9788822886163
Publisher: Arthur Symons
Publication: January 8, 2017
Imprint:
Language: English

"It is in and through Symbols that man, consciously or unconsciously, lives, works, and has his being: those ages, moreover, are accounted the noblest which can the best recognise symbolical worth, and prize it highest."
​ Carlyle

Without symbolism there can be no literature; indeed, not even language. What are words themselves but symbols, almost as arbitrary as the letters which compose them, mere sounds of the voice to which we have agreed to give certain significations, as we have agreed to translate these sounds by those combinations of letters? Symbolism began with the first words uttered by the first man, as he named every living thing; or before them, in heaven, when God named the world into being. And we see, in these beginnings, precisely what Symbolism in literature really is: a form of expression, at the best but approximate, essentially but arbitrary, until it has obtained the force of a convention, for an unseen reality apprehended by the consciousness. It is sometimes permitted to us to hope that our convention is indeed the reflection rather than merely the sign of that unseen reality. We have done much if we have found a recognisable sign.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

"It is in and through Symbols that man, consciously or unconsciously, lives, works, and has his being: those ages, moreover, are accounted the noblest which can the best recognise symbolical worth, and prize it highest."
​ Carlyle

Without symbolism there can be no literature; indeed, not even language. What are words themselves but symbols, almost as arbitrary as the letters which compose them, mere sounds of the voice to which we have agreed to give certain significations, as we have agreed to translate these sounds by those combinations of letters? Symbolism began with the first words uttered by the first man, as he named every living thing; or before them, in heaven, when God named the world into being. And we see, in these beginnings, precisely what Symbolism in literature really is: a form of expression, at the best but approximate, essentially but arbitrary, until it has obtained the force of a convention, for an unseen reality apprehended by the consciousness. It is sometimes permitted to us to hope that our convention is indeed the reflection rather than merely the sign of that unseen reality. We have done much if we have found a recognisable sign.

More books from Literary Theory & Criticism

Cover of the book Reproductions of Reproduction by Arthur Symons
Cover of the book Feminist Readings in Middle English Literature by Arthur Symons
Cover of the book The Love Letters by Arthur Symons
Cover of the book La besace de haine by Arthur Symons
Cover of the book La Primera Classe by Arthur Symons
Cover of the book The Five and Twenty Tales of the Genie by Arthur Symons
Cover of the book Léo Malet by Arthur Symons
Cover of the book Planetary Modernisms by Arthur Symons
Cover of the book Singles 43 by Arthur Symons
Cover of the book I Am Alive and You Are Dead by Arthur Symons
Cover of the book Gentilshommes bourgeois et valets de la comédie by Arthur Symons
Cover of the book Le premier vrai mensonge by Arthur Symons
Cover of the book Twenty Poems That Could Save America and Other Essays by Arthur Symons
Cover of the book The Getaway Car by Arthur Symons
Cover of the book Film Flam by Arthur Symons
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy