Representative figures are Baudelaire, Wei Erlun, Rambo and Malamei.
Baudelaire's sonnet He Ying first put forward the famous symbol theory of He Ying. It is believed that all things in nature are symbols of each other, forming a "symbol forest", and all human senses are also corresponding and communicating with each other. Most importantly, human mind and nature also correspond and communicate with each other, and poetry is the product of this symbol and correspondence. Therefore, this poem is known as the "Charter of Symbolism". The early symbolism ended with the death of Malarme in 1898.
Valerie's symbolic poetics with musicalization as the core
Paolo Valerie (187 1- 1945), a Frenchman, published Old Poems in 19 12.
The realistic existence of symbolism
First, symbolism pursues a rich spiritual world higher than the real world and its inherent vitality.
Symbolist poets think that the real world is contemptible and unreal, and they try to transcend reality and enter the transcendental spiritual world and "the entity of inner life". They think that what really exists is the passion given by "some aspects of nature and life and some works of human beings", from which people can learn "precious feelings, infinitely rich thoughts, wonderful combinations of thoughts, emotions and rigorous fantasies, as well as the pleasure and vitality associated with mystery" and cultivate them.
Second, symbolism pursues a kind of free artistic innovation of "creating readers".
Symbolic poetry should choose readers with elegant taste as interlocutors, and at the same time, through formal exploration and experiments, break the old aesthetic customs and inertia of readers and cultivate and "create" creative new readers.
Thirdly, although there are many differences in writing styles, techniques, opinions, feelings, writing styles and aesthetic ideals, symbolic poets have a high degree of spiritual consistency and strong cohesion, that is, they oppose writing only about the universality of human beings, and attach great importance to individuality, individual inner activities and reactions, and human uniqueness, trying to reconstruct individual spiritual history.
The definition of symbolism: musicalization
First of all, musicalization refers to a harmonious overall feeling effect produced by the relationship between words in poetry when readers appreciate poetry, that is, the harmonious relationship between words and people's overall feelings and emotions.
He said: "Poetry is the art of language. Some combinations of words can produce feelings that other combinations can't." This is "poetry", and the so-called "poetry" is "a feeling of excitement and ecstasy. It is caused by some internal emotion, physical and psychological, and to some extent some stimulating environment (material or ideal). As the art of poetry, it is to arouse similar feelings by means of language and artificially promote them, that is, to achieve a kind of "language structure" and "poetry" that the poet tries to draw from the "chaotic mixture of all kinds of everyday languages" through personal efforts, and to "create a fictional ideal order with the most common materials". This poetic language can "create a poetic world" and make people "restore" poetic feelings until the natural products of these sensory functions are artificially cultivated, even if poetic language is highly harmonious with poetic feelings and artistic conception.
Poetry should emphasize the beauty of music, which means not only the sense of rhythm and melody, but also the harmony, rigor and integrity of music, so we should think in musical language.
Example: Eliot's "The Waste Land" uses symphonies to organize the whole poem, giving people a harmonious sense of wholeness;
Chapter one: the motif of the funeral of the deceased: (waterless-death) (theme)
Chapter two: the anti-motif of "game": (desire-although death still exists)
Chapter three: the variation motif of the fire commandment: (fire-calling for help) (fire symbol: sun, light and purification)
Chapter 4: Death in Water repeats the theme: (Too much water-death) (dual)
Chapter five: the recurrence of thunder's life: (clear water from heaven-the possibility of salvation) (combined topic)
Secondly, musicalization also means that there is some internal connection between the poetic world and the dream world.
The world of poetry is similar to the world of dreams, and the images of foreign objects are in complete harmony with the feelings and mood of the subject, singing and blending into one.
(2) All the familiar creatures seem to be accompanied by music; They coordinate with each other and form a sound relationship that seems to be completely adapted to our feelings. From this perspective, the poetic world looks like a dream, or at least sometimes it looks like a dream.
In addition, musicalization also includes the musicalization of poetic language. "To achieve harmony in rhyme and rhythm, we must meet various rational and aesthetic conditions."
In a word, Valerie's mission to symbolism is to "let us feel the close combination of words and hearts"; The core of his symbolism poetics is that "the world of poetry" is essentially a harmonious musical relationship among language (word), meaning (form), image and feeling (emotion).
Emphasize abstract thinking and rationality
First of all, Valerie emphasized that poets should have abstract thinking ability.
In his view, "every real poet's ability of correct reasoning and abstract thinking is much stronger than most people think."
Secondly, Valerie pointed out the important role of abstract thinking in poetry creation: first, abstract thinking, as a poet's "philosophy", plays a role in creative activities and is the source of symbolic meaning and philosophical connotation of poetry; The second is the conception process of poetry. "It is not only the existence of what I call' the world of poetry', but also many thoughts, decisions, choices and combinations."
Thirdly, Valerie emphasized that poetry should pursue infinite and universal values beyond the individual. It is pointed out that "what is valuable only to one person is worthless." "This is the iron law of literature."
Ye Zhi's Symbolic Theory of the Unity of Reason and Perception
William Butler Yeats (1865- 1939), an Irishman, is famous for his poems such as Essien Wandering, Wind of Lucong, Bell Tower, Spiral Ladder and Sailing to Byzantium, as well as Hu Li's poetic dramas Sweet Wish, Fantasy Spring and Fantasy Spring.
The Connotation of Symbolism and Its Aesthetic Style
It is pointed out that the difference between "metaphor symbol" and symbolic "fantasy symbol" in poetry is that "the latter is woven into a complete system". It means that the metaphysical symbols of symbols contain metaphorical factors, but they are organized into a complete image system in poetry. That is to say, compared with metaphor, symbols are not individual, but holistic and systematic, and symbols are metaphorical systems.
The difference between metaphor and symbol;
Metaphor is not profound enough to impress people when it is not a symbol, but it is perfect when it becomes a symbol. "That is to say, (1) symbol is metaphorical, or metaphor is the basis of symbol; (2) Symbol is higher than metaphor, which is the promotion of metaphor, deeper, more perfect and more moving than metaphor.
Regarding the connotation of symbols, he said: "All sounds, all colors, all forms, or because of their internal strength, or because of their profound associations, will arouse some feelings that are difficult to explain in words, but they are very accurate." The relationship between all forms and accurate feeling is the corresponding symbolic relationship. In addition, "an emotion does not exist until it finds its expression-color, sound, shape or both, or it is imperceptible and lifeless." In other words, there is a corresponding symbolic relationship between form and emotion. On the one hand, form can evoke corresponding feelings through symbols; On the other hand, feelings also need to find corresponding forms to express and inject life. Therefore, Ye Zhi believes that "poetry touches us because it is symbolic."
Ye Zhi also put forward specific requirements for the aesthetic style of symbolism poetry:
(1) The practice of "giving up describing nature for the sake of nature and describing moral laws for the sake of moral laws" is not satisfied with expressing the external world, but making poetry "reveal its inner picture"; (2) get rid of the interference of external will, strive for "the recovery of imagination, and realize that only the artistic law (which is the internal law of the world) can control imagination"; (3) With this kind of imagination, we can "find out those wobbly, thought-provoking and energetic rhythms" and discover the beauty of "various forms" and "full of mysterious vitality"; (4) The "form of sincere poetry" should be perfect without analysis, and exquisite with endless new ideas. In fact, these four requirements are to fully express the subtle inner world with the richest imagination, the most perfect form and rhythm on the premise of excluding the interference from the outside world and daily will.
Symbol of emotion and symbol of reason
In his view, the so-called "emotional symbol" is "a symbol that only evokes feelings", while the "rational symbol" is "a symbol that only evokes ideas or adulterates feelings". In Ye Zhi's view, only the combination of the two can give full play to the infinite charm of the symbol. Ye Zhi's Requirements for Symbols: Rational Symbols Containing Emotional Symbols.
Creating symbols in the combination of reason and charm
On the one hand, Ye Zhi realized that the creation of symbols often has an irrational and mysterious side. Ye Zhi believes that the acquisition and creation of artistic symbolic experience needs a mental state like waking up from sleep and ecstasy. When creating and understanding a work of art, especially if it is full of forms, symbols and music, it will lead us to the edge of sleep. This is naturally an almost unconscious irrational state, and real symbols can only germinate in this seemingly mysterious state of mind.
On the other hand, Ye Zhi emphasized the role of reason in cultivating inspiration and symbols. It is believed that all outstanding artists often have some kind of philosophical or critical talent. He said, "It is often this philosophy, or this criticism, that inspires them the most amazing inspiration. By giving some parts of sacred life or some parts of past reality to real life, these parts can cancel what their philosophy or criticism rationally cancels. " So "inspiration appears in an amazing and beautiful form." He profoundly revealed the internal consistency between them and the role of reason in stimulating, catalyzing and cultivating inspiration.
From the viewpoint of attaching importance to rationality, Ye Zhi also criticized some irrational aesthetics.
On "Pure Poetry" of Symbolism
The core of symbolism "pure poetry" theory has two points: first, poetry cannot be contaminated with prose factors, and pure poetry is a kind of poetry that "gradually excludes prose factors in poetry through exhaustive means". Secondly, poetry should be full of musical beauty. This idea advocated by Baudelaire is the consistent creed of symbolist poets. Wei Erlun demanded "music first" and created "romance without words". Gippius put forward that "Poetry is the music that rules the world and the soul" and wrote a poem as beautiful as running water and as magical as witchcraft. Valerie asked poetry to form a pure musical world with novel sounds, rhythms and rhythms. In short, it is two sentences: pure poetry rejects prose culture and must be musicalized.
As an important theoretical category of symbolism poetics, the western theory of "pure poetry" has gone through a gradual historical process such as Poe, Baudelaire and Malamei, and was finally put forward by Valerie. 1920, Valerie put forward the concept of "pure poetry" for the first time in the preface written for Fabres's poetry collection "Goddess of Companion". From 1922 to 1923, Valerie elaborated the theory of "pure poetry":
"I said' pure' and physicists said pure water' pure' is a meaning. I want to say that the problem we have to solve is whether we can create a work that completely excludes non-poetic elements. I used to think, and still think, that this goal can't be achieved, and any poem is just trying to get close to this pure ideal state. ......
"The term" pure poetry "is inappropriate, because in people's minds, it is associated with the concept of moral purity, and we are not involved in this issue here. On the contrary, I think the idea of pure poetry is completely analytical. In a word, pure poetry is an idea gained from observation, which will certainly help us understand the general principles of poetic works and guide us to carry out very arduous and important research on the various and multifaceted relationships between language and its influence on people. It may be more correct to use absolute poetry instead of purified poetry. Absolute poetry should be understood here as an exploration of the relationship between words, or the effect formed by the relationship between words. In fact, it first requires the study of the whole sensory field dominated by language. "
Here, Valerie focuses her thoughts on "pure poetry" on language, and clearly puts forward that "pure poetry" is only a "pure ideal realm" that is attempted to approach but difficult to achieve. Later, Valerie revised and supplemented his theory of "pure poetry" through the discussion of "emphasizing the meaning of poetry".
Pound and Hume's Poetics of Images
Pound's Imagism Poetry Theory
Ezra pound (1885- 1972), an American, published a collection of poems, Dying Light and Poetry. His major theoretical criticism works include The Serious Artist, Romantic Spirit, How to Read, Reading ABC and Pound's Literary Essays.
"Imagism" was formally put forward in the early 20th century. Pound published the works of Park Jung Su and Aldington in the name of "Imagist" in the fourth issue of Poetry Magazine 19 13, and made comments in the sixth issue, putting forward three principles of poetry creation that he and the two have always pursued: "1". For the "things" written, 2. Never use any words that have no effect on expression. 3. About rhythm: Write poems in the order of phrases, not in the rhythm of metronome. " These "three principles" were later called "Imagism Declaration".
Pound s definition of "image";
Pound's imagist poetic theory transcends the western tradition and accepts many oriental aesthetic principles. He compiled a poem by Li Bai called "Collection of Shenzhou". Poetry is an image on the surface, without reasoning, but it actually contains profound significance. )
(1) "Image" is the core category of imagism.
(2) Pound thinks: "An image is a combination of rationality and emotion that appears instantly." (press: also explain "complex").
(3) This definition contains two levels of image structure, the inner layer is "meaning", which is the compound or "compound" of the poet's subjective reason and emotion. The outer layer is an "image" and a "presentation" of an image, both of which are indispensable.
Pound accepted some viewpoints of expressionism and thought that poetry was the expression of thoughts and feelings, especially feelings. "Poetry is the expression of great emotional value" and "emotion is the organizer of form", and the rhythm and rhythm of poetry are organized by emotion. It can be seen that what he emphasizes is the "complexity" or "combination" of the subject's thought or the blending and combination of reason and emotion, which can also be said to be the "meaning" of the image.
Example: Pound wrote in his poem "Subway Platform":
"The faces in the crowd/the petals on the wet and dark branches"
The outer layer uses metaphors to describe the images of faces in the crowd, while the inner layer shows the perishable feeling of urban life.
Pound also made a psychological analysis of the creation and acceptance of images, incisively pointing out that it is the sudden appearance of images that "this' complex' gives people the feeling of sudden liberation; The feeling of freedom that is not limited by time and space, a feeling that we suddenly grow up in front of the greatest works of art. Therefore, he believes that "it is better to describe the image of a person in his life than to write a long work."
In connection with this, Pound also attached great importance to the symbol of poetry, which may be influenced by Ye Zhi to some extent.
Accordingly, he also has strict requirements on the form and skills of poetry. Specifically, the use of language should be as concise as possible, "don't use words and adjectives that can't explain anything in Mandarin"; In prosodic arrangement, "prosodic structure should not damage the formation of language or its natural sound or meaning", which makes poetry more musical.
From the above-mentioned imagist standpoint, Pound's outlook for future poetry is: "It will definitely oppose nonsense and become more solid and sober. ..... Its strength lies in its truth and explanatory power (which has always been the charm of poetry). ..... It is simple and straightforward, and there is no emotional vacillation. "
Hume's Poetics of Images
Thomas Ernest Hume (1883- 19 17), whose main thesis is included in Meditation and Meditation.
First of all, it pursues poetic images and advocates expressing the poet's subtle and complicated thoughts and feelings through images (mainly visual images). He believes that the image of life is the soul of poetry, and the difference between poetry and prose lies in the image. It is believed that "images are born in poetry and gradually die in prose". Put forward the standard that the sincerity of a poet can be measured by the number of his images. He mainly regards image as an accurate visual image and provides this "exquisite schema of image and color".
Secondly, Hume also emphasized the accuracy of image description. He said that "the most important purpose of poetry is correct, accurate and clear description". It is pointed out that in order to fight against everyday language and overcome its limitations, we must use fresh metaphor and fantasy methods.
In addition, it also echoes the symbolic view that emphasizes analogy, suggestion and induction, and requires the poet to "find something that complements each analogy and produce a sense of miracle and connection with another mysterious world."