Symbolists pay attention to describing personal phantoms and inner feelings, and rarely involve a wide range of social themes; In terms of artistic methods, it denies vague rhetoric and blunt preaching, and emphasizes the creation with textured images and the methods of suggestion, comparison and association. In addition, symbolism literary works pay more attention to musicality and rhythm.
As an international literary trend of thought, symbolism has different development characteristics in different countries and regions, which involves complex factors such as national temperament, cultural tradition and writer's personal temperament. French symbolism is purer, while Anglo-American symbolism is more complicated.
Symbolic literature has achieved the highest achievement in the field of poetry, and many of the greatest poets in the 20th century can be classified as symbolic poets. In addition, symbolism has also made some achievements in the field of drama. The philosophical basis of symbolism art is subjective idealism. On the subject matter, it shows the decadent thoughts and feelings of some intellectuals at the end of the century and their pursuit of morbid "fanaticism of mind and function"