Impressionism literature and symbolism literature are similar, both of which are formalistic literary schools; But there are also differences between them, mainly because Impressionists are opposed to expressing ideas by symbolic means and tend to describe feelings. Some poets who are usually regarded as symbolism are actually more inclined to impressionism. For example, the poem The Art of Poetry by Paul Welland, one of the leaders of symbolism, is not so much about symbolism as an impressionist declaration.
French literary historians regard the Gongur brothers as the representatives of impressionism novels, while pierre loti, another French poet and novelist who is regarded as the representative of impressionism, indeed, some of his poems "capture the instant feelings and impressions" like impressionism painters, but not all of his works are like this. Some French writers in the 20th century were seriously influenced by Impressionism, and in some novels, only the vague pursuit of feeling and impression was left.
In some works by Wilde and others at the end of UK 19, impressionism tends to be obvious. 1912 ~1918 the imagist school composed of some British and American poets in London, like impressionism, emphasizes the description of sensory impressions, but they claim to pursue a "clear and tough" image. They think that the ambiguity and ambiguity of the image are the remnants of romanticism, so they attack with all their strength. However, the theoretical differences are sometimes difficult to detect in creative practice. For example, many works of American poets such as Imagist Ai Lowell, Xi doolittle and John Gauld Fletcher are inseparable from impressionist poetry.
The situation of German literature is similar, and literary historians can't confirm the impressionism schools with clear boundaries. Headed by Detlef von Lilinkeren, including Richard Daimer, Gustav Falk and others, they are considered to be the most obvious impressionism in Germany, but they emphasize on truthfully recording the poet's feelings and experiences of things, so they are close to naturalism. In addition, many poems, such as Hugo von Hofmannsthal and Arnold Holtz, have different degrees of impressionism.
Impressionism also refers to a kind of literary criticism, which is called impressionist criticism, that is, perceptual criticism. This criticism refuses to make a rational and scientific analysis of the works, but emphasizes the aesthetic intuition of the critics. It believes that the best criticism is only to record the process of critics' feeling beauty, and at most to point out how and under what conditions the impression of beauty is produced. Therefore, impressionism criticism is a vague criticism of "interpreting poetry with poetry", and it is often written in the form of prose poetry, so literary criticism has become an artistic category that is not essentially different from literary creation, and the person who writes this criticism is often a poet or writer himself.