Romanticism and Symbolism: Key Literary Movements

Romanticism in the 19th Century

Definition: Romanticism is defined as a school, a movement, and a flow. It was a school because it had a leader (Victor Hugo); a literary and artistic movement; and a current because it swept through all disciplines, including philosophy, economics, and politics.

• Origins: It began in Germany and England, immediately reaching France before spreading throughout the rest of Europe.
• Lyricism: The primary goal is to express feelings and ideas.
• Fantasia: There is a prevalence of fantasy and imagination. Unlike Neoclassicism, which was a rational and regulatory art form, Romanticism embraces the irrational.
• Loneliness and Melancholy: These are the central themes of Romanticism. Melancholy was often so profound it could lead to suicide.
• Landscaping: A love for wild nature (rather than manicured gardens), featuring landscapes in the moonlight, twilight, and abandoned cemeteries. In the plastic arts, it seeks to imitate reality (naturalism), serving as a consolation for the romantic soul.
• Idealism: The idealization of love, women, and art becomes a reality in the search for perfection.
• Open Form: There are no rules governing inspiration or the style of writing (rhymes, metrics, etc.). It is an art that inspires freedom and avoids limiting the artist.

Symbolism (1880-1900)

• Musicality: Music is vital as it is the only medium capable of expressing what cannot be captured in words. Rhyme is preferably assonant.
• Suggestive Power: The goal is for the reader to recreate a condition similar to the creative experience. Language holds a double value: expressive and suggestive.
• Imagination: Much like in Romanticism, imagination remains in the foreground.
• Mystery: To name an object is to diminish it. Unlike Romantic poetry, which is confessional, Symbolists believed things should not be said directly; instead, one must create mystery.
• Symbol: When thoughts go beyond abstract logic, symbols are needed to represent those ideas. A symbol is a metaphor used repeatedly with a consistent meaning.
• Synesthesia: The fusion of sensations—where the ear "sees" or the sight "hears." For example, a sound might be described as "sweet as the oboe."
• Correspondences: These are associations between the material and spiritual worlds. Symbolism does not try to represent reality emotionally (like Romanticism) or scientifically (like Naturalism), but to overcome it to reach an "over-reality" (a precursor to Surrealism). Example: "corrupted perfumes, rich and triumphant."
• Free Verse: There are no rules; each poet chooses the structure that suits them best.