Symbolist Manifesto

symbolism (arts) https //en wikipedia org/wiki/symbolism %28arts%29 google arts & culture — symbolism https //artsandculture google com/entity/m011bwy9t symbolist manifesto https //en wikipedia org/wiki/symbolist manifesto the symbolist manifesto (french le symbolisme ) was published on 18 september 1886 in the https //en wikipedia org/wiki/france newspaper https //en wikipedia org/wiki/le figaro by the https //en wikipedia org/wiki/greece born poet and essayist https //en wikipedia org/wiki/jean mor%c3%a9as it describes a new literary movement, an evolution from and rebellion against both romanticism and naturalism, and it asserts the name of https //en wikipedia org/wiki/symbolism (arts) as not only the appropriate for that movement, but also uniquely reflective of how creative minds approach the creation of art the manifesto was also intended to serve more practical, immediate needs moréas, together with https //en wikipedia org/wiki/gustave kahn and others, felt a need to distinguish themselves from a group of writers associated with anatole baju and le décadent for moréas and kahn's group, the self identified decadent writers represented both an earlier stage of development on the path towards symbolism, and also a frivolous exploitation of the language and techniques of the movement definition became especially important with the publication of les deliquescence d'adore floupette , a work of intentional parody whose mimicry was technically perfect, but whose content was a mockery of what was important to moréas, kahn, and their group unfortunately, because of the skill with which it was executed, the reading public thought that les deliquescence was representative of this new literature clarification was essential the manifesto unfolds as an introduction establishing the purpose of the document and then three stages an opening argument, a dramatic intermezzo, and a closing argument opening argument the first stage of making the case for symbolism is an aggressive and frank definition of the movement, its beliefs and priorities as a reaction against the authority of rational naturalism, the manifesto describes symbolists as enemies "of education, declamation, wrong feelings, \[and] objective description " as a reaction against the newly self styled decadents, the manifesto goes on to stipulate the primacy of "the idea " the purpose of creativity is to find an appropriate way to subjectively express the idea through extravagant analogy, using natural and concrete things to obliquely reference "primordial ideas " against charges of obscurity resulting from this approach, the manifesto simply points to many allegorical or obscurely symbolic characters from widely accepted literature the conclusion of the opening argument is an explanation of the style itself moréas lays forth the sort of paradox that is typical for symbolist art when he talks about the rhythm of their writing ancient but lively, chaotic but ordered, fluid but boldly assertive he then gives an appropriately colorful and obscure description of their literary technique an archetypal and complex style; of unpolluted terms, periods which brace themselves alternating with periods of undulating lapses, significant pleonasms, mysterious ellipses, outstanding anacoluthia, any audacious and multiform surplus; finally the good language – instituted and updated–, good and luxuriant and energetic french language dramatic intermezzo the second portion of the manifesto is a brief drama in two scenes, featuring poet https //en wikipedia org/wiki/th%c3%a9odore de banville whose 1871 work petit traité de poésie française ("a small treatise on french poetry") helped to liberate french poets from traditions and rules that prevented the free exercise of their creativity different qualities of the french language lent themselves to different kinds of poetic rhythm and structures he also increased the emphasis on poetry as an exercise for the poet in developing clever rhyming games there are three characters in the drama a detractor of the symbolic school, mr theodore de banville, and erato in the first scene, detractor melodramatically raises a series of charges against symbolism and de banville stands in for the defense of the movement the charges of interest are grandiloquence, a vainglorious spririt, violation of the rules of poetry, and the continuing importance of romantic literature de branville responds aptly to each charge and does so in a way that allows him to drive home some of the important emphases of the symbolist movement truth in excess and extravagance truth in apparent chaos and insanity truth in subjective experience the danger of platitudes and natural banality the constant need to be ever more audacious the risk of what was once rebellious to become conformist in the second scene, erato praises de banville for petit traité de poésie française , but speaks on behalf of the young poets of this new movement, who feel abandoned by him de banville makes a brief lament and leaves, described in the text with a sly reference to his work, the exiles that collection of poetry was de banville's most personal attempt to pour all of himself in the name of all those who have been abandoned closing argument the manifesto concludes by first explaining the power of art and literature to bring together streams of thought and transform them into new and grand things, implying both its grandeur and its wonder moréas credits writers of other traditions with their accomplishments in this regard, but then argues that symbolists are uniquely positioned to deal with the essence of life the human being within a reality that has been distorted by his own hallucinations symbolists are free to work with things both mechanical and mythical, things seen ahead and recalled from behind the final words of the symbolist manifesto are that "art would not know how to search into the objective, what an extremely succinct and simple starting point " for thus art must do its searching within the subjective roots according to the manifesto, there are traces of early symbolism in the work of https //en wikipedia org/wiki/alfred de vigny , https //en wikipedia org/wiki/william shakespeare , and unnamed others specific credit was also given to https //en wikipedia org/wiki/victor hugo for the manner in which his french romantic literature established the precedent of change the manifesto situates symbolist novel writing in the realm established by such authors as https //en wikipedia org/wiki/stendhal , https //en wikipedia org/wiki/honor%c3%a9 de balzac , https //en wikipedia org/wiki/gustave flaubert , and https //en wikipedia org/wiki/edmond de goncourt , and https //en wikipedia org/wiki/%c3%89mile zola these authors exhibited craftsmanship that moréas respected, and some of them shared a disillusion with human progress, but they explored all that in a way that assumed the objectivity of human reality and primacy of the natural world the manifesto identifies a few poets as most immediately responsible for developing this current symbolism https //en wikipedia org/wiki/charles baudelaire , https //en wikipedia org/wiki/st%c3%a9phane mallarm%c3%a9 , https //en wikipedia org/wiki/paul verlaine , and https //en wikipedia org/wiki/th%c3%a9odore de banville symbolism was seen, however as a work in progress, constantly being refined, including by the efforts of those writers moréas left the door open, as well, for newcomers to shape the movement even further influence and legacy it is important to note that moréas did not choose to publish the symbolist manifesto in a small publication such as the short lived la vogue or le symboliste , even though he helped run the latter instead, he chose to first publish in le temps , one of the major newspapers in paris after generating some immediate heat, he was then given the opportunity to publish the piece in le figaro this scope of publication, including le figaro 's status as highest circulating paper, ensured the attention of readers, writers, and the general public alike the impact of the manifesto was tremendous the writers who were part of this movement were recognized as symbolists and the only traces of the old "decadence" were primarily those affiliated with anatole baju, precisely those that moréas wished to be regarded as distinct from his own group at the same time, it made the symbolist label the new go to for anti establishment writers, and, apart from baju's group, many writers who had been called decadent previously were now called symbolist, not because of any change in their perspective or method, but because of a change in the jargon as a bold, clear statement of symbolism, le symbolisme is often taken as the model document for all symbolism, but it is the statement of jean moréas on behalf of a movement with no formal membership even close allies wrote their own responses to the manifesto, differing on points of evidence gustave kahn, for example, preferred to situate symbolism in the realm of impressionism rather than as an evolution of naturalism moréas’ symbolist manifesto as translated by c liszt jean moréas as with all arts, literature evolves a cyclical evolution with strictly determined returns and which become more complicated of various modifications brought by the step of time and the confusion of circles it would be superfluous to point out that every new progressive stage of art corresponds exactly to senile degeneration, at the ineluctable end of the immediately previous school two examples will be enough ronsard triumphs over the impotence of the last impressionists of marot, romanticism unfurls its royal flag on the classical debris badly kept by casimir delavigne and steven de jouy it is because any demonstration of art succeeds inevitably in becoming impoverished, in exhausting itself; then, of copy in copy, simulation in simulation, what was full of sap and freshness becomes dried out and shriveled; what was the new and the unprompted becomes banal and commonplace so romanticism, having sounded all the tumultuous warning bells of uprising, had its days of glory and battle, lost of its force and its favour, abdicated its heroic boldness, became ordered and classified, sceptical and full of common sense; in the honorable and mean minded attempts of the parnassians, romanticism hoped for a false resurgence, only finally, such a monarch had to fall into senile decay, and in the end was only able to be dethroned for the naturalism in which one could grant seriously a value of protest only, legitimate but poorly advised, against the insipidity of some novelists then in fashion one waited for a new manifestation of art therefore, necessary, unavoidable this manifestation, brooded for a long time, has just hatched and every insignificant practical joke of the cheery eyed press, all the anxieties of the serious critics, every bad mood of the surprised public in its sheepish carelessness, are only bringing about this actual evolution in french letters more and more every day, this evolution which impatient judges have noted to be, by an incredible antinomy, decadent however, decadent literature is principally tough, stringy, timorous and servile all the tragedies of voltaire, for instance, are marked with these signs of decadence and for what of these reproaches can be claimed as regards the new school? the abuse of pomp, strangeness of metaphor, a new vocabulary or harmony go together with colours and lines characteristics of any revival we have already offered the name of symbolism as the only one able of indicating reasonably the actual tendencies of the creative mind in art this name can be supported it was said at the beginning of this article that the developments of art offer cyclical extremely complicated differences for example, to track the exact parentage of the new school we should go back to certain poems of alfred de vigny , and on up to shakespeare, even mystical, even further these issues would require a volume of reviews, saying that charles baudelaire therefore must be considered the true forerunner of the current movement, mr stéphane mallarmé subdivides the sense of mystery and the ineffable mr paul verlaine broke his honor in the cruel hindrances to poetry that the prestigious fingers of mr theodore de banville had softened up before him but the supreme enchantment is not yet consummated a persistent and jealous labor invites newcomers enemy of education, declamation, wrong feelings, objective description, symbolist poetry tries to dress the idea in a sensitive form which, however, would not be its sole purpose, but furthermore that, while serving to express the idea in itself, would remain subjective the idea, in its turn, should not be allowed to be seen deprived of the sumptuous lounge robes of exteranous analogies; because the essential character of symbolic art consists in never approaching the concentrated kernel of the idea in itself so, in this art, the pictures of nature, the actions of human beings, all concrete phenomena would not themselves know how to manifest themselves; these are presented as the sensitive appearance destined to represent their esoteric affinity with primordial ideas the accusation of obscurity that has been made as regards such aesthetics by readers with broken staffs is not surprising but what do we make of this? the pythian odes of pindar, hamlet of shakespeare, the vita nuova of dante, the second faust of goethe, the temptation of saint antoine of flaubert were not they also taxed by ambiguity? for the precise translation of its synthesis, it is necessary for symbolism to take on an archetypal and complex style; of unpolluted terms, periods which brace themselves alternating with periods of undulating lapses, significant pleonasms, mysterious ellipses, outstanding anacoluthia, any audacious and multiform surplus; finally the good language – instituted and updated–, good and luxuriant and energetic french language from before vaugelas and boileau despréaux, the language of françois rabelais and philippe de commines, villon, ruteboeuf and so many other free writers hurling their acute language in the same manner as the toxotes of thrace hurled their snaky arrows rhythm the ancient metric enlivened; a chaos learnedly ordered; the rhyme illucescente and beaten as a buckler of gold and bronze, to rhymes of unintelligible fluidity; the alexandrine with numerous and mobile stopping; the job of first certain numbers – seven, nine, eleven, thirteen – bold in the various rhythmic combinations of which they are the price here i ask the permission of you to act out my small intermezzo drawn from a precious book the treaty of french poetry, where mr theodore de banville made to relentlessly incite, such the god of claros, monstrous donkey ears on the head of many a midas the figures who speak in the room are a detractor of the symbolic school mr theodore de banville erato the detractor – oh! these decadent! what a grandiloquence! what a rigmarole! our grand molière was right when he said this style represents a vainglory which they call fate of good character and the truth theodore de banville – our grand molière describes two evils towards which they themselves bring out as many good characters as possible of what good character? of what truth? apparent disorder, bright insanity, passionate grandiloquence are the truth of lyric poetry to fall in the excess of figures and colour, the evil is not great and it is not thereabouts that our literature will perish in the most poor days, when it expires undoubtedly, as for instance under the first empire, it is not grandiloquence and abuse of the ornaments which kill it, it is the platitude taste and the natural are nice things surely less useful in poetry than they think the romeo and juliet of shakespeare is throughout written in a style as affected as that of the marquis of mascarille; that of ducis shines with the happiest and most natural simplicity the detractor – but the caesura, the caesura! they violate the caesura!! theodore de banville – in his remarkable prosody published in 1844, mr wilhem tenint establishes that alexandrine poetry accepts twelve different combinations, on the basis of poetry with its caesura after the first syllable, to arrive at poetry which has its caesura after the eleventh syllable it amounts to saying that in reality the caesura can be put after any syllable of alexandrine poetry also, it establishes that it is acceptable to have poems with caesuras after the sixth, seventh, eighth, or ninth, or tenth syllables, of all manner of variety and diverse placement let us go further let us dare to proclaim complete freedom and say that in these complex questions the ear decides alone they perish always without ever having been too audacious but rather not having been audacious enough the detractor – terror! you do not respect the alternation of rhymes! you know, mister, that the decadent dare to afford even gaps! even gaps!! theodore de banville – gaps, the diphthong clearing up syllables in the poem, all other things which were forbidden and especially the facultative job of the masculine and female rhymes provides the poet of genius one thousand means to create delicate effects always various, unforeseen, and bottomless but to use this complicated and learned poetry, genius and a musical ear is needed, while with the fixed rules, the most mediocre writers can, by obeying them truthfully, make, alas! fairly good poems! who therefore earned anything in the regulation of poetry? the mediocre poets themselves! the detractor – it seems to me however that the romantic revolution… theodore de banville – romanticism was an incomplete revolution whatever misfortune victor hugo, that victorious hercules with his bloody hands, is not an absolute revolutionary he let live a party of monsters who were his responsibility to exterminate with his arrows of fire! the detractor – any renovation is madness! the simulation of victor hugo, here is the starting point of french poetry! theodore de banville – when hugo emancipated poetry, those who taught using his example had to think the poets to come would like him be free and only constrained by they themselves but this has become for us a love of servitude which the new poets have copied and imitated in their envy for his forms, the combinations, the chalice, the further habits of hugo, rather than endeavoring to find the new that’s how, manufactured for the yoke, we fall again from one serfhood into another one after the classical banality, there was the romantic banality, the banality of the chalice, the banality of sentences, the banality of rhymes; and the banality, that is to say the commonplace become a compulsive thing, in poetry as anywhere else, it is death contrariwise, let us dare to live! and to live it is to sniff the air of the sky and not the breath of our neighbour, this neighbour he should be a god! (invisible) erato – your treaty of french poetry is a delightful, chief work banville but the young poets have some blood until with eyes battling against monsters they graze by the side of nicolas boileau; they claim you in the field of honour, and you are silent mister banville! theodore de banville (dreamer) – curse! i would have failed in my duty of elder and of lyricist! (the author of the exiles pushes out a pitiful sigh and the intermezzo finishes ) prose – novels, news, stories, fancies, – evolves in a similar sense as does the poem elements, seemingly heterogeneous, coincide in that place stendhal brings the translucent psychology, balzac the swelling vision, flaubert the cadenzas of sentences in ample volutes mr edmund de goncourt his evocative modernist impressionism the comprehension of the symbolic novel is polymorphous sometimes a unique figure moves in circles distorted by his clean hallucinations, his constitution; in this distortion lies the only reality beings in a mechanical gesture, in shaded silhouettes, fidget around the unique personage these are to him only pretexts to feeling and to guess work this in itself is a tragic or farcical mask, of a humanity nevertheless perfect although rational – sometimes the mob, superficially affected by the ensemble of ambient representations, itself borne along with these alternatives, these conflicts and stagnances towards acts which will abide in incompletion by instants, individual wills manifest themselves; they earn, gather together, spread for a purpose which, attained or missed, disperses them in the primitive elements – sometimes mythical recalled fantasies, from ancient démogorgôn through bélial, from kabires through nigromans, appear sumptuously grouped on the rock of caliban or by the forest of titania in mixolydian modes of the barbitons and octocordes so contemptuous of the babyish method of naturalism, – mr zola, shone, was saved by his marvellous writer’s instinct – the symbolic novel – impressionism will build up its edifice of subjective perversion, based on this axiom that art would not know how to search into the objective, what an extremely succinct and simple starting point http //www mutablesound com/home/?p=2165 jean moréas, "manifeste du symbolisme", le figaro, 18 septembre 1886 depuis deux ans, la presse parisienne s'est beaucoup occupée d'une école de poètes et de prosateurs dits "décadents" le conteur du thé chez miranda (en collaboration avec m paul adam, l'auteur de soi), le poète des syrtes et des cantilènes, m jean moréas, un des plus en vue parmi ces révolutionnaires des lettres, a formulé, sur notre demande, pour les lecteurs du supplément, les principes fondamentaux de la nouvelle manifestation d'art le symbolisme par jean moréas paru dans le figaro , le samedi18 septembre 1886 comme tous les arts, la littérature évolue évolution cyclique avec des retours strictement déterminés et qui se compliquent des diverses modifications apportées par la marche du temps et les bouleversements des milieux il serait superflu de faire observer que chaque nouvelle phase évolutive de l'art correspond exactement à la décrépitude sénile, à l'inéluctable fin de l'école immédiatement antérieure deux exemples suffiront ronsard triomphe de l'impuissance des derniers imitateurs de marot, le romantisme éploie ses oriflammes sur les décombres classiques mal gardés par casimir delavigne et étienne de jouy c'est que toute manifestation d'art arrive fatalement à s'appauvrir, à s'épuiser ; alors, de copie en copie, d'imitation en imitation, ce qui fut plein de sève et de fraîcheur se dessèche et se recroqueville ; ce qui fut le neuf et le spontané devient le poncif et le lieu commun ainsi le romantisme, après avoir sonné tous les tumultueux tocsins de la révolte, après avoir eu ses jours de gloire et de bataille, perdit de sa force et de sa grâce, abdiqua ses audaces héroïques, se fit rangé, sceptique et plein de bon sens ; dans l'honorable et mesquine tentative des parnassiens, il espéra de fallacieux renouveaux, puis finalement, tel un monarque tombé en enfance, il se laissa déposer par le naturalisme auquel on ne peut accorder sérieusement qu'une valeur de protestation, légitime mais mal avisée, contre les fadeurs de quelques romanciers alors à la mode une nouvelle manifestation d'art était donc attendue, nécessaire, inévitable cette manifestation, couvée depuis longtemps, vient d'éclore et toutes les anodines facéties des joyeux de la presse, toutes les inquiétudes des critiques graves, toute la mauvaise humeur du public surpris dans ses nonchalances moutonnières ne font qu'affirmer chaque jour davantage la vitalité de l'évolution actuelle dans les lettres françaises, cette évolution que des juges pressés notèrent, par une incroyable antinomie, de décadence remarquez pourtant que les littératures décadentes se révèlent essentiellement coriaces, filandreuses, timorées et serviles toutes les tragédies de voltaire, par exemple, sont marquées de ces tavelures de décadence et que peut on reprocher, que reproche t on à la nouvelle école ? l'abus de la pompe, l'étrangeté de la métaphore, un vocabulaire neuf ou les harmonies se combinent avec les couleurs et les lignes caractéristiques de toute renaissance nous avons déjà proposé la dénomination de symbolisme comme la seule capable de désigner raisonnablement la tendance actuelle de l'esprit créateur en art cette dénomination peut être maintenue il a été dit au commencement de cet article que les évolutions d'art offrent un caractère cyclique extrêmement compliqué de divergences ainsi, pour suivre l'exacte filiation de la nouvelle école, il faudrait remonter jusqu'à certains poèmes d'alfred de vigny, jusques à shakespeare, jusqu'aux mystiques, plus loin encore ces questions demanderaient un volume de commentaires ; disons donc que charles baudelaire doit être considéré comme le véritable précurseur du mouvement actuel ; m stéphane mallarmé le lotit du sens du mystère et de l'ineffable ; m paul verlaine brisa en son honneur les cruelles entraves du vers que les doigts prestigieux de m théodore de banville avaient assoupli auparavant cependant le suprême enchantement n'est pas encore consommé un labeur opiniâtre et jaloux sollicite les nouveaux venus ennemie de l'enseignement, la déclamation, la fausse sensibilité, la description objective, la poésie symbolique cherche à vêtir l’idée d'une forme sensible qui, néanmoins, ne serait pas son but à elle même, mais qui, tout en servant à exprimer l'idée, demeurerait sujette l'idée, à son tour, ne doit point se laisser voir privée des somptueuses simarres des analogies extérieures ; car le caractère essentiel de l'art symbolique consiste à ne jamais aller jusqu'à la concentration de l'idée en soi ainsi, dans cet art, les tableaux de la nature, les actions des humains, tous les phénomènes concrets ne sauraient se manifester eux mêmes ; ce sont là des apparences sensibles destinées à représenter leurs affinités ésotériques avec des idées primordiales l'accusation d'obscurité lancée contre une telle esthétique par des lecteurs à bâtons rompus n'a rien qui puisse surprendre mais qu'y faire ? les pythiques de pindare, l’ hamlet de shakespeare, la vita nuova de dante, le second faust de goethe, la tentation de saint antoine de flaubert ne furent ils pas aussi taxés d'ambiguïté ? pour la traduction exacte de sa synthèse, il faut au symbolisme un style archétype et complexe ; d'impollués vocables, la période qui s'arc boute alternant avec la période aux défaillances ondulées, les pléonasmes significatifs, les mystérieuses ellipses, l'anacoluthe en suspens, tout trop hardi et multiforme ; enfin la bonne langue – instaurée et modernisée –, la bonne et luxuriante et fringante langue française d'avant les vaugelas et les boileau despréaux, la langue de françois rabelais et de philippe de commines, de villon, de ruteboeuf et de tant d'autres écrivains libres et dardant le terme acut du langage, tels des toxotes de thrace leurs flèches sinueuses le rythme l'ancienne métrique avivée ; un désordre savamment ordonné ; la rime illucescente et martelée comme un bouclier d'or et d'airain, auprès de la rime aux fluidités absconses ; l'alexandrin à arrêts multiples et mobiles ; l'emploi de certains nombres premiers – sept, neuf, onze, treize – résolus en les diverses combinaisons rythmiques dont ils sont les sommes ici je demande la permission de vous faire assister à mon petit intermede tiré d’un précieux livre le traité de poésie française , où m théodore de banville fait pousser impitoyablement, tel le dieu de claros, de monstrueuses oreilles d’âne sur la tête de maint midas attention ! les personnages qui parlent dans la pièce sont un detracteur de l’ecole symbolique m theodore de banville erato scène première le detracteur oh ! ces décadents ! quelle emphase ! quel galimatias ! comme notre grand molière avait raison quand il a dit ce style figuré dont on fait vanité sort du bon caractère et de la vérité theodore de banville notre grand molière commit là deux mauvais vers qui eux mêmes sortent autant que possible du bon caractère de quel bon caractère ? de quelle vérité ? le désordre apparent, la démence éclatante, l’emphase passionnée sont la vérité même de la poésie lyrique tomber dans l’excès des figures et de la couleur, le mal n’est pas grand et ce n’est pas par là que périra notre littérature aux plus mauvais jours, quand elle expire décidément, comme par exemple sous le premier empire, ce n’est pas l’emphase et l’abus des ornements qui la tuent, c’est la platitude le goût, le naturel sont de belles choses assurément moins utiles qu’on ne le pense à la poésie le roméo et juliette de shakespeare est écrit d’un bout à l’autre dans un style aussi affecté que celui du marquis de mascarille ; celui de ducis brille par la plus heureuse et la plus naturelle simplicité le detracteur mais la césure, la césure ! on viole la césure !! theodore de banville dans sa remarquable prosodie publiée en 1844, m wilhem tenint établit que le vers alexandrin admet douze combinaisons différentes, en partant du vers qui a sa césure après la première syllabe, pour arriver au vers qui a sa césure après la onzième syllabe cela revient à dire qu’en réalité la césure peut être placée après n’importe quelle syllabe du vers alexandrin de même, il établit que les vers de six, de sept, de huit, de neuf, de dix syllabes admettent des césures variables et diversement placées faisons plus osons proclamer la liberté complète et dire qu’en ces questions complexes l’oreille décide seule on périt toujours non pour avoir été trop hardi mais pour n’avoir pas été assez hardi le detracteur horreur ! ne pas respecter l’alternance des rimes ! savez vous, monsieur, que les décadents osent se permettre même l’hiatus ! même l’hiatus !! theodore de banville l’hiatus, la diphtongue faisant syllabe dans le vers, toutes les autres choses qui ont été interdites et surtout l’emploi facultatif des rimes masculines et féminines fournissaient au poète de génie mille moyens d’effets délicats toujours variés, inattendus, inépuisables mais pour se servir de ce vers compliqué et savant, il fallait du génie et une oreille musicale, tandis qu’avec les règles fixes, les écrivains les plus médiocres peuvent, en leur obéissant fidèlement, faire, hélas ! des vers passables ! qui donc a gagné quelque chose à la réglementation de la poésie ? les poètes médiocres eux seuls ! le detracteur il me semble pourtant que la révolution romantique theodore de banville le romantisme a été une révolution incomplète quel malheur que victor hugo, cet hercule victorieux aux mains sanglantes, n’ait pas été un révolutionnaire tout à fait et qu’il ait laissé vivre une partie des monstres qu’il était chargé d’exterminer avec ses flèches de flammes ! le detracteur toute rénovation est folie ! l’imitation de victor hugo, voilà le salut de la poésie française ! theodore de banville lorsque hugo eut affranchi le vers, on devait croire qu’instruits à son exemple les poètes venus après lui voudraient être libres et ne relever que d’eux mêmes mais tel est en nous l’amour de la servitude que les nouveaux poètes copièrent et imitèrent à l’envi les formes, les combinaisons et les coupes les plus habituelles de hugo, au lieu de s’efforcer d’en trouver de nouvelles c’est ainsi que, façonnés pour le joug, nous retombons d’un esclavage dans un autre, et qu’après les poncifs classiques , il y a eu des poncifs romantiques , poncifs de coupes, poncifs de phrases, poncifs de rimes ; et le poncif, c’est à dire le lieu commun passé à l’état chronique, en poésie comme en toute autre chose, c’est la mort au contraire, osons vivre ! et vivre c’est respirer l’air du ciel et non l’haleine de notre voisin, ce voisin fût il un dieu ! scène ii erato ( invisible ) votre petit traité de poésie française est un ouvrage délicieux, maître banville mais les jeunes poètes ont du sang jusques aux yeux en luttant contre les monstres affenés par nicolas boileau ; on vous réclame au champ d’honneur, et vous vous taisez maître banville ! theodore de banville ( rêveur ) malédiction ! aurais je failli à mon devoir d’aîné et de poète lyrique ! (l’auteur des exilés pousse un soupir lamentable et l’intermède finit ) la prose, romans, nouvelles, contes, fantaisies, évolue dans un sens analogue à celui de la poésie des éléments, en apparence hétérogènes, y concourent stendhal apporte sa psychologie translucide, balzac sa vision exorbitée, flaubert ses cadences de phrases aux amples volutes m edmond de goncourt son impressionnisme modernement suggestif la conception du roman symbolique est polymorphe tantôt un personnage unique se meut dans des milieux déformés par ses hallucinations propres, son tempérament ; en cette déformation gît le seul réel des êtres au geste mécanique, aux silhouettes obombrées, s’agitent autour du personnage unique ce ne lui sont que prétextes à sensations et à conjectures lui même est un masque tragique ou bouffon, d’une humanité toutefois parfaite bien que rationnelle tantôt des foules, superficiellement affectées par l’ensemble des représentations ambiantes, se portent avec des alternatives de heurts et de stagnances vers des actes qui demeurent inachevés par moments, des volontés individuelles se manifestent ; elles s’attirent, s’agglomèrent, se généralisent pour un but qui, atteint ou manqué, les disperse en leurs éléments primitifs tantôt de mythiques phantasmes évoqués, depuis l’antique démogorgôn jusques à bélial, depuis les kabires jusques aux nigromans, apparaissent fastueusement atournés sur le roc de caliban ou par la forêt de titania aux modes mixolydiens des barbitons et des octocordes ainsi dédaigneux de la méthode puérile du naturalisme, m zola, lui, fut sauvé par un merveilleux instinct d’écrivain le roman symbolique impressionniste édifiera son oeuvre de déformation subjective, fort de cet axiome que l’art ne saurait chercher en l’objectif qu’un simple point de départ extrêmement succinct jean moréas http //www berlol net/chrono/chr1886a htm google arts & culture — symbolism https //artsandculture google com/entity/m011bwy9t