symbolists
Dreamlike poetry movement
Symbolists are adherents of symbolism, particularly the late 19th-century artistic and literary movement that rejected realism in favor of suggestion, mood, and hidden meaning.
The French symbolist poets—Baudelaire, Mallarmé, Verlaine—sought to evoke rather than describe, using symbols to access deeper truths.
More broadly, symbolists are those who interpret or communicate through symbols rather than literal representation.
French decadent poet
- decadenceMoral decline through excess
- fin de siècleCentury's closing cultural moment
- aestheticismValuing beauty above ethics
- manifestoPublished statement of principles
avant-garde · literary · synesthesia · hermeticism · allegory · nuance · ambiguity · esoteric
Metered poetic passage
- imageryVivid descriptive language
- metaphorImplied identity comparison
- suggestionIdea proposed for consideration
- evocationCalling forth to mind
musicality · lyricism · diction · cadence · allusion · atmosphere · dreamlike · ambiguity
Surpassing usual limits
- esotericAccessible to few
- occultConcealed from view
- spiritualRelating to the soul
- metaphysicalBeyond the material realm
arcane · sacred · ethereal · numinous · gnosis · alchemy · divination · hidden meaning
Pigment on canvas
- KlimtAustrian symbolist painter
- dreamlikeHazy and fantastical
- mythologicalOf traditional sacred narratives
- allegorySymbolic tale with deeper meaning
decadence · aesthetic · canvas · brushwork · figurative · composition · stylization · ornamentation
Baudelaire
French decadent poet
- decadenceMoral decline through excess
- fin de siècleCentury's closing cultural moment
- aestheticismValuing beauty above ethics
manifesto · avant-garde · literary · synesthesia · hermeticism · allegory · nuance · ambiguity · esoteric · innovation
verse
Metered poetic passage
- imageryVivid descriptive language
- metaphorImplied identity comparison
- suggestionIdea proposed for consideration
evocation · musicality · lyricism · diction · cadence · allusion · atmosphere · dreamlike · ambiguity · synesthesia
transcendence
Surpassing usual limits
metaphysical · arcane · sacred · ethereal · numinous · gnosis · alchemy · divination · hidden meaning · revelation
painting
Pigment on canvas
- KlimtAustrian symbolist painter
- dreamlikeHazy and fantastical
- mythologicalOf traditional sacred narratives
allegory · decadence · aesthetic · canvas · brushwork · figurative · composition · stylization · ornamentation · atmosphere
symbolistsrealists
Those accepting things as-is
naturalists · photorealists · neorealists · Ashcan School · imagists
symbolistsliteralists
Those reading without interpretation
documentarians · empiricists · positivists · materialists · objectivists
- religious symbolismMeaningful imagery in faith
- dream symbolismInterpreting sleep imagery meaning
- color symbolismMeanings assigned to hues
- occult symbolismHidden meaning in sacred signs
- animal symbolismMeanings assigned to creatures
- heart symbolismEmotional meaning of ♥