Mallarmé Codifies Symbolist Oneiric Aesthetics
Poet involved
What happened
Stéphane Mallarmé hosted his influential 'Mardis' (Tuesday evening salons) on the Rue de Rome in Paris, establishing the theoretical bedrock for the Symbolist movement. Mallarmé argued that poetry should not name things directly but rather evoke their psychological essence, treating the poem as an elusive musical score that hovers like a dream. This period marked a definitive rejection of Parnassian realism in favor of a hyper-refined, internal world where syntax mimics the fluid, shifting suggestions of the subconscious.
Literary impact
Mallarmé's masterpiece 'L'après-midi d'un faune' explored the sensory, ambiguous boundary between a faun's waking memories and erotic dreams. This work redefined modern poetic composition, showing that keeping an object permanently shrouded in a dreamlike suggestion is vastly more evocative than clear, rational description.
Source: Wikipedia
