The Symbolist Movement in LiteratureSymons, Arthur
History
The Symbolist Movement in Literature
Symons, Arthur
French literature -- 19th century -- History and criticism; Symbolism (Literary movement) -- France
All mystics being concerned with what is divine in life, with the
laws which apply equally to time and eternity, it may happen to one to
concern himself chiefly with time seen under the aspect of eternity, to
another to concern himself rather with eternity seen under the aspect
of time. Thus many mystics have occupied themselves, very profitably,
with showing how natural, how explicable on their own terms, are
the mysteries of life; the whole aim of Maeterlinck is to show how
mysterious all life is, "what an astonishing thing it is, merely to
live." What he had pointed out to us, with certain solemn gestures,
in his plays, he sets himself now to affirm, slowly, fully, with that
"confidence in mystery" of which he speaks. Because "there is not an
hour without its familiar miracles and its ineffable suggestions," he
sets himself to show us these miracles and these meanings where others
have not always sought or found them, in women, in children, in the
theatre. He seems to touch, at one moment or another, whether he is
discussing _La Beauté Intérieure_ or _Le Tragique Quotidien,_ on all
of these hours, and there is no hour so dark that his touch does not
illuminate it.
And it is characteristic of him, of his "confidence in mystery,"
that he speaks always without raising his voice, without surprise or
triumph, or the air of having said anything more than the simplest
observation. He speaks, not as if he knew more than others, or had
sought out more elaborate secrets, but as if he had listened more
attentively.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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