Symbol and myth in the French Symbolist movement: Henri de Régnier

Abstract

The present work addresses the importance of symbol in the French symbolist movement. Symbol is the element on where the symbolic aesthetics is based. The symbolist poets will also use the myth, which is considerated like a symbol to embody their intense worries and to illustrate this idealistic thinking. To show the fundamental relation, which joins both elements, we will focus on four of the most important myths of the fin-de-siècle: Narcissus, Psyque, Orpheus and Pygmalion by means of examples torn from Henri de Régnier’s work. These myths reveal one of the great interests of the fin-de-siècle period: the self/other dichotomy.