British poet, critic and magazine editor Arthur Symons was born in Wales, but spent much of his adulthood and academic years in France and Italy. In addition to many collections of verse, he wrote "The Symbolist Movement in Literature" (1899) which draws upon his personal knowledge of French writers such as Paul Verlaine and Stépahen Mallarme and is largely credited with bringing French Symbolism to the attention of Anglo-American literary circles. In this critical work, which had a clear influence on the writings of such major poets as William Butler Yeats and T. S. Eliot, Symons described Symbolist literature as evoking the "unseen reality apprehended by the consciousness." Although he suffered a mental breakdown in 1909, Symons recovered and managed to salvage his literary career, although never quite regaining the popularity he had enjoyed earlier in life.... More • http://www.blackcatp ... ymons.html View • Books • Images • Videos • Search Related • Poets • Great Britain • Literature • 20th Century