The Flower of Evil (1857), a collection of poems by French poet Charles Baudelaire, can be regarded as the first poem with symbolic significance. In Flowers of Evil, Baudelaire described morbid sexuality in a perceptual style, praised "the fanaticism of mind and function", but also expressed the pursuit of light and ideal. In the history of literature, Flowers of Evil can be regarded as a transitional work between romanticism and symbolism, which still follows the traditional poetic rhythm and relies on rhetoric. But this is the first poem that takes the ugliness of human nature in the city and society as the aesthetic object, expressing the anxiety and irritability of modern people in the ugliness of society.

The theory and creation of American poet Allan Poe had a great influence on the formation of French symbolism. In the Principles of Poetry Creation, he advocated anti-nature and anti-preaching poetry concepts, emphasizing formal beauty, suggestibility and musicality, which can be regarded as the origin of symbolism theory. Wei Erlun, Rambo, Malarme.

After Baudelaire, paul verlaine (1844- 1896), a famous French poet in 1970s and 1980s, carried forward the symbolist's emphasis on the musicality of poetry. In The Art of Poetry (1884), Wei Erlun argued that poetry should be musical, flowing, hazy and spiritual. The choice of words requires the combination of fuzziness and accuracy; Color halo, not color; Don't use aphorisms and gags. In short, poetry should pursue a pervasive atmosphere. Wei Erlun's poems are kind and natural, and the beauty of rhythm is unique among symbolist poets. Representative works include Three Years Later (1866), Bai Yue, Prison, etc. In the early 1970s, Artur Rambo (1854- 189 1), a talented poet who had a homosexual relationship with Wei Erlun, brought surrealism to French symbolism literature. Symbolists strive to discover (or decipher) the truth hidden behind everyday things, while surrealists further demand that the truth beyond things be created through intuition and fantasy. In this sense, Rambo is a more radical French symbolist poet. Poetry is famous for its gorgeous colors. 187 1 September, the young Rambo came to Paris at the invitation of Wei Erlun, and soon became famous for his poem "Drunk Boat". In this poem, the poet compares himself to a drunken boat without rudder and anchor, drifting freely. The poetic style is complex and gorgeous, and it is a masterpiece in symbolic poetry. In another famous poem "Vowel", Rambo used five different colors to symbolize five vowels in French, and then interwoven the factors of shape, color, taste, audio-visual and movement through specific description to achieve the realm of "synaesthesia". In addition, the prose poem A Season in Hell is also a rare work of genius. Although Rambo and Wei Erlun are very close, their styles are quite different. Wei Erlun is famous for his kind, natural and harmonious phonology, while Rambo is famous for his strange images and dreamy colors. In 19 12, Rambo is regarded as the originator of the emerging surrealist literature.

Stefan Malarme (1842- 1898) is known as "the symbol of symbolism" and is a key figure in the development of symbolism. He was the first poet to systematize the symbolism theory. Malamei put forward the theory of "pure poetry", which holds that poetry exists independently from scratch and transcends experience; Poetry is a kind of magic, which uses spells to create an absolute world with different ideas from the real world. In terms of creative methods, Malamei emphasized the importance of suggestibility. He once said, "naming something will ruin most of the fun of poetry ... the ideal way is to hint at things." Malarme's theory is full of mysticism and aestheticism. He made great achievements in theory and was praised as a leader by contemporary symbolist poets, but his own poems were few. Typical examples are 1887' s poems Swan and Herod, which lasted for more than 20 years. However, Malamei's most famous work is Afternoon of the Faun, written in 1876. This poem was later written by the musician Debussy and widely circulated. This poem is based on the story of the shepherd god pursuing the water fairy in Greek mythology. After 1885, Malamei held a weekly "Tuesday Salon" in her apartment in Paris, which gradually became the center of symbolic literature. At that time, many young European poets visited, and symbolism literature officially surpassed the scope of France and became an international literary movement. Paul valery (187 1- 1945) is the main representative of French symbolist poets in the later period of Valery, Rilke, Ye Zhi and Eliot. He inherited Malamei's pure poetic tradition, but he also integrated philosophical thinking about life and death, change and eternity, movement and quietness into his poems. Her famous work is Young Goddess of Life (19 17), which describes the contradictions and conflicts between different natures of consciousness. From 65438 to 0922, Valery published a collection of poems, The Beauty of Fantasy, which included many excellent poems, including Footsteps, Pomegranate and Fengling. The peak of Valery's life was the seaside cemetery in his later years. The theme of this poem is about the unity of opposites between absolute stillness and life change. The opening sentence "There are white doves rippling on this calm roof" has become a household name. This poem represents that Valery's achievements in poetry creation are higher than those of his predecessor Malamei. Besides Valery, Remy de Gomon (1858- 19 15) and Francis Meyer (1868- 1938) are also French symbolist poets, and their poems are quite similar. The former is soft in style and pays attention to the expression of sense of smell; The latter is famous for its concise language style.

Austrian Lai Na Maria Rilke (1875- 1926) is a representative of symbolism in German literature. In his early years, he served as an assistant to the sculptor Rodin and was inspired by Rodin's sculpture style. His poetic style is exquisite, and his masterpiece Leopard is his sculpture masterpiece. Rilke's works are mainly included in several collections, such as video collection (1906) and new poetry collection (1908). From 65438 to 0922, Rilke moved to Switzerland, which ushered in the peak of his creative career. During this period, he completed the famous group poems Sonnet for Orville and Elegy for Duinnau, which established Rilke as a master of modern poetry. Its style is so obscure that some critics even think it contains many existential views. The systematicness and abstractness of symbolism poetry reached the acme in Rilke's works.

In addition to the European continent, the influence of symbolism also spread to the English-speaking world, mainly represented by Irish William Butler Yeats (1865- 1939) and T. S. Eliot (1888- 1965). Symbolism in Ye Zhi's early poems is closely related to ancient Irish mythology. He used characters, stories and things in myths and legends as symbols. The Adventures of Ausing (1889) is an important work in Ye Zhi's early years. It describes different periods of life with the story of the ancient hero Osin riding a horse. After entering the 20th century, with a large number of political movements and social activities, Ye Zhi's style gradually became clear, and gradually abandoned the early mysticism tendency. His poetry theme began to be closely combined with reality, and his language was more refined, which was a peak in modern English poetry. His later masterpieces include Driving to the Courtyard, Rita and Swan, Among Schoolchildren and so on. Ye Zhi was the first symbolist poet who established his own complicated symbolism system. His theoretical work The Second Sight (1937) involves many poets' own views on history and the world, and contains a wide range of images.

Eliot is a representative figure of American symbolism poetry, and he has made great contributions to both theory and creation. His masterpiece The Waste Land (1922) is regarded as one of the greatest English poems of all time. The Waste Land is based on ancient legends about the Holy Grail, and compares the modern world without faith to a waste land. In his poems, Eliot quoted a lot of myths and legends and symbolic images, and used many ancient and modern languages. Although the poet himself added more than 50 notes to it, few people could understand it. Another important work of Eliot is Quartet, which expresses the poet's thoughts on the unity of opposites between temporality and eternity in a highly abstract way. A striking feature of Eliot's poetry is its close relationship with religion. Both The Waste Land and Quartet embody the view that the ultimate way to save mankind is to convert to religion. 1927, Eliot became a British citizen and turned to religious drama creation.