Who are the Contemporary Symbolists? The Prose Poem and the Decorative-Subjective Approach

In 1891 the Symbolist poet Stéphane Mallarmé, interviewed by Jules Huret was quoted as saying, “To name an object is to remove three-quarters of the enjoyment of a poem, which derives from the pleasure of gradually perceiving it; to suggest it, that is the dream. It is the perfect use of that mystery which is the symbol: to evoke an object little by little […]” This chapter will discuss contemporary examples of the prose poem in reference to its origin as a Symbolist poetic form that allows a space for specific poetic techniques, such as musicality, decorativeness and subjectivity. It will examine the work of contemporary practitioners who are utilising this particularly symbolist approach in their work, with a focus on the poets Cassandra Atherton and Paul Hetherington. It will discuss the prose poem as a symbolist poetic space that prioritises a decorative-descriptive experience for the reader, and contrast its immediate density on the page, often typeset as a square, with the expansive potential the unlineated sentences of prose allow for playfulness and experimentation. Furthermore, the original symbolist poets also sought to combine emotional expression and a surfeit of feelings and sensory experience within their writing, and this chapter discusses how intertextuality and memoir are used by poets I identify as contemporary symbolists in order to achieve similar ends. This chapter examines the ways in which deliberate ambiguity in the use of symbolic imagery, and unsettling subjectivity in the narrative “I,” result in a layering of voices and movements through time periods which creates the suggestion of meaning but no certainty. Based on this critical understanding, the chapter will conclude by reflecting upon this symbolist approach in my own practise.