Arthur William Symons (28 February 186522 January 1945) was a British poet, critic and magazine editor.

Life

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

, to Cornish parents, Symons was educated privately, spending much of his time in France and Italy. In 1884–1886, he edited four of Bernard Quaritch's ''Shakespeare Quarto Facsimiles'', and in 1888–1889 seven plays of the ''"

Henry Irving Sir Henry Irving (6 February 1838 – 13 October 1905), christened John Henry Brodribb, sometimes known as J. H. Irving, was an English stage actor in the Victorian era, known as an actor-manager because he took complete responsibility ...

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

''. He became a member of the staff of the '' Athenaeum'' in 1891, and of the '' Saturday Review'' in 1894, but his major editorial feat was his work with the short-lived '' Savoy''. His first volume of verse, ''Days and Nights'' (1889), consisted of dramatic monologues. His later verse is influenced by a close study of modern French writers, of

Charles Baudelaire Charles Pierre Baudelaire (, ; ; 9 April 1821 – 31 August 1867) was a French poet who also produced notable work as an essayist and art critic. His poems exhibit mastery in the handling of rhyme and rhythm, contain an exoticism inherited fr ...

, and especially of Paul Verlaine. He reflects French tendencies both in the subject-matter and style of his poems, in their eroticism and their vividness of description. Symons contributed poems and essays to ''

The Yellow Book ''The Yellow Book'' was a British quarterly literary periodical that was published in London from 1894 to 1897. It was published at The Bodley Head Publishing House by Elkin Mathews and John Lane, and later by John Lane alone, and edited by th ...

'', including an important piece which was later expanded into '' The Symbolist Movement in Literature,'' which would have a major influence on William Butler Yeats and T. S. Eliot. From late 1895 through 1896 he edited, along with Aubrey Beardsley and Leonard Smithers, '' The Savoy'', a literary magazine which published both art and literature. Noteworthy contributors included Yeats,

George Bernard Shaw George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 – 2 November 1950), known at his insistence simply as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright, critic, polemicist and political activist. His influence on Western theatre, culture and politics extended from ...

, and Joseph Conrad. Symons was also a member of the Rhymer's Club founded by Yeats in 1890. In 1892, ''The Minister's Call'', Symons's first play, was produced by the Independent Theatre Society – a private club – to avoid censorship by the

Lord Chamberlain's Office The Lord Chamberlain's Office is a department within the British Royal Household. It is concerned with matters such as protocol, state visits, investitures, garden parties, royal weddings and funerals. For example, in April 2005 it organised the ...

. Symons conducted a long-lasting relationship with a secret lover who has never been identified, commemorated in his book ''Amoris Victima''; in 1901 (19 June) he married Rhoda Bowser, an aspiring actress and eldest daughter of a Newcastle-upon-Tyne shipping magnate. In 1902, Symons made a selection from his earlier verse, published as ''Poems''. He translated from the Italian of Gabriele D'Annunzio ''The Dead City'' (1900) and ''The Child of Pleasure'' (1898), and from the French of Émile Verhaeren ''The Dawn'' (1898). To ''The Poems of

Ernest Dowson Ernest Christopher Dowson (2 August 186723 February 1900) was an English poet, novelist, and short-story writer who is often associated with the Decadent movement. Biography Ernest Dowson was born in Lee, then in Kent, in 1867. His great-uncle ...

'' (1905) he prefixed an essay on the deceased poet, who was a kind of English Verlaine and had many attractions for Symons. In 1909 Symons suffered a psychotic breakdown, and published very little new work for a period of more than twenty years. His wife Rhoda took over the management of his affairs. His ''Confessions: A Study in Pathology'' (1930) has a moving description of his breakdown and treatment. In 1918, ''

Vanity Fair Vanity Fair may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Literature * Vanity Fair, a location in '' The Pilgrim's Progress'' (1678), by John Bunyan * ''Vanity Fair'' (novel), 1848, by William Makepeace Thackeray * ''Vanity Fair'' (magazines), the ...

'' magazine published Symons' Baudelarian essay, "The Gateway to an Artificial Paradise: The Effects of

Hashish Hashish ( ar, حشيش, ()), also known as hash, "dry herb, hay" is a drug made by compressing and processing parts of the cannabis plant, typically focusing on flowering buds (female flowers) containing the most trichomes. European Monitoring ...

and

Opium Opium (or poppy tears, scientific name: ''Lachryma papaveris'') is dried latex obtained from the seed capsules of the opium poppy '' Papaver somniferum''. Approximately 12 percent of opium is made up of the analgesic alkaloid morphine, which ...

Compared." On one occasion between 1889 and 1895, John Addington Symonds,

, and "some of Symons’ lady friends from the ballet all tried hashish during an afternoon tea given by Symons in his rooms at Fountain Court." His wife died in Tenterden Kent in 1936; Symons died probably in the same house (Island Cottage, Back Street, Kingsgate) in 1945.

Verse and drama

*''Days and Nights'' (1889) *''Silhouettes'' (1892) *''The Minister's Call'' (1892). A Play. *''London Nights'' (1895) a poetry collection including 'To Muriel: At the Opera' *''Amoris victima'' (1897) *''Images of Good and Evil'' (1899) *''Poems'' in 2 volumes (contains: ''The Loom of Dreams'' in the second volume, 1901), (1902) *''Lyrics'' (1903): An anthology of poetry published in the US only. *''A Book of Twenty Songs'' (1905) *''The Fool of the World and other Poems'' (1906) *''A Book of Parodies'' (1908) *''Poems by Arthur Symons'' in 2 volumes (1911) *''Knave of Hearts'' (1913). Poems written between 1894 and 1908. *''The Toy Cart'' (1916). A Play. *''Tristan and Iseult: A Play in Four Acts'' (1917) *''Tragedies'' (1922) *''Love's Cruelty'' (1923) *''Jezebel Mort, and other poems'' (1931)

Essays

*''An Introduction to the study of Browning'' (1886) *''Studies in Two Literatures'' (1897) *''Aubrey Beardsley: An Essay with a Preface'' (1898) *'' The Symbolist Movement in Literature'' (1899; 1919 revised and enlarged)
''Cities''
(1903), word-pictures of Rome, Venice, Naples, Seville, etc. *''Plays, Acting and Music'' (1903) *''Studies in Prose and Verse'' (1904) *''Studies in Seven Arts'' (1906) *''William Blake'' (1907) *''Dante Gabriel Rossetti'' nternational Art Series No. I(1910) *''Figures of Several Centuries'' (1916) *''Cities and Sea-Coasts and Islands'' (1918) *''Colour Studies in Paris'' (1918) *"The Gateway to an Artificial Paradise: The Effects of Hashish and Opium Compared" (1918) *''Studies in the Elizabethan Drama'' (1919) *''Charles Baudelaire: A Study'' (1920) *''Dramatis Personae'' (1925 – US edition 1923) *''The Cafe Royal and other Essays'' (1923) *''Notes on Joseph Conrad with some Unpublished Letters'' (1925) *''From Toulouse-Lautrec to Rodin'' (1929) *''Studies in Strange Souls'' (1929). Studies of Rossetti and Swinburne. *''Confessions: A Study in Pathology'' (1930). A book containing Symons's description of his breakdown and treatment. *''Wanderings'' (1931) *''A Study of Walter Pater'' (1932)

Fiction

*''Spiritual Adventures'' (1905). ** With an autobiographical sketch and extracts from the 'Life of Lucy Newcome' based on his lover 'Muriel' (Edith Broadbent) **includes the short story "Esther Kahn" which was developed into the film ''Esther Kahn''.

References

External links

* * * *
Poems by Arthur SymonsSelected poems by Arthur William Symons
includes several poems by Symons
London nights
Cornell University Library Historical Monographs Collection.
Cornell University Library Digital Collections

Arthur Symons Papers
at the Columbia University Rare Book and Manuscript Library, New York, NY
Finding aid to Karl Beckson papers on Arthur Symons on Samuel Beckett at Columbia University. Rare Book & Manuscript Library.''The Toy Cart'' by Arthur Symons on Great War Theatre
* Arthur Symons Collection. General Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. {{DEFAULTSORT:Symons, Arthur 1865 births 1945 deaths British poets People from Milford Haven British male poets