Test your knowledge of the symbolist movement, symbolism in Brazil and symbolism in Portugal with 15 exercises commented by our expert teachers.
question 1
Among the main features of symbolism are:
a) objectivism, optimism, religiosity.
b) subjectivism, pessimism and mysticism.
c) mysticism, individualism and objectivism.
d) scientism, rationalism and optimism.
d) subjectivism, rationalism and materialism
Correct alternative: b) subjectivism, pessimism and mysticism.
Symbolism was a literary movement that emerged in late 19th century France. Opposed to rationalism, materialism and scientism, its main characteristics were the valorization of the self, subjectivism, pessimism, mysticism, spiritualism and religiosity.
question 2
The main writers of Brazilian symbolism were:
a) Cruz e Souza and Alphonsus de Guimaraens.
b) Augusto dos Anjos and Teófilo Dias.
c) Olavo Bilac and Alberto de Oliveira.
d) Raimundo Correia and Aluísio de Azevedo.
e) Rubem Braga and Adolfo Caminha
Correct alternative: a) Cruz e Souza and Alphonsus de Guimaraens.
Symbolism in Brazil began in 1893 with the publication of the works "Missal" and "Broquéis", by Cruz e Souza. Alongside Cruz e Souza, Alphonsus de Guimarães was one of the main poets of the time.
Read more about the Symbolism in Brazil.
question 3
Some of the features present in the language of symbolism are:
a) objectivity, clarity and cultism.
b) duality, formality and inexpressiveness.
c) expressiveness, objectivity and clarity.
d) subjectivity, formality and conceptism.
e) subjectivity, musicality, imprecision.
Correct alternative: e) subjectivity, musicality, imprecision.
The language of symbolism is full of subjectivity, where the “I” is highly valued. Thus, Symbolist writers used figures of speech in order to reinforce the expressiveness of words, in addition to bringing more musicality and sensory touch to language.
With a libertarian tone, the symbolism language is creative, transcendental and presents several inaccuracies, which are deliberately created by the movement's writers. The most explored themes are dreamlike, religious, sensual, loving, spiritual and mystical.
question 4
Which of the alternatives below correctly fills the gap?
“In Portugal, symbolism emerges with the publication of the work Oaristos (1890), by Eugênio de Castro. Besides him, _________ had great prominence in Symbolist poetry.”
a) Camilo Castelo Branco and Fernando Pessoa
b) Father Antônio Vieira and Bocage
c) Antônio Nobre and Camilo Pessanha
d) Almeida Garret and Alexandre Herculano
e) Antero de Quental and Eça de Queirós
Correct alternative: c) Antônio Nobre and Camilo Pessanha
Alongside Eugênio de Castro were the symbolist poets Antônio Nobre and Camilo Pessanha. Antônio Nobre, author of "Torres", has a work marked by pessimism, subjectivism and egocentrism.
Likewise, Camilo Pessanha produced a work full of subjectivity and pessimism, which are hallmarks of symbolism. Pessanha, author of "Clepsidra", is considered one of the greatest poets of Portuguese symbolism.
Learn more about Symbolism in Portugal.
question 5
The Symbolist movement, which emerged at the end of the 19th century, began in France with the publication of the work “As Flores do Mal” (1857) by the French writer
a) Marcel Proust
b) Victor Hugo
c) Émile Zola
d) Charles Baudelaire
e) Marquis de Sade
Correct alternative: d) Charles Baudelaire
Charles Baudelaire was one of the forerunners of symbolism in France. He wrote several works, being "As Flores do Mal", a landmark of Symbolist poetry.
With symbolist characteristics, such as pessimism, sensualism and the presence of musicality, in this work, Baudelaire addresses themes related to love, death, eroticism, boredom and time.
Read more about the life of Charles Baudelaire.
question 6
Symbolism appears in France at the end of the 19th century in opposition to the
a) Romanticism
b) Parnassianism
c) Baroque
d) Realism
e) Modernism
Correct alternative: d) Realism
Opposed to the realist movement that valued materialism, scientism and rationalism, symbolism began at the end of the 19th century. It appears as a way of denying the objective reality explored by the earlier realism movement. Thus, spiritualist and mystical ideals, full of subjectivism, are reborn.
Thus, the language of symbolism is vague and imprecise with the use of figures of speech (metaphor, synesthesia, alliteration, assonance and onomatopoeia), becoming more fluid, musical, sensory and transcendental.
In Symbolist poetry, the main themes of interest are related to religiosity, pessimism, madness, dreams, mysticism, mystery, sensuality, among others.
See also about the Language of Symbolism.
question 7
(FGV-2005) Tick the INCORRECT alternative regarding Symbolism:
a) Uses the suggestive value of music and color.
b) Emphasizes imagination and fantasy.
c) Seeks the representation of reality from the subconscious.
d) It is an objective attitude, in opposition to the subjectivism of the Parnassians.
e) In Brazil, he produced, among others, the poetry of Cruz e Sousa and, in Portugal, that of Antônio Nobre.
Correct alternative: d) It is an objective attitude, in opposition to the subjectivism of the Parnassians.
With the use of figures of speech, Symbolist poetry becomes musical and kinesthetic, giving way to fantasy, subjectivity and mysticism. The most recurrent themes are related to religiosity, dreams, pessimism, madness and mystery.
In Brazil, the Symbolist movement had as main representatives Cruz e Souza (1861-1898) and Alphonsus de Guimaraens (1870-1921).
In Portugal, the following poets deserve mention: Camilo Pessanha (1867-1926), Eugênio de Castro (1869-1944) and Antônio Nobre (1867-1900)
See too:Parnassianism and Symbolism.
question 8
(UFAM-2009) Check the statement that does NOT correctly refer to Symbolism:
a) Emerging from European intelligence, it asserted itself as a vigorous opposition to the triumph of fact and things over the subject.
b) It is a reaction to the analytical currents and objective literary styles that proliferated in the second half of the 19th century.
c) Cultivators of this style had the aspiration to integrate poetry into cosmic life, a privilege traditionally held by religion and philosophy.
d) The aesthetic postures of the period aimed at the direct apprehension of transcendental values, such as the Good, the True, the Sacred.
e) Converge towards anti-romantic ideals, opening the way for the exercise of another language, more adherent to the senses and objects.
Correct alternative: e) Converge to anti-romantic ideals, opening the way for the exercise of another language, more adherent to the senses and objects.
Symbolism emerged in Europe at the end of the 19th century as a reaction to materialism and scientism. Furthermore, it goes against the objectivist ideals of the previous school, realism.
Thus, this movement becomes the rejection of mechanicism through the dream, the cosmic tendency and the absolute.
It was in this way that the resumption of romantic elements in Symbolist poetry becomes notorious with the exploration on themes such as pessimism, frustration, fear, love, sensuality, disillusionment and dreams (universe dream).
In addition to these themes, the Symbolists make poetry a kind of religion, where religious, spiritual and sacred motives are explored.
question 9
(PUC-PR 2009) Check what is INCORRECT about the Symbolist aesthetic and the poetry of Cruz e Sousa.
a) Symbolist poets were opposed to the scientific objectivism of the realists/naturalists.
b) Cruz e Sousa is the greatest representative of Symbolist aesthetics in the country. However, in the first decades of the 20th century, there was a great expansion of Symbolism in southern Brazil, with Paraná as one of the states with the greatest number of poetic manifestations of this school, either by the magazines that were created, or by the poets who were revealed.
c) The cult of the poem's musicality can be seen in Symbolist aesthetics, in line with the search for spirituality, one of the predominant themes in Cruz e Sousa's poetry.
d) Brazilian Symbolism unequivocally recovers the procedures and themes of Romanticism, valuing nationalist sentiment and abolitionist ideas.
e) For symbolists, poetry, a transcendent experience, is a way to reach the hidden meaning of things and experiences.
Correct alternative: d) Brazilian Symbolism unequivocally recovers the procedures and themes of Romanticism, valuing nationalist sentiment and abolitionist ideas.
Opposed to the previous movement of realism, symbolism emerged in late nineteenth century Europe with the proposal to explore the subjectivity and individuality of the human being.
With the use of figures of speech (synesthesia, metaphor, assonance, alliteration, onomatopoeia), the works of that moment present a more musical and sensitive language.
Therefore, the valorization of the “I”, seen in romantic ideals, is resumed through the exploration of themes such as love, pessimism, and frustrations.
Although abolitionist ideas were explored, for example, by the poet Cruz e Souza, there are no traces of the nationalist feeling, associated with the exaltation of national values, typical of the first generation romantic.
In addition, themes related to religion, spirituality, mysticism and transcendentalism were explored by the poets of symbolism.
In Brazil, the Symbolism movement began in 1893 with the publication of “Missal” (prose) and “Broquéis”, works by Cruz de Souza. The son of ex-slaves, this poet was born in Florianópolis, capital of Santa Catarina, in the south of the country, where the movement had great support.
His work is marked by subjectivity, musicality and spirituality with individualistic, pessimistic, loving, satanic, mystical, religious and sensual themes.
Learn more about Authors of Brazilian Symbolism.
question 10
(Unified-RS)
Morning comes, light smells... hey she looms
By the subtle air... It smells like light, the morning is born...
Oh sonorous colored hearing of the aroma!
Poetic language, at all times, was and is symbolic; Symbolism got its name for taking this tendency to paroxysm.
The verses above attest to this exuberance, by the fusion of auditory, olfactory and visual images, constituting a rich example of:
a) euphemism
b) polysyndeton
c) synesthesia
d) antithesis
e) paradox
Correct alternative: c) synesthesia
Synesthesia is a figure of speech that fits into so-called word pictures. It establishes a relationship between the different sensory planes, being, therefore, a mixture of sensations related to the senses (touch, hearing, smell, taste and sight).
In the excerpt above, we have as an example of this mixture the last verse: “Oh sonorous hearing, colored aroma!” which relates hearing (sound hearing) with vision (colored) and smell (aroma). Another example is in the excerpt of the first verse “the light has a smell” where vision is mixed with smell.
Read all about the Characteristics of Symbolism.
question 11
(Enem-2009)
prison of souls
Ah! Every soul in a prison is imprisoned,
sobbing in the darkness between the bars
From the dungeon looking at immensity,
Seas, stars, afternoons, nature.
Everything wears an equal grandeur
When the soul in shackles the freedoms
Dreams and, dreaming, immortalities
It tears the Space of Purity into the ethereal.
O trapped, mute and closed souls
In colossal and abandoned prisons,
Of Pain in the dungeon, atrocious, funereal!
In these lonely, serious silences,
which keychain of heaven holds the keys
to open the doors of the Mystery for you?!
CRUZ E SOUSA, J. Complete poetry. Florianópolis: Fundação Catarinense de Cultura / Fundação Banco do Brasil, 1993.
The formal and thematic elements related to the cultural context of Symbolism found in the poem Cárcere das almas, by Cruz e Sousa, are
a) the option to approach, in simple and direct language, philosophical themes.
b) the prevalence of loving and intimate lyricism in relation to the nationalist theme.
c) the aesthetic refinement of poetic form and the metaphysical treatment of universal themes.
d) the evident concern of the lyrical self with social reality expressed in innovative poetic images.
e) the formal freedom of the poetic structure that dispenses with the traditional rhyme and meter in favor of everyday themes.
Correct alternative: c) the aesthetic refinement of poetic form and the metaphysical treatment of universal themes.
The sonnet by the Brazilian symbolist poet Cruz de Souza uses a formal language to approach a universal theme that is human suffering.
It is worth remembering that the sonnet is a fixed form made up of two quartets and two triplets that was widely used in Symbolist poetry.
question 12
(Enem-2014)
dark life
Nobody felt your dark spasm,
o be humble among humble beings,
drunk, dizzy with pleasure,
the world for you was black and hard.
you crossed in the dark silence
life trapped in tragic duties
and you came to know of high knowledge
making you simpler and purer.
Nobody saw you feeling uneasy,
hurt, hidden and terrifying, secret,
that the heart stabbed you in the world,
But I've always followed in your steps
I know that infernal cross held your arms
and your sigh how deep it was!
SOUSA, C. Complete work. Rio de Janeiro: Nova Aguilar, 1961.
With a dense and expressive work in Brazilian Symbolism, Cruz e Sousa transposed to his lyricism a sensitivity in conflict with the lived reality. In the sonnet, this perception translates into
a) tacit suffering in face of the limits imposed by discrimination.
b) latent tendency to addiction as a response to social isolation.
c) exhaustion conditioned to a routine of degrading tasks.
d) love frustration channeled into intellectual activities.
e) religious vocation manifested in the approach to the Christian faith.
Correct alternative: a) tacit suffering in face of the limits imposed by discrimination.
Cruz e Souza was the greatest representative of symbolism in Brazil. Son of ex-slaves, the poet suffered discrimination and much of his poetry reflects this.
In the excerpt above, we can note the suffering of blacks “a life tied to tragic duties” and, therefore, it is a tacit feeling (which is not formally expressed; it is implicit, understood) that the poetic-I lives by discrimination.
In many parts of the sonnet, we can note the use of terms related to this universe of color: “dark spasm”; “world was black”; “dark silence”.
Read about the life and work of Cruz e Souza.
question 13
(PUC-RS)
The cinnamons will cry for her,
Withering the flowers as the day falls.
The spruces will fall from the orange groves,
Remembering the one who picked them up.
One of the thematic lines of Alphonsus de Guimaraens' poetry, as shown in the example, is:
a) dead beloved
b) deep religiosity
c) transfiguration of love
d) liturgical atmosphere
e) Marian landscape
Correct alternative: a) dead beloved
In the poem excerpt above, Alphonsus de Guimaraens, one of the most emblematic poets of Brazilian symbolism, makes reference to death, one of the themes explored by symbolists.
The verbs used as "weep", "Withering", "fall" and "fall" refer to the death of the loved one, whose elements of nature mentioned “cinnamomos”, “flowers”, “orange groves” and “pomos” will miss the person who was there always harvesting: “Remembering the one who harvested."
Learn more about the life and work of Alphonsus de Guimaraens.
question 14
(UFRRJ-2003) Read the following fragment of the poem 'Evocações' by Alphonsus de Guimaraens:
In the spring that was the last,
Hands outstretched asking for alms
From the road I went to stand at the edge.
The sun shone and the rainbow was the stole
beautifully suspended in air
As is known, Alphonsus de Guimaraens is considered one of the most important representatives of Symbolism in Brazil. In the above fragment, the following characteristic of the school to which he belongs can be highlighted:
a) bucolism, which is characterized by the active participation of nature in the narrated actions.
b) intense movement and dramatic high tension.
c) concretism and realism in descriptions.
d) focus on the moment, on the particular scene and on the impression it makes.
e) melancholy poetic tone, presenting nature as an accomplice in sadness.
Correct alternative: d) focus on the instant, the particular scene and the impression it makes.
In the excerpt above, we can note that the intention of the poetic self is simply to describe the scene and its impressions, without a melancholy tone or tension involved.
While the focus is on presenting the moment of a spring day, the poetic self does this subjectively. That is, he does not present the scene in a realistic and concrete way, but according to his impressions, what he is seeing and feeling.
Note that there is also no exaltation of nature, as happened in the bucolic and pastoral poetry of Arcadianism, in which rural and pastoral themes were explored and played a central role.
Learn more about Symbolist Poetry.
question 15
(Mackenzie)
Cello
weep, arches
From the cello!
Convulsed
winged bridges
Nightmare...
Trembling stars…
Lakeside solitudes*...
- Rudders and masts...
And the alabasters
From the balusters!
solitudes solitudes.
(Camilo Pessanha)
Check the correct alternative above the text.
a) Highlights the egocentric expression of suffering in love, with a clear romantic influence.
b) It recovers from the troubadour lyric the larger round, the parallel structure and the white verses.
c) The influence of Italian Futurism is evidenced by the presence of short nominal phrases and oneiric theme.
d) The grandiloquent language, the cosmic metaphors and the exacerbated pessimism prove the condominium style.
e) The appreciation of stylistic resources related to rhythm and sonority is an index of the Symbolist style.
Correct alternative: e) The valorization of stylistic resources related to rhythm and sonority is an index of Symbolist style.
One of the most striking features of Symbolist poetry is the musicality of its poetic productions. This happens through the use of figures of speech associated with the sound of words, such as assonance, onomatopoeia and alliteration.
In the poem above, we have the presence of assonance (vowel repetition) and alliteration (consonant repetition).
Learn more about Symbolism: Characteristics and Historical Context
