the decadent image in the poetry and poetics of Oscar Wilde, Arthur Symons, and Er

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Durham E-Theses
Unsatis(cid:28)ed appeal of sense : the decadent image in the
poetry and poetics of Oscar Wilde, Arthur Symons, and
Ernest Dowson
Boyiopoulos, Konstantinos
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Boyiopoulos, Konstantinos (2008) Unsatis(cid:28)ed appeal of sense : the decadent image in the poetry and poetics
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2
Unsatisfied
Appeal
Sense:
of
The
Decadent
Image
in
Poetry
the Poetics
Oscar
and
of
Wilde,
Arthur
Symons,
Ernest
Dowson
and
Konstantinos Boyiopoulos
The this thesis the
copyright of rests with
it
the to
author or university which was
No from it,
submitted. quotation or
information derived from it be
may
the
published without prior written
the
consent of author or university, and
information derived from it be
should
any
acknowledged.
for degree Doctor Philosophy (PhD)
A thesis the of of
submitted
Department English Studies
to the
of
Durham University
2008
01
2008
SEP
N
W3
,V
00
ii
Abstract
This
thesis the Decadent Englishfin de by highlighting
explores the
poetry of
siecle
the function in it the "Decadent image". This is in
of term to the
used suggest way
linguistic
the texture Decadent displays if frustrated desire
which
of poetry a powerful
be intense
to the heterodox
vessel of sensory experience, especially subversive and
The builds
thesis the Frank Kermode,
sexual experience.
on work of who expounds
the Symbolist liberation "Image" in liberation he
the the
of nineties, a which rightly
in Romanticism but fails fully his Decadent Linda
to to
grounds
relate account poetry.
Dowling focuses the "linguistic Decadent but the
on autonomy" of poetry, not on
literalness is
Developing
textualised
would-be with which sensory experience in it.
the these following formalist intertextual
work of and other critics, and a and
the thesis the function imagery found in three Wilde,
approach, examines of poets:
Symons, Dowson. These because
their
and poets are chosen of centrality in
Decadence, different Decadent
the the
representing coherently phases of poetic.
Situating Decadent image broader Romantic
the the the tradition
in context of and
French influences, large
the thesis
offers close analysis of a number of poems
previously under-investi gated.
image, its
The first background Decadent
the theoretical the
chapter establishes of
fragmentation into "details" language,
to
and
reflecting a propensity concretize poetic
in Chapter Wilde's
Romantic two
exhibiting an ancestry poetry. concentrates on
ideas decorativeness,
Intentions
exploring of self-referentiality, mythopoeia and
Chapter illustrates how Wilde's Poems The Sphinx
three
and
atemporality.
deal futility
demonstrate Decadent they the
a particularly quality as with of sexual
collisions.
his
Chapter four to Symons's Impressionist criticism, tracing understanding of
shifts
"strangeness".
the Decadent image through his attempts to articulate ideas about
Chapters five discuss Symons's Silhouettes and London Nights, examining
and six
interactions between
the
Benjamin'sfldneur, the eroticized metropolis, and artificial
Dowson's
The
body
the erotic and the city. seventh and eighth chapters explore
Verse Prose. Looking Dowson's Catholicism
Verses Decorations in at and
and
and
discussion in
the that,
Schopenhauerian suggests
poetics of expiration and suspension,
in
image the
this hands, the Decadent reaches a crisis and a cul-de-sac poet's
poet's
in
image the dead girl. The last chapter offers a coda to the thesis, exploring ways
of
in Modem
image (emerging from Romanticism)
Decadent persists and
the
which
Modernist
writing.
iii
Table Contents
of
Abstract
Table Contents
of
Acknowledgments
v
........................................................................................................
Notes Texts
to
vi
...............................................................................................................
Abbreviations
vil
...............................................................................................................
Introduction
1
..................................................................................................................
1. Tracing the Background Characteristics the Decadent Image 13
and of
..............
1.1 "The Whole Is Subordinated to the Parts ........................................................... 13
1.2 "In the Most Concrete Terins Possible ............................................................... 20
1.3 Romantic Imagination Decadent Fancy 27
and
......................................................
2. "The World Is Made by the Singer for the Dreamer": Oscar Wilde's
Intentions the Decorative Image 35
and
........................................................................
2.1 The Dialogue Fonn Sensuousness Language 36
the
and of
...................................
2.2 The Making Decorative Image 42
the
of
................................................................
2.3 The Purple Passage 53
............................................................................................
3. "We Shall Inform Ourselves into All Sensuous Life": Eroticizing Form
and
Artiflce in Wilde's Poems The Sphinx 63
and
..............................................................
3.1 Materializing Intertextuality: Poems 64
..................................................................
3.2 Turning the Text into Sex: "Charmides ............................................................. 75
3.3 The Jewelled Image: The Impressionist Group The Sphinx 82
and
........................
4. "Full Strange, Glittering Beauty": The Aesthetics Strangeness in
of
of a
98
Arthur Symons's Criticism
.......................................................................................
Strangeness 99
4.1 "Cunosities Beauty":
of
.................................................................
Subtle Impressions .................................................... 113
4.2 "One's Senses Perceive
"London Footlights": Metropolitan Bodies Spaces in
5. "Painted Idols" and
and
London Nights 125
Symons's Silhouettes
and
...............................................................
Fragmentation 126
5.1 The Metropolis: Impressionism and
........................................
141
Spaces
Intenor
5.2 Bodies
and
...............................................................................
Flesh": Symons's Condition Nerves the
6. "The Fascinations the of and
of
Nights 156
Body in London
Fldneur the
of
...................................................................
Masking 157
Artifice
6.1 The Female Body the of
and
...............................................
The "Bianca" Group 167
Copulation:
6.2 The FIdneurie
of
........................................
IV
7. "The Roses Fall, the Pale Roses Expire": The Expiring Image in Ernest
Dowson's
Poetry
186
.......................................................................................................
7.1 "To Crave Your Viaticum ............................................................................
187
of
7.2 Caught Up in Expiration
199
..................................................................................
8. "The Little Girl Face Is White Cold": Dowson's Sleeping Beauties 217
and
........
9. "Re-made Like Casket Gold": Modernist Transmutations Decadent
a of
of
Poetry
233
........................................................................................................................
9.1 Some Adaptations the Image in Early Modernist Poetry 234
of
............................
9.2 A New Aestheticism: The Poetics Self-awareness 245
of
......................................
9.3 Conclusion
251
.......................................................................................................
Bibliography 255
.............................................................................................................
V
Acknowledgements
I like
to
would
express my infinite gratitude to my supervisor, Professor Michael
O'Neill, for
materializing and successfully completing this thesis. He has been
immeasurably
both
supportive,
academically and emotionally, encouraging and
sensitive, and a constant source of inspiration. His flawless insight have
guidance and
been instrumental
to I feel have been
my research and me. enormously privileged to
his
My
under supervision. gratitude also goes to my sponsor Vaios Tsarouhas, S. O. S.
Youth Hostel, Athens, Ustinov College, for financial
their My
and and other support.
thanks to Yoonjoung Choi for her love Her
affectionate go unconditional and support.
devotion, thoughtful have been invaluable. In
understanding, and suggestions addition,
Matthew Brinton Tildesley for his friendship
to the
my gratefulness goes priceless and
impact his discussions. Last but least,
thanks to
of endlessly stimulating not my go
Richard Williams, Francisca Alves Cardoso, Luciane Fangalua Xiao Fu for
their
and
friendship.
vi
Notes
Texts
to
Arthur Symons's
from first
poems are quoted the three The Collected
volumes of
Works Arthur Symons (London: Secker, 1924), incomplete
of
an set of nine out of
sixteen projected volumes. His poetic works are distributed in the follows:
volumes as
Volume 1: Days Nights, Silhouettes,
London Nights Amoris Victima. Volume
and
and
IL Images Good
Evil, The Loom Dreams, The Fool World Other
of and the
of of and
Poems Love's Cruelty. The is Volume 111. For Oscar Wilde's Poems
and
rest in
poetry
Poems in Prose by Bobby Fong Karl Beckson, for Ernest Dowson
and edited and and
The Poetical Works by Desmond Flower
the
edited are used as most complete,
date.
to
authoritative and annotated editions
Regarding (for
the the
poetry quotations all primary and secondary sources), when
features line-numbering, is
this the
edition used parenthetically stated along with
In line-numbering, left Also
they
quotations. case of absence of quotations are as are.
for be
the to traced the
unless stated otherwise, information a poetic quotation is in
in For Baudelaire,
the thesis. the
corresponding source cited elsewhere poetry of
Mallarme Verlaine, bilingual, Line
and parallel-text editions are used: numbers are
for Mallarme's French, for French for
the the two
used pagination of other and
translations three.
of all
Most the
of primary sources and some important secondary ones are abbreviated
(Wilde's, Symons's Dowson's
and primary editions of poetry are not abbreviated or
The bibliographical information for the
referenced at all). abbreviated sources is not
in All in footnote form for the
the thesis.
cited references occur and sake of
-
Prose by
than
convenience when used more once are subsequently shortened.
-
(e. Shelley's A Defence Poetry) is by the
Romantic
poets g. of referenced surname
in the body the thesis.
of
parenthetically
vil
Abbreviations
App
"Style", "Aesthetic
Poetry", "Postscript" in
Walter Pater,
Appreciations
Essay Style (London:
Macmillan, 1889).
with an on
CBS
Arthur Symons, Charles
Baudelaire. A Study (London: Elkin Mathews,
-
1920).
f-'vD
Arthur Symons, Colour Studies in Paris (London: Chapman Hall,
Uor and
1918).
DG Oscar Wilde, The Picture Gray. The 1890 1891 Texts,
ofDorian - and
Joseph Bristow (Oxford: OUP, 2005), 3 The Complete
ed.
vol. of
Worký Oscar Wilde, Russell Jackson Ian Small, 4
to
of eds. and vols.
date, 2000
-.
D-Letters Ernest Dowson, The Letters Dowson, Desmond Flower
ofErnest eds.
Henry Maas (London: Cassell, 1967).
and
DM Arthur Symons, "The Decadent Movement in Literature, " Harper's
New Monthly Magazine 87 (1893): 858-67.
DS John R. Reed, Decadent Style (Athens, OH: Ohio UP, 1985).
ERA Oscar Wilde, "The English Renaissance Art" in Oscar Wilde,
of
Aristotle Afternoon Tea: The Rare Oscar Wilde, introd.,
at ed. and
John Wyse Jackson (London: Fourth Estate, 1991).
In Oscar Wilde, Criticism: Historical Criticism, Intentions, The Soul
t of
Man, Josephine M. Guy (Oxford: OUP, 2007), 4 The
ed. vol. of
Complete Works Oscar Wilde, Russell Jackson Ian Small, 4
of eds. and
date, 2000
to
vols.
-.
LaD Linda Dowling, Language Decadence in the Victorian Fin de
and
Siecle (Princeton: Princeton UP, 1986).
Memoirs Arthur Symons, The Memoirs ofArthur Symons: Life and Art in the
(University Park: Pennsylvania State UP,
1890s, Karl Beckson
ed.
1977).
A_rthur Symons, Parisian Nights (Westminster: Beaumont, 1926).
PN
Walter Pater, The Renaissance: Studies in Art Poetry, the 1893
and
Ren
Donald L. Hill (Berkeley: U California P, 1980).
Text, of
ed.
Romantic Image, 1957 (London: Collins-Fontana,
Kermode,
Frank
RI
viii
1971).
P'M
Arthur Symons,
The Romantic Movement in English Poetry (London:
Constable,
1909).
SED
Ernest Dowson, The Stories Dowson, Mark Longaker
ofErnest ed.
(New York: Perpetua, 1960).
S-Letters Arthur Symons, Selected Letters, 1880 1935, Karl Beckson
eds. and
-
John Munro (London: Macmillan, 1989).
SML Arthur Symons, The Symbolist Movement in Literature (London:
Heinemann, 1899).
SML-r Arthur Symons, The Symbolist Movement in Literature, 1908,
rev. ed.
(New York: Haskell, 197 1).
WR Arthur Symons, William Blake (London: Constable, 1907).
W-Letters Oscar Wilde, The Complete Letters Oscar Wilde, Merlin
of eds.
Holland Rupert Hart-Davis (London: Fourth Estate, 2000).
and