Symons' education was limited, however, he did study while traveling in France and Italy and had literary talent already as a young man. He became a member of the Rhymers' Club and a close friend of Ernest Dowson and W.B. Yeats, who were also members. In 1889, he published Days and Nights, a book of poetry which was well-received. In 1891, he joined the staff of the Athenaeum as a critic. His second volume of poetry, Silhouettes, appeared in 1892. In 1894, he joined the Saturday Review and in 1896 became the editor of Savoy. In 1899, he published The Symbolist Movement in Literature, which became a strong influence on T.S. Eliot and Yeats. Symons was a gifted linguist and translated in six languages, bringing such writers as Paul Verlaine and Gabriele D'Annunzio to the attention of English readers. In 1909, he suffered a nervous breakdown which seriously affected his creative skills. Nevertheless, he continued to write criticism and analysis. His other works include London Nights (1895), Studies in Two Literatures (1897), Amoris Victima (1897), Images of Good and Evil (1899), Cities (1903), Spiritual Adventures (1905), Knave of Hearts (1913), Studies in Elizabethan Drama (1919), Love's Cruelty (1923), Confessions: A Study in Pathology (1930) and Jezebel Mort and Other Poems (1934). |
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