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Maurice Maeterlinck was born on August 29, 1862 in Belgium, and died on May 6, 1949 in France. In the beginning, Maeterlinck studied law in school but later decided to pursue literature upon travelling to Paris. Maeterlinck was a symbolist writer who wrote various poems, essays, and plays during his years. Most of his works were written in French due to the mere instance that he was heavily influenced by French literary movements. His works were later translated to English as they began to gain a widespread audience. Maeterlinck\u2019s first\u00a0 <\/span>compilation of literary works were titled Serres chaudes <\/i>(\u201cHothouses\u201d). And his first play was titled La Princesse Maleine. <\/i>With both these works being published in 1889, Maeterlinck broke through the mold and became more recognized for his talent in the general public. In continuance with his success, Maeterlinck published two one-act plays in 1890 titled, L\u2019Intruse <\/i>(The Intruder) and Les Aveugles<\/i> (The Blind). Maeterlinck\u2019s drama, P\u00e8lleas et M\u00e8lisande<\/i> (1892), was a symbolistic masterpiece of its time and inspired an opera by Claude Debussy in 1902. P\u00e8lleas et M\u00e8lisande <\/i>was also projected at the avant-garde theatre Th\u00e8\u00e2tre de l\u2019Oeuvre<\/i>, and depicts a story of hopelessness and melancholic drama between two unfortunate lovers. Although this play was written in the form of a prose, it could be considered \u201cThe most accomplished of all 19th-century attempts at poetic drama.\u201d (\u201cMaurice Maeterlinck.\u201d Encylop\u00e6dia Britannica, <\/i>August 25, 2018, https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/biography\/Maurice-Maeterlinck<\/a>. November 22, 2018). The poems and plays mentioned above do not even begin to capture the aspects of symbolism that are\u00a0<\/span>prevalent in Maeterlinck\u2019s writing.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span>Maeterlinck and The Pageant <\/i>(1897)<\/b><\/p>\n The 1987 little magazine The Pageant <\/i>is a publication of multiple stories, plays, and artworks from various artists. This particular little magazine is set to be inspired by London art and culture. The Pageant<\/i> is comprised of two volumes, the first one was published in 1896, and the second in 1897. With wood engravings, and a piece of artwork on almost every page, The Pageant<\/i> served as a modern-day outlet for art\u00a0 <\/span>and expression. Besides the art, the various plays and stories convey artistic forms as well. Many of the writers featured in The Pageant<\/i> used symbolism, vivid imagery, and other artistic modes in their writing. Maeterlinck was amongst these artists, as he published a play titled \u201cThe Seven Princesses\u201d in the second volume of The Pageant.<\/i> The play, being a work of fantasy and fairytale, served as a key factor of the Symbolist Movement (1880\u2019s).<\/p>\n The Symbolist Movement of the Nineteenth Century<\/b><\/p>\n The Symbolist Movement began in France, with French poets such as St\u00e9phane Mallarm\u00e9, Charles Baudelaire, Arthur Rimbaud, and many others whom sought out to convert literature into an art form.The goal of the symbolist was to create an outlet for self-expression through descriptive language and metaphors. According to an article,<\/p>\n \u201cThe Symbolists wished to liberate poetry from its expository functions<\/p>\n and its formalized oratory in order to describe instead the fleeting, immediate sensations of man\u2019s inner life and experience. They attempted to evoke the ineffable intuitions and sense impressions of mans inner life and to communicate the underlying mystery of existence through a free and highly personal use of metaphors and images that, though lacking in precise meaning, would nevertheless convey the state of the poet\u2019s mind and hint at the \u201cdark and confused unity\u201d of an inexpressible reality.\u201d (\u201cSymbolism: Literary and Artistic Movement.\u201d Encylop\u00e6dia Britannica,<\/i> May 22nd, 2013, https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/art\/Symbolism-literary-and-artistic-movement<\/a>. November 25th, 2018).<\/p>\n In other words, poets of the nineteenth century not only sought out to write poetry, but they wished to turn poetry into a new mode of expression; one that would completely capture human existence and emphasize the human experience on earth. They accomplished this by using figurative language and metaphorical descriptions to transform the human experience into an art form. Maeterlinck\u2019s play, \u201cThe Seven Princesses\u201d, is an excellent example of the prevalence of symbolism in early works of the nineteenth century.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Symbolism in Maeterlinck’s \u201cThe Seven princesses\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n Maeterlinck\u2019s \u201cThe Seven Princesses\u201d is a play that introduces many important literary modes in its writing. The play is comprised of five general characters; The King, The Queen, The Prince, The Messenger, and The Seven Princesses. The play opens in a large hall covered in white marble within a castle. The seven princesses of the castle are laid out on the seven steps of the hall in perfect unison while they sleep. In summary, the whole play consists of The Queen trying to convince The King and The Prince that the seven princesses are not only sleeping, but they must be unwell because they haven\u2019t been awake for a long time. The climax of the play is when The Prince finally attempts to go into the room and wake the princesses with a stone. Upon doing this, only six of the princesses wake from their slumber and the last one, Ursule, continues to lay there almost breathless. While this is happening, there are sounds of sailors chanting and a ship approaching with no context as to what is actually happening. Suddenly, the play just ends with the curtains dropping; which creates a haunting ambiance as to what may have just happened.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n While reading this play, I began to notice that Maeterlinck uses very descriptive and figurative language when describing settings. Some examples of this are when he describes the greenery that surrounds the castle. An example of a vivid setting within the text is when Maeterlinck says, \u201cThe sun is setting : and in the distance is seen a black marshy country, with stagnant pools and forests of pine and oak. Behind the palace, between two huge willows, is a sombre, grim-looking inflexible canal, along which a large war-ship is seen advancing\u201d (The Pageant,<\/i> 1897. Maeterlinck 163). In this paragraph alone, Maeterlinck uses expressive and specific words to describe the setting, such as, marshy, stagnant, sombre, grim-looking. These words help to, not only describe a setting, but make the reader feel the setting. Perhaps the reader can picture a dark forest, or can physically feel the warmth of the setting sun on their skin. This is an example of Maeterlinck placing art and reality in the same realm because he turns his words into an art; something that the reader can actually picture instead of just words on a paper.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Richard Hovey writes a scholarly translation of Maeterlinck\u2019s \u201cThe Seven Princesses\u201d and proceeds to explain the connection between Maeterlinck and modern symbolism. This source takes a more philosophical approach to the analyzation of Maeterlinck\u2019s works. It also describes Maeterlinck\u2019s history with art, symbolism, and reality, which is the foundation for my critical analysis of The Seven Princesses.<\/i> Hovey states that, \u201cTwo things individualize Maeterlinck from the rest of the school, \u2014 the peculiarity of his technique and the limitation of his emotional range. His conceptions are romantic to the last degree, and so also is their setting\u201d (\u201cThe Plays of Maurice Maeterlinck: Princess Malein; The Intruder; The Blind; The Seven Princesses Translated by Richard Hovey.\u201d Richard Hovey, <\/i>2008, https:\/\/babel.hathitrust.org\/cgi\/pt?id=mdp.39015013392397;view=1up;seq=21<\/a>. November 26th, 2018). Hovey is ultimately saying that Maeterlinck\u2019s romantic and metaphorical language not only romanticized his works, but distinguished him from other writers during this time. Maeterlinck offered a unique view into the world of literature and playwriting.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The use of the Colour white in Maeterlinck\u2019s \u201cThe Seven Princesses\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n In reading \u201cThe Seven Princesses,\u201d the colour white really stood out to me and I realized that it is mentioned several times throughout the text to describe the princesses, scenery, and human attributes. While reading I could not help but wonder whether the colour is present simply for aesthetic purposes, or because there is an underlying concept that Maeterlinck was<\/p>\n trying to\u00a0 <\/span>convey in the play. Examples of this in the text are, \u201cwhite robes\u201d (Maeterlinck, 163), \u201chow white your beard is!\u201d (164), \u201cwhite shadows\u201d (164), and \u201chow white they all are!\u201d (164). It almost seems as if everything that exists within the castle is under a white light, and everything on the outside, such as the scenery, is dark and haunting, as mentioned earlier. In The Aesthetics of the Windshield: Proust and the Modernist Rhetoric of Speed <\/i>by Sara Danius, Danius discusses the relationship between Maeterlinck and aestheticism. In other words, how Maeterlinck sought out to convey real experiences in his works by merely using words that are descriptive by nature. Maeterlinck chose to write artistic works during a time that was confined to resistance and limitation. In her book, she\u00a0 <\/span>says, \u201cBoth Maeterlinck and Mirbeau explore the syntax of velocity, seeking to convey a sort of lived experience to which the medium of the printed word is stubbornly resistant: the bodily experience of speed. Both writers thus contemplate a representational problem: how the formal level of description may call forth what is suggested on the level of enunciation\u201d (\u201cThe Aesthetics of the Windshield: Proust and the Modernist Rhetoric of Speed. Vol.8, no.1, pp 99-126. 2001, https:\/\/muse-jhu-edu.ezproxy.lib.ryerson.ca\/article\/23362<\/a>. November 26th, 2018). This ultimately states that Maeterlinck not only sought out to create fantastic works of literature, but he also wanted to create something with real meaning, he wanted to create something bigger for his readers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Conclusion<\/b><\/p>\n In my critical analysis of Maurice Maeterlinck\u2019s \u201cThe Seven Princesses,\u201d and Maeterlinck\u2019s role in the avant-garde and symbolist movement, I have concluded that Maeterlinck was not only a literary prospect, but a writer who wanted to involve his readers in his works. It has become evident that the text is heavily influenced by art through artistic language and visualizations. Throughout the work, Maeterlinck not only describes things in a poetic fashion, but creates vivid scenarios in which the reader can physically place themselves in, which was somewhat of a foreign concept to works of this nature at the time. With the help of Maeterlinck, symbolism and art have become a massive aspect to literature and are favourable amongst many.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Works Cited<\/i><\/p>\n \u201cThe Aesthetics of the Windshield: Proust and the Modernist Rhetoric of Speed. Vol.8, no.1, pp 99-126. 2001, https:\/\/muse-jhu-edu.ezproxy.lib.ryerson.ca\/article\/23362<\/a>. November 26th, 2018<\/p>\n \u201cThe Pageant\u201d. Vol 2, 1897, pp 164-184. November 26th, 2018.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe Plays of Maurice Maeterlinck: Princess Malein; The Intruder; The Blind; The Seven Princesses Translated by Richard Hovey.\u201d Richard Hovey, <\/i>2008,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n https:\/\/babel.hathitrust.org\/cgi\/pt?id=mdp.39015013392397;view=1up;seq=21<\/a>. November 26th, 2018<\/p>\n \u201cMaurice Maeterlinck.\u201d Encylop\u00e6dia Britannica, <\/i>August 25, 2018,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/biography\/Maurice-Maeterlinck<\/a>. November 22, 2018<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cdh.rula.info\/y90sclassroom\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2018\/11\/manetbar572-300x222.jpg\")
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