--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: It was during this final Parisian period…" description: "\"“It was during this final Parisian period of Rodenbach's life that his literary absorption in Bruges really rose and flowered. Bruges-La-Morte was the ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e62/phil-baker-68515_symbolism_it-was-during-this-final-parisian-period_254013.jpg" --- # It was during this final Parisian period of Rodenbach's… ![“It was during this final Parisian period of Rodenbach's life that his literary absorption in Bruges really rose and flowered. Bruges-La-Morte was the Paris literary sensation of 1892, and he followed it with La Vocation in 1895, and Le Carilloneur (translated as The Bells of Bruges) in 1897. This…” quote by Phil Baker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e62/phil-baker-68515_symbolism_it-was-during-this-final-parisian-period_254013.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e62/phil-baker-68515_symbolism_it-was-during-this-final-parisian-period_254013.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e62/phil-baker-68515_symbolism_it-was-during-this-final-parisian-period_254013.jpg) > ““It was during this final Parisian period of Rodenbach's life that his literary absorption in Bruges really rose and flowered. Bruges-La-Morte was the Paris literary sensation of 1892, and he followed it with La Vocation in 1895, and Le Carilloneur (translated as The Bells of Bruges) in 1897. This kind of immersion at a distance is hardly unknown - think of Joyce, minutely anatomizing Dublin in Ulysses while living in Trieste - but it is also quintessentially Symbolist in its concern with the richness and plenitude of absence: 'The essence of art that is in any way noble is the DREAM,' wrote Rodenbach, 'and this dream dwells only upon what is distant, absent, vanished, unattainable.' (Introduction)”” [Phil Baker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/phil-baker/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The quote highlights how an artist's distant, idealized view fuels creative imagination, emphasizing that longing for the absent inspires profound art. **In simple terms:** Longing for what is far away fuels artistic creation. Key Takeaway Embrace distance to deepen creative vision. Themes art longing symbolism creativity Mood reflective melancholic inspired Type literary philosophical analytical When to use this quote - writing - painting - music composition - urban planning - personal reflection Key Concepts idealization absence dream symbolist imagination literary criticism artistic inspiration Questions to Reflect On - How does physical distance shape your creative process? - What absent elements inspire you most? A Different Perspective Distance can also cause alienation and loss of concrete relevance. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Bells Bruges](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bells-bruges-2519776/) [Bruges 1897](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/bruges-1897-2519777/) [Carilloneur Translated](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/carilloneur-translated-2519778/) [Rodenbach Dream](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rodenbach-dream-2519774/) [Symbolism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/symbolism/) [Symbolist](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/symbolist-182079/) [Wrote Rodenbach](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wrote-rodenbach-2519775/) ## Related quotes > [“What obliterates the dream of land under wet moonlight?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sneha-subramanian-kanta/what-obliterates-the-dream-of-land-under-wet-moonlight/) [Sneha Subramanian Kanta](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sneha-subramanian-kanta/) > [“May your course not run from one end to the other; for such a course does not exist; but may every step you take…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marcel-schwob/may-your-course-not-run-from-one-end-to-the-other-for-such-a-course/) [Marcel Schwob](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marcel-schwob/) > [I am an anarchist in politics and an impressionist in art as well as a symbolist in literature. Not that I understand what these…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-adams/i-am-an-anarchist-in-politics-and-an-impressionist-in-art-as-well-as/) [Henry Adams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-adams/) ## More by Phil Baker > [“The meat market itself was probably a greater influence on Spare than his first school. It offered a spectacle of thousands of animal carcasses,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/phil-baker/the-meat-market-itself-was-probably-a-greater-influence-on-spare-than/) [Phil Baker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/phil-baker/) > [“Symbolism and surrealism overlap in the way they give primacy to mental reality over objective reality, and this in turn gives rise to a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/phil-baker/symbolism-and-surrealism-overlap-in-the-way-they-give-primacy-to/) [Phil Baker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/phil-baker/) > [“If i had it all to do again there would be more bodies.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/phil-baker/if-i-had-it-all-to-do-again-there-would-be-more-bodies/) [Phil Baker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/phil-baker/) [Explore all 4 Phil Baker quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/phil-baker/) ## More Symbolism quotes > [Caught in a racial uproar, people make all sorts of promises to make amends. Whatever they do tends to be heavy on symbolism and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-capehart/caught-in-a-racial-uproar-people-make-all-sorts-of-promises-to-make/) [Jonathan Capehart](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-capehart/) > [“Like symbolism, decadence puts forth the idea that the function of literature is to evoke impressions and 'correspondences', rather than to realistically depict the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/asti-hustvedt/like-symbolism-decadence-puts-forth-the-idea-that-the-function-of/) [Asti Hustvedt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/asti-hustvedt/) > [“People think blood red, but blood don't got no colour. Not when blood wash the floor she lying on as she scream for that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marlon-james/people-think-blood-red-but-blood-don-t-got-no-colour-not-when-blood/) [Marlon James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marlon-james/) > [“Across the threshold’s sleep she entered in And found herself amid great figures of gods Conscious in stone and living without breath, Watching with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sri-aurobindo/across-the-threshold-s-sleep-she-entered-in-and-found-herself-amid/) [Sri Aurobindo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sri-aurobindo/) > [I grew up watching monster movies and horror movies, which I felt were like fairy tales and I think this always spoke to me.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tim-burton/i-grew-up-watching-monster-movies-and-horror-movies-which-i-felt-were/) [Tim Burton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tim-burton/) > [ \[Winning the White House was an achievement\], but as an African-American, \[Barack Obama\], I think the symbolism is in how he conducted himself. The… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ta-nehisi-coates/winning-the-white-house-was-an-achievement-but-as-an-african-american/) [Ta-Nehisi Coates](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ta-nehisi-coates/) > [All ages before ours believed in gods in some form or other. Only an unparalleled impoverishment in symbolism could enable us to rediscover the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-jung/all-ages-before-ours-believed-in-gods-in-some-form-or-other-only-an/) [Carl Jung](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-jung/) > [“our perceptions of the external world are habitually clouded by the verbal notions in terms of which we do our thinking. We are for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/aldous-huxley/our-perceptions-of-the-external-world-are-habitually-clouded-by-the/) [Aldous Huxley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/aldous-huxley/) > [“her skilled use of her body, especially her eyes and hands, when communicating with people enabled millions sense she was a conduit between royalty,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tony-walter/her-skilled-use-of-her-body-especially-her-eyes-and-hands-when/) [Tony Walter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tony-walter/) > [Western people often see obscenity where there is only symbolism.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sir-john-woodroffe/western-people-often-see-obscenity-where-there-is-only-symbolism/) [Sir John Woodroffe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sir-john-woodroffe/) > [“Trees lose their leaves in blizzards like these.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ashly-lorenzana/trees-lose-their-leaves-in-blizzards-like-these/) [Ashly Lorenzana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ashly-lorenzana/) > [“Before we leave the gravesite, Mary sings Mother's favorite gospel hymn ... Mary's lovely voice rises and lingers in the air, and by the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/christina-baker-kline/before-we-leave-the-gravesite-mary-sings-mother-s-favorite-gospel/) [Christina Baker Kline](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/christina-baker-kline/) > [“In my view, the gospels are true, not historically, but theologically, or, as I would argue, prophetically! What we have is, the Messiah’s history…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eli-of-kittim/in-my-view-the-gospels-are-true-not-historically-but-theologically-or/) [Eli Of Kittim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eli-of-kittim/) > [The creative genius may be at once naive and knowledgeable, being at home equally with primitive symbolism and rigorous logic.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/frank-x-barron/the-creative-genius-may-be-at-once-naive-and-knowledgeable-being-at/) [Frank X. Barron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/frank-x-barron/) > [In the vast majority of cases the secret society symbolism hearkens from two places - Ireland and Egypt.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/michael-tsarion/in-the-vast-majority-of-cases-the-secret-society-symbolism-hearkens/) [Michael Tsarion](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/michael-tsarion/) [Browse all 254 Symbolism quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/symbolism/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“It was during this final Parisian period of Rodenbach's life that his literary absorption in Bruges really rose and flowered. Bruges-La-Morte was the Paris literary sensation of 1892, and he followed it with La Vocation in 1895, and Le Carilloneur (translated as The Bells of Bruges) in 1897. This kind of immersion at a distance is hardly unknown - think of Joyce, minutely anatomizing Dublin in Ulysses while living in Trieste - but it is also quintessentially Symbolist in its concern with the richness and plenitude of absence: 'The essence of art that is in any way noble is the DREAM,' wrote Rodenbach, 'and this dream dwells only upon what is distant, absent, vanished, unattainable.' (Introduction)”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Phil Baker" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/phil-baker/it-was-during-this-final-parisian-period-of-rodenbach-s-life-that-his/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Symbolism" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/phil-baker/it-was-during-this-final-parisian-period-of-rodenbach-s-life-that-his/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e62/phil-baker-68515_symbolism_it-was-during-this-final-parisian-period_254013.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e62/phil-baker-68515_symbolism_it-was-during-this-final-parisian-period_254013.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e62/phil-baker-68515_symbolism_it-was-during-this-final-parisian-period_254013.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“It was during this final Parisian period of Rodenbach's life that his literary absorption in Bruges really…” — Phil Baker", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Phil Baker", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/phil-baker/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“It was during this final Parisian...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/phil-baker/it-was-during-this-final-parisian-period-of-rodenbach-s-life-that-his/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/phil-baker/it-was-during-this-final-parisian-period-of-rodenbach-s-life-that-his/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```