frlit1-8, Exercise 3: Symbolism and Surrealism

Model answer:

Symbolism, led by Mallarme, held that poetry should suggest rather than state; its verse was dense, elliptical and carefully crafted, and the poet worked to find the exact suggestive word. Surrealism, led by Breton, held that logic and convention had stifled the imagination and looked to dreams, chance and the unconscious as sources; its characteristic method was automatic writing, in which the writer sets words down rapidly without censoring them. Both sought to go beyond plain description, but one by refinement and the other by release.

Check the details against a reference work.