While one of the key characteristics of symbolist poetry was the intensity of inspiration behind the work, Valery moved away from this pseudo-mysticism and chose rather to create tightly-wound works separated from his own creative process.
While one of the key characteristics of symbolist poetry was the intensity of inspiration behind the work, Valery moved away from this pseudo-mysticism and chose rather to create tightly-wound works separated from his own creative process. He brought a level of formal sophistication to symbolist verse.