Thanks A. Symons for his letter and sending him a copy of Review.

First Published in 2004. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Figures of Several Centuries" is a collection of essays written by Arthur Symons, a British poet, critic, and essayist. The book features Symons' astute observations and critiques of a wide range of literary and artistic luminaries over several centuries. Known for his contributions to English Decadent poetry and affiliated with the Symbolist movement, Symons examines the lives and works of a variety of characters in the arts and literature. The essays address a wide range of subjects, such as debates on poets, authors, and artists from many eras of history. As a literary critic, Symons analyses each person with a lyrical sensibility and a profound respect for art. In addition to providing historical context, the collection highlights the importance of several creative figures over time in various historical eras. With its insight into the rich fabric of artistic expression across the centuries, "Figures of Several Centuries" advances knowledge of the relationship between art, literature, and culture.

Arthur William Symons (1865-1945) is a haunting poet of the modern city, catching its dangerous, complex beauty in works that first introduced the imagery of the urban underworld into English poetry. He was a champion of the French Symbolists. Yeats, Pound and Eliot acknowledged their debt to him and were influenced by his sense of the city as the essential landscape of modernity. As a poet and critic, in his own right, though, Symons has come into his own in recent years. This selection is taken from the full range of Symons' poetry and prose, revealing an experimental writer exploring art, literature and music. Roger Holdsworth's introduction sets Symons in his context as both an 1890s Decadent and a precursor of Modernism.

Winner of the Thomas Hardy Society Book Prize.