The term “symbolism” is limited to use in contrast to “representationalism”; defining the general directions of a linear spectrum – where in all symbolic concepts can be viewed in relation, and where changes in context may imply systemic changes to individual and collective definitions of symbols. “Symbolism” may refer to a way of choosing representative symbols in line with abstract rather than literal properties, allowing for the broader interpretation of a carried meaning than more literal concept-representations allow. A religion can be described as a language of concepts related to human spirituality. Symbolism hence is an important aspect of most religions.The interpretation of abstract symbols has had an important role in religion and psychoanalysis. As envisioned by Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung, symbols are not the creations of mind, but rather are distinct capacities within the mind to hold a distinct piece of information. In the mind, the symbol can find free association with any number of other symbols, can be organized in any number of ways, and can hold the connected meanings between symbols as symbols in themselves. Jung and Freud diverged on the issue of common cognitive symbol systems and whether they could exist only within the individual mind or among other minds; whether any cognitive symbolism was defined by innate symbolism or by the influence of the environment around them.Symbolism, in generally, is one of the writing skills. Its goal is to convey elusive illusion and its content is mysticism. What’s the writer wants to expound isn’t the realistic objective world, but the individual subjective inward world. The word symbolism comes from the word Greek symbolon. The original meaning of the symbolism in Greek is “broke one board into two parts and take one part of each other, in order to indicate the authenticating object of connecting. And then it has evolved to be the delegate of the habit of taking a form as concept. Symbol is always in its way. It is a way of associating, i.e., connects the things saw in sight with the things felt before and then forms a fresh and peculiar artistic conception.As a specific school of literary and artistic trend, symbolism appeared in French in 1880s at the very first and mainly in the creative realm of poetry. Stephane Mallarme (1842-1898), Paul Verlaine (1844-1896),Arthur Rimbaud (1854-1891) are the representatives of the symbolist poet of French. In the drama field, the representative is Belgian dramatist Maurice Maeterlinck (1862-1949).From 1890s, symbolism spread to British, Germany, Russian, Italy, Spanish, etc. and any other countries. And to the 1920s, it has become one of the most influenced schools of literary and artistic trend in the world. In content, symbolism is divided into generalized symbolism and narrow symbolism. In time, it is distinguished into early and late symbolism. The early symbolism refers to the thought after the failure of the Paris Commune, i.e. the thought that is popular in Europe in 1880s and 1890s. The late symbolism is the thought of 1920s. After the World WarⅠ, the symbolism rose sharply again and it overwhelm through Europe and American. It went to its top at that time. Someone range the late symbolism into the modernist school category. In 1886, French poet Jules Moorea (1856--1910) published the declaration of symbolism in Paris. At the same time, Mallarme wrote the foreword. Rene Jill published the Study on Language and Tone. These three theses established the theoretical principle of the symbolic poetry and also the important bibliography for the later generations to study symbolism.The symbolist thought what the art of the literature try to convey is not the realistic life but the suppertime, hyperspace, hyperphysical, pretersensual world that the consciousness can’t achieve. They also thought that the reality is dark and variable, illusory and painful. Only the other world is true, kind and beautiful. It use confused and stupefied, half hidden scene to hint another world. And the symbol is the media to associate the two worlds. Like use the crow to present the fate and symbolize the dark of soul; use the rainbow to symbolize the bright. Dark symbolizes sorrow; white symbolizes pure; yellow symbolizes authority, etc. These symbolic meanings are the inherent features of things, words and phrases, and are well known by people. But under more situation, what it symbolize is not the inherent features of the things, words and phrases, but the features be given subjective by human self. Like rain symbolizes the God, grail symbolizes superhuman strength, etc. And the meaning is perplexing. A same thing, a same poetry always has different explanations.As a creating aesthetics, symbolism has existed since ancient times. The symbolism, the romanticism and the realism, are the three basic writing aesthetics that possess archetypal meaning in literary history. It opposes superficial lyric and the blunt sermon; and it proposes to unit the sensibility and reason. It indicates the beauty and the unlimitedness of rational world, and conveys the author’s thoughts, complicated and subtle emotion and feelings circuitously through symbols, hints, images, metaphor, associate free and the musicality of the language.