Paul Verlaine with Verlaine, Mallarmé, Rimbaud, Paul Valéry, Albert Samain and many others began to be referred to as "Symbolists." These poets would often share themes that parallel Schopenhauer's aesthetics and notions of will, fatality and unconscious forces, and used themes of sex (such as prostitutes), the city, irrational phenomena (delirium, dreams, narcotics, alcohol), and sometimes a vaguely medieval setting. In poetry, the symbolist procedure—as typified by Verlaine—was to use subtle suggestion instead of precise statement (rhetoric was banned) and to evoke moods and feelings through the magic of words and repeated sounds and the cadence of verse (musicality) and metrical innovation.
Arnold "Poet" Jackson only accepted by Kenny Wangler and Junior Pierce. Poet is now referred to by his birth name of Arnold. Following the orders of Kenny Wangler, their attempt to murder Simon Adebisi is put on hold under orders from Mafia leader Antonio Nappa. Feeling guilty for wasting Said's efforts to have him paroled, a contrite Poet asks Said for permission to begin writing poetry again. Said gives Poet his blessing, but after Muslim Hamid Khan beats Poet's friend and fellow homeboy, Kenny Wangler, in boxing Poet publicly recites a sarcastic poem about Said's new relationship with a white woman. Because Said's