Parnassianism (or Parnassism) was a French

literary Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to ...

style that began during the positivist period of the 19th century, occurring after

romanticism Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...

and prior to

symbolism Symbolism or symbolist may refer to: Arts * Symbolism (arts), a 19th-century movement rejecting Realism ** Symbolist movement in Romania, symbolist literature and visual arts in Romania during the late 19th and early 20th centuries ** Russian sy ...

. The style was influenced by the author Théophile Gautier as well as by the philosophical ideas of

Arthur Schopenhauer Arthur Schopenhauer ( , ; 22 February 1788 – 21 September 1860) was a German philosopher. He is best known for his 1818 work ''The World as Will and Representation'' (expanded in 1844), which characterizes the phenomenal world as the prod ...

Origins and name

The name is derived from the original Parnassian poets' journal, '' Le Parnasse contemporain'', itself named after Mount Parnassus, home of the

Muse In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Muses ( grc, Μοῦσαι, Moûsai, el, Μούσες, Múses) are the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the ...

s of

Greek mythology A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the Cosmogony, origin and Cosmology#Metaphysical co ...

. The anthology was first issued in 1866 and again in 1869 and 1876, including poems by

Charles Leconte de Lisle Charles Marie René Leconte de Lisle (; 22 October 1818 – 17 July 1894) was a French poet of the Parnassian movement. He is traditionally known by his surname only, Leconte de Lisle''. Biography Leconte de Lisle was born on the French overseas ...

, Théodore de Banville, Sully Prudhomme,

Stéphane Mallarmé Stéphane Mallarmé ( , ; 18 March 1842 – 9 September 1898), pen name of Étienne Mallarmé, was a French poet and critic. He was a major French symbolist poet, and his work anticipated and inspired several revolutionary artistic schools of ...

, Paul Verlaine,

François Coppée François Edouard Joachim Coppée (26 January 1842 – 23 May 1908) was a French poet and novelist. Biography Coppée was born in Paris to a civil servant. After attending the Lycée Saint-Louis he became a clerk in the ministry of war and won ...

, Nina de Callias, and José María de Heredia. The Parnassians were influenced by Théophile Gautier and his doctrine of " art for art's sake". As a reaction to the less-disciplined types of romantic poetry and what they considered the excessive sentimentality and undue social and political activism of Romantic works, the Parnassians strove for exact and faultless workmanship, selecting exotic and (neo-)classical subjects that they treated with rigidity of form and emotional detachment. Elements of this detachment were derived from the philosophical work of Schopenhauer. The two most characteristic and most long-lasting members of the movement were Heredia and

Leconte de Lisle Charles Marie René Leconte de Lisle (; 22 October 1818 – 17 July 1894) was a French poet of the Parnassian movement. He is traditionally known by his surname only, Leconte de Lisle''. Biography Leconte de Lisle was born on the French overseas ...

Transnational influences

Despite its French origins, Parnassianism was not restricted to French authors. Perhaps the most idiosyncratic of Parnassians, Olavo Bilac,

Alberto de Oliveira Antônio Mariano de Oliveira (April 28, 1857 – January 19, 1937) was a Brazilian poet, pharmacist and professor. He is better known by his pen name Alberto de Oliveira. Alongside Olavo Bilac and Raimundo Correia Raimundo da Mota de Azevedo ...

's disciple, was an author from

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

who managed carefully to craft verses and metre while maintaining a strong emotionalism in them.

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

Parnassians included Antoni Lange,

Felicjan Faleński Felicjan ( uk, Феліцян, ''Felitsian'') is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Gorzków, within Krasnystaw County, Lublin Voivodeship The Lublin Voivodeship, also known as the Lublin Province ( Polish: ''województwo lubelsk ...

, Cyprian Kamil Norwid and Leopold Staff. A Romanian poet with Parnassian influences was Alexandru Macedonski. Florbela Espanca was a Parnassian Portuguese poet (Larousse), as was

Cesário Verde Cesário Verde (25 February 1855 – 19 July 1886) was a 19th-century Portuguese poet. His work, while mostly ignored during his lifetime and not well known outside of the country's borders even today, is generally considered to be amongst the mo ...

. British poets such as Andrew Lang,

Austin Dobson :''This article describes the English racing driver. For the English poet, see Henry Austin Dobson''. Austin Dobson (19 August 1912 in Lodsworth, Sussex – 13 March 1963 in Cuckfield, Sussex) was a racing driver from England. He was the ...

and

Edmund Gosse Sir Edmund William Gosse (; 21 September 184916 May 1928) was an English poet, author and critic. He was strictly brought up in a small Protestant sect, the Plymouth Brethren, but broke away sharply from that faith. His account of his childhoo ...

were sometimes known as "English Parnassians" for their experiments in old (often originally French) forms such as the ballade, the villanelle and the rondeau, taking inspiration from French authors like Banville.

Gerard Manley Hopkins Gerard Manley Hopkins (28 July 1844 – 8 June 1889) was an English poet and Jesuit priest, whose posthumous fame placed him among leading Victorian poets. His prosody – notably his concept of sprung rhythm – established him as an innovato ...

used the term ''Parnassian'' pejoratively to describe competent but uninspired poetry, “spoken ''on and from the level'' of a poet’s mind”. He identified this trend particularly with the work of Alfred Tennyson, citing the poem "

Enoch Arden ''Enoch Arden'' is a narrative poem published in 1864 by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, during his tenure as England's poet laureate. The story on which it was based was provided to Tennyson by Thomas Woolner. The poem lent its name to a principle in ...

" as an example. Many prominent Turkish poets of Servet-i Fünun were inspired by Parnassianism such as

Tevfik Fikret Tevfik Fikret ( ota, توفیق فكرت) was the pseudonym of Mehmed Tevfik (December 24, 1867 – August 19, 1915), an Ottoman-Turkish educator and poet, who is considered the founder of the modern school of Turkish poetry. Biography Fam ...

, Yahya Kemal Beyatlı and Cenap Şahabettin.

References

Citations

Sources

In France * Maurice Souriau, ''Histoire du Parnasse'', ed. Spes, 1929 * Louis-Xavier de Ricard, ''Petits mémoires d'un Parnassien'' * Adolphe Racot, ''Les Parnassiens'', introduction and commentaries by M. Pakenham, presented by Louis Forestier, Aux Lettres modernes: collection ''avant-siècle'', 1967. * Yann Mortelette,
Histoire du Parnasse
', Paris : Fayard, 2005, 400 p. *
Le Parnasse. Mémoire de la critique
', ed. Yann Mortelette, Paris : PUPS, 2006, 444 p. * André Thérive, ''Le Parnasse'', ed. PAUL-DUVAL, 1929. * Luc Decaunes, La Poésie parnassienne Anthologie, Seghers, 1977. In Brazil
Bilac, Olavo. Complete Works

OLIVEIRA, Alberto. 20 sonets
Essays and criticisms * AZEVEDO, Sanzio de. Parnasianismo na poesia brasileira. Fortaleza: Ceará University, 2000. * BOSI, Alfredo. An intuição da passagem em um soneto de Raimundo Correia, in --- (org). Leitura de Poesia. São Paulo: Ática, 2003. * CANDIDO, Antonio. No coração do silêncio. in: ---. Na sala de aula. São Paulo: Ática, 1985. * CAVALCANTI, Camillo
Fundamentos modernos das Poesias de Alberto de Oliveira
doctoral thesis at Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, 2008. * FISCHER, Luis Augusto
Parnasianismo brasileiro
Porto Alegre: Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul, 2003. * MAGALHÃES Jr., Raymundo. Olavo Bilac. Rio de Janeiro: Americana, 1974. * MARTINO, Pierre. Parnasse et symbolisme. Armand Colin, 1967. (Parnaso y symbolismo, Ed. Ateneo) {{Schools of poetry French poetry Genres of poetry Literary movements Symbolism (arts)

Origins and name

Transnational influences

See also

References

Citations

Sources