Parnassianism

Parnassianism is a current in French poetry of the second half of the nineteenth century that opposed to romantic subjectivity the cult of objectivity, impassivity, perfect 'chiseled' form, and the principle of 'art for art's sake'. The Parnassians (the name comes from the mythical Mount Parnassus, the abode of the Muses) strove for the plastic precision of the image, refinement of verse, and turned to ancient, exotic, and historical subjects. Their leading figures are Leconte de Lisle, Théophile Gautier, and José-Maria de Heredia. The Parnassian cult of flawless form, clarity, and craftsmanship is consonant with the aesthetics of the Ukrainian Neoclassicists of the 1920s (Mykola Zerov, Maksym Rylsky), who likewise defended the 'culture of the word', the perfection of the sonnet and the alexandrine, and looked to classical European models, opposing the ideological engagement of art.