parnassian

A papilionid butterfly of the holarctic alpine genus Parnassius or the subfamily Parnassiinae; an apollo butterfly.

Of, relating to, or designating papilionid butterflies of the genus Parnassius or the subfamily Parnassiinae, consisting of the apollo butterflies.

Of or relating to Parnassus, as the source of literary (especially poetic) inspiration; (hence) of or belonging to poetry.

King Atlas called straight to minde an auncient prophesie Made by Parnassian Themys, which this sentence did implie: The time shall one day, Atlas, come in which thy golden tree Shall of hir fayre and precious fruite dispoyld and robbed bee.

There is a certain poetic ground, on which a man cannot tread without feelings that enlarge the heart: the causes of human depravity vanish before the romantic enthusiasm he professes, and many who are not able to reach the Parnassian heights, may yet approach so near as to be bettered by the air of the climate.

Of or relating to a style of poetry or language which can only be created by poets, but not in the language of inspiration.

[…] at last, — this is the point to be marked, - they can see things in this Parnassian way and describe them in this Parnassian tongue, without further effort of inspiration.

But in Parnassian pieces you feel that if you were the poet you could have gone on as he has done, you see yourself doing it, only with the difference that if you actually try you find you cannot write his Parnassian.

Of or relating to the Parnassianism movement of French poetry in the years 1850 to 1900, whose adherents rejected Romanticism and instead favored classicism with its formal structure and emotional detachment.

The Parnassian theory of art is mere imbecility.