The Parnassians were influenced by Théophile Gautier and his doctrine of art for art's sake. In reaction to the looser forms of romantic poetry, they strove for exact and faultless workmanship, selecting exotic and classical subjects which they treated with rigidity of form and emotional detachment.
Parnassianism did not restrict itself to France, tough. Perhaps the most idyosincratic of Parnassians, Olavo Bilac was an author from Brazil that managed to carefully craft verses and metre while still keeping a strong feel of emotion to them.