Pierian spring

See also: Pierian Spring

English

Alternative forms

• Pierian Spring

Etymology

From the spring of the Muses in Greek mythology.

Noun

Pierian spring (plural Pierian springs)

1. (idiomatic, chiefly literary) The source of knowledge, inspiration, or learning.
   • 1711 May, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Criticism, London: […] W[illiam] Lewis […]; and sold by W[illiam] Taylor […], T[homas] Osborn[e] […], and J[ohn] Graves […], →OCLC:

     A little Learning is a dang'rous Thing;
     Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian Spring.

   • 1817, S[amuel] T[aylor] Coleridge, “The motives of the present work—Reception of the Author’s first publication—The discipline of his taste at school—The effect of contemporary writers on youthful minds—[William Lisle] Bowles’s sonnets—Comparison between the Poets before and since Mr. [Alexander] Pope”, in Biographia Literaria; or Biographical Sketches of My Literary Life and Opinions, volume I, London: Rest Fenner, […], →OCLC, pages 7–9:

     At school I enjoyed the inestimable advantage of a very sensible, though at the same time, a very severe master. […] [H]e showed no mercy to phrase, metaphor, or image, unsupported by a sound sense, or where the same sense might have been conveyed with equal force and dignity in plainer words. […] In fancy I can almost hear him now, exclaiming "Harp? Harp? Lyre? Pen and ink, boy, you mean! Muse, boy, Muse? Your Nurse's daughter, you mean! Pierian spring? Oh 'aye! the cloister-pump, I suppose!"

   • 1892, Ambrose Bierce, “A Poet's Father”, in Black Beetles in Amber:

     […] a studious land
     Where humming youth, intent upon the page,
     Thirsting for knowledge with a noble rage,
     Drink dry the whole Pierian spring

   • 2009 January 2, Timothy W. Ryback, “First Chapter: Hitler’s Private Library”, in New York Times, retrieved 9 August 2015:

     For him the library represented a Pierian spring, that metaphorical source of knowledge and inspiration. He drew deeply there, quelling his intellectual insecurities and nourishing his fanatic ambitions.

Further reading

• “Pierian spring”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.