The study examines the reference to the North in the Poèmes barbares (1872) by Leconte de Lisle. The reference to the barbarian races of the North is explained in the context of the Second Empire in France and determined as an aesthetic and cultural program launched by Leconte de Lisle, leader of the Parnasse. It is shown that the barbarian inspiration is part of a quest to revitalize the human spirit in the era of modernity. The endeavor is associated with the essential tendencies in the sciences of that time but also, in Leconte de Lisle’s view, with the sacred dimension of poetic discourse. Secondly, by close readings of four examples of Nordic poems, two poems from the Finnish cycle and two poems from the Scandinavian cycle, the characteristics of Leconte de Lisle’s poetic language are defined. The results show that the Nordic textuel sources – the hypotexts – are considerably reworked by the poet with the aim of making them conform to classical criteria from Greco-Roman antiquity. However, the resulting syncretism in no way excludes cultural diversity, because Leconte de Lisle makes abundant and conscient use, in his poetic practice, of proper names in foreign languages.