GEORGE, STEFAN German poet, was born at Budesheim, Hesse, on July 12, 1868. After attending the gram mar school at Darmstadt, he studied philosophy and the history of art in Paris, Munich and Berlin. He travelled extensively in Italy, France, England, Spain, Holland and Belgium and became associated with the Baudelaire and Mallarme School in Paris and the disciples of the Pre-Raphaelites in London. His early poems were first published privately for a select circle of friends, for whom in 1892 he founded the Bldtter fur die Kunst. George is the leader of the school of "art for art's sake" in Germany. He writes consciously as the high priest of an esoteric poetic cult in revolt against modern naturalism and achieves great beauty of form and an austere power. Among his works are Hymen (189o); Algabal (1892) ; Die Bucher der Hirten (1895) ; Jahr der Seele (1897) ; Der Teppich des Lebens (1899) ; Tage and Taten (1900) ; Die Fibel (19o1) ; Der siebente Ring (1907) ; Stern des Bundes (1914) ; Der Krieg (1917) ; Drei Gesange (1921 ) . He also translated Baudelaire, Dante and the sonnets of Shakespeare. See L. Klage, Stefan George (1902) ; F. Duberg, Stefan George (1908).