Threaded index     Date index     FAQ

Stefan George

Posted by Pharmakon on 2026-August-11 10:28:02, Tuesday
Compact magazine has an article about Stefan George, a German poet who lived from 1868 to 1933. I was able to read only a bit of it; the rest is paywalled. I hadn't heard of George, but I was intrigued by the author's claim that "for much of the past century, George has been regarded, at best, as a sensitive lyric poet at home in The Penguin Book of Homosexual Verse, and at worst, as a megalomaniacal cult leader and pedophile."

Perhaps, like the English and American poets often grouped as the "Uranians," George was mostly interested in what most of us here would regard as young men. Here's the poem anthologized in the Penguin collection:

The Lyre Player

How he advanced with a white fillet twisted
Around his locks, a sumptuous garment weighing
His slender shoulders, how he struck the lyre
Uncertainly at first with youthful shyness
Astonished even the austere and aged.
How faces kindled with the blush of yearning,
How many women flung him strings of jewels
And priceless clasps while he who still was new
To such ovation bowed, will be remembered
Wherever fruit grows on the holy tree.
The girls are full of endless eager talk,
And every boy in secret anguish worships
The hero of his sleepless starlit hours.


Nice ending, I thought. Anybody familiar with him?

hugzu ;-p


Pharmakon
  • (https site) Kyle Baasch, The Secret Kingdom of Stefan George (Compact Magazine; paywalled)
    [@nonymouse] [Guardster] [Proxify] [Anonymisierungsdienst]
    • Follow ups:
    Post a response:

    Nickname:
    		Password:
    Email (optional):
    Subject:

    Message:


    Link URL (optional):
    Link Title (optional):

    Add your sigpic?

    Here are Seven Rules for posting on this forum.

    1. Do not post erotica or overly-detailed sexual discussions.
    2. Do not request, offer, or post links to illegal material, including pictures.
    3. Don't annoy the cogs.
    4. Do not reveal identifying details about yourself or other posters.
    5. Do not advocate or counsel sex with minors.
    6. Do not post admissions of, or accuse others of, potentially illegal activities.
    7. Do not request meetings with posters who are under age 18.

    Posts made to BoyChat are subject to inclusion in the monthly BoyChat Digest. If you do not want your posts archived in the BC Digest, or want specific posts of yours removed after inclusion, please email The BC Digest.