Stefan George, Der Siebente Ring [The Seventh Ring]

Christophe Fricker
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Der siebente Ring

[

The Seventh Ring

] of 1907 is Stefan George’s largest collection of poetry. Organized in seven sections, with the number of poems in each section divisible by seven, the volume observes stringent rules of composition.

The first of the seven cycles depicts ancestors of George’s own struggle against superficiality and pragmatism. The poems review landmarks of occidental history and of the author’s own biography, including Dante’s work (which George translated and saw as a precursor of his works), Goethe’s legacy, his encounter with the Symbolists in Paris, his visit to the Vatican where he attended a Mass celebrated by Pope Leo XIII, and the achievements of Arnold Böcklin and Friedrich Nietzsche. The speaker in George’s poems postulates to understand these

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Citation: Fricker, Christophe. "Der Siebente Ring". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 28 August 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=21895, accessed 21 November 2024.]

21895 Der Siebente Ring 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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