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One of George's goals was to revitalize German literature and the language overall. While he believed himself to be a catalyst in revitalizing ancient Greek thought and a continuation of Western masters like Shakespeare, George was deeply passionate about the roots he saw himself as having in Germany. He was inextricably connected to Germany and valued a sense of lineage from those German culture-makers before him. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, "George aimed for new aesthetic forms in German poetry, avoiding impure rhymes and metrical irregularities. Vowels and consonants were arranged with precision to achieve harmony. The resulting symbolic poem was intended to evoke a sense of intoxication. These poetic ideals were a protest not only against the debasement of the language but also against materialism and naturalism, to which George opposed an austerity of life and a standard of poetic excellence." https://www.britannica.com/biography/Stefan-George

Many of the works below reveal the means by which authors connect George to other --currently more well-known--German writers. Specifically, George is often linked to Goethe in these volumes, despite the enormous difference in their celebrity and renown (inside and most definitely outside of academia). George's circle linked him to what they deemed as German classical literature: Klopstock, Goethe, Schiller, Jean Paul, and Holderlin.

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"Stefan George". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2016. Web. 09 Nov. 2016
<https://www.britannica.com/biography/Stefan-George>.

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