Stéphane Mallarmé was a French Symbolist poet and writer, born in Paris on 18 March 1842 under the given name Étienne Mallarmé.

Working in the French language across a range of roles, Mallarmé spent much of his professional life as a secondary school teacher and English teacher, occupations he sustained alongside his literary pursuits. He also worked as a translator, librettist, and illustrator, bringing a disciplined versatility to his engagement with language and form. His critical writing extended in two directions: he practiced both literary criticism and art criticism, producing assessments of the creative work of his contemporaries as well as his own era's broader aesthetic concerns. He received the Taylorian Lecture award, a recognition that acknowledged his standing as a voice worth hearing beyond the borders of France.

As a poet, critic, and writer, Mallarmé moved through several modes of creative and intellectual work, yet it was the Symbolist current in French poetry that provided the consistent framework for his output. He died on 9 September 1898, with his death recorded variously at Valvins, Vulaines-sur-Seine, and Fontainebleau, having spent his life writing in French and contributing to the literary and critical conversations of the late nineteenth century. The Symbolist movement, with its attention to suggestion, musicality, and the limits of direct expression, remains the defining context in which his work as poet and critic is placed.