Fort, Paul (1872-1960). French poet, editor, and theatre director, Fort created the short-lived Théâtre d'Art (1890-2) as a forum for Symbolist theatre and the journal Vers et prose (its title a homage to Mallarmé), which he directed between 1905 and the outbreak of World War I and which brought together the literary and artistic avantgarde of Montparnasse. As a poet his name is associated with the ‘ballade’; he published his first collection in 1896 and remained faithful to the form for the rest of his life (Ballades françaises, 17 vols., 1922-58). Written in prose but with the sound-structures and rhythms of poetry, they celebrate love, nature, and death in a tone of spontaneity which provides a link between the French lyrical tradition and popular song.