Born in Buzău to journalist Titus Stoika and his wife Irena (née Ciorogârleanu), he attended primary school in Piatra Neamț and in the then-Austro-Hungarian Brașov.
In 1914–1915, he edited Poezia magazine, which welcomed submissions from the younger generation while gaining prestige from the contributions of Duiliu Zamfirescu, George Murnu, Ovid Densusianu, Gala Galaction and Dragomirescu.
Pen names that he used include Delaziliște, Tarmes, Tartar, Sapiens, Micado, Costo, Amor, St., Troedo and Ego.
He translated works by Charles Baudelaire, Sully Prudhomme, Paul Verlaine, Jean Racine, Ludwig Uhland and Joséphin Péladan; the French poetry of Iulia Hasdeu; and Horace and Lucretius.
After Romania's entry into World War I in August 1916, he was assigned to a border regiment based in Câineni, on the frontier with Austria-Hungary.