Modern Greek Poetry - Seferis, Cavafy & Ritsos torrent

When you set sail for Ithaca,
wish for the road to be long,
full of adventures, full of knowledge.
The Lestrygonians and the Cyclopes,
an angry Poseidon — do not fear.
You will never find such on your path,
if your thoughts remain lofty, and your spirit
and body are touched by a fine emotion.
The Lestrygonians and the Cyclopes,
a savage Poseidon you will not encounter,
if you do not carry them within your spirit,
if your spirit does not place them before you.
Wish for the road to be long.
Many the summer mornings to be when
with what pleasure, what joy
you will enter ports seen for the first time.
Stop at Phoenician markets,
and purchase the fine goods,
nacre and coral, amber and ebony,
and exquisite perfumes of all sorts,
the most delicate fragrances you can find.
To many Egyptian cities you must go,
to learn and learn from the cultivated.
Always keep Ithaca in your mind.
To arrive there is your final destination.
But do not hurry the voyage at all.
It is better for it to last many years,
and when old to rest in the island,
rich with all you have gained on the way,
not expecting Ithaca to offer you wealth.
Ithaca has given you the beautiful journey.
Without her you would not have set out on the road.
Nothing more does she have to give you.
And if you find her poor, Ithaca has not deceived you.
Wise as you have become, with so much experience,
you must already have understood what Ithacas mean.


Seferis has certain affinities with Eliot whom he knew and whose poetry he translated (which is another way of saying that his poetry can be difficult. By comparison Ritsos is demotic and earthy)

This is the Caedmon recording from the early sixties with eight poems read alternately in Greek and English by the poet himself and his English translator Edmund Keeley.

Cavafy is more transparent. But note that the surface ease of most English translations makes them prosier than the originals and conceals a fair amount of their poetry.

One's sense is that Cavafy has simply taken hold of a thread, in subject matter and style, that was left by the Alexandrian poets two millennia ago (Callimachus, Theocritus etc.) It helps that modern Greek is as distant from that of classical Athens, as Chaucer and Langland are from that of modern England.

I have tried to find a reading in Greek for each reading I have in English. Go to http://www.snhell/lections/writers.asp for a large collection of Cavafy poems read in Greek. (Other authors are available – cl. Translate, if you have to – then cl. Author name. Cl. the poem title and in the pop up box right cl. the black rectangle. Cl. 'Save Video as' and an mp3 of the poem will download)

For the complete text of his poetry, in Greek and in English, go to www.cavafy.com. And for more of the poetry of both Seferis and Cavafy type 'Greece' and 'Thus Spake the City' in a torrent search box. This will get you excellent documentaries by Yannis Smaragdis on both poets (Alexandria for Cavafy and Poros and Delphi for Seferis).

Also included are features on Greek poetry from the ABC, the BBC and RTE. Kindly seed.