Translated by Mariam Tsiklauri

Word to word translation from Modern Greek, prologue and comments by Maia Kakashvili

Odysseas Elytis (1911-1996) is the second Greek to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature. His poem “A Heroic and Funeral Chant for the Lieutenant Lost in Albania” (1943) became a poetic anthem of youth in the wartime Greece. It was used as libretto in the musical work by Mikis Theodorakis.

In protest against the military coup of 1967, the poet voluntarily moved to France where he stayed for two years. Acknowledged as one of the greatest poets of the 20th century in his lifetime, Elytis deliberately neglected punctuation marks in his works. He believed that there are certain national peculiarities which can enrich the spirit of the whole world. His second passion was painting and he used to supply illustrations for his own books himself.