Greece in Poetry: With Paintings, Drawings, Photographs, and Other Works of Art

by Simoni Zafiropoulos

Without reservation or qualification, GREECE IN POETRY (an unknown and unfound book treasure thus far) belongs eminently among the most successful and splendid publishing ventures to combine great poetry with great art. . . . Poetry written in Greek constitutes the longest uninterrupted literary tradition in the Western World. It is Greece that has given the Western World the major poetic genres with which Westerners have forcefully and beautifully expressed their deepest emotions and loftiest thoughts down to the present day. In this book, the reader discovers (or re-discovers) Greece through its in its verse plays by Sophocles, Aeschylus, and Euripides, in its epic poems by Homer, in the lyrical poetry of Sappho, and from the pens of modern Greek poets--Cavafy, Solomos, Kazantzakis, Elytis, Seferis, and others. Editor Simoni Zafiropoulos joins these Greek voices to voices of poets who have written over the centuries in other languages about Byron, Keats, Shelley, Holderin, Yeats, Borges, D. H. Lawrence. . . . Ninety-five poems and poetic passages are heightened in power and poignacy by 95 accompanying works of art, illustration, and photography--from ancient vase paintings, sculptures, mosaics, and icons to modern paintings, drawings, engravings, and arresting, revelatory photographs of Greece's landscapes and people. Artfully and elegantly designed by Carol Ann Robson and published by preeminent artbook publisher Harry N. Abrams, the resulting book is a paean to that cradle of Western poetry and art that was and is still Greece.

Genres: Poetry

176 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 1993

Reviews

[Maddy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very thoughtful gift from a very kind friend. Discovered many beautiful poets through this, my favourite being Yannis Ritsos.

[Irma Fox · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is my list of favorites
Prologue from The Odyssey: A Modern Sequel
Agamemnon (In The Orchestra), Lines 457-962
Canto III, LXXXVI, I, from Don Juan, Lord Byron
From Epitaphios, Yannis Ritsos
Akathistos Hymn, Anonymous
Axion Esti, Odeysseus Elytis
Amorgos, Nicos Gatsos
Interlude of Joy, George Sefaris
Ithaca, Constantine Cavafy
Life Immovable, Costis Palamas

The reason I gave this book of poetry 3/5 stars is because I felt it needed to have a more solid structure or at least be chronological. The poems and verses listed above deserve a 5/5 but this book is large and my list is pretty short.