Poetry
Odes
Ωδαί
Andreas Kalvos · 1826
Opening lines
Ω φιλτάτη πατρίς,
Ω θαυμασία νήσος,
Ζάκυνθε· συ μου έδωκας
Την πνοήν, και του Απόλλωνος
Τα χρυσά δώρα!
O dearest homeland,
O wondrous island,
Zakynthos, you gave me
Breath, and of Apollo
The golden gifts!
Translation by Erostrate
Text quoted from gutenberg.org
Synopsis
Twenty odes addressed to Greece in arms, each turned towards a moment of the uprising: Chios massacred, Parga sold, Souli besieged, Samos and Psara standing. The poet calls on liberty, brands the traitor and mourns the dead, in a thoroughly archaising language, mixed with ancient forms, and in a stanza without precedent that he formed himself.
Context
The first ten odes appeared in Geneva in 1824, under the title la Lyre, while their author was living in the city among the philhellenes who had taken him in; Stanislas Julien translated them into French at once, published by Peytieux, and the reception was favourable. The next ten came out in Paris in 1826, under the title des Lyriques, printed thanks to a philhellenic subscription and given alongside Pauthier de Censay's version, published by Jules Renouard: the collection of twenty odes exists only as of that date. The poet wrote no more verse after this second instalment. Ioannis-Andreas Vlachos produced the complete French translation in 1997, with a preface by Dimitri T. Analis.
Who it is for
Twenty short odes, in archaizing Greek and in a stanza that the poet invented. Nothing to know in advance, except that each one is aimed at an episode of the Greek uprising.
Prizes and reception
Forgotten for half a century, this poetry was rediscovered by Kostís Palamás in 1888; Seferis had the poet's remains repatriated to Zakynthos in 1960.