1 So Dallas, G., ‘Elitis e la lirica antica. Un dialogo intralinguistico’, in Minucci, P. M. and Bintoudis, C. (eds.), Odisseas Elitis. Un europeo per metà, (Rome 2010) 135–49Google Scholar.

2 Ibid. 135–6.

3 O. Elytis, Αὐτοπροσωπογραφία σὲ λόγο προφορικό (Athens 2000) 27.

4 Elytis, ‘Τὰ μικρὰ ἔψιλον’, in Ἐν λευκῷ (Athens 2006) 218–19 (= Id., Σαπφῶ ἀνασύνθεση καὶ ἀπόδοση [Athens 2004] 12–13; Italian translation: Odysseas Elytis, Le poesie di Saffo, ed. C. Luciani (Rome 2008) 13–14. It is possible that Elytis was hinting at the lesbian circle in Paris of the American writer Natalie Clifford Barney (1876-1972), which included Eveline (Eva) Palmer (1874-1952), later the first wife of Angelos Sikelianos. Illuminating on the relationship is their correspondence: Γράμματα της Εύας Palmer Σικελιανού στη Natalie Clifford Barney, ed. L. Papadaki (Athens 1995).

5 Elytis states eloquently that every time he went to Mytilene he felt that in each olive leaf lay his identity: Αὐτοπροσωπογραφία, 9-10.

6 See also the remarks of G. Zaccagni, ‘Lesbo ed Elitis. “Τα τέκνα της Αιολίδας”. Un immaginario albero genealogico’, in Minucci and Bintoudis, Odisseas Elitis 281–8.

7 Elytis, ‘Ὁ ζωγράφος Θεόφιλος’ (wr. 1967), Ἀνοιχτὰ Χαρτιά (Athens 1982) 255–316 (257).

8 Elytis, Ἀνοιχτὰ Χαρτιά, 88.

9 Elytis, ‘Ποίηση καὶ μουσική’, Ἐπιθεώρηση Τέχνης 20 (1964) 337-40 (339).

10 Elytis, O., ‘Ὁ Ρωμανός ὁ Μελωδός’ (wr. 1975) in Ἐν λευκῷ (Athens 2006) 49–50Google Scholar; see Koutrianou, E., ‘Ἡ ἀνασύνθεση καὶ ἀπόδοση τῶν ποιημάτων τῆς Σαπφοῦς καὶ ἡ ποιητικὴ τοῦ Ὀδυσσέα Ἐλύτη’, Ἐπιστημονικὴ Ἐπετηρὶς τῆς Φιλοσοφικῆς Σχολῆς τοῦ Πανεπιστημίου Ἀθηνῶν 36 (2004–2005) 439–49 (446)Google Scholar; also D. Connolly, ‘Sull’ espressione poetica. Elitis ‘In bianco’, and M. Cazzulo, ‘Tra significato e significante. L’ onomatopea nelle poesia di Elitis’, in Minucci and Bintoudis, Odisseas Elitis, 77-88 and 109-18 respectively.

11 Elytis, ‘Ὁ Ρωμανὸς ὁ Μελωδός’, 50.

12 In Elytis’ collages, the constituent elements, whether derived from photographs or works of art – where colours, paintings, the sinuous bodies of girls and angels, the crests of sea waves and robes, statues and parts of a temple, the whiteness of chalk, a verse by Sappho – are a musée imaginaire parallel to the images in his poems. See N. Hatzikyriakos-Ghika, ‘Ο Ελύτης και η ζωγραφική’, Το Βήμα 4/3/1990, and Kapsomenos, E. (ed.), Οδυσσέας Ελύτης, ο ποιητής και οι ελληνικές πολιτισμικές αξίες (Athens 2000)Google Scholar.

13 Elytis, Σαπφώ, 163–4. For his translation of Sappho, Elytis made use of no fewer than eleven critical studies and translations, in addition to the reference edition by Lobel, E. and Page, D.L., Poetarum Lesbiorum Fragmenta (Oxford 1963)Google Scholar; see also I. Loulakaki, ‘Σαπφώ και Ελύτης, ο Ηλιοβόρος και η Σεληνοβάμων’, Νέα Ἑστία, [Ἀφιέρωμα στὸν Ὀδυσσέα Ἐλύτη (1911–1996)] 1674–5 (1997) 567–75.

14 Elytis, Σαπφώ, 163–5.

15 For an understanding of antiquity in Elytis a basic starting point is Iakov, D. Ι., Η αρχαιογνωσία του Οδυσσέα Ελύτη και άλλες νεοελληνικές δοκιμές (Thessaloniki 2000)Google Scholar.

16 I cite here only the most recent bibliography on Crinagoras, passing over older studies: The Epigrams of Crinagoras of Mytilene, Introduction, Text, Commentary, ed. M. Ypsilanti (Oxford 2018) 1–52; Epitimbi crinagorei. Tradizione, testo, temi degli epigrammi funerari di Crinagora, ed. C. Gandini (Nordhausen 2018) and her preliminary essay: Diplomatico e poeta. Crinagora di Mitilene nella Roma di Augusto (Reggio Calabria 2015). For the relations of Greek poets with the Roman imperial court, see I. Cogitore, ’Crinagoras et les poètes de la Couronne de Philippe: la cour impériale romaine dans les yeux des grecs’, in I. Savalli–Lestrade and I. Cogitore (eds), Des rois au prince: pratiques du pouvoir monarchique dans l'Orient hellénistique et romain (Ellug 2010) 258–259. Interesting in this respect are some of Cavafy's prose writings, including the essay ‘Ἕλληνες λόγιοι ἐν ρωμαϊκαῖς οἰκίαις’ (Greek men of letters in Rome): Kavafis, K. P., Τὰ πεζά (1882; –1931), ed. Pieris, M. (Athens 2003) 98–104Google Scholar, now also available in K. Kavafis, Poesie e Prose, ed. R. Lavagnini and C. Luciani (Milan 2021) 1497–1509.

17 Elytis, Ἐν λευκῷ, 267 (‘Blame Cavafy, who, although not usually open to such forms of sensitivity, has written the magically expressive verse: Meleager, Crinagoras and Rhianus were read. And don't tell me he chose to mention these three because of the quality of their art!’). Elytis' attention to the rhythmic ductility of language is analysed in L. Stefanou, ‘Ἐλύτης. Γλώσσα καὶ ρυθμός’, Νέα Ἑστία [Ἀφιέρωμα στὸν Ὀδυσσέα Ἐλύτη] 489–93.

18 Phillimore, J. S., ‘Crinagoras of Mytilene’, Dublin Review 139 (1906) 74–86 (79)Google Scholar. According to the classification of the Palatine Anthology, Crinagoras’ poems may be divided into: 2 Amatoria, 11 Dedicatoria, 13 Sepulcralia, 21 Demonstrativa, 1 Hortatorium, 1 Convivia or Irrisoria, and 4 further Hortatoria transmitted by the Anthologia Planudea. A contrast with Sappho is that the only epigrams with erotic content are actually an epistle (5.108) and one written in Italy to a woman named Gemella (5.119).

19 Elytis, Ανοιχτά χαρτιά, 51 and I. Loulakaki–Moore, Seferis and Elytis as Translators (Bern 2010) 272.

20 Ypsilanti, The Epigrams of Crinagoras, 9.

21 Roller, D. W., The Building Program of Herod the Great (Berkeley 1998) 62–63Google Scholar with n. 74.

22 Dallas, ‘Elitis e la lirica antica’, 135.

23 Elytis, Crinagoras, 145. He has used Anthologie palatine, ed. P. Waltz, (Paris 1929-1972): Première partie: t. I: Livre V (1929); t. III: Livre VI (1931); t. V: Livre VII (1941); t. VII: Livre IX. Epigrammes 1-358 (1957); t. VIII: Livre IX. Epigrammes 359-827, (1974); t. X: Livre XI (1972). Deuxième partie: Anthologie de Planude, éd. et trad. R. Aubreton (Paris 1980).

24 Cfr. Dallas, ‘Elitis e la lirica antica’, 142.

25 Even his way of writing epigrams ‘set a school’ in his time, as Albin Lesky claims: Storia della letteratura greca, vol. III (Milan 1984) 1003. For Crinagoras’ style, see Ypsilanti, The Epigrams of Crinagoras, 14–30.

26 Loulakaki–Moore, Seferis and Elytis as Translators, 274–5.

27 It has been observed that a stylistic antecedent of the breaking off or dismemberment of verse, which forces the reader into a mental operation of sewing together the hemistichs, is Cavafy's’ poem Ἐν τῷ μηνὶ Ἀθύρ (In the month of Hathor); see Loulakaki–Moore, Seferis and Elytis as Translators, 276.

28 E. N. Moschou, ‘Τὸ μεταφραστικὸ ἔργο τοῦ Ὀδυσσέα Ἐλύτη’, Νέα Ἑστία (Ἀφιέρωμα στὸν Ὀδυσσέα Ἐλύτη, 1911–1996), 1674-5 (1997) 510–14 (511).

29 ‘Τό ἐνδιαφέρον τοῦ Ἐλύτη γιά τήν παραγωγή ἤχου καί λόγου καί τή διαπλοκή τοῦ ἄναρθρου μέ τό ἔναρθρο λόγο καί τῶν ἤχων πού παράγει ἡ φύση μέ τούς ἤχους πού παράγει ὁ ἄνθρωπος διαπερνᾶ ὁλόκληρη τήν ποίησή του καί εἶναι ὁρατό ἤδη στούς Προσανατολισμούς (1940)’, so Paschalis, M., ‘Ἡ ποιητική τῶν κύριων ὀνομάτων στόν Ἐλύτη (καί ἡ καταγωγή τοῦ λογοτεχνικοῦ ψευδώνυμου τοῦ ποιητῆ)’, Ποιητική 23 (2019) 97Google Scholar.

30 For Elytis’ debt to folk poetry, see S. Vrettos, ‘Η λαϊκή παράδοση στην ποίηση του Οδ. Ελύτη: θνησμαίον κα επιβιούν’, in E. G. Kapsomenos (ed.), Οδυσσέας Ελύτης: ο ποιητής και οι ελληνικές πολιτισμικές αξίες, (Athens 2000), 593-609. Some useful considerations on the use of traditional Greek verse by an avant-garde poet like Elytis, see C. Daniìl, ‘Οδυσσέα Ελύτη: “Παραλλαγές πάνω σε μιάν αχτίδα” και δημοτικό τραγούδι’, Θέματα λογοτεχνίας (Οδυσσέας Ελύτης αφιέρωμα), 1 (1995–1996) 129–137.

31 D. Solomos, Ποίηματα και πεζά, ed. S. Alexiou (Athens 2007) 299. The bond with the poetry of Solomos is indisputable: see Dounià, C., ‘“Σολωμού συντριβή και δέος”: Όψεις της γενεαλογίας του Οδυσσέα Ελύτη’, in Zaccone, F., Efthymiou, P., Bintoudis, C. (ed.), La letteratura neogreca del XX secolo. Un caso europeo. Atti del Convegno internazionale di Studi neogreci, (Rome 2020) 75–87Google Scholar.

32 See Loulakaki, I., ‘Odysseus Elytis’ use of Romanos the Melodist: a case of “modernization and distortion”?’ Dialogos 8 (2000) 56–77Google Scholar, ‘Elytis’ criterion for the composition of his list [sc. of Romanos’ words] is the euphonic effect of the words and not the uniqueness of their origin. This is evident at points where he includes ordinary adverbs or common verbal forms only for their sound–effect’ (63).

33 As Loulakaki–Moore remarks, ‘Elytis’ compounds in general have a different function from the mere decorative function of the compounds as we find them, especially in many translations of Homer in Modern Greek’, so the poet ‘tried to avoid ornamental compound adjectives, precisely due to the overuse that many of these had suffered’ (Loulakaki–Moore, Seferis and Elytis as Translators, 279).

34 Loulakaki–Moore, Seferis and Elytis as Translators, 280.

35 Elytis, Ἐν λευκῷ, 352. This assumption can be linked to what Elytis expresses in his essay Chronicle of a Decade (Elytis, Ἀνοιχτὰ Χαρτιά, 328): ‘The language phenomenon, in exactly the same way that a landscape is not at all an aggregate of a few trees and mountains, but a complex of meanings, is not at all the aggregate of a few words - symbols of things, but a moral force that the human intellect activates, as if it existed before the things, in order to create them equally, and only in this way can they exist. Henceforth, the analogy between the phonological constitution of words and their material content which they are called upon to give to phenomena seems to have the irreducible character of Fate or of the first natural elements’. On the topic of language in Elytis, see also Babiniotis, G., “Οδυσσέας Ελύτης : Ο ‘ποιητής τής γλώσσας’”, χάρτης 35 (2021)Google Scholar [Αφιέρωμα: Oδυσσέας Ελύτης] to the site: https://www.hartismag.gr/hartis-35/afierwma/odysseas-elyths-o-poihths-ths-glwssas.

36 Elytis, Crinagoras, 9–10: ‘Δέν εἶναι ἀμελητέο δεῖγμα, π.χ., τό ἐπιτύμβιο πού ἀναφέρει, σάν ἴσος πρός ἴσον, στόν δοῦλο του Ἴναχο, πού τόν βάζει ν᾽ ἀναγνωρίζει ὅτι πέθανε στά ξένα μακρά γοηθεὶς ἀπό τόν κύριό του. Ὅπως, κατ᾽ἀντιδιαστολή, δέν εἶναι γιά νά περάσει ἀπαρατήρητο τό μίσος πού τρέφει γιά τούς δυνάστες, συγκεκριμένα γιά τόν τύραννο Εὐνικίδα πού, σέ δύο ἀλλεπάλληλα ἐπιτύμβια, ὁρμᾶ, κυριολεκτικά, νά τόν κατασπαράξει ἀκόμη καί νεκρόν, μέ τίς πιό προσβλητικές, ἐνίοτε καί χυδαίες, ἐκφράσεις’.

37 Elytis, Crinagoras, 10.

38 On the well–known topic of death in a foreign land, which in the Greek mentality is the worst misfortune that can befall a man, even more so than death itself, see G. Th. Zoras, Ἡ ξενιτεία ἐν τῇ ἑλληνικῇ ποιήσει (Athens 1953); Τὸ δημοτικὸ τραγούδι. Τῆς ξενιτιᾶς, ed. G. Saunier (Athens 1990²); Τὰ ‘περὶ τῆς ξενιτείας’ ποιήματα. Κριτικὴ ἔκδοση μὲ εἰσαγωγή, σχόλια καὶ λεξιλόγιο, ed. G. K. Mavromatis (Heraklion 1995); A. Politis, ‘Η ξενιτιά στη μακρά και στη μέση διάρκεια. Σκόρπιες σκέψεις και προσπάθειες τυπολογίας’, in E. Moser Karagiannis and E. Giakoumaki (ed.), Κανίσκιον φιλίας. Τιμητικός τόμος για τον Guy–Michel Saunier (Athens 2002) 123–132.

39 Elytis, Crinagoras, 11, ‘Ὁ Κριναγόρας ἀποτελεῖ τήν ἀντίστροφη ὄψη τοῦ νομίσματος τῆς Σαπφῶς⋅ κι εἶναι, ἴσως, ἕνας πρόσθετος λόγος αὐτός, ὅπως καί ὁ τόπος του ὁ γενέθλιος, πού μ᾽ ἔκανε νά ἐπιμείνω στήν περίπτωσή του. Ἡ ὑγιής ἐλευθερία τῶν ἠθῶν ἀπό τό ἕνα μέρος, ἡ λυρική διάχυση, ὁ χυμός τῆς ζωῆς⋅ κι ἀπό τό ἄλλο, ἡ καταπιεστική ζωή τῆς Αὐλῆς, ἡ ξεραΐλα, τά στενά περιθώρια. Φυσικά – καί ἡ ἔλλειψη μεγάλου ταλέντου’.

40 Elytis, as we know, publicly disavowed this work because the editor had completely distorted his metaphrastic choices; see Elytis, O., ‘Ἡ ἀλεξανδρινὴ ποίηση’, Νέα Ἑστία 35 (1944) 118–9Google Scholar.

41 Dallas, ‘Elitis e la lirica antica’, 140. See Elytis, Crinagoras, 11.