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On Seferis’ ‘Helen’
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 January 2016
Extract
‘Helen’, a poem based on an ancient legend, belongs to Seferis’ collection Log Book III; written in 1953, it was published in 1955. Although it has been repeatedly dealt with by critics there is still room for further discussion. In the present article, after a brief survey of the ancient Greek tradition of the legend that Seferis employed, the following aspects will be considered: the poem’s structure, borrowings from relevant ancient Greek sources, the blending of ancient Greek myths with elements drawn from later Greek culture, how Seferis portrays his heroes, the poem’s relationship to the Cypriot political situation of the 1950s, and, finally, the ideas expressed in the poem.
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- Research Article
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- Copyright © The Centre for Byzantine, Ottoman and Modern Greek Studies, University of Birmingham 1979
References
1. For Seferis’ poetry, the following two editions have been used: George Seferis, 
(Athens, 1972), and Collected Poems 1924-1955, tr. E. Keeley and P. Sherrard (London, 1973). In referring to verses, I have kept the numbering of the Greek edition. Apart from cases where it was essential to quote from the original, all quotations are in translation.
2. See: A. Karandonis, 
4th ed. (Athens, 1976), pp. 172-4, 189-94; G. P. Savidis, 
in 
(Athens, 1961), pp. 311-12, 340-7. Some treatment of the poem will also be found in P. D. Mastrodimitris, 
(Athens, 1964), pp. 18-22;
Politis, L., A History of Modem Greek Literature (Oxford, 1973), pp. 234-5
Google Scholar; M. Dimakis, 
(Athens, 1974), p. 69; K. Bastias, 
(Athens, 1972), pp. 95-6; D. Yakos, 
(Athens, 1972), pp. 36-8; S. Zannetos, 
p. 44;
Raizis, M. B., ‘The poetic manner of George Seferis’, Folia Neohellenica, II (Amsterdam, 1977), 105-26.Google Scholar
3. For references to the Stesichorean legend, which coexisted with, but certainly did not overshadow, the Homeric account of the Trojan War, see : Pl. Phdr. 243a, R.9.586c. Isoc. 218bis. D. Chr. IIth Discourse 40-2. Lucianus V. H
2. 15. Suid. 
Hor. Epod. 17.38.
4. See: Pl. Phdr. 243a.
5. See: Pl. R. 9.586c. The fact that Plato used the Stesichorean legend to illustrate his argument that the unreal pleasures are only 
of the true ones shows that he refers to a well known story.
6. A discussion as to whether Euripides’ play is a tragedy or not would go beyond the scope of this article. For different views on the matter see: Baldry, H. C., The Greek Tragic Theatre (London, 1974), pp. 96-7 Google Scholar; Dale, A. M., Euripides’ Helen (Oxford, 1967)Google Scholar; Kitto, H. D. F., Greek Tragedy repr. (Norfolk, 1973), pp. 311-29 Google Scholar. Vellacott, P., Ironic Drama (Cambridge, 1975), pp. 127ff Google Scholar. On the whole, I accept Dale’s theory that, in the ancient Greek sense, the play is a tragedy.
7. The best account on this point is to be found in: I. Tsatsou, 
(Athens, 1973), pp. 68-70.
8. Another quotation from the same play (E. Hel. 582) serves as the second part of the epigraph.
9. ‘Tradition and the Individual Talent’, Selected Essays (London, 1944), p. 14.
10. G. Seferis, 
3rd ed., I (Athens, 1974), p. 874. Regarding Teucer’s modest statement 
(21-22), one might add that the use of the verb 
(lit. missed his target; metaph. failed) instead of 
apart from conveying equally well the essential meaning of failure, allows the best archer in the Trojan War a note of bitter self-sarcasm.
11. G. Seferis, 
16 
1934-14 
1940 (Athens, 1977), p. 241.
12. The motif of man deprived of everything is not uncommon in Seferis’ poetry. See ‘O k. 
in 
particularly the description of man’s adulthood (vv. 19-26), and 
in 
13. See: E. Hel. 109-10.
14. The original title of this collection was not Log Book III but a quotation drawn from Euripides (Hel. 148):… 
… (Athens, 1955).
15.
Othello, IV.i.269. 
and 
are not included in the Keeley-Sherrard edition of Seferis’ poetry.
16.
II, p. 303. See also R. Roufos, 
(Athens, 1972), p. 58.
17.
p. 338. Savidis explains that ‘In those days’ refers to World War II.
18. Karandonis, op. cit., p. 189. See also p. 174.
19. See: ‘Westward the Sea Merges’ (Mythistorema, no. 7), ‘Letter to Mathios Paschalis’, ‘Upon a Foreign Verse’, ‘A Word for the Summer’, ‘The Return of the Exile’, ‘Last Stop’, ‘Details on Cyprus’.
20. See: ‘Fog’, ‘Erotikos Logos’, ‘Mycenae’, ‘Fires of St. John’, ‘The Shape of Fate’, ‘Actors, Middle East’, ‘Last Stop’. In ‘Helen’, by means of the verb 
(13), Teucer stresses the fickleness of human fate.
21. Seferis was particularly attracted by Scorpio. In 1944 he wrote. 
Cor Scorpionis. 
See 
1941-31 Δ∊k. 1944 (Athens, 1977), p. 354.
22. A History of Modem Greek literature (Oxford, 1973), p. 235.
23. In the cases of 
(60), 
(61), the indefinite pronoun elevates Homeric heroes to universal human types. Similarly, the indefinite article is used to convert the river Scamander in v. 63 into a universal symbol. The same is true of the phantom of Helen, for the reference to Helen in verses 50 and 68 clearly alludes to her phantom image since it is placed in apposition to those ‘airy nothings’ – more specifically, ‘a linen undulation, a bit of cloud, / a butterfly’s flicker, a swan’s down / an empty tunic’ (48-50) – that stand for the 
Here too, the indefinite article applied to the phantom of Helen makes it a symbol.
24. The quotations are from ‘Salamis in Cyprus’ (52) and ‘The Shape of Fate’ (22), respectively.
25.
p. 138. Elaborating on the good and evil effects these forces have on men, Seferis continues: 
26. Karandonis, op. cit., p. 193.