Ancient Greek poets such as Alcaeus and Sappho, and later Crinagoras, took on through Elytis’ poetry a new literary significance, thanks to his personal reconstruction of fragments and the epigram respectively.
The technique of reconstruction from fragments or restoring epigrams is not unconnected with the type of so-called ‘prismatic expression’ used by Elytis in the creation of his own poetry: a prism's polyhedral and crystalline form allows for the coexistence of facets significant in themselves, but which, when arranged in a new composition, create a new and harmonious entity.
