Modern Greek Poetry

by Kimon Friar (Editor)

Book by

Genres: Poetry, Anthologies, Greece

326 pages, Paperback

First published June 11, 1973

Reviews

[Michael Finocchiaro · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a beautiful anthology of 20th C Greek poetry that is a pleasure to read. I'd particularly recommend it if you are cruising around the Cyclades with a Nescafé or Ouzo. Or anytime you wish to close your eyes and smell the Mediterranean and olives and imagine raki on your tongue.

[Forsythia · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good anthology of notable Greek poets and some of their poems. I have a problem understanding Greek poems and their meanings and I considered that English language, having simpler words, would translate the meaning of the poems more easily to my beginner poetry-brain.

Three of the featured poets of this collection became my favourite: Themelis, Vafopoulos and Matsas. Some of my favourite poems in this book are Ithaca, Theodotos (Cavafis), Death Dreams of Life (Kazantzakis), Magdalene (Varnalis), Fontaine de Medicis, Nel Mezzo del Cammin..., Starting Point (Ouranis), Self-Scrutiny (Papatsonis), Ballade to the Inglorious Poets of the Ages (Kariotakis), Desolation (Themelis), The Floor, The Mask, Taste of Death (Vafopoulos), In this Upper Jerusalem (Prevelakis), Landscape (Matsas), Poetry 1948 (Engonopoulos), The Return from Delphi (Vrettakos).

[joanie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Poem on p.81 wtf did I just read??
Just like the anthology of 20th c. Czech poetry I read earlier this year, this one has a poem about the poet or narrator SA'ing a young girl and it brings no criticism whatsoever. I've had enough of these and enough of anthologies of 20th c. poetry only featuring male poets (and their disgusting poems). That's a dnf.

[RD Chiriboga Moncayo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good collection.