Dionysios Solomos
Encyclopedia
Dionysios Solomos was a Greek
poet
from Zakynthos
. He is best known for writing the Hymn to Liberty , of which the first two stanza
s, set to music by Nikolaos Mantzaros
, became the Greek national anthem
in 1865. He was the central figure of the Heptanese School
of poetry, and is considered the national poet of Greece - not only because he wrote the national anthem, but also because he contributed to the preservation of earlier poetic tradition and highlighted its usefulness to modern literature
. Other notable poems include Ὁ Κρητικός (Τhe Cretan), Ἐλεύθεροι Πολιορκημένοι (The Free Besieged) and others. A characteristic of his work is that no poem except the Hymn to Liberty was completed, and almost nothing was published during his lifetime.
, Nikolaos Solomos, and his housekeeper, Angeliki Nikli. Nikolaos Solomos was of Cretan origin; his family were Cretan refugees who settled on Zakynthos in 1670 after Crete
's conquest by the Ottoman Empire
in 1669. The Italian version of the family name is recorded as: Salamon, Salomon, Solomon, and Salomone. It is possible that his mother Angeliki Nikli came from the region of Mani
. Count Nikolaos Solomos was legally married to Marnetta Kakni, who died in 1802. From that marriage, he had two children: Roberto and Elena. Since 1796, Nikolaos Solomos had a parallel relationship with his housekeeper Angeliki Nikli, who gave birth to one more son apart from Dionysios, Dimitrios (born in 1801). His father married Dionysios' mother a day before he died on 27 February 1807, making the young Dionysios legitimate and a co-heir to the count's estate, along with his half-brother. The poet spent his childhood years on Zakynthos until 1808, under the supervision of his Italian tutor, abbot Santo Rossi. After his father's death, count Dionysios Messalas gained Solomos' custody, whereas his mother married Manolis Leontarakis in 15 August 1807. In 1808, Messalas sent Solomos to Italy
in order to study law
, as was customary with Ionian nobility, but possibly also because of Dionysios' mother's new marriage.
. Initially he was enrolled at the Lyceum of St. Catherine in Venice
, but he had adjustment difficulties because of the school's strict discipline. For that reason, Rossi took Solomos with him to Cremona
, where he finished his high-school studies in 1815. In November 1815, Solomos was enrolled at Pavia's
University's Faculty of Law, from which he graduated in 1817. Given the interest the young poet showed in the flourishing Italian literature
and being a perfect speaker of Italian, he started writing poems in Italian. One of the most important first poems written in Italian during that period of time was the Ode per la prima messa (Ode to the first mass) and La distruzione di Gerusalemme (The destruction of Jerusalem). In the meantime, he acquainted himself with famous Italian poets and novelists (possibly Manzoni
, Vincenzo Monti
etc.); Ugo Foscolo
from Zakynthos was among his friends. As a result, he was easily accepted in the Italian literary circles and evolved into a revered poet of the Italian language.
. On Zakynthos, which at that time was well-known for its flourishing literary culture, the poet acquainted himself with people interested in literature. Antonios Matesis (the author of Vasilikos), Georgios Tertsetis, Dionysios Tagiapieras (a physician and supporter of the dimotiki
, and also a friend of Ioannis Vilaras) and Nikolaos Lountzis were some of Solomos' most well-known friends. They used to gather in each other's homes and amused themselves by making up poems. They frequently satirized a Zakynthian doctor, Roidis (Solomos' satirical poems referring to the doctor are The doctors' council, the New Year's Day and The Gallows). They also liked to improvise poems on a given rhyme and topic.
His improvised Italian poems during that period of time were published in 1822, under the title Rime Improvvisate.
that could have served as models. However, the fact that his education in Greek was minimal kept him free of any scholarly influences, that might have led him to write in katharevousa
, a "purist" language formulated as a simpler form of ancient Greek. Instead he wrote in the language of the common people of his native island. In order to ameliorate his language skills, he started studying methodically demotic songs, the works of pre-solomian poets
(προσολωμικοί ποιητές) and popular and Cretan literature that at that time constituted the best samples of the use of the demotic
dialect in modern Greek literature
.The result was the first extensive body of literature written in the demotic dialect, a move whose influence on subsequent writers cannot be overstated. Poems dating to that period of time are I Xanthoula-The little blond girl, I Agnoristi-The Unrecognizable, Ta dyo aderfia-The two brothers and I trelli mana-The mad mother.
Solomos' encounter with Spyridon Trikoupis in 1822 was a turning-point in his writing. When Trikoupis visited Zakynthos in 1822, invited by Lord Guilford, Solomos' fame on the island was already widespread and Trikoupis wished to meet him. During their second meeting, Solomos read to him the Ode to the first mass. Impressed by Solomos' poetic skills, Trikoupis stated:
Solomos explained to Trikoupis that his Greek was not fluent, and Trikoupis helped him in his studies of Christopoulos
' poems.
. The poem was at first published in 1824 in occupied Mesolongi and afterwards in Paris
in 1825 translated into French and later on in other languages too. This resulted in the poet's fame proliferation outside the Greek borders. Thanks to this poem, Solomos was revered until his death, since the rest of his work was only known to his small circle of admirers and his "students". The Hymn to Liberty inaugurated a new phase in the poet's literary work: this is the time when the poet has finally managed to master the language and is experimenting himself with more complex forms, opening up to new kinds of inspirations and easily leaving aside improvisation. This period resulted in the Odi eis to thanato tou Lordou Byron-Ode to the death of Lord Byron, a poem having many things in common with the Hymn but also many weaknesses, I Katastrofi ton Psaron-Psara's Destruction, O Dialogos-The Dialogue (referring to the language) and I Gynaika tis Zakynthos-The Woman from Zakynthos.
It is alleged that Solomos could hear the cannon firing from Zakynthos during the Greek War of Independence, which inspired him to write his most famous works.
, the most important intellectual center of the Ionian islands
in those years. However, Dionysios did not leave Zakynthos solely because of his family problems; Solomos had been planning to visit the island since 1825. Corfu would offer him not only a more stimulating environment but also the vital isolation for his solitary and bizarre character. Corfu was the perfect place for contemplation and writing poetry, in line with Solomos' noble ideas about Art. That explains the fact that his happiest years were the first years he spent on Corfu. It was during this period of time that he took up studying German romantic
philosophy and poetry (Hegel, Schlegel, Schiller, Goethe). Since he did not know German, he read Italian translations by his friend Nikolaos Lountzis. In the mean time, he continued to work on The Woman of Zakynthos and Lambros that he had started in 1826.
Even though the trial influenced the poet to such a point, it was not able to seize his poetical work. 1833 signifies the mature period of his poetical work, that resulted in the unfinished poems of O Kritikos-The Cretan (1833), Eleftheroi Poliorkimenoi-The Free Besieged (until 1845) and O Porfyras(1847), that are considered to be the best of his works. In the mean time, he was planning other works that either remained at the preparation stage or remained as fragments, such as Nikoforos Vryennios, Eis to thanato Aimilias Rodostamo-To the death of Emilia Rodostamo, To Francisca Fraser and Carmen Seculare.
, Solomos soon found himself at the admirers' and poets' center of attention, a group of well educated intellectuals with liberal and progressive ideas, a deep knowledge of art and with austere artistic pretensions. The most important people Solomos was acquainted to were Nikolaos Mantzaros
, Ioannis and Spyridon Zampelios, Ermannos Lountzis, Niccolò Tommaseo
, Andreas Moustoxydis, Petros Vrailas Armenis, Iakovos Polylas, Ioulios Typaldos, Andreas Laskaratos
and Gerasimos Markoras.
Polylas, Typaldos and Markoras were Solomos' students, constituting the circle referred to as the "solomian poets
" (σολωμικοί ποιητές), which signifies Greek's poetry flourishing, several decades before the appearance of the New Athenian School, a second poetical renaissance inspired by Kostis Palamas
.
. Serious health problems made their appearance in 1851 and Solomos' character became even more temperamental. He alienated himself from friends such as Polylas (they came on terms with each other in 1854) and after his third stroke
the poet did not leave his house. Solomos died in February 1857 from apoplexy
. His fame had reached such heights so when the news about his death became known, everyone mourned. Corfu's
theater closed down, the Ionian Parliament's sessions were suspended and mourning was declared. His remains were transferred to Zakynthos in 1865.
movement (e.g. O thanatos tou voskou-The shepherd's death, Evrikomi) and by early romanticism
(I trelli mana-The mad mother). Generally speaking, Solomos was heavily influenced by European romanticism
, including Byron and Leopardi. The decade 1823-1833 determined the poet's progress. It was during that time he tried to give up improvisation and abandoned the new classicism style of poems such as Hymn to Liberty and Ode to the death of Lord Byron.
Solomos was exposed to the cultural and political ferment of the Enlightenment
and the ideas of the French Revolution
, and he identified with Italian national sentiments for unification and liberation from the Habsburgs.
In 1823, the poet writes the epic Hymn to Liberty, the first two stanzas of which became the Greek national anthem. This work salutes the War of Greek Independence, started in 1821, by invoking the personified image of Liberty, reborn and renewed out of "the sacred bones of the Greeks." Of particular interest to non-Greeks are references to all the great powers of the time, which include the "heartfelt joy of Washington's land" that "remembered the irons that bound her as well", and a savage dig at the Austrian Eagle "that feeds on the entrails of the Italians to grow wings and talons" and does his best to harm Liberty. Solomos' own Ionian islands, under British rule at the time, are described as being "artfully chained" and having "'False Freedom' written on their foreheads." The poem does not shrink from the savagery of the war, and ends with exhortations to the revolutionaries to maintain unity and avoid civil war, which had already erupted at the time of writing.
In the Hymn to Liberty Solomos rejoices in the sight of "lily-fingered virgins" whose "breasts are preparing the sweet-suckled milk of bravery and freedom."
In 1824, Solomos composed The Dialogue, dealing with the language issue. The work involves three people: the poet, his friend (the first draft mentions Sp. Trikoupis) and the savant. However, it is mainly the poet and the savant who speak. The poet is trying to prove that katharevousa
is an artificial language, of no use to either the people nor to literature. The poet supports a literary language based on the language spoken by the people, that should be elaborated on by the poet. In order to support his argument, the following phrase is used: "firstly succumb to the language of the people and then, if you are worthy, conquer it". His arguments are based on the French Age of Enlightenment
on the subject of the use of national languages and on examples of Italian poetry, by which he tries to prove that no word is vulgar in itself but gets its meaning by the poem's context. At the end of the work, the poet abandons the rational reasoning and supports his arguments with passion.
Between 1824-1826, the poet started working on the poem Lampros, a poem that remained unfinished. Lampros is an extreme romantic hero: he entered into a relationship with a young girl named Maria and they had four children without being married. Lampros sen t their children to an orphanage. While he was fighting against Ali Pasha
, he met a girl, unaware of the fact that she was his daughter, and had a love affair with her. When he finally became aware of the incest
, after recognizing the daughter's birthmarks, he told his daughter the truth that resulted in the daughter's suicide. On his way home, Lampros was forced to tell Maria about his crime and he fled to a church in order to appeace his soul. Divine Justice however sent the three boys' ghosts that chased him to the end of a cliff from which he fell of. Maria had already lost her reason and fell into a lake, hoping that she would at last find peace.
Between 1826 and 1829, Solomos worked on the prose-like poem I Gynaika tis Zakynthos, a work of a satirical character, that mainly analyses the Evil. The poem is a monk's (Dionysios) narration and "I Gynaika"-"The Woman" is the Evil's main expression. It is said that this composition was about one of Solomos' relatives and that is the reason why the poet's brother never let Polylas publish the poem.
In 1833, Solomos wrote his first important work during his maturity, O Kritikos (The Cretan), in iambic fifteen-syllable verse, as a result of the Cretan's literature influence. The work describes the story of a Cretan who left from Crete after the revolution was lost in 1826, the shipwreck and his efforts to save his beloved from the tempest. A central point in the work is the apparition of an oracle, the Feggarontymeni (meaning the one dressed by the moon). The narrator of the story is the Cretan himself: he starts telling his story many years later, when he is living alone as a beggar, doing flashbacks (from his life on Crete and the shipwreck) and talking about the future (the resurrection of the dead and his encounter with his beloved one in Paradise). O Kritikos is aesthetically the most complete poem. There is juxtaposition of storm imagery and the pursuit by the Turks. The problem troubling language specialists is the interpretation of the Feggarontymeni's figure. Some think the figure is an allusion to the Virgin Mary. She is described as the 'goddess' and reads in his heart the story of his heroic and ultimately futile struggles against the Turks in his native island which all but charms him out of his mortal body. David Ricks writes with respect to her identity, "we must hold in balance the soul of the expiring fiancée, the kindly presence of the Motherland and a recollection of our Lady".
Between 1833 and 1844, Solomos edited the second draft of The Free Besieged, a poem inspired by the Third Siege of Missolonghi and the heroic exodus of its inhabitants, written in a rhyming fifteen-syllable verse. After 1845, the poet started working on the poem once more, this time without using rhyme. The poem describes the last days of the siege, when food supplies were exhausted and it was certain that the city would fall. The notes written by the poet in Italian are very useful for the poem's interpretation. These notes are included in the Polylas edition. The central theme of the poem is willpower and the struggle with the temptations of nature that give birth to the will for life. There are three fragmentary drafts of this unfinished work, each draft longer and more thoroughly worked than the previous one, all of which show glimpses of what the finished poem could have been; yet the three drafts are considered possibly the finest moment of modern Greek poetry. This opinion of reverence and awe is not only one expressed by critics and scholars, but also by all major Greek poets who have invariably referred to Dionysios Solomos as a poet far superior than themselves.
The last work of maturity is "O Pórfyras" (The Whale), written in 1847. The poet was inspired by a real incident, when a shark mangled an English soldier swimming in Corfu
harbor. Porfyras is a difficult poem to interpret, mostly because of the its fragmented nature. This poem also refers to the relation between nature and man and the body's and soul's dimension.
The fragmented poems Lampros and Porfyras show the romantic impulse of Solomos (melancholy, gothic and supernatural, influenced by both Byron and Leopardi).
The poem Ode to the death of Lord Byron, is labeled lyrical and was written after Byron died during the siege of Mesolongi, but the subject matter and form are epic.
In the works of The Hymn to Liberty and Ode to the death of Lord Byron there are several direct and indirect references to Byron's works. A good example is a reference (in Solomos' own footnotes) to Byron's Don Juan, where in Canto the Third (The Greek Isles 15) a Greek poet says:
and in Athens
, the poet was known only by his published poems: the Hymn to Liberty, the abstract from Maria's prayer, Lampros, the Ode to the Nun and his poems written in his youth, many of them which were spread by word of mouth and many of them were set to music. This means that his contemporaries' opinion was formed by these works and it was thanks to these works that Solomos gained the fame that lasted until his death. The most important representatives of the First Athenian School admired Solomos' works even though they expressed their objections about the language used by the poet. In 1827, Iakovos Rizos Neroulos wrote in the Cours de la literature grecque moderne: "Dionysios Solomos' poems... have the value of a strong and fascinating inspiration, a fantasy full of courage and fertility". Alexandros Soutsos
in the poem Letter to King Otto described Solomos (and Andreas Kalvos
) as a great maker of odes who, however, neglected the beauties of the language and presented rich ideas poorly clad. Alexandros Rizos Ragkavis in Esquisses de la literature grecque moderne wrote: his spirit makes him one of Greece's greatest glories... Solomos shone like the most beautiful gem of Greece's poetical crown. Even before his death, Solomos' poetical work was identified with the fatherland's concept; in 1849, the newspaper Aion wrote: "the poetry of Solomos is not the poetry of a single person but the poetry of a whole nation". Similar judgements were expressed even after the poet's death. The magazine Pandora wrote: "one of the finest poets of Greece and of Europe, the author of the dithyramb
to Liberty, Dionysios Solomos from Zakynthos died at a thriving age". The funeral orations of Solomos' students were of course more essential and referred to the poet's unpublished works, many of which they had heard their teacher reciting. Ioulios Typaldos described Solomos as the "first and greatest foundator of a new type of literature" and Iakovos Polylas in Solomos' poems "Prolegomena" in 1859 refers to him as "the national poet".
The perception of Solomos' work changed radically after the long-awaited publication in 1859. His uncompleted work was an unpleasant surprise and created puzzlement to the newspapers which praised the greatest Greek poet after his death did not mention anything about the publication of the works. Valaoritis wrote to Constantinos Asopius in 1859 after the poet's death: "the nation's hopes were deceived" and in 1877 in a letter to Emmanouil Roidis he wrote that Solomos left us "only a hymn and some incoherent verses". Spyridon Zampelios also expressed negative comments about Solomos' poems in his essay "Where does the common word "tragoudo" (i.e. "I am singing") derive from?" written in 1859.
The first revaluation of Solomos' work outside the Ionian region started after 1880, especially after the critical work of Kostis Palamas
, who acknowledged the historical importance of Solomos' work, which is characterized by the creation of a personal poetic language and the combination of all elements of the poetical tradition and the European poetical currents and ideas.
, an event of the Greek War of Independence
, influenced by classical forms, is a marvel of rhythm and brevity in six lines of anapaest
.
A faithful student of Solomos, Iakovos Polylas, affronted many difficulties when he undertook the publication of his "teacher's" work (that was long awaited, not only in the Ionian Islands but also the rest of Greece). First of all, Polylas had to ask permission from the poet's brother Dimitrios in order to be able to study the poet's manuscripts. After that, he had to arrange the scattered material (written in the poet's difficult to decipher handwriting) so as to present an as much as possible complete and coherent work. Polylas piled and arranged this material, choosing the verses that he thought were closest in meaning to what the poet had in mind. Sometimes Polylas added verses that he had heard Solomos recite and wrote down some alternative versions. In 1859, Polylas published the work of Solomos under the title "Apanta ta Evriskomena- Omnibus of the works found", accompanying this work with an exceptional introduction, in which he stated that the poet's manuscripts with their definitive form were lost.
, the lack of compositive capability, the negative effects of the 1833–1838 trial, Solomos' perfectionism or his feeling of unsatisfaction.
Other scholars underlined however that, to a great extent, Solomos did not care about the completion of his poems. A phrase attributed to the poet is illustrative: "Lampros will remain an abstract, because the whole poem does not reach the height of some days". Linos Politis notes on the fragmentary nature of the Free Besieged: "He did not want or did not care to incorporate these lyrical pieces into a narrative group [...] He stuck to the pure, lyrical expression, without regard to the non-lyrical linking substance, thus advancing [...] to the conquest of a 'pure' lyrical sphere, long before his time. We detected something similar in Kritikos too and the same thing is applied to the rest of his 'fragmented' works". Later on, Solomos was considered by several poets and critics as the forerunner of "pure poetry" and the fragmented nature of his work did not "disturb" any more; on the contrary, it was considered as an advantage.
During the last decade, attempts have been made to associate the incomplete Solomian works with the fragmentary works of romantic literature (such as Kubla Khan by Coleridge, Giaour by lord Byron and Heinrich von Oftendingen by Novalis), even though this interpretation is not accepted by all scholars.
decided to publish Solomos' poems accompanied by a critical edition by N.B. Tomadakis, thus contributing to the discussion about whether a genuine (as Linos Politis was in favor of) or a critical edition of Solomos' works would be best. The critical edition was never published and the two classical scholars prepared "easy to use" editions of the poems, aiming at a wider range of readers. In 1964, Linos Politis published the poet's manuscripts using photographic reprint and typographical transcription. This edition constitutes a turn-point in the research on the Solomian works because not only was the poet's way of work revealed but also because the scholars had the opportunity to study all of the poet's editing phases and maybe even propose new editions.
The contemporary editing attempts of the solomic work can be divided into two categories: the "analytical" edition which reveals the successive editing stages of every poem and its different versions, such as Politis had proposed and intended to realize; the "synthetical" edition which presents the work with a logical sequence and a completion of form, excluding verses or abstracts that do no fulfill these criteria. A sample of "synthetical" edition is the one of Stylianos Alexiou (1994), that was strongly criticized by the supporters of "analytical" approach.
He was depicted on the reverse
of the Greek 20 drachmas
coin of 1990-2001. A 50 drachmas commemorative coin was issued in 1998 for the 200th anniversary of his birth.
The international airport on the island of Zakynthos is also named Dionysis Solomos after him.
Greeks
The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....
poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
from Zakynthos
Zakynthos
Zakynthos , also Zante, the other form often used in English and in Italian , is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea. It is the third largest of the Ionian Islands. It is also a separate regional unit of the Ionian Islands region, and the only municipality of the regional unit. It covers an area of ...
. He is best known for writing the Hymn to Liberty , of which the first two stanza
Stanza
In poetry, a stanza is a unit within a larger poem. In modern poetry, the term is often equivalent with strophe; in popular vocal music, a stanza is typically referred to as a "verse"...
s, set to music by Nikolaos Mantzaros
Nikolaos Mantzaros
Nikolaos Halikiopoulos Mantzaros was a Greek composer born in Corfu and the major representative of the so called Ionian School of music...
, became the Greek national anthem
National anthem
A national anthem is a generally patriotic musical composition that evokes and eulogizes the history, traditions and struggles of its people, recognized either by a nation's government as the official national song, or by convention through use by the people.- History :Anthems rose to prominence...
in 1865. He was the central figure of the Heptanese School
Heptanese School (literature)
The term Heptanese School of literature denotes the literary production of the Ionian Island's literature figures from the late 18th century till the end of the 19th century...
of poetry, and is considered the national poet of Greece - not only because he wrote the national anthem, but also because he contributed to the preservation of earlier poetic tradition and highlighted its usefulness to modern literature
Modern literature
Modern literature can either refer to*modernist literature *modern literature ....
. Other notable poems include Ὁ Κρητικός (Τhe Cretan), Ἐλεύθεροι Πολιορκημένοι (The Free Besieged) and others. A characteristic of his work is that no poem except the Hymn to Liberty was completed, and almost nothing was published during his lifetime.
Early life and education
Born in 1798, Dionysios Solomos was the illegitimate child of a wealthy countCount
A count or countess is an aristocratic nobleman in European countries. The word count came into English from the French comte, itself from Latin comes—in its accusative comitem—meaning "companion", and later "companion of the emperor, delegate of the emperor". The adjective form of the word is...
, Nikolaos Solomos, and his housekeeper, Angeliki Nikli. Nikolaos Solomos was of Cretan origin; his family were Cretan refugees who settled on Zakynthos in 1670 after Crete
Crete
Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, and one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece. It forms a significant part of the economy and cultural heritage of Greece while retaining its own local cultural traits...
's conquest by the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
in 1669. The Italian version of the family name is recorded as: Salamon, Salomon, Solomon, and Salomone. It is possible that his mother Angeliki Nikli came from the region of Mani
Mani Peninsula
The Mani Peninsula , also long known as Maina or Maïna, is a geographical and cultural region in Greece. Mani is the central peninsula of the three which extend southwards from the Peloponnese in southern Greece. To the east is the Laconian Gulf, to the west the Messenian Gulf...
. Count Nikolaos Solomos was legally married to Marnetta Kakni, who died in 1802. From that marriage, he had two children: Roberto and Elena. Since 1796, Nikolaos Solomos had a parallel relationship with his housekeeper Angeliki Nikli, who gave birth to one more son apart from Dionysios, Dimitrios (born in 1801). His father married Dionysios' mother a day before he died on 27 February 1807, making the young Dionysios legitimate and a co-heir to the count's estate, along with his half-brother. The poet spent his childhood years on Zakynthos until 1808, under the supervision of his Italian tutor, abbot Santo Rossi. After his father's death, count Dionysios Messalas gained Solomos' custody, whereas his mother married Manolis Leontarakis in 15 August 1807. In 1808, Messalas sent Solomos to Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
in order to study law
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
, as was customary with Ionian nobility, but possibly also because of Dionysios' mother's new marriage.
Studies in Italy
Solomos went to Italy with his tutor, who returned to his home town, CremonaCremona
Cremona is a city and comune in northern Italy, situated in Lombardy, on the left bank of the Po River in the middle of the Pianura Padana . It is the capital of the province of Cremona and the seat of the local City and Province governments...
. Initially he was enrolled at the Lyceum of St. Catherine in Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
, but he had adjustment difficulties because of the school's strict discipline. For that reason, Rossi took Solomos with him to Cremona
Cremona
Cremona is a city and comune in northern Italy, situated in Lombardy, on the left bank of the Po River in the middle of the Pianura Padana . It is the capital of the province of Cremona and the seat of the local City and Province governments...
, where he finished his high-school studies in 1815. In November 1815, Solomos was enrolled at Pavia's
Pavia
Pavia , the ancient Ticinum, is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy, northern Italy, 35 km south of Milan on the lower Ticino river near its confluence with the Po. It is the capital of the province of Pavia. It has a population of c. 71,000...
University's Faculty of Law, from which he graduated in 1817. Given the interest the young poet showed in the flourishing Italian literature
Italian literature
Italian literature is literature written in the Italian language, particularly within Italy. It may also refer to literature written by Italians or in Italy in other languages spoken in Italy, often languages that are closely related to modern Italian....
and being a perfect speaker of Italian, he started writing poems in Italian. One of the most important first poems written in Italian during that period of time was the Ode per la prima messa (Ode to the first mass) and La distruzione di Gerusalemme (The destruction of Jerusalem). In the meantime, he acquainted himself with famous Italian poets and novelists (possibly Manzoni
Alessandro Manzoni
Alessandro Francesco Tommaso Manzoni was an Italian poet and novelist.He is famous for the novel The Betrothed , generally ranked among the masterpieces of world literature...
, Vincenzo Monti
Vincenzo Monti
Vincenzo Monti was an Italian poet, playwright, translator, and scholar.-Biography:Monti was born in Alfonsine, Province of Ravenna, Emilia-Romagna the son of Fedele and Domenica Maria Mazzari, landowners...
etc.); Ugo Foscolo
Ugo Foscolo
Ugo Foscolo , born Niccolò Foscolo, was an Italian writer, revolutionary and poet.-Biography:Foscolo was born on the Ionian island of Zakynthos...
from Zakynthos was among his friends. As a result, he was easily accepted in the Italian literary circles and evolved into a revered poet of the Italian language.
Return to Zakynthos
After 10 years of studies Solomos returned to Zakynthos in 1818 with a solid background in literatureLiterature
Literature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources...
. On Zakynthos, which at that time was well-known for its flourishing literary culture, the poet acquainted himself with people interested in literature. Antonios Matesis (the author of Vasilikos), Georgios Tertsetis, Dionysios Tagiapieras (a physician and supporter of the dimotiki
Dimotiki
Demotic Greek or dimotiki is the modern vernacular form of the Greek language. The term has been in use since 1818. Demotic refers particularly to the form of the language that evolved naturally from ancient Greek, in opposition to the artificially archaic Katharevousa, which was the official...
, and also a friend of Ioannis Vilaras) and Nikolaos Lountzis were some of Solomos' most well-known friends. They used to gather in each other's homes and amused themselves by making up poems. They frequently satirized a Zakynthian doctor, Roidis (Solomos' satirical poems referring to the doctor are The doctors' council, the New Year's Day and The Gallows). They also liked to improvise poems on a given rhyme and topic.
His improvised Italian poems during that period of time were published in 1822, under the title Rime Improvvisate.
First works in Greek and encounter with Spyridon Trikoupis
Along with the Italian poems, Solomos made his first attempts to write in Greek. This was a difficult task for the young poet, since his education was classical and in Italian, but also because there did not exist any poetic works written in the demotic dialectModern Greek
Modern Greek refers to the varieties of the Greek language spoken in the modern era. The beginning of the "modern" period of the language is often symbolically assigned to the fall of the Byzantine Empire in 1453, even though that date marks no clear linguistic boundary and many characteristic...
that could have served as models. However, the fact that his education in Greek was minimal kept him free of any scholarly influences, that might have led him to write in katharevousa
Katharevousa
Katharevousa , is a form of the Greek language conceived in the early 19th century as a compromise between Ancient Greek and the Modern Greek of the time, with a vocabulary largely based on ancient forms, but a much-simplified grammar. Originally, it was widely used both for literary and official...
, a "purist" language formulated as a simpler form of ancient Greek. Instead he wrote in the language of the common people of his native island. In order to ameliorate his language skills, he started studying methodically demotic songs, the works of pre-solomian poets
Heptanese School (literature)
The term Heptanese School of literature denotes the literary production of the Ionian Island's literature figures from the late 18th century till the end of the 19th century...
(προσολωμικοί ποιητές) and popular and Cretan literature that at that time constituted the best samples of the use of the demotic
Demotic
Demotic may refer to:*Demotic Greek, a variety of the Greek language*Demotic , a script and stage of the Egyptian language...
dialect in modern Greek literature
Modern Greek literature
Modern Greek literature refers to literature written in the Greek language from the 11th century, with texts written in a language that is more familiar to the ears of Greeks today than is the language of the early Byzantine literature, the compilers of the New Testament, or, of course, the...
.The result was the first extensive body of literature written in the demotic dialect, a move whose influence on subsequent writers cannot be overstated. Poems dating to that period of time are I Xanthoula-The little blond girl, I Agnoristi-The Unrecognizable, Ta dyo aderfia-The two brothers and I trelli mana-The mad mother.
Solomos' encounter with Spyridon Trikoupis in 1822 was a turning-point in his writing. When Trikoupis visited Zakynthos in 1822, invited by Lord Guilford, Solomos' fame on the island was already widespread and Trikoupis wished to meet him. During their second meeting, Solomos read to him the Ode to the first mass. Impressed by Solomos' poetic skills, Trikoupis stated:
Your poetic aptitude reserves for you a select place on the Italian Parnassus. But the first places there are already taken. The Greek Parnassus does not yet have its DanteDANTEDelivery of Advanced Network Technology to Europe is a not-for-profit organisation that plans, builds and operates the international networks that interconnect the various national research and education networks in Europe and surrounding regions...
".
Solomos explained to Trikoupis that his Greek was not fluent, and Trikoupis helped him in his studies of Christopoulos
Christopoulos
The surname Christopoulos or Hristopoulos may refer to several main families that originate from Olympia, Greece:*Agamemnon Christopoulos, politician of Ilia and brother of Asimakis?...
' poems.
Hymn to Liberty and the poet's establishment
The first important turning point in the Greek works of Solomos was the Hymn to Liberty that was completed in May 1823-a poem inspired by the Greek revolution 1821Greek War of Independence
The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution was a successful war of independence waged by the Greek revolutionaries between...
. The poem was at first published in 1824 in occupied Mesolongi and afterwards in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
in 1825 translated into French and later on in other languages too. This resulted in the poet's fame proliferation outside the Greek borders. Thanks to this poem, Solomos was revered until his death, since the rest of his work was only known to his small circle of admirers and his "students". The Hymn to Liberty inaugurated a new phase in the poet's literary work: this is the time when the poet has finally managed to master the language and is experimenting himself with more complex forms, opening up to new kinds of inspirations and easily leaving aside improvisation. This period resulted in the Odi eis to thanato tou Lordou Byron-Ode to the death of Lord Byron, a poem having many things in common with the Hymn but also many weaknesses, I Katastrofi ton Psaron-Psara's Destruction, O Dialogos-The Dialogue (referring to the language) and I Gynaika tis Zakynthos-The Woman from Zakynthos.
It is alleged that Solomos could hear the cannon firing from Zakynthos during the Greek War of Independence, which inspired him to write his most famous works.
Establishment on Corfu: first years
After frictions and economic disputes with his brother Dimitrios concerning legacy matters, Solomos move to CorfuCorfu
Corfu is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea. It is the second largest of the Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the edge of the northwestern frontier of Greece. The island is part of the Corfu regional unit, and is administered as a single municipality. The...
, the most important intellectual center of the Ionian islands
Ionian Islands
The Ionian Islands are a group of islands in Greece. They are traditionally called the Heptanese, i.e...
in those years. However, Dionysios did not leave Zakynthos solely because of his family problems; Solomos had been planning to visit the island since 1825. Corfu would offer him not only a more stimulating environment but also the vital isolation for his solitary and bizarre character. Corfu was the perfect place for contemplation and writing poetry, in line with Solomos' noble ideas about Art. That explains the fact that his happiest years were the first years he spent on Corfu. It was during this period of time that he took up studying German romantic
Romanticism
Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...
philosophy and poetry (Hegel, Schlegel, Schiller, Goethe). Since he did not know German, he read Italian translations by his friend Nikolaos Lountzis. In the mean time, he continued to work on The Woman of Zakynthos and Lambros that he had started in 1826.
1833: trial and great works of maturity
Between 1833 and 1838, having restored the relations with his brother, Solomos' life was perturbed by a series of trials where his half-brother (from his mother's side) Ioannis Leontarakis was claiming part of their father's legacy, arguing that he was also the legal child of count Nikolaos Solomos, since his mother was pregnant before the father's death. Even though the outcome of the trial was favorable to both the poet and his brother, the dispute led to Solomos' alienation from his mother (his feelings were badly hurt because of his adoration towards his mother) and his withdrawal from publicity.Even though the trial influenced the poet to such a point, it was not able to seize his poetical work. 1833 signifies the mature period of his poetical work, that resulted in the unfinished poems of O Kritikos-The Cretan (1833), Eleftheroi Poliorkimenoi-The Free Besieged (until 1845) and O Porfyras(1847), that are considered to be the best of his works. In the mean time, he was planning other works that either remained at the preparation stage or remained as fragments, such as Nikoforos Vryennios, Eis to thanato Aimilias Rodostamo-To the death of Emilia Rodostamo, To Francisca Fraser and Carmen Seculare.
Circle of Corfu
On CorfuCorfu
Corfu is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea. It is the second largest of the Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the edge of the northwestern frontier of Greece. The island is part of the Corfu regional unit, and is administered as a single municipality. The...
, Solomos soon found himself at the admirers' and poets' center of attention, a group of well educated intellectuals with liberal and progressive ideas, a deep knowledge of art and with austere artistic pretensions. The most important people Solomos was acquainted to were Nikolaos Mantzaros
Nikolaos Mantzaros
Nikolaos Halikiopoulos Mantzaros was a Greek composer born in Corfu and the major representative of the so called Ionian School of music...
, Ioannis and Spyridon Zampelios, Ermannos Lountzis, Niccolò Tommaseo
Niccolò Tommaseo
Niccolò Tommaseo was an Italian Dalmatian linguist, journalist and essayist, the editor of a Dizionario della Lingua Italiana in eight volumes , of a dictionary of synonyms and other works...
, Andreas Moustoxydis, Petros Vrailas Armenis, Iakovos Polylas, Ioulios Typaldos, Andreas Laskaratos
Andreas Laskaratos
Andreas Laskaratos was a satirical poet and writer from the Ionian island of Cefalonia or [Kefallinia]. He was excommunicated by the Greek Orthodox Church because his satire targeted many of the church's eponymous members....
and Gerasimos Markoras.
Polylas, Typaldos and Markoras were Solomos' students, constituting the circle referred to as the "solomian poets
Heptanese School (literature)
The term Heptanese School of literature denotes the literary production of the Ionian Island's literature figures from the late 18th century till the end of the 19th century...
" (σολωμικοί ποιητές), which signifies Greek's poetry flourishing, several decades before the appearance of the New Athenian School, a second poetical renaissance inspired by Kostis Palamas
Kostis Palamas
Kostis Palamas was a Greek poet who wrote the words to the Olympic Hymn. He was a central figure of the Greek literary generation of the 1880s and one of the cofounders of the so-called New Athenian School along with Georgios Drosinis, Nikos Kampas, Ioanis Polemis.-Biography:Born in Patras, he...
.
Last years
After 1847, Solomos started writing in Italian once more. Most works from this period are half-finished poems and prose drafts that maybe the poet was planning to translate into GreekGreek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
. Serious health problems made their appearance in 1851 and Solomos' character became even more temperamental. He alienated himself from friends such as Polylas (they came on terms with each other in 1854) and after his third stroke
Stroke
A stroke, previously known medically as a cerebrovascular accident , is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by blockage , or a hemorrhage...
the poet did not leave his house. Solomos died in February 1857 from apoplexy
Apoplexy
Apoplexy is a medical term, which can be used to describe 'bleeding' in a stroke . Without further specification, it is rather outdated in use. Today it is used only for specific conditions, such as pituitary apoplexy and ovarian apoplexy. In common speech, it is used non-medically to mean a state...
. His fame had reached such heights so when the news about his death became known, everyone mourned. Corfu's
Corfu
Corfu is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea. It is the second largest of the Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the edge of the northwestern frontier of Greece. The island is part of the Corfu regional unit, and is administered as a single municipality. The...
theater closed down, the Ionian Parliament's sessions were suspended and mourning was declared. His remains were transferred to Zakynthos in 1865.
Literary influences and major works
Solomos' first poems written on Zakynthos were influenced by Italian poetry of that era, in line with the Academy of ArcadiaAcademy of Arcadia
The Academy of Arcadia or Academy of Arcadians was an Italian literary academy founded in Rome in 1690.-History:...
movement (e.g. O thanatos tou voskou-The shepherd's death, Evrikomi) and by early romanticism
Romanticism
Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...
(I trelli mana-The mad mother). Generally speaking, Solomos was heavily influenced by European romanticism
Romanticism
Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...
, including Byron and Leopardi. The decade 1823-1833 determined the poet's progress. It was during that time he tried to give up improvisation and abandoned the new classicism style of poems such as Hymn to Liberty and Ode to the death of Lord Byron.
Solomos was exposed to the cultural and political ferment of the Enlightenment
Age of Enlightenment
The Age of Enlightenment was an elite cultural movement of intellectuals in 18th century Europe that sought to mobilize the power of reason in order to reform society and advance knowledge. It promoted intellectual interchange and opposed intolerance and abuses in church and state...
and the ideas of the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
, and he identified with Italian national sentiments for unification and liberation from the Habsburgs.
In 1823, the poet writes the epic Hymn to Liberty, the first two stanzas of which became the Greek national anthem. This work salutes the War of Greek Independence, started in 1821, by invoking the personified image of Liberty, reborn and renewed out of "the sacred bones of the Greeks." Of particular interest to non-Greeks are references to all the great powers of the time, which include the "heartfelt joy of Washington's land" that "remembered the irons that bound her as well", and a savage dig at the Austrian Eagle "that feeds on the entrails of the Italians to grow wings and talons" and does his best to harm Liberty. Solomos' own Ionian islands, under British rule at the time, are described as being "artfully chained" and having "'False Freedom' written on their foreheads." The poem does not shrink from the savagery of the war, and ends with exhortations to the revolutionaries to maintain unity and avoid civil war, which had already erupted at the time of writing.
In the Hymn to Liberty Solomos rejoices in the sight of "lily-fingered virgins" whose "breasts are preparing the sweet-suckled milk of bravery and freedom."
In 1824, Solomos composed The Dialogue, dealing with the language issue. The work involves three people: the poet, his friend (the first draft mentions Sp. Trikoupis) and the savant. However, it is mainly the poet and the savant who speak. The poet is trying to prove that katharevousa
Katharevousa
Katharevousa , is a form of the Greek language conceived in the early 19th century as a compromise between Ancient Greek and the Modern Greek of the time, with a vocabulary largely based on ancient forms, but a much-simplified grammar. Originally, it was widely used both for literary and official...
is an artificial language, of no use to either the people nor to literature. The poet supports a literary language based on the language spoken by the people, that should be elaborated on by the poet. In order to support his argument, the following phrase is used: "firstly succumb to the language of the people and then, if you are worthy, conquer it". His arguments are based on the French Age of Enlightenment
Age of Enlightenment
The Age of Enlightenment was an elite cultural movement of intellectuals in 18th century Europe that sought to mobilize the power of reason in order to reform society and advance knowledge. It promoted intellectual interchange and opposed intolerance and abuses in church and state...
on the subject of the use of national languages and on examples of Italian poetry, by which he tries to prove that no word is vulgar in itself but gets its meaning by the poem's context. At the end of the work, the poet abandons the rational reasoning and supports his arguments with passion.
Between 1824-1826, the poet started working on the poem Lampros, a poem that remained unfinished. Lampros is an extreme romantic hero: he entered into a relationship with a young girl named Maria and they had four children without being married. Lampros sen t their children to an orphanage. While he was fighting against Ali Pasha
Ali Pasha
Ali Pasha of Tepelena or of Yannina, surnamed Aslan, "the Lion", or the "Lion of Yannina", Ali Pashë Tepelena was an Ottoman Albanian ruler of the western part of Rumelia, the Ottoman Empire's European territory which was also called Pashalik of Yanina. His court was in Ioannina...
, he met a girl, unaware of the fact that she was his daughter, and had a love affair with her. When he finally became aware of the incest
Incest
Incest is sexual intercourse between close relatives that is usually illegal in the jurisdiction where it takes place and/or is conventionally considered a taboo. The term may apply to sexual activities between: individuals of close "blood relationship"; members of the same household; step...
, after recognizing the daughter's birthmarks, he told his daughter the truth that resulted in the daughter's suicide. On his way home, Lampros was forced to tell Maria about his crime and he fled to a church in order to appeace his soul. Divine Justice however sent the three boys' ghosts that chased him to the end of a cliff from which he fell of. Maria had already lost her reason and fell into a lake, hoping that she would at last find peace.
Between 1826 and 1829, Solomos worked on the prose-like poem I Gynaika tis Zakynthos, a work of a satirical character, that mainly analyses the Evil. The poem is a monk's (Dionysios) narration and "I Gynaika"-"The Woman" is the Evil's main expression. It is said that this composition was about one of Solomos' relatives and that is the reason why the poet's brother never let Polylas publish the poem.
In 1833, Solomos wrote his first important work during his maturity, O Kritikos (The Cretan), in iambic fifteen-syllable verse, as a result of the Cretan's literature influence. The work describes the story of a Cretan who left from Crete after the revolution was lost in 1826, the shipwreck and his efforts to save his beloved from the tempest. A central point in the work is the apparition of an oracle, the Feggarontymeni (meaning the one dressed by the moon). The narrator of the story is the Cretan himself: he starts telling his story many years later, when he is living alone as a beggar, doing flashbacks (from his life on Crete and the shipwreck) and talking about the future (the resurrection of the dead and his encounter with his beloved one in Paradise). O Kritikos is aesthetically the most complete poem. There is juxtaposition of storm imagery and the pursuit by the Turks. The problem troubling language specialists is the interpretation of the Feggarontymeni's figure. Some think the figure is an allusion to the Virgin Mary. She is described as the 'goddess' and reads in his heart the story of his heroic and ultimately futile struggles against the Turks in his native island which all but charms him out of his mortal body. David Ricks writes with respect to her identity, "we must hold in balance the soul of the expiring fiancée, the kindly presence of the Motherland and a recollection of our Lady".
Between 1833 and 1844, Solomos edited the second draft of The Free Besieged, a poem inspired by the Third Siege of Missolonghi and the heroic exodus of its inhabitants, written in a rhyming fifteen-syllable verse. After 1845, the poet started working on the poem once more, this time without using rhyme. The poem describes the last days of the siege, when food supplies were exhausted and it was certain that the city would fall. The notes written by the poet in Italian are very useful for the poem's interpretation. These notes are included in the Polylas edition. The central theme of the poem is willpower and the struggle with the temptations of nature that give birth to the will for life. There are three fragmentary drafts of this unfinished work, each draft longer and more thoroughly worked than the previous one, all of which show glimpses of what the finished poem could have been; yet the three drafts are considered possibly the finest moment of modern Greek poetry. This opinion of reverence and awe is not only one expressed by critics and scholars, but also by all major Greek poets who have invariably referred to Dionysios Solomos as a poet far superior than themselves.
The last work of maturity is "O Pórfyras" (The Whale), written in 1847. The poet was inspired by a real incident, when a shark mangled an English soldier swimming in Corfu
Corfu
Corfu is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea. It is the second largest of the Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the edge of the northwestern frontier of Greece. The island is part of the Corfu regional unit, and is administered as a single municipality. The...
harbor. Porfyras is a difficult poem to interpret, mostly because of the its fragmented nature. This poem also refers to the relation between nature and man and the body's and soul's dimension.
The fragmented poems Lampros and Porfyras show the romantic impulse of Solomos (melancholy, gothic and supernatural, influenced by both Byron and Leopardi).
The poem Ode to the death of Lord Byron, is labeled lyrical and was written after Byron died during the siege of Mesolongi, but the subject matter and form are epic.
In the works of The Hymn to Liberty and Ode to the death of Lord Byron there are several direct and indirect references to Byron's works. A good example is a reference (in Solomos' own footnotes) to Byron's Don Juan, where in Canto the Third (The Greek Isles 15) a Greek poet says:
Fill high the bowl with Samian wine!
Our virgins dance beneath the shade --
I see their glorious black eyes shine;
But gazing on each glowing maid,
My own the burning tear-drop laves,
To think such breasts must suckle slaves.
Minor works
Solomos also wrote translations of Italian poetry and Desdemona's song from Shakespeare's Othello, epigrams, other miscellaneous verse, satirical poems in Zakynthian patois, and two prose works, including the tragic/mystical The Woman of Zakynthos. Of his attempts to translate parts of the Iliad into modern Greek only a couple of dozen lines remain.Acceptance of his work
Since the beginning, Solomos was in the center of the literary circles of Zakynthos. After the Hymn to Liberty's publication, his fame spread throughout the Greek state. On the Ionian IslandsIonian Islands
The Ionian Islands are a group of islands in Greece. They are traditionally called the Heptanese, i.e...
and in Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
, the poet was known only by his published poems: the Hymn to Liberty, the abstract from Maria's prayer, Lampros, the Ode to the Nun and his poems written in his youth, many of them which were spread by word of mouth and many of them were set to music. This means that his contemporaries' opinion was formed by these works and it was thanks to these works that Solomos gained the fame that lasted until his death. The most important representatives of the First Athenian School admired Solomos' works even though they expressed their objections about the language used by the poet. In 1827, Iakovos Rizos Neroulos wrote in the Cours de la literature grecque moderne: "Dionysios Solomos' poems... have the value of a strong and fascinating inspiration, a fantasy full of courage and fertility". Alexandros Soutsos
Alexandros Soutsos
Alexandros Soutsos was a Greek poet from a prominent Phanariote family. He founded the Greek Romantic school of poetry. Soutsos was born in Istanbul in 1803 from Chian parentage. At the time of the Greek Revolution, he was a young, liberal partisan. He wrote poems to encourage the insurgents....
in the poem Letter to King Otto described Solomos (and Andreas Kalvos
Andreas Kalvos
Andreas Kalvos was a contemporary of Dionysios Solomos and one of the greatest Greek writers of the 19th century. Paradoxically enough, no known portrait of his survives today.-Biography:...
) as a great maker of odes who, however, neglected the beauties of the language and presented rich ideas poorly clad. Alexandros Rizos Ragkavis in Esquisses de la literature grecque moderne wrote: his spirit makes him one of Greece's greatest glories... Solomos shone like the most beautiful gem of Greece's poetical crown. Even before his death, Solomos' poetical work was identified with the fatherland's concept; in 1849, the newspaper Aion wrote: "the poetry of Solomos is not the poetry of a single person but the poetry of a whole nation". Similar judgements were expressed even after the poet's death. The magazine Pandora wrote: "one of the finest poets of Greece and of Europe, the author of the dithyramb
Dithyramb
The dithyramb was an ancient Greek hymn sung and danced in honour of Dionysus, the god of wine and fertility; the term was also used as an epithet of the god: Plato, in The Laws, while discussing various kinds of music mentions "the birth of Dionysos, called, I think, the dithyramb." Plato also...
to Liberty, Dionysios Solomos from Zakynthos died at a thriving age". The funeral orations of Solomos' students were of course more essential and referred to the poet's unpublished works, many of which they had heard their teacher reciting. Ioulios Typaldos described Solomos as the "first and greatest foundator of a new type of literature" and Iakovos Polylas in Solomos' poems "Prolegomena" in 1859 refers to him as "the national poet".
The perception of Solomos' work changed radically after the long-awaited publication in 1859. His uncompleted work was an unpleasant surprise and created puzzlement to the newspapers which praised the greatest Greek poet after his death did not mention anything about the publication of the works. Valaoritis wrote to Constantinos Asopius in 1859 after the poet's death: "the nation's hopes were deceived" and in 1877 in a letter to Emmanouil Roidis he wrote that Solomos left us "only a hymn and some incoherent verses". Spyridon Zampelios also expressed negative comments about Solomos' poems in his essay "Where does the common word "tragoudo" (i.e. "I am singing") derive from?" written in 1859.
The first revaluation of Solomos' work outside the Ionian region started after 1880, especially after the critical work of Kostis Palamas
Kostis Palamas
Kostis Palamas was a Greek poet who wrote the words to the Olympic Hymn. He was a central figure of the Greek literary generation of the 1880s and one of the cofounders of the so-called New Athenian School along with Georgios Drosinis, Nikos Kampas, Ioanis Polemis.-Biography:Born in Patras, he...
, who acknowledged the historical importance of Solomos' work, which is characterized by the creation of a personal poetic language and the combination of all elements of the poetical tradition and the European poetical currents and ideas.
Formal Elements
The poet used different metrical and rhyme forms, starting with some influenced by Italian poetry (sonnet form, rhymed trochaic terameters) and settling into the standard forms of Greek folk songs (iambic 15-syllable blank verse). His epigram on the destruction of PsaraDestruction of Psara
The Destruction of Psara was an event in which the Ottomans destroyed the civilian population of the Greek island of Psara on July 5, 1824. According to George Finlay, the entire population of the island Psara before the massacre was about 7,000....
, an event of the Greek War of Independence
Greek War of Independence
The Greek War of Independence, also known as the Greek Revolution was a successful war of independence waged by the Greek revolutionaries between...
, influenced by classical forms, is a marvel of rhythm and brevity in six lines of anapaest
Anapaest
An anapaest is a metrical foot used in formal poetry. In classical quantitative meters it consists of two short syllables followed by a long one; in accentual stress meters it consists of two unstressed syllables followed by one stressed syllable. It may be seen as a reversed dactyl...
.
The fragmented nature of Solomos' works
One of the most important issues of Solomic poetry and of Greek literature in general is the fragmented nature of the poet's works. The only works published during Solomos' lifetime were the Hymn to Liberty (1825), an extract from Lampros ("Maria's prayer") (1834), the Ode to the Nun (1829) and the epigram To Francisca Fraser (1849). The rest of his works remained incomplete. Solomos was constantly editing his works and was striving towards total perfection of form, making efforts to get rid of anything excessive that destroyed their essential lyrical substance. His manuscripts do not comprise engrossed works; on the contrary, they reveal all stages of editing, without their latest version being the final one. At first, the poet conceptualized a draft of the poem written in Italian prose and after that he used to start editing the Greek version. Many of the verses are saved in the form of alternative versions, often in the wrong order, some incomplete and with many gaps. The poet often used to write verses of different poems on the same piece of paper. The poem 'The Cretan' (1833), written about the Cretan revolution was one of his most famous poems. It is highly fragmented, however, this adds to the tormented atmosphere of the dramatic monologue because the speaker is a beggar whose life has been torn apart and who is in emotional turmoil, his entire family killed by the Turks.A faithful student of Solomos, Iakovos Polylas, affronted many difficulties when he undertook the publication of his "teacher's" work (that was long awaited, not only in the Ionian Islands but also the rest of Greece). First of all, Polylas had to ask permission from the poet's brother Dimitrios in order to be able to study the poet's manuscripts. After that, he had to arrange the scattered material (written in the poet's difficult to decipher handwriting) so as to present an as much as possible complete and coherent work. Polylas piled and arranged this material, choosing the verses that he thought were closest in meaning to what the poet had in mind. Sometimes Polylas added verses that he had heard Solomos recite and wrote down some alternative versions. In 1859, Polylas published the work of Solomos under the title "Apanta ta Evriskomena- Omnibus of the works found", accompanying this work with an exceptional introduction, in which he stated that the poet's manuscripts with their definitive form were lost.
Attempt to interpret the fragmented works
The form of Solomos' work as presented in its first edition was the source of disappointment, because at that time the work's value could not be appreciated. Polylas in his "Prolegomena" stressed that the major manuscripts of the poems' final version were either lost or destroyed. People assumed that the works may have been stolen by Solomos' servant or by the poet's brother Dimitrios or even that the poet himself destroyed them. Only in the beginning of the 20th century was it made clear that no more manuscripts existed and that Solomos had not completed his poems. The first attempts to interpret the fragmented nature of the poet's work were mostly based on theories having nothing to do with the texts themselves: the difficulty to complete the works was thought to be due to the lack of an appropriate intellectual atmosphere that would provide Solomos with the motivation to complete his works, or due to the lack of an adequate literary tradition that the poet could have followed. The fragmentation of Solomos' work was also attributed to psychological factors, such as the poet's alcoholismAlcoholism
Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...
, the lack of compositive capability, the negative effects of the 1833–1838 trial, Solomos' perfectionism or his feeling of unsatisfaction.
Other scholars underlined however that, to a great extent, Solomos did not care about the completion of his poems. A phrase attributed to the poet is illustrative: "Lampros will remain an abstract, because the whole poem does not reach the height of some days". Linos Politis notes on the fragmentary nature of the Free Besieged: "He did not want or did not care to incorporate these lyrical pieces into a narrative group [...] He stuck to the pure, lyrical expression, without regard to the non-lyrical linking substance, thus advancing [...] to the conquest of a 'pure' lyrical sphere, long before his time. We detected something similar in Kritikos too and the same thing is applied to the rest of his 'fragmented' works". Later on, Solomos was considered by several poets and critics as the forerunner of "pure poetry" and the fragmented nature of his work did not "disturb" any more; on the contrary, it was considered as an advantage.
During the last decade, attempts have been made to associate the incomplete Solomian works with the fragmentary works of romantic literature (such as Kubla Khan by Coleridge, Giaour by lord Byron and Heinrich von Oftendingen by Novalis), even though this interpretation is not accepted by all scholars.
Publication issue
From 1920–1930, an issue arose concerning the publication of works that were not included in Iakovos Polylas' edition such as The Woman of Zakynthos, the satirical The Gallows and several Italian sonnets that were published by K. Kairofylas in 1927. The Academy of AthensAcademy of Athens
Academy of Athens may refer to:* Platonic Academy* Academy of Athens...
decided to publish Solomos' poems accompanied by a critical edition by N.B. Tomadakis, thus contributing to the discussion about whether a genuine (as Linos Politis was in favor of) or a critical edition of Solomos' works would be best. The critical edition was never published and the two classical scholars prepared "easy to use" editions of the poems, aiming at a wider range of readers. In 1964, Linos Politis published the poet's manuscripts using photographic reprint and typographical transcription. This edition constitutes a turn-point in the research on the Solomian works because not only was the poet's way of work revealed but also because the scholars had the opportunity to study all of the poet's editing phases and maybe even propose new editions.
The contemporary editing attempts of the solomic work can be divided into two categories: the "analytical" edition which reveals the successive editing stages of every poem and its different versions, such as Politis had proposed and intended to realize; the "synthetical" edition which presents the work with a logical sequence and a completion of form, excluding verses or abstracts that do no fulfill these criteria. A sample of "synthetical" edition is the one of Stylianos Alexiou (1994), that was strongly criticized by the supporters of "analytical" approach.
Surviving works at his death
Sadly, the poet's work at his death was mostly unfinished and in fragments, and was edited and published by his friend and fellow poet Iakovos Polylas. Whether Solomos was never satisfied with his work and kept little of it, whether large parts of his manuscripts were lost (something Polylas implies), or whether he had difficulties fleshing out the ambitious structure of his planned works is not clear, but the fragments show a huge disconnect between intention and surviving work: The Cretan begins with a fragment of Canto 18 and ends with Canto 22, and none of them are complete; Lambros was conceived with at least 38 cantos (of some of them only a prose summary survives), with the shortest poetic fragment consisting of a single line, and the longest containing 33 stanzas; the second draft of The Free Besieged consists of 61 fragments, of which 27 are single lines, seven are two lines, and two are half-lines.Legacy
Solomos is commonly referred to as Greece's "national poet" for his important legacy to Greek literature and national identity.He was depicted on the reverse
Obverse and reverse
Obverse and its opposite, reverse, refer to the two flat faces of coins and some other two-sided objects, including paper money, flags , seals, medals, drawings, old master prints and other works of art, and printed fabrics. In this usage, obverse means the front face of the object and reverse...
of the Greek 20 drachmas
Greek drachma
Drachma, pl. drachmas or drachmae was the currency used in Greece during several periods in its history:...
coin of 1990-2001. A 50 drachmas commemorative coin was issued in 1998 for the 200th anniversary of his birth.
The international airport on the island of Zakynthos is also named Dionysis Solomos after him.
His first works
- Eis korin h opoia anethrefeto mesa eis monastiri-To the girl who was brought up in a monastery
- Sto thanato tis mikris anipsias-To the small niece's death
- Pothos-Desire
- I skia tou Omirou-Homer's shadow
- Anamnisis-Remembrance
- Evrikomi
- Eis filon psyxoraggounta-To a friend near death
- O thanatos tis orfanis-The orphan's death
- To oneiro- The dream
- O thanatos tou voskou- The shepherd's death
- H Psyxoula- The little soul
- Pros ton Kyrion Lodovikon Strani-To sir Lodovikos Stranis
- Pros ton Kyrion Georgion Dhe Rossi-To sir Georgios De Rossi
- I Agnoristi- The Unrecognizable
- Kakioma-The miff
1823-1833: the period of formation
- Hymn to Liberty (1823)
- Nekriki Odi- Funerary Ode
- Poiima lyrikon eis to thanato tou Lord Byron-Lyrical poem "To the death of Lord Byron (1824)
- Eis monachin-To a nun (1829)
- Eis Marko Botsari- To Markos BotsarisMarkos BotsarisMarkos Botsaris was a Souliote captain and a hero of the War of Greek Independence. Markos Botsaris is among the most revered national heroes in Greece.-Early life:...
(1823) - I katastrofi ton Psaron-The destruction of Psara (1824)
- Eis to thanato kyrias Agglidas- To the English lady's death
- I Farmakomeni- The poisoned (1826)
- I Farmakomeni ston Adi-The poisoned in HadesHadesHades , Hadēs, originally , Haidēs or , Aidēs , meaning "the unseen") was the ancient Greek god of the underworld. The genitive , Haidou, was an elision to denote locality: "[the house/dominion] of Hades". Eventually, the nominative came to designate the abode of the dead.In Greek mythology, Hades...
- Lampros (1829)
Great works of maturity
- O Kritikos-The Cretan (1833)
- Eleftheroi Poliorkimenoi-The Free Besieged (1826–1844)
- Porfyras - The Whale (1849)
Last drafts
- Nikiforos o Vryennios
- Eis to thanato Aimilias Rodostamo-To the death of Emilia Rodostamo (1848)
- Eis Fragkiskan Fraizer- To Francisca Fraser (1849)
- Eis to thanato tis anipsias tou-To the death of his niece
- Pros ton Vasilea tis Elladas-To the King of Greece
- O Anatolikos Polemos-The Eastern War
- Carmen Seculare
- Ellinida Mitera- Greek Mother
Satirical works
- I Protochronia-The New Year's Eve (1824)
- To Iatrosymvoulio-The Doctors' council (1825)
- To oneiro- The dream (1826)
- H Tricha-The Hair (1833)
Translations
- I anoixi-Spring by MetastasioMetastasioPietro Antonio Domenico Trapassi, better known by his pseudonym of Metastasio, was an Italian poet and librettist, considered the most important writer of opera seria libretti.-Early life:...
- To kalokairi-Summer by Metastasio
- Odi tou Petrarchi-PetrarchPetrarchFrancesco Petrarca , known in English as Petrarch, was an Italian scholar, poet and one of the earliest humanists. Petrarch is often called the "Father of Humanism"...
's Ode
Greek prose
- O Dialogos- The Dialogue (1822–1825)
- H Gynaika tis Zakynthos- The Woman of Zakynthos (1826–1829)
Early works
- La Distruzione de Gierusalemme-Jerusalem's destruction
- Ode per prima messa- Ode to the first mass
- Rime Improvisate (collection, 1822)
Incomplete poems of the last period
- La navicella Greca-The Greek little boat
- Saffo-SapphoSapphoSappho was an Ancient Greek poet, born on the island of Lesbos. Later Greeks included her in the list of nine lyric poets. Her birth was sometime between 630 and 612 BC, and it is said that she died around 570 BC, but little is known for certain about her life...
- Orfeo, sonetto-OrpheusOrpheusOrpheus was a legendary musician, poet, and prophet in ancient Greek religion and myth. The major stories about him are centered on his ability to charm all living things and even stones with his music; his attempt to retrieve his wife from the underworld; and his death at the hands of those who...
- Sonetto in morte di Stelio Marcoran- A sonnet on the death of Stelios Marcoras
- L'albero mistico (frammento-extract)-The mystical tree
- L'avvelenata (frammenti)-The poisoned
- Il giovane guerriero (frammenti)-The young warrior
Drafts of poems written in prose
- La madre Greca-The Greek Mother
- La donna velata-The veiled woman
- L'usignolo e lo sparviere-The nightingale and the falcon
- Orfeo- OrpheusOrpheusOrpheus was a legendary musician, poet, and prophet in ancient Greek religion and myth. The major stories about him are centered on his ability to charm all living things and even stones with his music; his attempt to retrieve his wife from the underworld; and his death at the hands of those who...
- Porfyras
Italian prose
- Per Dr. Spiridione Gripari (funeral oration, 1820)
- Elogio di Ugo FoscoloUgo FoscoloUgo Foscolo , born Niccolò Foscolo, was an Italian writer, revolutionary and poet.-Biography:Foscolo was born on the Ionian island of Zakynthos...
(oratio in memoriam, 1827)
Sources
- Evripidis Garantoudis, The Ionians and Solomos. Aspects of a complicated relation. (1820–1950), Kastaniotis, Athens 2001
- Romilly Jenkins, Dionysius Solomos (1940. Reprinted by Denise Harvey, Athens 1981)
- Eratosthenis G. Kapsomenos, Solomos and the Hellenic Cultural Tradition, Greek Parliament, Athens 1998
- Ε. Kapsomenos, "Kali 'nai i mavri petra sou". Interpretation keys for Solomos, Estia Athens 2000
- E. Kriaras, Dionysios Solomos, Estia, Athens 1969, 2nd edition
- Peter Macridge, Dionysios Solomos, translation by Katerina Aggelaki-Rooke Kastaniotis, Athens 1995
- L. Politis, About Solomos, National Bank of Greece, Athens 1985
- M. B. Raizis, Dionysios Solomos (1972) (Twayne's World authors)
- David Ricks, "Dionysios Solomos (1798-1857)", Modern Greek writing. An anthology in English translation, Peter Owen, London 2003
- Giorgos Veloudis, Dionysios Solomos. Romantic poetry and poetic. The German sources., Gnosi, Athens 2000
- Giorgos Veloudis, Critics on Solomos, Dodoni, Athens 2000
Further reading
- Lorentzatos Zisimos, "Essay I. Expressing", Meletes, Editions Domos, Athens 1994
- Lorentzatos Zisimos, "A definition of Solomos about style", Meletes, Editions Domos, Athens 1994
- Lorentzatos Zisimos, "The Dialogue of Solomos: a comparison and review", Meletes, Editions Domos, Athens 1994
- Lorentzatos Zisimos, "Aposoma", Meletes, Editions Domos, Athens 1994