Napoleon Lapathiotis was a Greek

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

 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...

. A native of 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...

, he began writing and publishing poetry when he was eleven. In 1907, along with others, he established the Igiso (Ἡγησώ, from the Attic Greek

Attic Greek

Attic Greek is the prestige dialect of Ancient Greek that was spoken in Attica, which includes Athens. Of the ancient dialects, it is the most similar to later Greek, and is the standard form of the language studied in courses of "Ancient Greek". It is sometimes included in Ionic.- Origin and range...

 name Hēgēso) magazine, in which he published his works. In 1909, he graduated from the law school

Law school

A law school is an institution specializing in legal education.- Law degrees :- Canada :...

 of the University of Athens. His first book of poems was published in 1939.

Personal life

Lapathiotis was openly gay

Gay

Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....

 and had communist

Communism

Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...

 beliefs. Poor in later life and an opium

Opium

Opium is the dried latex obtained from the opium poppy . Opium contains up to 12% morphine, an alkaloid, which is frequently processed chemically to produce heroin for the illegal drug trade. The latex also includes codeine and non-narcotic alkaloids such as papaverine, thebaine and noscapine...

 addict, he committed suicide with a revolver

Revolver

A revolver is a repeating firearm that has a cylinder containing multiple chambers and at least one barrel for firing. The first revolver ever made was built by Elisha Collier in 1818. The percussion cap revolver was invented by Samuel Colt in 1836. This weapon became known as the Colt Paterson...

on 7 January 1944.

The 1985 film Meteor and Shadow was based on his life.

Poems

Famous poems by Lapathiotis include:

• Τὰ καημένα τὰ πουλάκια
• Τὰ χλωμά τὰ κοριτσάκια
• Ἔχω ἕνα ἀηδόνι...
• Ποιητής
• Μυστικό...
• Ἐπεισόδιο
• Ἡ χαρά
• Συντριβή
• Ἀναμνήσεις
• Our old song (Τὸ παλιό μας τραγοῦδι)
• Small song (Μικρὸ τραγοῦδι)
• Παραμύθι
• Πόθος
• Στὴ νυχτερινὸ κέντρο
• Χειμωνιάτικο τοπίο
• Ἐκ βαθέων
• Στὴ φυλακή...
• Κούραση
• Κλείσε τὰ παράθυρα
• Φαντάσματα
• Βαθύ κι ἐξαίσιο βράδυ
• Μοναξιά
• Ἑκάτης πάθη
• Νυχτερινό
• Οἱ μπερντέδες
• Ἐρωτικό
• Οἱ κύκνοι τὸ φθινόπωρο
• Λυπήσου
• Προσμένω πάλι
• Σπαρασμός
• Untitled (Ἄτιτλο)
• 1939
• Φάντασμα
• Προσμονή
• Εἶμαι μόνος...
• Ἐρινύες
• Vao, ghao, dhao (Βαο, γαο, δαο)
• Τ᾿ ἁπλὸ παιδί πού ἐγὼ ἀγαπῶ...
• Song (Τραγούδι)
• Ὅταν βραδιάζει
• Ἕνας χαμένος κύκλος
• Ἀποχαιρετισμοί στη μουσική
• Ἀποχαιρετισμός
• Ἀποχαιρετιστήριο
• Κραυγή

Other works

• My Life (Ἡ Ζωή μου), unfinished autobiography
• Nero the tyrant (Νέρων ὁ Τύραννος), 1901, theatrical play for children

External links