39 Facts About Odysseas Elytis

Odysseas Elytis was a Greek poet, man of letters, essayist and translator, regarded as the definitive exponent of romantic modernism in Greece and the world.

Odysseas Elytis is one of the most praised poets of the second half of the twentieth century, with his Axion Esti "regarded as a monument of contemporary poetry".

From this union and as the last of six siblings Odysseas was born in the early hours of 2 November 1911.

Odysseas Elytis is pictured on the far left wearing a sailor's uniform in the photo of his family.

In 1927 wrought with overtiredness Odysseas Elytis was diagnosed with tuberculosis.

Odysseas Elytis read in the newspapers of the suicide of the poet Karyiotakis.

In 1929 Odysseas Elytis took a sabbatical between high school and university and decided secretly that he must only become a poet.

Odysseas Elytis had initial aspirations to become a lawyer but did not sit for his final examinations and did not get his legal qualification.

Odysseas Elytis had expressed aspirations to become a painter in the manner of the surrealists but his family quickly thwarted this idea.

In 1935 Odysseas Elytis published his first poem in the journal New Letters at the prompting of such friends as George Seferis.

In 1977 two years after the death of his friend Odysseas Elytis wrote a tribute book to Embiricos from within the commonalities that founded their ideas aptly titled "Reference to Andreas Embiricos" and originally published by Tram publishers Thessaloniki.

Odysseas Elytis was simultaneously awarded the First National Prize for poetry for his work "Axion Esti".

In 1967 Odysseas Elytis travelled to Egypt, visiting Alexandria, Cairo, Luxor and Aswan.

When Odysseas Elytis died he was buried wearing the silver wedding band that had the name "Marianina" engraved inside it.

Ivar Ivask noted the presence of the photo of Kriezi [a muse inside a silver frame across from the photo of his mother] in the home of Odysseas Elytis when editing the aforementioned book.

Iliopoulou's photo taken with Odysseas Elytis was there as he adored and respected her as his muse and guardian angel.

Odysseas Elytis assisted Frederica of Hanover off the train and on to Greek soil personally when she arrived from Germany to marry hereditary Prince Paul.

Odysseas Elytis comes very close to his death here and given options to stay at this hospital and be a prisoner when the Germans fully enter and occupy or be transferred with the risk of intestinal perforation and hemorrhage.

Odysseas Elytis begins to outline poetry for his eventual work "Sun TOdysseas Elytis First" and in Alexandria Seferis delivers a lecture on Elytis and Antoniou.

Odysseas Elytis was sporadically publishing poetry and essays after his initial foray into the literary world.

Odysseas Elytis was a member of the Association of Greek Art Critics, AICA-Hellas, International Association of Art Critics.

Odysseas Elytis was twice Programme Director of the Greek National Radio Foundation, Member of the Greek National Theatre's Administrative Council, President of the Administrative Council of the Greek Radio and Television as well as Member of the Consultative Committee of the Greek National Tourists' Organisation on the Athens Festival.

Odysseas Elytis did not like Yevgeny Yevtushenko when they were introduced but appreciated Voznesensky That summer he spent part of his holidays on Corfu Island and the rest on Lesbos where he and Teriade[who had returned from Paris] were establishing the foundations of a museum dedicated to the painter Theophilos.

Odysseas Elytis was a believer and follower of numerology in all its forms: Kabbalah, Chaldean and Pythagorean.

Odysseas Elytis believed in vedic astrology and held certain beliefs of Hinduism to be true.

Odysseas Elytis was beset with the untimely death of friends and relatives throughout his life.

Odysseas Elytis had cordial relations with Yiannis Ritsos and close ties with his best friend Nikos Gatsos, both poets of the same generation.

Odysseas Elytis had been completing plans to travel overseas to see friends when he died of a heart failure in Athens on 18 March 1996, at the age of 84.

Odysseas Elytis had made it known that he was a believer in cremation and had wished that somehow he could have been cremated which the tenets of his Greek Orthodox religion do not support or allow.

Odysseas Elytis was a supporter of the legalization of euthanasia for people who wished to die after pain and suffering.

Odysseas Elytis is a successful artist in her own right translating and composing her own works and giving poetry recitals at the Theocharakis Foundation in Athens.

Odysseas Elytis has taken the difficult works of Elytis into a wider audience with extreme care and understanding.

Odysseas Elytis died in his Athens apartment on March 18th 1996 of heart failure.

Odysseas Elytis was buried in a family grave beside his family, including his mother and brother.

Iliopoulou as his life partner inherited the immovable property in real estate of Odysseas Elytis which consisted of four apartments and the trustee power of copyrights to his work.

Odysseas Elytis has been promoting Elytis with excellence in his legacy.

Odysseas Elytis was survived in his bloodline by his niece Myrsene and his next in line older brother Evangelos.

Odysseas Elytis' poetry has marked, through an active presence of over forty years, a broad spectrum of subject matter and stylistic touch with an emphasis on the expression of that which is rarefied and passionate.

Odysseas Elytis's main endeavour was to rid people's conscience from unjustifiable remorses and to complement natural elements through ethical powers, to achieve the highest possible transparency in expression and finally, to succeed in approaching the mystery of light, the metaphysics of the sun of which he was a "worshiper" -idolater by his own definition.