Odysseus Elytis

Odysseas Elytis
Odysseas Elytis in 1974
Born	(1911-11-02)2 November 1911 Heraklion, Greece (then in the Republic of Crete)
Died	18 March 1996(1996-03-18) (aged 84) Athens, Greece
Occupation	Poet
Nationality	Greek
Alma mater	University of Athens (no degree)
Literary movement	Romantic modernism,
Notable awards	Nobel Prize in Literature 1979
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Odysseas Elytis (Greek: Οδυσσέας Ελύτης, pronounced [oðiˈseas eˈlitis], pen name of Odysseas Alepoudellis, Greek: Οδυσσέας Αλεπουδέλλης; 2 November 1911 – 18 March 1996) was regarded as a major exponent of romantic modernism in Greece and the world. In 1979 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Descendant of the Alepoudelis, an old industrial family from Lesbos, Elytis was born in Heraklion on the island of Crete, on 2 November 1911. His family later moved to Athens, where the poet graduated from high school and later attended courses as an auditor at the Law School at University of Athens.

In 1935 Elytis published his first poem in the journal New Letters (Νέα Γράμματα) at the prompting of such friends as George Seferis. His entry with a distinctively earthy and original form assisted to inaugurate a new era in Greek poetry and its subsequent reform after the Second World War.

From 1969 to 1972, under the Greek military junta of 1967–1974, Elytis exiled himself to Paris. He was romantically linked to the lyricist and musicologist Mariannina Kriezi, who subsequently produced and hosted the legendary children's radio broadcast "Here Lilliput Land". Elytis was intensely private and vehemently solitary in pursuing his ideals of poetic truth and experience.

In 1937 he served his military requirements. As an army cadet, he joined the National Military School in Corfu. He assisted Queen Frederika off the train and on to Greek soil personally when she arrived from Germany to marry hereditary Prince Paul. During the war he was appointed Second Lieutenant, placed initially at the 1st Army Corps Headquarters, then transferred to the 24th Regiment, on the first-line of the battlefields. Elytis was sporadically publishing poetry and essays after his initial foray into the literary world.