The distinguished contemporary Greek poet Yiannis Ritsos follows in the footsteps of illustrious predecessors such as K. P. Kavafis and George Seferis in a dramatic and symbolic expression of a tragic sentiment about life. The shorter poems collected in this volume present what Ritsos calls simple things, which prove to be anything but simple. Here we find a world of subtle nuances, where everyday events conceal much that is threatening, depressing, and spiritually empty—yet the poems also provide lyrical and idyllic interludes, as well as witty recreations of Greek mythology and history.

This collection of Ritsos's work, particularly those poems written during his forced exile under the dictatorship of the Colonels, confirms his position among the most significant European poets of this century. The distinguished translator of contemporary Greek poetry Edmund Keeley has selected for this anthology excerpts from seven volumes of Ritsos's poems written from 1946 to 1975. Two of these volumes are represented here in English editions for the first time, two others have been translated only sporadically, and the remaining three were first published in a bilingual edition that is now out of print (Ritsos in Parentheses).

The collection thus encompasses thirty years of a poetic work that is both the most productive and among the most distinguished in modern Greek history.