Seferis, George (Giorgos Sefiriades), 1900-1971, Greek poet. Educated at the Univ. of Paris, he returned to Greece, where he had a distinguished career as a diplomat, including service as ambassador to the United Nations (1956-57) and Great Britain (1957-62). His poetry is surrealistic and highly symbolic—at times cryptic—invoking classical Greek themes. Many of his poems explore the 20th-century Greek consciousness and way of life. His volumes of poetry include Strophé (1931) and Mithistoríma (1935, tr. 1960). He also produced a volume of essays on Greek poets and poetry, Dokimés (1944; tr. On the Greek Style, 1960). Seferis won the 1963 Nobel Prize in literature, the first Greek to do so.

orig. Giōrgios Stylianou Seferiadēs or Yeoryios Stilianou Sepheriades

(born March 13, 1900, Smyrna, Anatolia, Ottoman Empire—died Sept. 20, 1971, Athens, Greece) Greek poet, essayist, and diplomat. He studied law in Paris and held various diplomatic posts from 1926 to 1962. His poetry appeared in a number of collections beginning with Turning Point (1931). He is considered the leading Greek poet of “the generation of the '30s,” which introduced Symbolism to modern Greek literature. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1963.

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George Pavlopoulos (Γιώργης Παυλόπουλος) (born 22 June 1924) is a Greek poet, relatively unknown outside Greece, but admired within his own country by fellow poets such as George Seferis.

George Pavlopoulos was born in Pyrgos, on the west coast of the Peloponnese in Greece. Before World War II Pyrgos was a rich provincial centre and Pavlopoulos's father ran a local restaurant and cake shop. He was educated at primary and secondary levels in Pyrgos, a childhood illness left him permanently lame. He attended the School of Law at the University of Athens He did not complete his degree and returned to Pyrgos where he worked as book-keeper and secretary for the local bus company.. Upon his return from Athens he married a local girl and had a son. .

Childhood friends of his in Pyrgos included the musician Mikis Theodorakis and Takis Sinopoulos the poet.

In 1943, during the German occupation, the local bishop allowed Pavlopoulos access to the cathedral printing press. With some of his school friends he printed and published a magazine called Odyssey containing his first published poem. This group included Takis Sinopoulos with whom he later wrote experimental cooperative poetry. The group performed a play, advertised with posters proclaiming Freedom or Death. The text was controversial and landed Pavlopoulos in trouble with the local Gestapo, who asked who had written it. Pavlopoulos had eventually to pretend that it was by Victor Hugo, although it had been written by themselves.

The Nazi withdrawal at close of war lead to bitter fighting between factions in the resistance. The unhappiness of war and civil war is reflected in much of Pavlopoulos's poetry.

His poetry has been translated into other languages, including: English, French, German, Italian, Polish, Russian and Spanish. He has taken part in cultural festivals in Greece and elsewhere and is a founder member of the Greek Society of Authors.

References

Sources

• CENSUS of Modern Greek Literature
• Levi, Peter in Pavlopoulos, George (1971). Trans. Peter Levi. The Cellar. London: Anvil Press Poetry.