Ballad for the Unsung Poets of the Ages

SELECTED POEMS AND PROSE

Kostas Karyotakis
Translated by Simon Darragh
Introduction by Dimitris Daskalopoulos

BILINGUAL EDITION

That one came alone, from some place else.
He came slowly, following his own path.
A white angel with jet-black wings!

Kostas Karyotakis is the poet most emblematic of the turbulent interwar period in Greece. Though traditional in form, usually with end-rhyme and regular metres, Karyotakis’ poetry is modern in content, often pessimistic and bitingly satirical. His writing combines reverie with sarcasm, a stifling sense of every­day reality with poignant irony. This is verse that is both piercing and resonant.