Constantine Cavafy

What I can see

This brass bust is of Konstantinos Kavafis, one of the country’s leading poets, and one with international appeal. “Always in your mind/ you must have Ithaka” is written at the base, a verse from his most famous work, Ithaki (Ithaka). The donors are written on the right and the foundry on the left. It is located on Aigyptou (Egypt) Square. This location is not accidental, as Kavafis lived in Egypt for many years and wrote some of his most important works there. However, The location of the sculpture in a small square surrounded by heavy traffic, and does not highlight it.

 

What I can't see

Kavafis is world-renowned and has been particularly popular with the English audience. He spent most of his life in Alexandria, Egypt. From 1907 until the end of his life, however, he lived in Athens, for which he had said he felt like a loyal pilgrim going to Mecca. He knew important personalities of literature and poetry, including Xenopoulos, Polemis, Marinetti, Malro and Kazantzakis. His poetic work consists of 154 acclaimed poems, 37 deacons and 75 hidden ones. Most of them are of historical, philosophical and erotic (often of homosexual) content, and the language he uses is a combination of archaic and popular idioms. He broke the poetic form of the time and developed a peculiar lyricism, a subtle irony and a human-centered, historical and erotic vision that moved the young, but left the older ones indifferent.

 

Info

• Address: Aigyptou Sq.

Bibliography