Poets' Poros

There are many great Greek writers and poets who have glorified the natural beauties of Poros through their works. Yiannis Ritsos, Giorgos Seferis, Miltos Sachtouris, Kostis Palamas, poets who loved the island more than their own place, never stopped expressing their admiration. Descriptions of landscapes, legendary snapshots, vivid images of a Poros that unfolds through philological glances. Poets' Poros is glorified through their works!

Giannis Ritsos was a poet who loved Poros. He included him in his works as he spent some carefree summers there soaking up the sun and sea with his company. One of them was in the summer of 1938, before World War II broke out. Nobel Prize nominee Yiannis Ritsos refers to Poros in one of his poems, thinking of the Temple of Poseidon in the interior of the island. In the summer of 1948, shortly before he was arrested and exiled to Lemnos, Ritsos is again on the island. His photo on a rock in Limanaki tis Agapi is not only preserved, but was included in the photo exhibition "Our Old Resource" in August 2016.

The Nobel laureate Giorgos Seferis found in Poros the refuge he was looking for after the horrors of the World War and the Civil War, but also a place to engage in his spiritual pursuits. His "Galini" villa is one of the most beautiful houses in Poros. This villa occasionally hosted great personalities of literary life, Greeks and foreigners. Seferis had many famous friends and came with his beloved Maro to the island in the summer of 1936. He connected with Poros because of his relationship with Iulia Dragoumi who owned the villa. In Poros he wrote the Poriotika Poems and "Kichli" in 1946. He loved the feeling of inhaling the scent of the sea and the pine trees at the same time in Poros and likened it to Venice. He described nature and what he saw like few others in detail and similes that reflected his brilliant imagination. He glorified the Clock Tower, the sea breeze, the houses, the Russian Naval Station, the lighthouse...

Miltos Shaktouris came from Hydra but was won by Poros. The special thing about the poems of the almost lawyer Miltos Shaktouris are the frequent references to other poets. Also, his references to places, his dedications and his obsession with his dead friends giving his works a heavy style. Shaktouris deals with Poros in three poems. In "Poros 1985" he describes images of an island teeming with tourists, only in the background are the ghosts of the past. The seductive "Lynne" is the foreign heroine of the poem of the same name who is in danger of returning home if she loses her job on the island leaving him alone. Finally, in the poem "Andreas Empiricus in Poros" unfolds a story that conveys a metaphysical message and a real incident. The poet is shocked when a saleswoman mistakes him for Empirikos and the story begins...

Kostis Palamas came from Messolonghi, but he loved Poros. When he visited the island he stayed in a house in Pounta, where the "Ekati" bar was housed. Today there is a commemorative plaque in his honor at this place. Poros is included in the poem "The Journey Goes, We Have Arrived". In it, as an enthusiastic traveler, he gazes at the island as the ship approaches the harbor describing everything he sees and what awaits him there.

Tags: poet, Giannis Ritsos, Giorgos Seferis, Miltos Sahtouris, Kostis Palamas, Poros