| Abstrakt: |
Yiannis Ritsos (1909-1990) is a national poet. He wrote about Greece and expressed his love for Hellenism. It is beyond the scope of this paper to explain how Ritsos expressed this love for his country, and how he responded to crucial historical events in his other poetic works. Having said that, his enormous (in terms of extent and value) work vividly shows the poet's connection with his country. In this paper, we are going to explore Ritsos' poetic reaction after the Cyprus tragedy of 1974, focusing on his collection Ύμνος και Θρήνος για την Κύπρο (Hymn and Lament for Cyprus). Then, Greece's fortune suffered under the military regime, which deprived the Greek people of their natural rights and freedoms. Greece was a country where democracy had no place, and people were forced to oppress their voice. To a very great extent, it was the junta's misjudgements that led to the Turkish invasion and the de facto partition of Cyprus. However, in the five poems of the collection, the 'invaders' (we refer to in the article) are not meant to be connected with one or the other country. Ritsos' response to the events is not a reproach or an attack against ethnic groups. It is a voice of protest against the abolishment of democracy, peace and freedom. Thus, the 'invaders' are those who opposed these values, and through certain allusions to Orthodox tradition Ritsos intends to show human suffering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
