Kostis Palamas (; ; – 27 February 1943) was a

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

poet who wrote the words to the

Olympic Hymn The Olympic Hymn (, ), also known as the Olympic Anthem, is a choral cantata by opera composer Spyridon Samaras (1861–1917), with Demotic Greek lyrics by Greek poet Kostis Palamas. Both poet and composer were the choice of the Greek Deme ...

. He was a central figure of the Greek literary generation of the 1880s and one of the cofounders of the so-called

New Athenian School The term New Athenian School (), also known as the 1880s Generation (Γενιά του 1880) or the Palamian School (Παλαμική Σχολή) after its leading member Kostis Palamas, denotes the literary production in Athens after 1880. It ...

(or Palamian School, or Second Athenian School) along with

Georgios Drosinis Georgios Drosinis (; 9 December 1859 – 3 January 1951) was a Greek author, poet, scholar and an editor. He is considered to be a co-founder of the New Athenian School ( Greek literary Generation of the 1880s). Biography Georgios Drossinis was ...

and

Ioannis Polemis Ioannis Polemis (; 1862 – 28 May 1924''Skrip'' newspaper. 29-5-1924, p. 4) was a Greek poet. Life and career Born in Athens, Polemis came from a historical Byzantine family. When he was in his twenties, some works of his were published in a Gr ...

Biography

Born in

Patras Patras (; ; Katharevousa and ; ) is Greece's List of cities in Greece, third-largest city and the regional capital and largest city of Western Greece, in the northern Peloponnese, west of Athens. The city is built at the foot of Mount Panachaiko ...

, in the same house as born the Italian novelist

Matilde Serao image:Picture of Matilde Serao.jpg, Matilde Serao, by "Rossi" Matilde Serao (; ; 14 March 1856 – 25 July 1927) was an Italian journalist and novelist. She was the first woman called to edit an Italian newspaper, Il ''Corriere di Roma'' and late ...

, he received his primary and secondary education in

Mesolonghi Missolonghi or Mesolongi (, ) is a municipality of 32,048 people (according to the 2021 census) in western Greece. The town is the capital of Aetolia-Acarnania regional unit, and the seat of the municipality of Iera Polis Mesolongiou (). Missolon ...

. In 1877 he enrolled at the School of Law, Economics and Political Sciences of the

University of Athens The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA; , ''Ethnikó kai Kapodistriakó Panepistímio Athinón''), usually referred to simply as the University of Athens (UoA), is a public university in Athens, Greece, with various campuses alo ...

, but he soon abandoned his studies."Palamas, Kostis, 1859-1943"
at E.KE.BI / Biblionet In the 1880s, he worked as a journalist. He published his first collection of verses, ''Songs of My Fatherland'', in 1886. He was nominated for the

Nobel Prize for Literature The Nobel Prize in Literature, here meaning ''for'' Literature (), is a Swedish literature prize that is awarded annually, since 1901, to an author from any country who has, in the words of the will of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, "in t ...

on 14 occasions, but never received it. He held an administrative post at the

between 1897 and 1926. Palamas died on 27 February 1943, during the

Axis occupation of Greece The occupation of Greece by the Axis Powers () began in April 1941 after Nazi Germany Battle of Greece, invaded the Kingdom of Greece in order to assist its ally, Fascist Italy (1922–1943), Italy, in their Greco-Italian War, ongoing war that w ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. His funeral at the

First Cemetery of Athens The First Cemetery of Athens (, ''Próto Nekrotafeío Athinón'') is the official cemetery of the City of Athens and the first to be built. It opened in 1837 and soon became a prestigious cemetery for Greeks and foreigners. The cemetery is lo ...

on the next day became a major symbolic event of the Greek resistance against the occupation. In a service spontaneously attended by several thousand people, the funerary poem composed and recited by fellow poet

Angelos Sikelianos Angelos Sikelianos ( ; 28 March 1884 – 19 June 1951) was a Greek lyric poet and playwright. His themes include Greek history, religious symbolism as well as universal harmony in poems such as ''The Moonstruck'', ''Prologue to Life'', ''Mother o ...

roused the mourners and culminated in a major public demonstration of defiance of the occupying powers, whose representatives, come to lay a wreath at the poet's tomb, were greeted by the crowd with the

Greek national anthem The "Hymn to Liberty", also known as the "Hymn to Freedom", is a Greek poem written by Dionysios Solomos in 1823 and set to music by Nikolaos Mantzaros in 1828. Consisting of 158 stanzas in total, its two first stanzas officially became the nat ...

and shouts of 'Long Live Freedom'.

Work

Palamas wrote the lyrics to the

, composed by

Spyridon Samaras Spyridon-Filiskos Samaras () (29 November 1861 - 7 April 1917) was a Greek composer particularly admired for his operas. His compositions were praised worldwide during his lifetime and he is arguably the most important composer of the Ionian Scho ...

. It was first performed at the

1896 Summer Olympics The 1896 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the I Olympiad () and commonly known as Athens 1896 (), were the first international Olympic Games held in modern history. Organised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), wh ...

, the first modern Olympic Games. The Hymn was then shelved as each host city from then until the

1960 Winter Olympics The 1960 Winter Olympics (officially the VIII Olympic Winter Games and also known as Squaw Valley 1960) were a winter multi-sport event held from February 18 to 28, 1960, at the Squaw Valley Resort (now known as Palisades Tahoe) in Squaw Valley ...

commissioned an original piece for its celebration of the Games, but the version by Samaras and Palamas was declared the official Olympic Anthem in 1958 and has been performed at each celebration of the Games since the

Honors

The old administration building of the University of Athens, in central Athens, where his office was located, is now dedicated to him as the "Kostis Palamas Building" and houses the "Greek Theater Museum", as well as many temporary exhibitions. Roilos-georgios-poets-parnassos-literary-club

Roilos-georgios-poets-parnassos-literary-club

Palamas has been informally called the "national" poet of Greece. He was an influential voice in Greek literature for more than 30 years, and greatly influenced the entire political-intellectual climate of his time.

Romain Rolland Romain Rolland (; 29 January 1866 – 30 December 1944) was a French dramatist, novelist, essayist, art historian and Mysticism, mystic who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1915 "as a tribute to the lofty idealism of his literary pro ...

considered him the greatest poet in Europe.

Works

Collections of poems

* ''Songs of my Fatherland'' (1886) * ''Hymn to

Athena Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretism, syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarde ...

'' (1889) * ''Eyes of my Soul'' (1892) * '' Iambs and

Anapaest An anapaest (; also spelled anapæst or anapest, also called antidactylus) is a metrical foot used in formal poetry. In classical quantitative meters it consists of two short syllables followed by a long one; in accentual stress meters it consi ...

s'' (1897) * ''The Grave'' (1898) * ''The Greetings of the Sun-born'' (1900) * ''Ή Ασάλευτη Ζωή'' (''The Motionless Life'')(1904) * ''Twelve Lays of the Gypsy'' (1907) * ''The King's flute'' (1910) * ''Yearnings of the Lagoon'' (1912) * ''Satirical Exercises'' (1912) * ''The State and Solitude'' (1912) * ''Altars'' (1915) * ''Extempora'' (1919) * ''The 14 verses'' (1919) * ''The 5 verses - The passionate secret whispers - The Wolves - Two flowers from afar'' (1925) * ''Cowardly and Harsh verses'' (1928) * ''The 3 Verse Cycle'' (1929) * ''Passages and Greetings'' (1931) * ''The Nights of

Phemius In Homer's epic poem the ''Odyssey'', Phemius (; ), son of Terpes/Terpius, is an Ithacan poet who performs narrative songs in the house of the absent Odysseus. Mythology Phemius's audience is made up largely of the suitors of Penelope, who live ...

'' (1935) * ''Evening Fire'' (1944, posthumous edition by his son, Leander Palamas)

Prose

* ''Death of a Youth'' (novel, 1901) * ''Novels'' (1920)

Theater

* ''The Thrice-noble'' (drama, 1903)

Criticism

Palamas was one of the most respected literary critics of his day, and instrumental in the reappraisal of the works of

Andreas Kalvos Andreas Kalvos (; ; 1 April 1792 – 3 November 1869) was a Greek poet of the Romantic school. He published five volumes of poetry and drama: ''Canzone...'' (1811), ''Le Danaidi'' (1818), (1818), ''Lyra'' (1824) and ''New odes'' (1826). He was ...

Dionysios Solomos Dionysios Solomos (; ; 8 April 1798 – 9 February 1857) was a Greeks, Greek poet from Zakynthos, who is considered to be Greece's national poet. He is best known for writing the ''Hymn to Liberty'' (, ''Ýmnos eis tīn Eleutherían''), whic ...

and the "Ionian School" of poetry,

Kostas Krystallis Kostas Krystallis (; 1868–1894) was an ethnic Aromanians, Aromanian, Greeks, Greek author and poet, representative of 19th century Greek pastoral literature. He was born an Ottoman Greece, Ottoman subject in Epirus, but escaped to Greece after b ...

et al.

Translations

* ''The King's Flute'', tr. T. P. Stephanides, G. C. Katsimbalis (1982) reek and English texts* ''The King's Flute'', tr. F. Will (1967) * ''The Twelve Lays of the Gypsy'', tr. G. Thomson (1969) * ''The Twelve Words of the Gypsy'', tr. T. P. Stephanides, G. C. Katsimbalis (1974; repr. 1975) * ''A Hundred Voices'', tr. T. P. Stephanides, G. C. Katsimbalis (1976) * ''Ruins'', ''Grief'', ''On The Trip You Are Taken'', ''Rose Fragrance'', tr. A. Moskios

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Palamas, Kostis 1859 births 1943 deaths Writers from Patras Modern Greek poets Greek nationalists Eastern Orthodox Christians from Greece Greek dramatists and playwrights New Athenian School Members of the Academy of Athens (modern) Poets from Achaea Burials at the First Cemetery of Athens 19th-century Greek poets 20th-century Greek poets