Nikiforos Vrettakos (; 1 January 1912 – 4 August 1991) 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 ...

writer and poet.

Biography

Nikephoros Vrettakos was born in the village of Krokees, near

Sparta Sparta was a prominent city-state in Laconia in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (), while the name Sparta referred to its main settlement in the Evrotas Valley, valley of Evrotas (river), Evrotas rive ...

Laconia Laconia or Lakonia (, , ) is a historical and Administrative regions of Greece, administrative region of Greece located on the southeastern part of the Peloponnese peninsula. Its administrative capital is Sparti (municipality), Sparta. The word ...

, but originated from

Mani Mani may refer to: People * Mani (name), (), a given name and surname (including a list of people with the name) ** Mani (prophet) (c. 216–274), a 3rd century Iranian prophet who founded Manichaeism ** Mani (musician) (born 1962), an English ...

. He published his first collection of poems, ''Under Shadows and Lights'', in 1929, at the age of seventeen. That same year he moved to

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

to attend

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, but left after a year to take a series of jobs as a clerk in various businesses. In 1937 he began a thirty-year career in the Greek Civil Service, also seeing combat service in the

Greco-Italian War The Greco-Italian War (), also called the Italo-Greek War, Italian campaign in Greece, Italian invasion of Greece, and War of '40 in Greece, took place between Italy and Greece from 28 October 1940 to 23 April 1941. This conflict began the Balk ...

during this period. In 1967 he responded to the takeover of Greece by a

military dictatorship A military dictatorship, or a military regime, is a type of dictatorship in which Power (social and political), power is held by one or more military officers. Military dictatorships are led by either a single military dictator, known as a Polit ...

by going into self-imposed exile in

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and

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, where he remained until returning to Greece in 1974. He also wrote a poem about Kostas Georgakis, the student who set himself ablaze in Genoa as a protest against the junta. Nikephoros Vrettakos was considered one of Greece's most important poets. He won a number of prizes and medals, including the Greek State Poetry Prize twice. Some of his poems became popular songs in musical settings by Greek composers, including

Mikis Theodorakis Michail "Mikis" Theodorakis ( ; 29 July 1925 – 2 September 2021) was a Greek composer and lyricist credited with over 1,000 works. He scored for the films '' Zorba the Greek'' (1964), '' Z'' (1969), and '' Serpico'' (1973). He was a three-ti ...

. His verse was also translated into many languages. He was also elected as a member of the Academy of Athens in 1987. Vrettakos died in Athens.

Works

Greek text *''Τά ποιήματα'' (ed. Tria Phylla, Athens, 1991), 3 vols Works by or about, in English *''The Charioteer: An Annual Review of Modern Greek Culture.'' Numbers 33/34 1991-1992 (Pella Publishing Company, Inc.) — Book length special issue of articles about and English translations of Vrettakos's poems *"Nikiforos Vrettakos - Selected Poems", translated by David Connolly, Aiora Press, Athens 2015 Anthologies in English including some of Vrettakos's poems *Bien, P. et al. ''A Century of Greek Poetry: Bilingual Edition.'' (Cosmos Publishing, Vale, N.J. 2004) *Friar, Kimon. ''Modern Greek Poetry'' (Efstathiadis, Athens, 1993) *Raizis, M. Byron. ''Greek Poetry Translations'' (Efstathiadis, Athens, 1983)

Notes

1912 births 1991 deaths Greek male poets Generation of the '30s Greek Resistance members Members of the Academy of Athens (modern) 20th-century Greek poets 20th-century Greek male writers {{Greece-poet-stub Maniots People from Laconia Greek military personnel of World War II