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Nikos Kavvadias (; ; 11 January 1910 – 10 February 1975) was a Greek poet, writer and a sailor by profession. He used his travels around the world, the life at sea and its adventures, as powerful
metaphor A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide, or obscure, clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are usually meant to cr ...
s for the escape of ordinary people, outside the boundaries of reality. His poems are widely regarded as belonging to symbolism, and he has been characterized by some as a poète maudit.


Early life and education

Kavvadias was born in Nikolsk-Ussuriysky (now Ussuriysk in the
Primorsky Krai Primorsky Krai, informally known as Primorye, is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject (a krais of Russia, krai) of Russia, part of the Far Eastern Federal District in the Russian Far East. The types of inhabited localities in Russia, ...
region of
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), where his father was a merchant. He believed that this had established a permanent connection between him and the
Far East The Far East is the geographical region that encompasses the easternmost portion of the Asian continent, including North Asia, North, East Asia, East and Southeast Asia. South Asia is sometimes also included in the definition of the term. In mod ...
as he wrote in one of his short stories titled "Li". His parents were Greek, originating from the island of
Kefalonia Kefalonia or Cephalonia (), formerly also known as Kefallinia or Kephallonia (), is the largest of the Ionian Islands in western Greece and the 6th-largest island in Greece after Crete, Euboea, Lesbos, Rhodes and Chios. It is also a separate regio ...
and as a young child he had the opportunity to travel extensively. His family returned to their island of origin for a few years before finally moving to
Piraeus Piraeus ( ; ; , Ancient: , Katharevousa: ) is a port city within the Athens urban area ("Greater Athens"), in the Attica region of Greece. It is located southwest of Athens city centre along the east coast of the Saronic Gulf in the Ath ...
in 1921. He wrote his first poems while in school. In 1928, after having graduated from high school he sat an entrance exam for medical school but as his father fell sick the same year, young Kavvadias was forced to get a job as an office clerk in a shipping company to help his family. He lasted only a few months and after his father's death, he went on board the freighter ship ''Agios Nikolaos'' (Saint Nicholas) as a sailor. For the following years he worked on freighter boats, returning home wretched and penniless. At that point he aspired to train as a captain but settled for a diploma as a radio officer instead, which he got in 1939. By that time however,
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 ...
had started and he was sent to fight in
Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...
. During the German occupation of Greece, he joined the National Liberation Front (EAM) and became a member of the Communist Party. When the war ended in 1944, he embarked again and traveled continuously, this time as a radio officer, until November 1974. These experiences at sea and the exotic ports he visited became the material for his poetry. Returning from his last trip and as he was preparing the publication of his third collection of poems, he died suddenly from a stroke on 10 February 1975 after only three months off sea. Since his death, his poetry has been popularized in Greece, partly because of Thanos Mikroutsikos who released an album with Kavvadias's poetry set to his music in his very popular albums ''Σταυρός του Νότου'' (Southern Cross) 979and ''Γραμμές των Οριζόντων'' (Horizons' Lines)
991 Year 991 (Roman numerals, CMXCI) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. Events * March 1: In Rouen, Pope John XV ratifies the first Peace and Truce of God, Truce of God, between Æthelred the Unready and Richard I o ...


Early writings

His first collection of poems, ''Marabou'' was published in 1933 when Kavvadias was in his early twenties and carries the spirit of a romantic young man, impressed with the marvels of the world. Most of the poems tell half-fictitious stories transpiring at sea and at the different ports Kavvadias visited during his journeys. The collection begins with a poem written in the first person about the writer's tragic love for a young wealthy girl he met on board and who later ended as a poor prostitute that he could barely recognise. Other poems recount the stories of a washed out Norwegian captain who died homesick watching a ship sailing to the
Lofoten Lofoten ( , ; ; ) is an archipelago and a Districts of Norway, traditional district in the county of Nordland, Norway. Lofoten has distinctive scenery with dramatic mountains and peaks, open sea and sheltered bays, beaches, and untouched lands. T ...
and of an enchanted dagger carrying the curse that its owner shall kill someone they love. Artistically, he was influenced by
French literature French literature () generally speaking, is literature written in the French language, particularly by French people, French citizens; it may also refer to literature written by people living in France who speak traditional languages of Franc ...
and the poet
Charles Baudelaire Charles Pierre Baudelaire (, ; ; 9 April 1821 – 31 August 1867) was a French poet, essayist, translator and art critic. His poems are described as exhibiting mastery of rhythm and rhyme, containing an exoticism inherited from the Romantics ...
whom he cites in many of his works. Like a lot of Greek poetry, Kavvadias's work is characterized by a deep feeling of
nostalgia Nostalgia is a sentimentality for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations. The word ''nostalgia'' is a neoclassical compound derived from Greek language, Greek, consisting of (''nóstos''), a Homeric word me ...
.


Later works

His other collections are titled ''Fog'', published in 1947 and ''Traverso'' published after his death in 1975. His second short story titled "Of War", which was to be his last and was also published after his death in 1987, recounts the story of his rescue by a local during a storm. His experiences during
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 ...
affected him profoundly and as a result, his later works became increasingly political and in support of both the communists in Greece and the general leftist movements throughout the world. One of these poems is about the death of Argentinian revolutionary Ernesto (Che) Guevara, written as an answer to the criticisms received by some of his more polemic comrades who thought that his poems over-romanticized the harsh and dangerous life of sailors who were potential symbols of class struggle. Another is about the execution of
Andalusia Andalusia ( , ; , ) is the southernmost autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain, located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern Europe. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomou ...
n poet and playwright
Federico García Lorca Federico del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús García Lorca (5 June 1898 – 19 August 1936) was a Spanish poet, playwright, and theatre director. García Lorca achieved international recognition as an emblematic member of the Generation of '27, a g ...
by the
Francoists Francoist Spain (), also known as the Francoist dictatorship (), or Nationalist Spain () was the period of Spanish history between 1936 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death i ...
which, in the poem, is compared with the destruction of the Greek village of Distomo and the executions at
Kaisariani Kaisariani () is a suburban town and a municipality in the eastern part of the Athens#Athens Urban Area, Athens agglomeration in Greece. Geography Kaisariani is located about southeast of Athens city centre, and of the Acropolis of Athens. T ...
which were carried out by the Nazi forces that occupied Greece. His only novel ''The Shift'' was published in 1954 and recounts the stories told by the sailors on their night shift at the ship's bridge. Images from exotic places, prostitutes, captains gone mad and memories of the war blend together, to form a dreamy world of lucid forms, part fictional, part true. He is popular among Greeks and his best poems are taught at schools. He is considered by many to embody much of the "Greek soul" because of his romantic affiliation with the sea and its journeys and for his genuinely humane outlook. A selection of his poetry, with some of his shorter prose, translated into English by Simon Darragh, is available under the title ''Wireless Operator'' from the London Publisher Enitharmon.


Poems set to music

Since 1967, many of Kavvadias' poems have been incorporated in the music of other Greek artists. Though, in most cases it was one or two of his poems that were set to music and released alongside other artists' songs, there were some major exceptions that involved multiple of Kavvadias' poems. Panos Savvopoulos was the first artist to set Kavadias' poems to music when he released his disk ''Episode'' in 1971. His poem ''Mal du départ'' was set to music by Giannis Spanos and released in 1975. Thanos Mikroutsikos released his ''The Southern Cross'' album in 1979 where he set 11 of Kavvadias' poems to music, featuring other prominent Greek artists, such as Vasilis Papakonstantinou. The album was negatively received in the beginning. In 1986, record compan
Minos
released the record ''Nikos Kavvadias, S/S Ionion'' set to music performed by Ilias Ariotis and
Noti Chasapi Noti may refer to: * Noti, Oregon, a settlement in the US * Notia, a village in Greece * NotI, an enzyme * Károly Nóti (1892–1954), Hungarian screenwriter See also * Notti (disambiguation)