Hugh Wood

The Isles of Greece

Generations of Englishmen have been attracted to Greece, the land and its people. These are poems about various aspects of Greek life, but only two come from Greek writers. Seferis, under his birthname George Seferiadis, was Greek Ambassador to this country in 1957-61. Demetrios Capetanakis came to England at the beginning of the war: he died of leukaemia in 1944 at the age of 32: he wrote his poems in English. The great poet Robert Graves also wrote a book on Greek myths: Lawrence Durrell spent much of his diplomatic and literary life in the eastern Mediterranean, including a spell in Cyprus. Delos is an evocation of the Greek islands; Nemea a meditation on ancient history. Ouzo Unclouded is a jeu d'esprit about that perilous drink; the untitled In the sea caves... recalls a moment of ecstasy. In The Isles of Greece Capetanakis presents an expressionist portrait of a landscape and a culture which is hard, extreme and unforgiving. Bitter Lemons is valedictory - a farewell to Cyprus.