Odysseas Elytis
Greek poet and art critic
Cite this page
“Odysseas Elytis.” thisDay, thisday.info/people/odysseas-elytis/. Accessed 9 Nov. 2026.
Odysseas Elytis. (n.d.). thisDay. Retrieved November 9, 2026, from https://thisday.info/people/odysseas-elytis/
“Odysseas Elytis.” thisDay. Accessed November 9, 2026. https://thisday.info/people/odysseas-elytis/.
Who was Odysseas Elytis?
Odysseas Elytis (; Greek: Οδυσσέας Ελύτης [oðiˈseas eˈlitis], pen name of Odysseas Alepoudelis, Greek: Οδυσσέας Αλεπουδέλης; 2 November 1911 – 18 March 1996) was a Greek poet, man of letters, essayist and translator, regarded as the definitive exponent of romantic modernism in Greece and the world. Panayiotis Alepoudelis and his younger brother Thrasyboulos were both born in the village Kalamiaris of Panagiouthas of Lesbos. Their family had become well-established in the industries of soap manufacturing and olive oil production in Heraklion, Crete in 1895. From this union and as the last of six siblings, Odysseas was born in the early hours of. In 1914, the Alepoudelis family moved to Athens (at Solonos 98B), where his father re-situated the soap factory in Piraeus. In 1897 Panagyiotis married Maria E. Vrana (1880–1960) from the village Papados of Gera, Lesbos.
Historical significance
He is one of the most praised poets of the second half of the twentieth century, with his Axion Esti "regarded as a monument of contemporary poetry". In 1979, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.
Cite this page
“Odysseas Elytis.” thisDay, thisday.info/people/odysseas-elytis/. Accessed 9 Nov. 2026.
Odysseas Elytis. (n.d.). thisDay. Retrieved November 9, 2026, from https://thisday.info/people/odysseas-elytis/
“Odysseas Elytis.” thisDay. Accessed November 9, 2026. https://thisday.info/people/odysseas-elytis/.