Dionysios Solomos (Greek: Διονύσιος Σολωμός) (1798-1857) was a Greek poet from Zakynthos. He is best known for writing the poem "Hymn to Freedom" (Imnos eis tin Eleftherian) in 1823, of which the first two stanzas became the Greek national anthem. Year 1798 (MDCCXCVIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Friday of the 11-day slower Julian calendar). ... 1857 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... The poor poet A poet is a person who writes poetry. ... “Zante” redirects here. ... Poetry (ancient Greek: poieo = create) is an art form in which human language is used for its aesthetic qualities in addition to, or instead of, its notional and semantic content. ... The Hymn to Freedom (Ύμνος εις την Ελευθερίαν, Imnos is tin Eleftherian) is a poem written by Dionýsios Solomós in 1823 that consists of 158 stanzas. ... // Lord Byron, Vision of Judgement Lord Byron, Don Juan July 15 — Cantos VI, VII, VIII, with a Preface, were published August 29 — Cantos IX, X, XI were published December 17 — Cantos XII, XIII, XIV The poem A Visit from St. ... In poetry, a stanza is a unit within a larger poem. ... A national anthem is a generally patriotic musical composition that is evoking and eulogising the history, traditions and struggles of its people, recognised either by a countrys government as the official national song, or by convention through use by the people. ...

Early Life and Education

He was born in 1798 as the illegitimate child of a wealthy count, Nikolaos Solomos, and his housekeeper, Angeliki Nikli, but his father married his mother a day before his death, making the young Dionysios legitimate and a co-heir of the estate with his half-brother. In 1808 he went to Italy, where he studied law, Latin and Italian literature in Venice, Cremona and Pavia. He was friends with the poet Ugo Foscolo (who was also born in Zakynthos). Solomos' first literary language was Italian. After 10 years he returned to Zakynthos with a solid background in literature. Solomos became famous as a poet during this time, while still a young man. His early poetry (sonnets and other short forms) was in Italian. His education in Greek was minimal, which kept him free of any scholarly influences, that might have led him to write in katharevousa, a "purist" language heavily influenced by ancient Greek. Instead he wrote in the language of the common people of his native island. The result was the first extensive body of literature written in the demotic language, the influence of which on subsequent writers was significant. Year 1798 (MDCCXCVIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Friday of the 11-day slower Julian calendar). ... Year 1808 (MDCCCVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Wednesday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... For other uses, see Law (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Venice (disambiguation). ... Cremona is a city in northern Italy, situated in Lombardy, on the left shore of the Po river in the middle of the Pianura padana (Po valley). ... For the municipality in the Philippines, see Pavia, Iloilo. ... Ugo Foscolo (1778-1827), Italian writer, was born at Zakynthos in the Ionian Isles on 6 Febraury 1778. ... “Zante” redirects here. ... Old book bindings at the Merton College library. ... Katharevousa (Greek Καθαρεύουσα, IPA: ) is a form of the Greek language, created during the early 19th century by Adamantios Korais (1748-1833). ... Note: This article contains special characters. ... Demotic (disambiguation) The term Demotic can refer to: The Demotic Greek dialect of the Greek language. ...

Later Life and Death

At the end of 1828 he left Zakynthos and settled in Kerkyra ("Corfu") in order to dedicate himself to poetry. Solomos died in February 1857 from apoplexy. His remains were transferred to Zakynthos in 1865. Year 1828 (MDCCCXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian Calendar (or a leap year starting on Thursday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... Pontikonisi island in the background with the Vlaheraina Monastery in the foreground. ... 1857 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... Apoplexy is an old-fashioned medical term, generally used interchangeably with cerebrovascular accident (CVA or stroke) but having other meanings as well. ... 1865 (MDCCCLXV) is a common year starting on Sunday. ...

Literary Influences and Major Works

Solomos was heavily influenced by European romanticism, including Byron and Leopardi. He was also exposed to the cultural and political ferment of the Enlightenment and the ideas of the French Revolution, and he identified with Italian national sentiments for unification and liberation from the Habsburgs. Wanderer above the sea of fog by Caspar David Friedrich Romanticism is an artistic, literary, and intellectual movement that originated in 18th century Western Europe, during the Industrial Revolution. ... The poet George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron is often referred to simply as Byron. ... Giacomo Leopardi Giacomo Leopardi, Count (June 29, 1798; June 14, 1837) was an important Italian poet. ... The Age of Enlightenment (French: ; German: ) was an eighteenth century movement in European and American philosophy, or the longer period including the Age of Reason. ... The French Revolution (1789–1815) was a period of political and social upheaval in the political history of France and Europe as a whole, during which the French governmental structure, previously an absolute monarchy with feudal privileges for the aristocracy and Catholic clergy, underwent radical change to forms based on... Habsburg (sometimes spelled Hapsburg, but never so in official use) was one of the major ruling houses of Europe. ...

Solomos' only complete major works are two long poems (of 158 and 166 stanzas respectively). The first was the epic Hymn to Freedom, the first two stanzas of which became the Greek national anthem. This work salutes the War of Greek Independence, started in 1821, by invoking the personified image of Liberty, reborn and renewed out of "the sacred bones of the Greeks." Of particular interest to non-Greeks are references to all the great powers of the time, which include the "heartfelt joy of Washington's land" that "remembered the irons that bound her also," and a savage dig at the Austrian Eagle "that feeds on the entrails of the Italians to grow wings and talons" and does his best to harm Liberty. Solomos' own Ionian islands, under British rule at the time, are described as being "artfully chained" and having "'False Freedom' written on their foreheads." The poem does not shrink from the savagery of the war, and ends with exhortations to the revolutionaries to maintain unity and avoid civil war, which had already erupted at the time of writing. The Greek War of Independence was fought from the Greeks declaration of independence from the Ottoman Empire on March 25 (now Greek Independence Day) 1821 until the modern state of Greece was granted independence by the Treaty of Constantinople in July 1832. ... Year 1821 (MDCCCXXI) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian Calendar (or a common year starting on Saturday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ...

The second long poem, On the Death of Lord Byron, is labeled a lyrical one and was written after Byron died during the siege of Mesolongi, but the subject matter and form are epic. Messolonghi is a town of about 12,000 people (as of 1991 census) in central Greece. ...

In both works there are several direct and indirect references to Byron's works. A good example is a reference (in Solomos' own footnotes) to Byron's Don Juan, where in Canto the Third (The Greek Isles 15) a Greek poet says:

Fill high the bowl with Samian wine!
Our virgins dance beneath the shade --
I see their glorious black eyes shine;
But gazing on each glowing maid,
My own the burning tear-drop laves,
To think such breasts must suckle slaves.

By contrast, in the Hymn to Liberty Solomos rejoices in the sight of "lily-fingered virgins" whose "breasts are preparing the sweet-suckled milk of bravery and freedom."

The other romantic impulse (melancholy, gothic and supernatural, influenced by both Byron and Leopardi) comes out in two other poems, of which only fragments remain: Lambros and Porfyras.

Solomos' most ambitious work, The Free Besieged, is about the heroic siege and sally of Mesolongi. There are three fragmentary drafts of this unfinished work which show glimpses of what could have been a masterpiece. Another ambitious but fragmentary long poem is The Cretan. A siege is a military blockade of a city or fortress with the intent of conquering by force or attrition, often accompanied by an assault. ... Sally might mean any of the following: Look up Sally in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Messolonghi is a town of about 12,000 people (as of 1991 census) in central Greece. ...

Minor Works

Solomos also wrote translations of Italian poetry and Desdemona's song from Shakespeare's Othello, epigrams, other miscellanous verse, satirical poems in Zakynthos dialect, and two prose works, including the tragic/mystical The Woman of Zakynthos. Of his attempts to translate parts of the Iliad into modern Greek only a couple of dozen lines remain.

Formal Elements

The poet used different metrical and rhyme forms, starting with some influenced by Italian poetry (sonnet form, rhymed trochaic terameters) and settling into the standard forms of Greek folk songs (iambic 15-syllable blank verse). His epigram on the destruction of Psara (see War of Greek Independence), influenced by classical forms, is a marvel of rhythm and brevity in six lines of anapaest. A trochee is a metrical foot used in formal poetry. ... An iamb is a metrical foot used in formal poetry. ... The Greek War of Independence was fought from the Greeks declaration of independence from the Ottoman Empire on March 25 (now Greek Independence Day) 1821 until the modern state of Greece was granted independence by the Treaty of Constantinople in July 1832. ... An anapaest or anapest, also called antidactylus, is a metrical foot used in formal poetry. ...

Surviving Works at His Death

Sadly, the poet's work at his death was mostly unfinished and in fragments, and was edited and published by his friend and fellow poet Iakovos Polylas. Whether Solomos was never satisfied with his work and kept little of it, whether large parts of his manuscripts ware lost (something Polylas implies), or whether he had difficulties fleshing out the ambitious structure of his planned works is not clear, but the fragments show a huge disconnect between intention and surviving work: The Cretan begins with a fragment of Canto 18 and ends with Canto 22, and none of them are complete; Lambros was conceived with at least 38 cantos (of some of them only a prose summary survives), with the shortest poetic fragment consisting of a single line, and the longest containing 33 stanzas; the second draft of The Free Besieged consists of 61 fragments, of which 27 are single lines, seven are two lines, and two are half-lines.

Legacy

Solomos is commonly referred to as Greece's "national poet" for his important legacy to Greek literature and national identity.