The 20th-century Greek poet Yorgos Seferis (the penname of Yorgos Seferiadis,
1900–1971) is considered to be one of the most influential Modern Greek poets.
However, his hermetic, at times obscure, poetry is not widely read outside Greece and
English-speaking countries, even though it was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1963. The
article discusses Seferis’s use of antiquity and investigates the ways in which Modern
Greek can draw inspiration from ancient literary sources. It attempts to define the
function of mythological allusions in the poems translated for “Przekładaniec” as well
as presents some of the difficulties the translator of Modern Greek poetry may come
across.

The 20th-century Greek poet Yorgos Seferis (the penname of Yorgos Seferiadis,
1900–1971) is considered to be one of the most influential Modern Greek poets.
However, his hermetic, at times obscure, poetry is not widely read outside Greece and
English-speaking countries, even though it was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1963. The
article discusses Seferis’s use of antiquity and investigates the ways in which Modern
Greek can draw inspiration from ancient literary sources. It attempts to define the
function of mythological allusions in the poems translated for “Przekładaniec” as well
as presents some of the difficulties the translator of Modern Greek poetry may come
across.