Yannis Ritsos: The Greatest Greek Poet of His Time
” width=”960″>Photo from Exhibition “Tribute to the Poet of Romiosini, Yannis Ritsos.” Credit: Museum of Cycladic Art
When Yannis Ritsos passed away on November 11, 1990, the world lost one of the greatest poets of the twentieth century.
A prominent and prolific Greek poet with international appeal, Ritsos belonged to the so-called 1930s generation. Epitaphios, Romiosini and Moonlight Sonata are three of his best-known works. In 1975 he was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature.
” width=”1080″>French poet Louis Aragon once said that Ritsos was “the greatest poet of our age.” When Ritsos won the Lenin Peace Prize in 1975, he was quoted as saying that “this prize is more important for me than the Nobel.”