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Georgios Drosinis

Georgios Drosinis was a Greek writer and poet. He was born in Plaka, Athens on December 9, 1859, however, his family hailed from Mesolonghi. His grandfather was killed during the siege of that famous city in the Greek War of Independence (1821 - 1829).

He was one of several poets (Kostis Palamas, Ioannis Polemis) who transformed Greek poetry, during the 1880s, from the overly-romantic, Katharevousa-written verses to a more down-to-Earth, every-day-life blend, in the language of the common people.

His best known poem is "Η Αμυγδαλιά" - "The Almond Tree" - which became a much-sung song of that era and many eras since. Other poems include "Χώμα Ελληνικό" which laments an emigrant's nostalgia for his homeland to the point that he wants to take with him some Greek soil - a reminder of home.

Drosinis as a prose-writer often employed the more archaic Katharevousa version of the Greek language and was generally comfortable with both, choosing a middle ground in the Greek language dispute and avoiding the extremes of Yiannis Psycharis.

He died in the Athens suburb of Kiphisia in 3 January 1951.

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