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[[Image:Seferis1.jpg|frame|left|George Seferis]]'''George''' (Giorgos) '''Seferis''' (Γιώργος Σεφέρης) ([[February 19]], [[1900]] – [[September 20]], [[1971]]) was one of the most important [[Greece|Greek]] poets of the 20th century. He also pursued a career in the Greek foreign service, culminating in his appointment as [[Ambassador]] to the [[UK]], a post which he held from [[1957]] to [[1962]].

'Seferis' was a [[pen name]], a variation on his family name, '''Seferiadis''', which makes reference to the Turkish word meaning journey (from which the English word 'safari' is derived). He continued to use 'Seferiadis' in his professional life.

Seferis was born in [[Smyrna]] in [[Asia Minor]] (now [[Izmir|İzmir]], [[Turkey]]). His father, Stelios Seferiadis, was a lawyer, and later a professor at the [[University of Athens]], as well as a poet and translator in his own right. He was also a staunch [[Venizelism|Venizelist]] and a supporter of the [[Modern Greek|demotic]] [[Greek language]] over the formal, official language ([[katharevousa]]). Both of these attitudes influenced his son. In [[1914]] the family moved to [[Athens]], where Seferis completed his secondary school education. He continued his studies in [[Paris]] from [[1918]] to [[1925]], studying law at the [[Sorbonne]]. While he was there, in September [[1922]], Smyrna was occupied by the Turks and its Greek population, including Seferis' family, fled. Seferis would not visit Smyrna again until [[1950]]; the sense of being an exile from his childhood home would inform much of Seferis' poetry, showing itself particularly in his interest in the story of [[Odysseus]].

In exile with the Greek government in [[Egypt]] and [[South Africa]] during the [[Second World War]].

In 1963, Seferis was awarded the [[Nobel Prize]] for Literature "for his eminent lyrical writing, inspired by a deep feeling for the Hellenic world of culture." [[http://nobelprize.org/literature/laureates/1963/press.html]] Seferis was the first Greek to receive the prize (and the only, until [[Odysseas Elytis]] became a Nobel laureate in [[1979]]). His nationality, and the role he had played in the 20th century renaissance of Greek literature and culture, were probably a large contributing factor to the award decision. But in his acceptance speech, Seferis chose to emphasise his own humanist philosophy, concluding: "When on his way to Thebes Oedipus encountered the Sphinx, his answer to its riddle was: 'Man'. That simple word destroyed the monster. We have many monsters to destroy. Let us think of the answer of Oedipus." [[http://nobelprize.org/literature/laureates/1963/seferis-speech.html]] While Seferis has sometimes been considered a nationalist poet, his 'Hellenism' had more to do with his identifying a unifying strand of humanism in the continuity of Greek culture and literature.