Irlandos at 08:30, April 26, 2006

2006-04-26T08:30:18Z

New page

'''Angelos Sikelianos''' ([[1884]]–[[1951]]) was a modern [[Greece|Greek]] poet and playwright. One of [[Greece]]'s most important 20th-century lyric poets, he emphasized national history, religious symbolism, and universal harmony in poems such as ''The Light-Shadowed'', ''Prologue to Life'', ''Mother of God'', and ''Delphic Utterance''. His plays include ''Sibylla'', ''Daedalus in Crete'', ''Christ in Rome'', ''The Death of Digenis'', and ''Asklepius''.

==Biography==

Sikelianos was born in [[Lefkada]] where he spent all his childhood. In [[1900]] he entered the Law School of [[Athens]] but he did not graduate. The next years he traveled a lot and devoted himself to poetry. In [[1907]], he married American born Eva Palmer, who has at the time an archaeology student in Paris. Their marriage took place in America and they moved to Athens in 1908. During that period, Sikelianos came in contact with Greek intellectuals and in 1909, he published his first collection of poems ''Alafroískïotos'' (''The Light-Shadowed''), which had an immediate positive impact and was recognized by critics as an important poetic work.

In May [[1927]], with the support of his wife, Sikelianos held the Delphic Festival, as part of his general effort towards the revival of the ''Delphic Idea''. Sikelianos believed that the principles, which had shaped the classic civilisation, if reexamined, could offer spiritual independence and serve as a means of communication among people.

The event consisted of [[Olympic Games|Olympic]] contests, a concert of [[byzantine music]], an exhibition of folk art as well as a performance of ''[[Prometheus Bound]]''. It became very successful and despite lack of state assistance, it was repeated once more, the following year. The revival was permanently abandoned due to the excessive expense of organizing it. In honour to the memory of Angelos and Eva Sikelianos, the European Cultural Centre of Delphi bought and restored their house in [[Delphi]], which is today the Museum of Delphic Festivals.

Eva Palmer left for the United States, and Sikelianos married Anna Karamani.

During the German occupation, he became a source of insipiration to the Greek people, especially through his speech and poem that he recited at the funeral of the poet [[Kostis Palamas]].

In [[1949]] he was a Nobel Prize for Literature candidate. He died in Athens, in [[1951]], and was buried in Delphi.

==External links==
*[http://www.strofi.com/writersgr/sikelian/sikelian.html Biography] (in Greek)

{{Credit wikipedia}}

[[Category:Modern Greek dramatists and playwrights|Sikelianos, Angelos]]
[[Category:Poets|Sikelianos, Angelos]]
[[Category:1884 births|Sikelianos, Angelos]]
[[Category:1951 deaths|Sikelianos, Angelos]]

Angelos Sikelianos - Revision history

Irlandos at 08:30, April 26, 2006