Panayiotis Alepoudelis and his younger brother Thrasyboulos were both born in the village Kalamiaris of Panagiouthas of
Lesbos. Their family had become well-established in the industries of soap manufacturing and olive oil production in
Heraklion, Crete in 1895. In 1897 Panagyiotis married Maria E. Vrana (1880–1960) from the village Papados of
Gera, Lesbos. From this union and as the last of six siblings, Odysseas was born in the early hours of 2 November 1911. In 1914, the Alepoudelis family moved to Athens (at Solonos 98B), where his father re-situated the soap factory in
Piraeus. In 1918, his older sister and firstborn, Myrsine (1898–1918), died of the
Spanish influenza. While on summer holidays from their Athens home as guests on the island of
Spetses in the Haramis home in the St Nikolaos neighbourhood, his own father also died in the summer of 1925 from pneumonia. His father, Panayiotis, may have been the inspiration for Elytis to write. Apparently, his father wrote poetry and it remained unpublished. In 1927, worn out with overtiredness, Odysseas was diagnosed with tuberculosis. While in bed recuperating, he voraciously read all the Greek poetry he could and in this year discovered
Cavafy. In 1928, he graduated from high school and successfully passed the competitive entrance exams for the Law School at the
University of Athens. He read in the newspapers about the suicide of the poet
Kostas Karyotakis. In 1929, Elytis took a sabbatical between high school and university and decided secretly that he must only become a poet. In 1930, he and his family moved to Moschonision 14B. Elytis had initial aspirations to become a lawyer, but did not sit for his final examinations and did not get his legal qualification. He also had expressed aspirations to become a painter in the manner of the surrealists, but his family quickly thwarted this idea. In 1935, Elytis published his first poem in the journal
New Letters (
Νέα Γράμματα) at the prompting of such friends as
George Seferis. In the same year, he also became a lifelong friend of writer and psychoanalyst
Andreas Embirikos, who allowed him to have access to his vast library of books. In 1977, two years after the death of his friend, Elytis wrote a tribute book to Embirikos from within the commonalities that founded their ideas, aptly titled "Reference to Andreas Embirikos" and originally published by Tram publishers in Thessaloniki. His entry to the magazine
New Letters in 1935 was in November, which was the 11th issue, and with his pseudonym Elytis established himself therein. With a distinctively earthy and original form in his expression, Elytis assisted in inaugurating a new era in Greek poetry and its subsequent reform after the Second World War.
Programme director for ERT He was twice Programme Director of the
Greek National Radio Foundation (1945–46 and 1953–54), Member of the
Greek National Theatre's Administrative Council, President of the Administrative Council of the
Greek Radio and Television as well as Member of the Consultative Committee of the Greek National Tourists' Organisation on the
Athens Festival. In 1960 he was awarded the First State Poetry Prize, in 1965 the
Order of the Phoenix and in 1975 he was awarded the Doctor Honoris Causa in the Faculty of Philosophy at
Thessaloniki University and received the Honorary Citizenship of the Town of
Mytilene.
Travels In 1948–1952 and 1969–1972, he lived in Paris. There, he audited philology and literature seminars at the
Sorbonne and was well received by the pioneers of the world's
avant-garde (
Reverdy,
Breton,
Tzara,
Ungaretti,
Matisse,
Picasso,
Françoise Gilot,
Chagall,
Giacometti) as
Tériade's most respected friend. Teriade was simultaneously in Paris publishing works with all the renowned artists and philosophers (
Kostas Axelos,
Jean-Paul Sartre, Françoise Gilot,
René Daumal) of the time. Elytis and Teriade had formed a strong friendship that solidified in 1939 with the publication of Elytis' first book of poetry entitled "Orientations". Both Elytis and Teriade hailed from Lesbos and had a mutual love of the Greek painter
Theophilos. Starting from Paris, he travelled and subsequently visited Switzerland, England, Italy and Spain. In 1948, he was the representative of Greece at the
International Meetings of Geneva, in 1949 at the Founding Congress of the
International Art Critics Union in Paris, and in 1962 at the
Incontro Romano della Cultura in Rome. Iliopoulou is an activist for children throughout the world, imparting her knowledge whenever she is able to. She is a successful artist in her own right, translating and composing her own works and giving poetry recitals at the Theocharakis Foundation in Athens. The funeral was held the next day after his death. The funeral was jammed with people who had loved his poetry. He was buried in a family grave beside his family, including his mother and brother. Iliopoulou, as his life partner, inherited the immovable property in real estate of Elytis, which consisted of four apartments and the trustee power of copyrights to his work. She has been promoting Elytis with excellence in his legacy. Elytis was survived in his bloodline by his niece Myrsine (from his oldest brother Theodoros, born 1900) and his next in line older brother Evangelos. This brother (1909–2002) also received a writ of condolence from the mayor of Athens on behalf of the nation at the funeral at the First Cemetery of Athens. ==Poetry==