The Hymn of Athens by Kostis Palamas: A Poem about Athens or Athens as a Poem?

Abstract

Abstract

This article is divided into three parts. The first part gives a brief overview of the Greek literary history in the time of Palamas in order to erect a general literary framework within which Palamas’s poetry can be interpreted. The second part gives an overview of the nationalist theory as has been studied in both current and national/international scholarship in an attempt to investigate even further the literary personality of Palamas. Finally, the article focuses on the analysis of the poem The Hymn of Athena, discussing Palamas’s poetical technique in relation to national aesthetics.