Dhionísios, Count Solomós

Dhionísios, Count Solomós (born April 8, 1798, Zante, Ionian Islands [now Zacynthus, Greece]—died Nov. 21, 1857, Corfu [Greece]) was the first poet of modern Greece to show the capabilities of Demotic Greek when inspired by wide culture and first-rate lyrical gifts. Solomós’ earliest poems were written in Italian, but in 1822 he determined to write in the spoken tongue of Greece. His Ímnos is tín elevtherían (“Hymn to Liberty”) was composed in 1823, and his...