Portrait of Dionysios Solomos
 
Some of the most beautiful lines the poet has written are those of the fragment entitled "Temptation," in which he describes Mesolonghi, under attack by the Turks and at the same time being besieged by spring, Nature is attacking it by its beauty. How could anyone wish to die when such beauty surrounds him?

Το ποίημα έχει ως εξής:

Έστησ' ο Έρωτας χορό με τον ξανθόν Απρίλη
κι η φύσις ηύρε την καλή και την γλυκιά της ώρα,
και μες στη σκιά που φούντωσε και κλει δροσιές και μόσχους
Ανάκουστος κελαηδισμός και λιποθυμισμένος.
Νερά καθάρια και γλυκά, νερά χαριτωμένα,
χύνονται μες στην άβυσσο τη μοσχοβολισμένη,
και παίρνουνε το μόσχο της, κι αφήνουν τη δροσιά τους,
κι όλα στον ήλιο δείχνοντας τα πλούτια της πηγής τους,
τρέχουν εδώ, τρέχουν εκεί, και κάνουν σαν αηδόνια.
Έξω αναβρύζει η ζωή σε γη, σ' ουρανό, σε κύμα.
Αλλά στης λίμνης το νερό, π' ακίνητο είναι κι άσπρο
ακίνητο όπου κι αν δεις, και κάτασπρο ως τον πάτο,
με μικρό ίσκιο άγνωρο έπαιξ' η πεταλούδα,
που 'χ' ευωδίσει τους ύπνους της μέσα στον άγριο κρίνο.
"Αλαφροΐσκιωτε καλέ, για πες απόψε τι 'δες?"
"Νύχτα γιομάτη θαύματα, νύχτα σπαρμένη μάγια."
Χωρίς ποσώς γης, ουρανός και θάλασσα να πνένε,
ουδέ όσο κάν' η μέλισσα κοντά στο λουλουδάκι,
γύρω σε κάτι ατάραχο που ασπρίζει μες στη λίμνη,
μονάχο ανακατώθηκε το στρογγυλό φεγγάρι,
κι όμορφη βγαίνει κορασιά ντυμένη με το φως του.

(Translation of The Free Besieged)

Eros and blond April are dancing
And nature has found her good and sweet hour,
And in her swelling shade coolness and fragrance are enclosed
And unheard and faint bird songs
Clear, sweet and graceful waters
Are pouring into the musk-scented abyss
Taking its scent and leaving their coolness
And everything are showing the sun the treasures of their source,
Dashing here and there like nightingales.
Outside Life gushes forth on earth, sky and wave
But the water of the lake remains still and white,
Still wherever you look at it and clear to the depth;
The butterfly who was sleeping
Within the fragrant lily plays with a small unknown shadow.
"My good seer, tell us what did you dream of this night"?
"A night full of wonders, a night sown with magic".
Without the earth, the sky and the sea to breathe
Even as much as a bee near a flower
Around in something motionless which whitens the lake
The round moon got entangled
And a beautiful girl emerges, dressed in its light.

Μάγεμα η φύσις κι όνειρο στην ομορφιά και χάρη,
Η μαύρη πέτρα ολόχρυση και το ξερό χορτάρι.
Με χίλιες βρύσες χύνεται, με χίλιες γλώσσες κρένει
"όποιος πεθάνει σήμερα χίλιες φορές πεθαίνει".

Translation of the fragment:

Nature is magic and a dream in beauty and charm,
The black stone and the dry grass look golden.
Through a thousand springs gushes forth, a thousand tongues say it
"Whoever dies today, he dies one thousand times".

Solomos' "Hymn to Liberty" and the fragmented pieces of "The Free Besieged," demonstrate that a nation and man can display great heroism at a given moment and they can endure great suffering and pain for the worthy cause. In the magic of the language used by Solomos, the words are neatly, substantially and ideally integrated and amalgamated with the great human endeavors. Furthermore in Solomos' poetic tradition the material world does not lose its entity, but becomes more profoundly expressive. The words he uses transform into poetic music, in fact his world becomes a world of melody. Most of Solomos' verses have an ethereal quality, a pure and light lyricism that does not belong in this world, but somewhere else, where it stays unattained and untouched.

The poet's aspiration in the beginning stages of his writing might have been to write epic poetry because he used the trochaic seven-syllable meter, which was used by poets to write epic poetry. He, however, transmuted the epic into the lyric, and wrote the most beautiful lyrics that have ever been written in the Greek language. The figures he creates are brilliant, full of life, and ethereal in quality and substance. Therefore, using the poet's own lyrics the result is "a beautiful world, ethical, created by angels." Και έτσι το αποτέλεσμα είναι ένας "Ομορφος κόσμος, ηθικός, αγγελικά πλασμένος."

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