Google honors our national poet, referring users to his poem "The Cretan"
Google welcomes Internet users to its homepage today with a sketch of a blonde girl. As soon as someone "clicks" on the image, Google refers to the poem "Cretan" by the national poet Dionysios Solomos, who was born on this day, April 8, 1798.
Although he is the lyricist of our national anthem, Google chooses another of his poems, "Cretan", which is narrative and written in five parts. According to the poet's scholars, it was written in the period 1833-34, the period of the poet's "maturity" and is considered one of his masterpieces. The verses are iambic fifteen-syllable with paired rhyme, while the poem is not organized into stanzas.
Dionysios Solomos is considered one of the most characteristic representatives of the Ionian School, while in addition to the "Hymn to Freedom" and the "Cretan", he is the creator of "The Freedmen Besieged", "The Woman of Zakynthos", "The Purple One" and others.
The first verses of "Cretan":
I looked, and the shores were still far away.
"My good lightning bolt, come again!"
Three lightning bolts fell, one behind the other,
Very close to the girl with a great roar.
The seas and the sky echoed in the lightning,
The shores and the mountains with all their voices.
Source: protothema.gr
