Editing Constantine P. Cavafy (section)

==Work==
[[File:Kavafis.jpg|thumb|200px|Cavafy's poem ''Hidden Things'' (Κρυμμένα) painted on a building in [[Leiden]], [[Netherlands]].]]

Cavafy's complete literary corpus includes the 154 poems that constitute his poetic canon; his 75 unpublished or "hidden" poems, that were found completed in his archive or in the hands of friends, and weren't published until 1968; his 37 rejected poems, which he published but later renounced; his 30 incomplete poems that were found unfinished in his archive; as well as numerous other prose poems, essays, and letters.<ref>{{Cite web |date=5 May 2009 |title=Κ. Π. Καβάφης - Ποιήματα |trans-title=C. P. Cavafy - Poems |url=http://www.kavafis.gr/poems/list.asp?cat=1 |access-date=28 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090505002509/http://www.kavafis.gr/poems/list.asp?cat=1 |archive-date=5 May 2009 }}</ref> According to the poet's instructions, his poems are classified into three categories: historical, philosophical, and hedonistic or sensual.<ref name=":1" />

Cavafy was instrumental in the revival and recognition of [[Greek literature|Greek]] [[poetry]] both at home and abroad. His poems are, typically, concise but intimate evocations of real or literary figures and ''milieux'' that have played roles in Greek culture. Some of the defining themes are uncertainty about the future, sensual pleasures, the moral character and [[psychology]] of individuals, [[homosexuality]], and a fatalistic [[existential crisis|existential]] [[nostalgia]]. Besides his subjects, unconventional for the time, his poems also exhibit a skilled and versatile craftsmanship, which is extremely difficult to [[translation|translate]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.poetryfoundation.org/harriet/2008/01/more-cavafy/|title=More Cavafy by A. E. Stallings|date= 27 January 2018|website=Poetry Foundation|access-date=28 January 2018}}</ref> Cavafy was a perfectionist, obsessively refining every single line of his poetry. His mature style was a free [[Iamb (foot)|iambic]] form, free in the sense that verses rarely [[rhyme]] and are usually from 10 to 17 [[syllable]]s. In his poems, the presence of rhyme usually implies [[irony]].

Cavafy drew his themes from personal experience, along with a deep and wide knowledge of history, especially of the [[Hellenistic era]]. Many of his poems are pseudo-historical, or seemingly historical, or accurately but quirkily historical.

One of Cavafy's most important works is his 1904 poem "[[Waiting for the Barbarians (poem)|Waiting for the Barbarians]]". The poem begins by describing a city-state in decline, whose population and legislators are waiting for the arrival of the barbarians. When night falls, the barbarians have not arrived. The poem ends: "What is to become of us without barbarians? Those people were a solution of a sort." The poem influenced literary works such as ''[[The Tartar Steppe]]'' by [[Dino Buzzati]] (1940), ''[[The Opposing Shore]]'' (1951) by [[Julien Gracq]], and ''[[Waiting for the Barbarians]]'' (1980) by [[J. M. Coetzee]].<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8HbsCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA358 |title=Barbarism Revisited: New Perspectives on an Old Concept |date=27 October 2015 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-30927-2 |language=en}}</ref>

In 1911, Cavafy wrote "[[Ithaca (poem)|Ithaca]]", often considered his best-known poem,{{Sfn|Mendelsohn|2022|p=611}} inspired by the [[Homer]]ic return journey (''[[nostos]]'') of [[Odysseus]] to [[Homer's Ithaca|his home island]], as depicted in the ''[[Odyssey]]''. The poem's theme is the destination which produces the journey of life: "Keep Ithaca always in your mind. / Arriving there is what you're destined for". The traveller should set out with hope, and at the end you may find Ithaca has no more riches to give you, but "Ithaca gave you the marvelous journey".

Almost all of Cavafy's work was in Greek; yet, his poetry remained unrecognized and underestimated in Greece, until after the publication of the first anthology in 1935 by Heracles Apostolidis (father of [[Renos Apostolidis]]). His unique style and language (which was a mixture of [[Katharevousa]] and [[Demotic Greek]]) had attracted the criticism of [[Kostis Palamas]], the greatest poet of his era in mainland Greece, and his followers, who were in favour of the simplest form of [[Demotic Greek]].

He is known for his prosaic use of metaphors, his brilliant use of historical imagery, and his aesthetic perfectionism. These attributes, amongst others, have assured him an enduring place in the literary pantheon of the Western World.

===Historical poems===
[[File:Cp-cavafy-ptolemaic-glory-27x16cm-c1910.jpg|thumb|275x275px|Manuscript of Cavafy's ''Ptolemaic glory'' (Η δόξα τῶν Πτολεμαίων).]]

Cavafy wrote over a dozen historical poems about famous historical figures and regular people. He was mainly inspired by the [[Hellenistic civilization|Hellenistic era]] with [[Alexandria]] at primary focus. Other poems originate from [[Classical antiquity|Helleno-romaic antiquity]] and the [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine era]]. Mythological references are also present. The periods chosen are mostly of decline and decadence (e.g. Trojans); his heroes facing the final end. His historical poems include: "The Glory of the Ptolemies", "[[In Sparta (poem)|In Sparta]]", "Come, O King of Lacedaemonians", "The First Step", "In the Year 200 B.C.", "If Only They Had Seen to It", "The Displeasure of Seleucid", "Theodotus", "[[Alexandrian Kings]]", "In Alexandria, 31 B.C.", "[[The God Abandons Antony|The God Forsakes Antony]]", "In a Township of Asia Minor", "[[Kaisarion (poem)|Caesarion]]", "The Potentate from Western Libya", "Of the Hebrews (A.D. 50)", "Tomb of Eurion", "Tomb of Lanes", "[[Myres: Alexandria 340 A.D|Myres: Alexandrian A.D. 340]]", "Perilous Things", "From the School of the Renowned Philosopher", "A Priest of the Serapeum", "Kleitos{{'}} Illness", "If Dead Indeed", "In the Month of Athyr", "Tomb of Ignatius", "From Ammones Who Died Aged 29 in 610", "Aemilianus Monae", "Alexandrian, A.D. 628-655", "[[Kaisarion (poem)]]", "In Church", "Morning Sea" (a few poems about Alexandria were left unfinished at his death).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Savvopoulos |first1=Kyriakos |title=A Historical Guide to Cavafy's Alexandria (331 BCE - 641 CE) |date=2013 |publisher=Bibliotheca Alexandrina |location=Alexandria |isbn=978-977-452-243-7 |pages=105–194}}</ref>

===Homoerotic poems===
Cavafy's sensual poems are filled with the lyricism and emotion of [[same-sex love]], inspired by recollection and remembrance. The past and former actions, sometimes along with the vision for the future underlie the muse of Cavafy in writing these poems. As poet George Kalogeris observes:<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kalogeris |first1=George |title=The Sensuous Archaism of C.P. Cavafy |journal=The Critical Flame |date=September–October 2009 |issue=3 |url=http://criticalflame.org/the-sensuous-archaism-of-c-p-cavafy/ |access-date= 15 June 2021}}</ref>

<blockquote>He is perhaps most popular today for his erotic verse, in which the Alexandrian youth[s] in his poems seem to have stepped right out of the ''[[Greek Anthology]]'', and into a less accepting world that makes them vulnerable, and often keeps them in poverty, though the same Hellenic amber immures their beautiful bodies. The subjects of his poems often have a provocative glamour to them even in barest outline: the homoerotic one night stand that is remembered for a lifetime, the oracular pronouncement unheeded, the talented youth prone to self destruction, the offhand remark that indicates a crack in the imperial façade.</blockquote>

===Philosophical poems===
[[File:Thermopyles.jpg|thumb|268x268px|Manuscript of his poem ''Thermopylae'' (Θερμοπύλες).]]

Also called instructive poems, they are divided into poems with consultations to poets, and poems that deal with other situations such as isolation (for example, "The walls"), duty (for example, "Thermopylae"), and human dignity (for example, "[[The God Abandons Antony]]").

The poem "Thermopylae" reminds us of the famous [[battle of Thermopylae]] where the 300 Spartans and their allies fought against the greater numbers of Persians, although they knew that they would be defeated. There are some principles in our lives that we should live by, and Thermopylae is the ground of duty. We stay there fighting although we know that there is the potential for failure. (At the end the traitor [[Ephialtes of Trachis|Ephialtes]] will appear, leading the Persians through the secret trail).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://brushheadmusings.wordpress.com/2008/06/30/thermopylae-a-poem-on-the-good-kind-of-life/|title=Thermopylae – a poem on the good kind of life|date= 30 June 2008|access-date= 28 January 2018}}</ref>

In another poem, "In the Year 200 B.C.", he comments on the historical epigram "Alexander, son of Philip, and the Greeks, except of Lacedaemonians,...", from the donation of Alexander to Athens after the [[Battle of the Granicus]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cavafy.com/poems/content.asp?id=129&cat=1|title=C.P. Cavafy - Poems - The Canon|website=www.cavafy.com|access-date=28 January 2018}}</ref> Cavafy praises the [[Hellenistic era]] and idea, so condemning the closed-mind and localistic ideas about Hellenism. However, in other poems, his stance displays ambiguity between the [[Classical Greece|Classical]] ideal and the Hellenistic era (which is sometimes described with a tone of decadence).

Another poem is the Epitaph of a Greek trader from [[Samos]] who was sold into slavery in [[India]] and dies on the shores of the [[Ganges]]: regretting the greed for riches which led him to sail so far away and end up "among utter barbarians", expressing his deep longing for his homeland and his wish to die as "In [[Hades]] I would be surrounded by Greeks".