Son of a law professor, a poet in his own right, Yorgos Stilianú Seferiadis He was born on March 13, 1900 in Urla, Izmir, in the Ottoman Empire (present-day Turkey). He spent the first 14 years of his life in his native place until the family fled to Asia Minor with the outbreak of the First World War, to settle in Athens, where Yorgos He finished high school and then, in 1918, moved to Paris, where his father worked in a law firm.
Very gifted from childhood with a poetic experience and oral literature and encouraged by the example of his father, Seferis he soon found himself torn between the demands of a profession and a literary career. While studying law in Paris, he began to write poetry, and his first composition entitled “Fog“(1924, published later), dates from a stay in London, where Seferis he had gone to perfect his English before taking the exam for the Greek Foreign Service. Seferis he returned to Athens and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1925, continuing to write verses and carry out translations and literary criticisms until, in 1931, his first collection of poems appeared, “Strophe“.
Diplomacy summoned Seferis to London, where he served as Vice Consul until 1934, while continuing to publish works (in particular, “The Cistern“, 1932) in magazines and reviews. His next major collection- Mythistorema (mythical history, 1935) -represented an evolution away from his early works rigidly “pure” pure his style towards a sober way, which marked the best of his mature poetry, keeping it in tune with the real patterns of speech.
On Kichle (“El Zorzal”, written during World War II), Seferis challenge the devastated modern world. The poet-diplomat continued his dual service, fleeing with the Greek Free Government during the Nazi occupation. His works were augmented with five volumes written during the war: Imerology Katastrómatos I, II and III; Ghimnopedhia; Y Poiímata.
Married in 1941, Seferis he was with his wife Maria in official exile in Ankara, South Africa, Cairo and Italy; continued his writing throughout that period, including a group of Dokimes (Essays) in 1944 and becoming more and more a recognized poet of his time.
In 1947 Seferis He received the Palamas Prize from the Academy of Athens, and during the postwar years he held diplomatic positions of increasing responsibility.
By the time he returned to Britain as Greek ambassador in 1957, his official stature in public service and in letters was already internationally recognized. Seferis retired from foreign service in 1962. He won the Nobel Prize for literature in 1963.
Yorgos Seferis died in Athens on September 20, 1971.