Ithaca, a poem by C.P. Cavafy

The poet Cavafy most probably doesn’t ring a bell with most of us. I must confess I hadn’t heard of him until the death of Sean Connery on October 31, 2020. There is no obvious link between both names except that the actor has read Cavafy’s poem with musical background of the Greek composer Vangelis, who also composed the music of the Alexander movie directed by Oliver Stone.

Cavafy was born in Alexandria, Egypt, from Greek parents. After his father died in 1870, he moved to Liverpoolwhere he developed his command of the English language. Eventually he returned to Alexandria.

Nothing predicted his destiny to become one of the most distinguished Greek poets of the 20^th century. He remained obscure all of his life and he circulated his verse only among friends. The main reason probably was the fact that he was gay and that many of this poems were sexually explicit.

Cavafy was fascinated by ancient Greek and Roman civilizations, which was reflected in his poems describing life in those days.

The poem entitled “Ithaca”, which I quote hereafter, is generally accepted as one of his great works. It is based on Homer’s Odyssey and talks about the importance of our journey in life to reach our final destination. In other poems, like “The Battle of Magnesia” and “To Antiochus of Epiphanes”, Cavafy develops his theory that the decadence of a civilization leads to its destruction.

ITHACA