The Romantic and British Sublime in Kalvos' Odes

Abstract

The Romantic and British Sublime in Kalvos' Odes In terms of the sublimity of his verses, the Modern Greek poet Andreas Kalvos (1792–1869) can be compared to the greatest poets of Modern European Literature. He rose to the peak of the Modern Greek Parnassus thanks to two short poetry collections. The first series of his Odes was published in Geneva in 1824 and the second one in Paris in 1826. Earlier, from 1816 to 1820, he had lived in London, during the full development of British Romantic lyricism. The poet’s fame, his enduring influence, and the constantly renewed interest in his poetry are due in large part to the great achievement of sublimity in his Odes. At present, the sublime is considered a critical concept with which to approach the works of the Romantic canon. In the following study, through the microscopic analysis of a Kalvian image, I intend to firstly reveal the dynamics of the particular British sublime. At the same time, I will trace the dedication of the Romantics to the theory of Longinus and the creative revival of the longinian sublime in Kalvos’ Odes.