Poetry Criticism | Cavafy, Constantine - Robert Liddell (essay date 1974)

Robert Liddell (essay date 1974)

SOURCE: “The Poems before 1911,” in Cavafy: A Critical Biography, Gerald Duckworth & Co., 1974, pp. 132-50.

[In the following excerpt, Liddell chronicles Cavafy's early development as a poet of note, focusing on the period between 1891 and 1911.]

As Cavafy himself caused a line to be drawn dividing his poems written before 1911 from those written after that date, it seems natural to make use of it, though it need not be given undue significance; there were several dates in his literary development.

It will be best to set out briefly and clearly the facts about the early poems: considered as publications, they fall into three groups:

• (1) Poems published in periodicals—in Leipzig, Alexandria and Athens.
• (2) Six poems issued on broadsheets by the poet between 1891 and 1904.
• (3) Two pamphlets printed for private distribution: that of 1904 contains fourteen poems, and...

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