George Pavlopoulos (22 June 1924 - 26 November 2008) was a Greek

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

 poet, relatively unknown outside Greece, but admired within his own country by fellow poets such as George Seferis

Giorgos Seferis

Giorgos or George Seferis was the pen name of Geōrgios Seferiádēs . He was one of the most important Greek poets of the 20th century, and a Nobel laureate...

.

George or Giorgos or Giorgis or Georgios Pavlopoulos as known in the literature field, was born in Pyrgos

Pyrgos, Elis

Pyrgos is the capital of the Elis peripheral unit in Greece. It is named after a local tower. The city is located in the western part of the Peloponnese, in the middle of a plain near the Ionian Sea. It is 96 km away from Patras via Greek National Road 9, 320 km from Athens, and...

, on the west coast of the Peloponnese

Peloponnese

The Peloponnese, Peloponnesos or Peloponnesus , is a large peninsula , located in a region of southern Greece, forming the part of the country south of the Gulf of Corinth...

 in Greece

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

. Before World War II Pyrgos was a rich provincial centre and Pavlopoulos's father ran a local restaurant and cake shop. He was educated at primary and secondary levels in Pyrgos, a childhood illness left him permanently lame. He attended the School of Law at the University of Athens

National and Kapodistrian University of Athens

The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens , usually referred to simply as the University of Athens, is the oldest university in Southeast Europe and has been in continuous operation since its establishment in 1837. Today, it is the second-largest institution of higher learning in Greece,...

 He did not complete his degree and returned to Pyrgos where he worked as book-keeper and secretary for the local bus company. Upon his return from Athens he married a local girl and had a son called Haralabos.

Childhood friends of his in Pyrgos included the musician Mikis Theodorakis

Mikis Theodorakis

Mikis Theodorakis is one of the most renowned Greek songwriters and composers. Internationally, he is probably best known for his songs and for his scores for the films Zorba the Greek , Z , and Serpico .Politically, he identified with the left until the late 1980s; in 1989, he ran as an...

 and Takis Sinopoulos

Takis Sinopoulos

Takis Sinopoulos was a Greek poet and a leading figure among the so-called first postwar generation of Greek poets...

 the poet.

In 1943, during the German occupation, the local bishop allowed Pavlopoulos access to the cathedral printing press. With some of his school friends he printed and published a magazine called Odyssey containing his first published poem. This group included Takis Sinopoulos

Takis Sinopoulos

Takis Sinopoulos was a Greek poet and a leading figure among the so-called first postwar generation of Greek poets...

 with whom he later wrote experimental cooperative poetry. The group performed a play, advertised with posters proclaiming Freedom or Death. The text was controversial and landed Pavlopoulos in trouble with the local Gestapo

Gestapo

The Gestapo was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. Beginning on 20 April 1934, it was under the administration of the SS leader Heinrich Himmler in his position as Chief of German Police...

, who asked who had written it. Pavlopoulos had eventually to pretend that it was by Victor Hugo

Victor Hugo

Victor-Marie Hugo was a Frenchpoet, playwright, novelist, essayist, visual artist, statesman, human rights activist and exponent of the Romantic movement in France....

, although it had been written by themselves.

The Nazi withdrawal at close of war lead to bitter fighting between factions in the resistance. The unhappiness of war and civil war is reflected in much of Pavlopoulos's poetry.

His poetry has been translated into other languages, including: English, French, German, Italian, Polish, Russian and Spanish. He has taken part in cultural festivals in Greece and elsewhere and is a founder member of the Greek Society of Authors.

He died in 26 November 2008

Sources

• CENSUS of Modern Greek Literature
• Levi, Peter
  Peter Levi
  Peter Chad Tigar Levi, FSA, FRSL, , Professor of Poetry at the University of Oxford was a poet, archaeologist, sometime Jesuit priest, travel writer, biographer, academic and prolific reviewer and critic.-Early life and education:Levi was born in Ruislip, Middlesex of parents with Mediterranean...
  
   in Pavlopoulos, George (1971). Trans. Peter Levi. The Cellar. London: Anvil Press Poetry
  Anvil Press Poetry
  Anvil Press Poetry is an independent poetry publisher based in Greenwich, south-east London. It was founded in 1968 by Peter Jay and specialises in contemporary English poets, with a leavening of Irish and American, and in a range of translated poetry, from ancient classics to modern and...
  
  .