THE FIFTEEN-SYLLABLE VERSE OF KOSTIS PALAMAS’S THE KING’S FLUTE

BY ANDREAS PARIDES

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The King’s Flute, published in 1910, is the last complete, long poem by Kostis Palamas. Despite Palamas’s great ambitions for this poem it has been criticized by a number of scholars, from the time it was first published up to the present day, mostly for supporting the ‘Great Idea’ but also for its language. For scholars the Flute never attained the artistic quality and perfection of his poem The Twelve Words of the Gipsy (1907).1 As Chourmouzios characteristically points out: ‘Η Φλογέρα είναι από τα λίγα έργα του Παλαμάπου κατακρίθηκαν από την κριτική του καιρού κ’ έδωσε την αφορμή να γίνει πλατύς λόγος για τα “ελαττώματα” του ποιητή’.2 The poet, however, both in his personal interviews and in his letters, clearly states his preference and love for this poem, which he singles out as his most mature creation.3 Indeed, Palamas claims that ‘O Δωδεκάλογος του Γύφτου αποτελεί
τα προπύλαια που μας μπάζουν στη Φλογέρα του Βασιλιά’…

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