Page:Christian Greece and Living Greek.djvu/90

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CHRISTIAN GREECE AND LIVING GREEK.

rection, and there are a genius and creative power in their productions which foreign critics have not yet detected, owing to the comparatively insufficient knowledge of modern Greek. Lyricism is the chief characteristic of that poetry, but Alexander Rangabes and his son Kleon wrote besides very good dramas. The poems of Athanasias Christopoulos compare favorably with Anacreon's. Political satire is successfully employed in poetry by Alexander Soutsos, while the poetry of Dimitri Paparegopoulos and Spiridion Vassiliades is remarkable for its social aspirations and affinity with the genius of Euripides. Elias Tantalides, an exquisite singer of natural beauty, though blind, and George Zaloskostas, an artist in love lyrics, are very popular, while the poetry of Vizyenos shows many of the undefined longings of Shelley. Dionysius Solomos' celebrated "Ode to Liberty" has been translated into most languages. Aristoteles Valaoritis is known for his almost Æschylan solemnity. George Joures, the most remarkable of contemporary Greeks, is a second Aristophanes, with a strong Shakespearian vein, and shows considerable resemblance to Chaucer's tenderness of disposition. The most popular of all Greek writers of the present day, a historian and a