Poetry for Students

Ithaka

The first version of “Ithaka” was probably written

in 1894. Cavafy revised the poem in 1910, and it

was first published in 1911. The first English trans-

lation was published in 1924, and there have been

a number of different translations since then. The

poem can be found in Cavafy’s Collected Poems,

translated by Edmund Keeley and Philip Sherrard,

edited by George Savidis, Princeton University

Press, 1980.

“Ithaka” is an unrhymed poem of five stanzas

that employ conversational, everyday language.

The narrator, probably a man who has traveled a

lot, addresses either Odysseus, the hero of Homer’s

epic poem the Odyssey, or an imaginary modern

traveler or reader. The narrator tells the traveler that

what is really important is not Ithaka, the island

home that was the goal of Odysseus’s years of wan-

dering, but the journey itself. It is the journey that

must be fully enjoyed at every moment, using all

the resources of senses and intellect, because the

goal itself is likely to be disappointing.

Cavafy enjoys a reputation as one of the finest

of modern Greek poets. “Ithaka” is one of his best-

known poems and is considered to express his out-

look on life.

Author Biography

Constantine Peter Cavafy was born on April 17,

1863, in Alexandria, Egypt. He was a Greek citizen,

C. P. Cavafy

1911

113

67082 _PFS_V19ithak 113 - 128 .qxd 9/16/2003 9:47 M Page 113