The coexistence in the book at hand of two such different poems, written by two such different poets, could be coincidental, that is arbitrary - but it is not, I believe.

Aside from the fact that the two poems emerged from and within two specific places (which, however, differ diametrically), there is something else that connects them - at least in some way: that which happens with their titles.

The poem by Karyotakis had a "final title," in a manuscript that has likely been lost, Province - it seems that the poet wanted (rightly so, I would say) his text to relate not only to a specific geographical location, but to a political-social category of inhabited spaces.

Sikelianós had enclosed the title of his poem in quotation marks: “Sacred Road”; thus, the text refers not only to the Sacred Road of Attica, but to a category of experiential-psychical experiences that lead to a redemptive revelation, similar to that which occurred at the “Sanctuary of the Soul, in Eleusis.”

In any case, the two poems, Karyotakis's Preveza and Sikelianós's “Sacred Road,” are included - for different reasons each - among the most significant achievements of modern Greek poetry of the 20th century.

[Excerpt from the text on the back cover of the edition]