Twenty-one poems in "terza rima" ("canzoni" or "songs" as the creator called them) are included in the book Tertsinis. Nikos Kazantzakis composed them over a period of five years, from the end of 1932 until the middle of 1937.

They primarily capture and celebrate figures he studied, admired, were marked by, and deeply influenced him in his spiritual and life journey: "In these songs, I would like to be able to reveal the turmoil and joy that the souls that nourished my soul give me. They are the Mothers from whom I suckled love, as I feel it, discipline, perseverance, and selflessness; and also endurance - and not only endurance, but the intensely human, overwhelmingly joyful love of solitude. [...]"

In addition to the poems, the reader will find a Foreword by the poet, a Note by the editor of the first edition (1960) E. H. Kasdaglis, and an Information Note by Dr. Patroklos Stavrou, who edited the newer reprints as well as the reissue of 2007.