The formation and activity of Andreas Kalvos as an Italian poet, combined with his insufficient knowledge of Greek, definitively shaped the language and style of his Greek Odes, leaving indelible traces of their Italianate character.

The, according to Palamas, “peculiar and almost arbitrary garment” of Kalvos’s Greek expression is due to the fact that the poet wrote in Greek but thought in Italian.

This book aims to sensitize the average educated reader to the idea that research into the Italian influences on the Odes is not a matter exclusively for Kalvos scholars or, in other words, that it does not constitute merely a secondary level of interpretation that can be overlooked, but is of direct and essential interest since it concerns a leading Greek poet.

The title of the book, The Enigmatic Poet Andreas Kalvos, emphasizes precisely this dimension of the individual interpretive and critical comments, that is, that without knowledge of the Italian linguistic and literary background, one cannot grasp even at a basic level the exact meaning of the Odes.

In order to ascertain the underlying meaning of Kalvos’s enigmatic language, a meticulous examination of the poet’s language and style is necessary.