Two questions, above all, may be in the mind of the reader who has followed the argument of this book and thought for himself about the constellation of poems discussed. The first: is Homer still a figure of importance for the Greek poets, or has the phase which is the subject of this book come to an end? The second: what, on reflection, is Homer's distinctive importance, poetically speaking, for the modern Greek poet? Both questions may briefly be addressed at this point.

Seferis, by 1940, may almost be said to have made Homeric allusion his private property – so much so that the younger Nobel laureate, Elytis, appears deliberately to have drawn less on Homer than on ancient lyric poetry; though we must not discount differences of temperament here. Homeric references, indeed, pervade Seferis' poetry right to the end; and his interest remains centred on the Nekyia, which is at the heart of the three important poems, ‘Strátis the Seaman Among the Agapanthi’ (1944), ‘Thrush’ (1947) and ‘Memory I’ (1955). The first of these poems, written in the Transvaal in 1942, is an urgent adaptation of the Nekyia problem to fit the particular circumstances of the poet's diplomatic peregrinations during the War.