This man “in decline” is called a “seer of terrible omens” in one of two poems titled for him by Umberto Saba. A Communist poet wrote of this “miserable / blood-soaked, white-bearded man” causing a woman’s “despair.” This man’s heart “exulted coldly, empty of love” as he abandoned “the peace and repose / of the house” in a poem translated by Daniel Mendelsohn. An author from the Generation of the ’30s wrote “fortunate is he” who imitates this man in “Upon a Line of Foreign Verse.” This man meets the elephant caravan of Prince Motherth in a 33,333-line poem. An author named for this man wrote The Axion Esti. In a short poem, someone traveling to this man’s realm is told to “hope that the road is a long one.” For 10 points, Nikos Kazantzakis (“kazz-ant-ZACK-iss”) wrote a “modern sequel” about what king, whose home island titles Constantine Cavafy’s (“kuh-VAFF-ee’s”) poem “Ithaca”? ■END■
ANSWER: Odysseus [or Ulysses; accept Odysseas Elytis or Odysseas Alepoudellis] (Clues include “Penelope’s Despair” by Yannis Ritsos and “Second Odyssey” by Cavafy.)
<European Literature>
= Average correct buzz position