Some unknown poems by G. Tertzetis written in the style of Greek Folk Songs

Abstract

Immediately after the Greek Revolution broke out, a number of young poets οn Zakynthos, including G. Tertzetis, thought of writing poetry to mimic the style of folk songs. Tertzetis belongs to the same circle of poets as Dionysios Solomos, but it appears that the latter did not approve of his friends' endeavour, which was avant-garde by Greek standards. This may be the main reason why very few of the poems were published.
Tertzetis continued his work in the same style. But in many cases he either failed to sign his poems or regarded them as genuine folk songs, perhaps because his aim was to enrich popular literature. Ιn this study three such texts are pinpointed and attributed to Tertzetis, as well as a fourth one, which cannot be attributed with the same degree of certainty.
These songs and other similar ones are interesting because they were written at a time when purist language dominated poetry. They are thus powerful evidence in helping us understand that the problem of mediocre poetic production in the 19th century was not solely due to language.