Yannis Ritsos. Poems. Selected Books

Yannis Ritsos was born in Monemvasia, Greece, May 1, 1909 as a cadet of a noble family of landowners, but his youth is marked by devastation in his family: economic ruin, the premature death of his mother and eldest brother, and the internment of his father, who also suffered bouts of mental unrest, all of which ultimately affected Ritsos' outlook.