SOURCE: “Introduction” and “Journey and Complications,” in Love and the Symbolic Journey in the Poetry of Cavafy, Eliot and Seferis: An Interpretation with Detailed Poem-by-Poem Analysis, Pella Publishing Company, 1982, pp. 19-28, 83-94.

In the following excerpt, Capri-Karka discusses Cavafy's evolution as a poet and provides a detailed thematic analysis of several of his poems.

“Ithaca”¹ is considered not only central for the theme of the journey but also the “brain” of Cavafy's whole work—if one can extend here the symbolism used by Stuart Gilbert for the ninth episode of James Joyce's Ulysses. It is for this reason that Cavafy is referred to by many critics as “the poet of ‘Ithaca.’” The poem works on two levels: on the most immediate, Cavafy emphasizes sensual pleasure and celebrates the journey from harbor to harbor; on the more general level, one can see the poem as a condensed expression of...