Greek poetry constitutes the longest uninterrupted tradition in the Western world, and therefore imposes a considerable burden on any poet working within it. Yannis Kondos... [carries] the responsibilities well... finding 'traces of eternity' in 'the momentary triumph of a human shadow'. David Connolly worked very closely with Yannis Kondos on his translations and this method of 'constant reworking and reassessment of the translated text in an attempt to make it correspond as closely as possible to the original on all levels' is highly commendable and results in joint work of a high order. David Constantine in his Introduction says that Connolly does not attempt to domesticate the original and Connolly himself bravely asserts that it is 'the reader's right to know what kind of translation is being offered'. He informs us that he was after a language 'simple, colloquial and unaffected'. He succeeds in this ambition I think, discovering in the fury of Kondos' Athens 'contemporary man running with a contrary mind', at the same time 'daring the mystery to appear':

Kondos acknowledges that he looks back to the Greek national poet, Dionysios Solomos, keeping his poetry 'always open, always sleepless'. David Connolly discovers 'the sky and the fire' of Yondos' poetry here.