K. P. Kavafis published Ιθάκη in 1911. Its advice sounds intimate because one speaker addresses one implied traveler throughout, yet its nouns and spellings repeatedly open a learned historical layer. The selected lines below come from the public-domain poem and retain Kavafis's wording in monotonic form.
Source: Κ. Π. Καβάφης, Ιθάκη (1911), Onassis Cavafy Archive, edited by G. P. Savidis. Kavafis died in 1933, and the poem is public domain under the rights rule governing this guide.
Selected lines
Σα βγεις στον πηγαιμό για την Ιθάκη,
sa vyis ston piyemó ya tin Itháki,
As you set out on the journey to Ithaka,
να εύχεσαι νάναι μακρύς ο δρόμος,
na éfchese náne makrís o dhrómos,
wish that the road may be long,
γεμάτος περιπέτειες, γεμάτος γνώσεις.
yemátos peripéties, yemátos ghnósis.
full of adventures, full of knowledge.
Πάντα στον νου σου νάχεις την Ιθάκη.
pánda ston nu su náchis tin Itháki.
Always keep Ithaka in your mind.
Το φθάσιμον εκεί είν’ ο προορισμός σου.
to fthásimon ekí ín’ o proorizmós su.
Arriving there is your destination.
Αλλά μη βιάζεις το ταξείδι διόλου.
alá mi viázis to taksídhi dhiólu.
But do not hurry the journey at all.
και γέρος πια ν’ αράξεις στο νησί,
ke yéros pia n’ aráksis sto nisí,
and, old by then, may you moor at the island,
μη προσδοκώντας πλούτη να σε δώσει η Ιθάκη.
mi prozdhokóndas plúti na se dhósi i Itháki.
not expecting Ithaka to give you riches.
Κι αν πτωχική την βρεις, η Ιθάκη δεν σε γέλασε.
ki an ftochikí tin vris, i Itháki dhen se yélase.
And if you find her poor, Ithaka did not deceive you.
These lines trace the sustained second-person address from setting out through advice to retrospective understanding.
Exhortative να: advice with no expressed commander
Να εύχεσαι and νάχεις are main-clause exhortations. No governing πρέπει is stated; να + second-person verb presents advice or a desired orientation. English turns this into imperatives “wish” and “keep.”
In να εύχεσαι νάναι μακρύς ο δρόμος, the first να launches advice and νάναι introduces its content. Modern editors may write να 'ναι; source spelling νάναι does not change pronunciation.
The standalone pattern is developed under wishes and softened commands. Kavafis uses it less as a polite request than as sustained counsel: the poem defines a way of traveling.
Aspect shapes the advice
Imperfective εύχεσαι, νάχεις, βιάζεις looks inside an ongoing stance. Perfective βγεις, αράξεις, βρεις, δώσει packages setting out, arrival, discovery, and giving as bounded stages.
Thus μη βιάζεις rejects hurry as a manner of traveling. Perfective μη βιαστείς could warn against one bounded decision to rush.
Μη βιάζεσαι στον δρόμο· στάσου όπου αξίζει να κοιτάξεις γύρω σου.
mi viázese ston dhrómo; stásu ópu aksízi na kitáksis yíro su.
Do not rush along the road; stop wherever it is worth looking around. (original aspect contrast)
See aspect in the imperative. Duration and event count do not choose the stem; viewpoint does.
Second-person address and delayed subject
Endings identify singular “you”: βγεις, εύχεσαι, νάχεις, αράξεις, βρεις. Overt εσύ would add contrast or insistence.
In πλούτη να σε δώσει η Ιθάκη, subject η Ιθάκη follows the verb and recipient clitic σε precedes it; πλούτη is the direct object. The order lands Ithaka at line end.
Demotic movement, learned resonance
The syntax is accessible Modern Greek: στον νου σου, στο νησί, clitics, να-clauses. Beside it stand literary πηγαιμός, learned σκέψις / συγκίνησις elsewhere, φθάσιμον, and spellings ταξείδι, πτωχική. These are layers within one poem, not separate grammars.
Το φθάσιμον turns “arriving” into a neuter noun. Current neutral prose would use το να φτάσεις or η άφιξη:
Το να φτάσεις εκεί είναι ο προορισμός σου, όχι ολόκληρη η αξία του ταξιδιού.
to na ftásis ekí íne o proorizmós su, óchi olókliri i aksía tu taksidhyú.
Getting there is your destination, not the whole value of the journey. (neutral explanatory prose)
Identify historical forms' modern pronunciation and syntactic job before comparing them with current literary style.
The conditional frame and personification
Κι αν πτωχική την βρεις places predicate adjective πτωχική before clitic την and verb βρεις. The clitic resumes feminine την Ιθάκη, while the adjective agrees with it. A neutral order would be:
Κι αν τη βρεις φτωχική, δεν σημαίνει ότι σε εξαπάτησε.
ki an ti vris ftochikí, dhen siméni óti se eksapátise.
And if you find her poor, that does not mean she deceived you. (neutral reconstruction)
The island is grammatically and imaginatively personified: feminine clitics and σε γέλασε make it an apparent agent capable of deceiving. The poem then denies that accusation.
Common Mistakes
Reading every να as subordinate
At the opening of a main clause, να can carry exhortation or wish force on its own.
Να κρατάς τον προορισμό στον νου σου, αλλά να προσέχεις και τη διαδρομή.
na kratás ton proorizmó ston nu su, alá na proséchis ke ti dhiadhromí.
Keep the destination in mind, but pay attention to the journey too.
Equating imperfective advice with repeated events
Μη βιάζεις presents an open manner of traveling. Repetition may follow from context, but it is not the grammatical definition.
Μη φοβάσαι κάθε δυσκολία που εμφανίζεται μπροστά σου.
mi fováse káthe dhiskolía pu emfanízete brostá su.
Do not fear every difficulty that appears before you.
Silently modernizing a quotation
In your own current prose, use current spelling; in a documented quotation, preserve the edition and explain it.
Πάντα να έχεις την Ιθάκη στον νου σου.
pánda na échis tin Itháki ston nu su.
Always keep Ithaka in your mind. (current neutral wording, not Kavafis's line)
Key Takeaways
- Standalone να + second person sustains the poem's exhortative voice.
- Imperfective advice presents an ongoing stance; perfective forms package stages such as setting out, mooring, finding, and giving.
- Omitted εσύ, preverbal clitics, delayed subjects, and agreement are ordinary Greek resources arranged for emphasis and rhythm.
- Learned nouns, endings, and spellings sit inside largely demotic syntax and should be recognized before being modernized.
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- Standalone να: Wishes and Softened CommandsB1 — να can open a main clause with no verb in front of it — carrying wishes and blessings (Να ζήσεις! Να 'σαι καλά), gentle advice softer than a command (Να πας στον γιατρό), and, with an accent, the pointing Νά! (there it is).
- Literary and Poetic StyleC1 — Read Greek literary style through marked order, register mixing, dialect color, elevated diction, rhetorical patterning, and poetic ellipsis.
- Aspect in the ImperativeB1 — Where a verb supplies the contrast, Greek commands carry aspect too: the perfective imperative (γράψε, κλείσε, φάε) packages an instruction as a bounded whole, while the imperfective imperative (γράφε, πρόσεχε, να τρως) presents an activity internally or as an open habit.