Evgeny Zamyatin that 'real literature can be created only by madmen, hermits, heretics, dreamers, rebels, and sceptics, not by diligent and trustworthy functionaries'. Discuss - as they say - with reference to the life of George Seferis, the Greek poet.

A hard question. For many, the image of the poet is still fixed - nostalgically, and in the face of present evidence - as that of a free spirit who spurns convention and risks all for poetry and life. In his kork Seferis could indeed be passionate, evoking Greek history,