The didactic aspect to Cavafy’ s poetry is hard to ignore. Perhaps because my teachers insisted so much on it. Perhaps because my mother is a philologist and taught me to appreciate this kind of creativity. Perhaps because Cavafy is a national icon and, like a myth, he functions didactically through his work.
This poem is meant to pass on the wisdom of an older and wiser poet to the Greek youth. For Cavafy, a destructive ignorance is embedded in the convictions of youth.
The poet’s words are meant to be taken as an oracle. The clarity in Cavafy’s instructions seems to make his prophecy different to the cryptic prophecies given by Oracles. But, like the Oracle’s prophecies, foresight of the [self-repeating] future does not prepare us for the disaster, for the disaster is time-less.
In a sense, Cavafy’s words cancel themselves out in the face of the disaster and render him just as powerless as the youth he is trying to educate.
The Greek Riots ® 
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