The King of Asine', one of George Seferis's best-known poems, is the subject of the present article, which falls into two parts. The first part follows the standard interpretation, but with an emphasis on aspects that have not (at least sufficiently) been commented on hitherto. The second part pursues a new approach and concludes by proposing another, parallel, reading whereby 'The King of Asine' is also seen as exploring the poetic experience. Seferis o n c e w r o t e to T i m o s M a l a n o s that h a v i n g finished a p i e c e and g i v e n it to the publisher he w o u l d lose interest in it; he sees it * An earlier version of this article was read at the colloquium 'George Seferis in a Comparative Context' (University of Birmingham, 21/10/2000), and as one of 'Four Lectures on George Seferis (1900-1971)' (University of Cambridge, 22/11/2000). My thanks are due to the participants for the discussion that ensued on both occasions. I am particularly grateful, moreover, to Peter Mackridge, Theano Michaelidou and Harry Davis who read the typescript of this article and made valuable comments and suggestions. Quotations from Seferis's prose writings are followed by a translation; unless otherwise indicated, the rendering is mine. An English rendering of his verse was considered superfluous, since the Keeley & Sherrard translation of his poetry is easily available: George Seferis, Collected Poems, tr. Edmund Keeley and Philip Sherrard (3rd edn, London 1982) as well as the new and revised (but no longer bilingual) edition, George Seferis, Complete Poems, tr. Edmund Keeley and Philip Sherrard (London 1995). The titles in English that I have adopted of Seferis's poems are those of the 1982 edition. For the Greek I have used G. Seferis, rjoirj/uaTa, 9th edn. [ed. G.P. Savvidis] (Athens 1974). The words of Maro Seferis prefacing this article ('How strange, the word "king" keeps cropping up all the time. Would you say it is because of our "King of Asine"?') are taken from her letter of
