Yiannis Ritsos was one of the most prolific and famous creators of modern Greek literature. Although numerous works have been published about his life and work, the early period of his literary creation, within the 1920s and the early years of the following decade, has not been adequately studied in order to clearly reveal the formation of his poetic temperament during his student and youth years, before he decided to publish his first poetry collection "Tractor" in 1934.

The aim of this work is to gather and discuss the first published (and only two unpublished) writing samples of Ritsos, connecting them, at the same time, with the various adventures of his life and placing them in their contemporary political and cultural context. Furthermore, in addition to the entirety of Ritsos' familiar poetic and prose texts that have been identified, the relevant criticism of the period 1924-1934 will be examined in order to reveal the first press reactions to his youthful writings.