Twenty-one poems in "terza rima" ("cantos" or "songs" as the creator called them) are included in the book Tertzenes. Nikos Kazantzakis composed them over a period of five years, from late 1932 to mid-1937. They mainly depict and hymn forms that he studied, admired, deeply influenced and marked him in his spiritual and moral ascent:
"In these songs, I would like to be able to reveal the turmoil and joy that the souls that nourished my soul give me. They are the Mothers from whom I suckled love, as I feel it, exercise, perseverance, and selflessness; and also endurance - not only endurance, but the inhuman, all-happy love of solitude. [...]"

In addition to the poems, the reader will find a Preface by the poet, a Note by the editor of the first edition (1960) E. H. Kasdaglis, and an Information Note by Dr. Patroklos Stavros, who edited the later reprints as well as the 2007 reissue.