This paper arose from the need to establish an approach to the translation problems the author encountered in his own translation of Elytis’s collection The Oxopetra Elegies (1991), and all the examples cited are taken from this same collection. The aim is not to be in any way prescriptive; rather, the author discusses some of the factors involved in the process of translating a particular type of poetry, always with the hope of achieving a better translation product. The author provides some insights not only into the translation of what his chosen author Elytis has called ‘prismatic poetry’, but also into the creative processes of the poet himself. Of particular interest in the context of translation is Connolly’s choice of a poet who himself has expressed doubts about the translatability of prismatic poetry.