The achievements of Dostoevsky and Tolstoy notwithstanding, Russian literature is a tradition of poetry, not prose, and Russian readers have always recognized it as such. This poetry has been poorly served in translation and remains one of the great rewards for foreigners willing to invest the effort in learning the language.

This book is not a history of Russian poetry, but rather a guide to reading, interpreting, and appreciating it. The only prerequisite – beyond a healthy intellectual curiosity – is a knowledge of the Russian language. How much knowledge? The more, the better, of course, but even students who have only completed their first year of study should be able to understand the general principles and much of the textual analysis. The first part of the book introduces fundamental concepts of poetic literacy, the things that any educated reader (or poet) must know. In the second part, these concepts are applied to the interpretation of specific poems, always set in the context of other poems that share their formal qualities, themes, or genres. Students without much prior exposure to poetry are urged to read the first section in its entirety before beginning the second. Within the second section, however, the chapters need not be read consecutively. From a linguistic standpoint, Chapters Five, Six and Seven are probably the most accessible (though it must be admitted that each concludes with a highly challenging poem).