Today’s feature of Russian poetry is an outstanding selection of poems that not only endured through the centuries, but successfully capture and reflect their time, providing a glimpse into the Russian psyche. We’re very excited to share these new translations by Basil Lvoff who also provides context for each text in his notes on the translation process. From Rozhdestvensky’s famous minuscule man who goes to war to Balmont’s symbolism to Turgenev’s famous prose poem in praise of language to Tyutchev’s quatrain in praise of Russia and Fet’s revolutionary melodism, these are examples of poetry that, in Lvoff’s own words, “emerged when people wanted to make their innermost beliefs memorable and all-binding.” Not to be missed.

—Claudia Serea and Loren Kleinman

Click HERE to read Five Memorable Russian Poems Translated by Basil Lvoff