The Cambridge Introduction to Russian Poetry presents the major themes, forms, genres and styles of Russian poetry. Using examples from Russia's greatest poets, Michael Wachtel draws on three centuries of verse, from the beginnings of secular literature in the eighteenth century up to the present day. The first half of the book is devoted to concepts such as versification, poetic language and tradition; the second half is organised along genre lines and examines the ode, the elegy, ballads, love poetry, nature poetry and patriotic verse. All poetry appears in the original followed by literal translations. This book is designed to give readers with even a minimal knowledge of the Russian language an appreciation of the brilliance of Russian poetry.

This introduction presents the major themes, forms and styles of Russian poetry.

About the Author
Michael Wachtel is Professor in the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures at Princeton University. He is the author of Russian Symbolism and Literary Tradition: Goethe, Novalis, and the Poetics of Vyacheslav Ivanov (1994) and The Development of Russian Verse: Meter and its Meanings (Cambridge, 1998).

Reviews
'This book will help students who are making the leap across the apparently daunting gap between coping with spoken Russian or Russian prose and tackling a poetic text ... A helpful index of poetic terms and a reassuringly select list of further reading are provided to help those who are entirely new to the topic. The book is ... a 'guide to reading, interpreting, and appreciating it' ... This aim is most certainly achieved ... This book offers a concise and concentrated account of the things that poets can do with words, and readers with texts.' MLR



Book Information
ISBN 9780521808811
Author Michael Wachtel
Format Hardback
Page Count 180
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Weight(grams) 440g
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 152mm * 14mm