Salt Crystals on an Axe

This bilingual collection of works by 56 Russian poets spans the whole of the 20th century, from Innokenty Annensky (1855-1909) to Boris Ryzhy (1974-2001), and reflects some of the characteristic styles and themes of the period. By giving preference to shorter pieces, it also provides a glimpse into the fascinating portable world of small-form poetry that is carried along by every cultured speaker of Russian. The all-new "congruent" translations, based on the system described and justified in Editor's Introduction, offer Anglophone readers a rare opportunity to appreciate Russian verse on its own terms, complete with its characteristic formal features. The intended audience includes English-language poetry aficionados; students of Russian who wish to get to grips with the poetic language and form, and to understand the differences between English and Russian poetic traditions; translators and linguists interested in the theory and practice of verse translation; youngsters of English-Russian bilingual upbringing whose command of Russian falls short of the necessary standard for appreciating poetry in the original. The book offers annotations to both the translations and the originals, a concise timeline of 20th-century Russian history putting the poems in context, and also indexes of metres and rhyme schemes intended for readers who may wish to find examples of a particular poetic form.