Some brilliant poems (#223; #344;#351;#388 to name a few), but overall I couldn't connect with the poet's voice on any deep level. Perhaps the dense classical allusions, which forced me to rack my brain for my long ago Classical Culture studies, stopped me from being drawn into this volume.
Osip Mandelstam in the eyes of the NKVD The people need poetry that will be their own secret to keep them awake forever, and bathe them in the bright-haired wave of its breathing. Osip Mandelstam (1891-1938) was born in Warsaw to a wealthy Jewish family that was sufficiently well connected t...