Evgeny Boratynsky […] The name on the cover will say little or, more likely, nothing to an English speaker who has not studied Russian literature. And yet Boratynsky (1800– 1844) was one of the greatest and most original lyric poets in nineteenth-century Europe, an author equal in stature to such giants as Keats and Leopardi.

Translated poetry enjoys little prestige in the English-speaking world— in contrast to the situation in Russia, where Homer, Dante, Shakespeare, Goethe, Byron, Heine and Rilke, to mention just a few illustrious names, have merged with national tradition and become part of Russian literature. Hundreds of people have memorized passages from Byron's Don Juan and Longfellow's The Song of Hiawatha in Russian.

I have translated and annotated all of Boratynsky's important lyrics, in the hope that my book will not end up among the non-required “materials” for a few graduate courses but will open to English lovers of poetry works they will read and reread, as people listen again and again to their favorite music. Some of Boratynsky's lyrics need more concentration than the others. This is the order of reading I can recommend: Nos. 8, 19, 21, 28, 47, 53, 56b, 57, 69, 78, 87, 90, 103, 109, 127, 157 and 158. After this, start leafing through the book from the end, backward, while paying special attention to Nos. 132, 129, 126, 119, 91, 83 and 80. Now it may be useful to turn to the introductory article and read the volume from beginning to end. Even though my translation is at best a faithful echo of the original, some, I hope, may be singed by the sparks of Boratynsky's fire.