This book is Anatoly Naiman's extensive commentary on key, foundational Russian poems: "The Bronze Horseman" by Alexander Pushkin, "Frost, Red Nose" by Nikolai Nekrasov, "The Twelve" by Alexander Blok, "A Cloud in Trousers" by Vladimir Mayakovsky, and "Poem Without a Hero" by Anna Akhmatova. Each of these poems is not only new in relation to the previous one but also offers a fresh reading experience each time. Naiman, like a guide, helps us get closer to the essence of these poetic texts, familiar to us from childhood, to discover each poem anew—and at the same time, "to read this work as the author read it, to see and hear it as he saw and heard it."