While scholars recognize a "pan-aesthetic" ideal unifying the entire Russian Symbolist movement of the 1890s and 1900s, as well as a shared rejection of "philistine" and positivist values, they also distinguish between a "first generation of symbolists" (often referred to as "decadents") and a "second generation of symbolists." Though a member of the second generation, Aleksandr Blok is usually considered the best lyrical poet of the entire Symbolist movement. He transcends the limitations of language in his verse through suggestive sound orchestration and alogical imagery while remaining accessible to the receptive reader. With Andrei Bely (Boris Nikolaevich Bugaev), Viacheslav Ivanovich Ivanov, and others, he shared the rejection of self-sufficient art and of "aestheticized" evil that was characteristic of the decadent phase of Symbolism and espoused the view that art should be theurgical--that is, it should serve as an active agent in both an ethical and aesthetic transformation of...