Sergei Esenin was one of the most influential Russian poets not only in a strict literary sense but also in terms of his cultural presence: his penetration in high and low Russian culture produced a kind of "Esenin cult." (At one point in his career the complexity of feeling and behavior encapsulated in his lyrics produced the phenomenon of "eseninshchina" [suffering from "Eseninitis"], a "condition" that became almost pandemic in the 1920s.) Esenin was the quintessential poet of the people. Most Russians know at least a few lines of his poems by heart, and because of its "singing" quality, more of his verses have been set to music--and more are still known and sung today--than those of any other Russian poet. His poetry, often autobiographical, is oriented toward the spoken word and thus conversational in nature; as a result readers are touched by the poems in an intimate...