Simeon Polotsky may rightly be regarded as Russia's first professional writer and the first major exponent of a tradition that would link belles lettres directly to the life of the state, its rulers, and its sociocultural development. A skilled orator, learned preacher, prolific versifier, devoted educator, and publisher, he brought his considerable talents to bear on the transformation of Russia from a state transfixed by its traditional ties to Byzantine culture to one that welcomed, however cautiously, the liberalizing influence of the Latin West. He was closely connected with the court of Czar Aleksei Mikhailovich and his successor, Czar Fedor Alekseevich, and contributed significantly to the creation of a cultural milieu that would facilitate the momentous reforms carried out by Peter the Great. At the same time, due to the vagaries of both literary and political history, his poetry did not immediately achieve a place in the canon...