SOURCE: "The Poets," in Russian Literature under Lenin and Stalin 1917-1953, University of Oklahoma Press, 1971, pp. 178-97.

A Russian-born educator, Struve is internationally known for his critical studies of Slavic literature. In the following excerpt, he provides a brief overview of Bagritsky's works, focusing on the Lay of Opanas.

[Bagritsky's] first volume of poetry, Yugozapad (SouthWest, 1928), in some points resembled Tikhonov's early romantic realism. It was possible to trace in it the same influences—of Gumilyov and the Acmeists, of the English ballads (which he translated), and of Kipling. One of his favorite heroes seems to have been Tyll Eulenspiegel. A decided romantic who looked at the Revolution from outside, Bagritsky saw it as something strange and alien but recognized its elemental, sweeping force. In one of his best lyric poems, in which one feels the winds of the Revolution blowing about, he speaks of "strange constellations rising...