The Stranger: Selected Poetry

Alexander Blok (November 28, 1880 – August 7, 1921) was a major poet of the Russian Symbolism movement. His early poetry was dominated by the theme of searching for his ideal beauty. Sound, rhythm, color and repetition played a crucial part in setting the mood and conveying emotions in his writing. With subsequent collections, the focus shifted to depicting human psychology. His writing became more ironic and pessimistic, as he struggled to balance his quest for an ideal with his disenchantment in everyday life. In the later stages of his career, he wrote predominately about political themes and the changes that were happening in Russia. To this day, he is considered by many to be the most important Russian poet since Alexander Pushkin, and his work would have a lasting influence on the likes of Anna Akhmatova, Boris Pasternak and Marina Tsvetaeva, among other prominent poets of the Silver Age. This dual-language collection of his poetry seeks to represent the continuum of Alexander Blok’s growth as a poet, with particular attention paid to the rhythm and melody of his writing.