Curated playlist
20th-century Russian poets
- Alexander BlokAlexander Blok wrote a poem likening Bolshevik soldiers to the Twelve Apostles of Christ.
- Vladimir NabokovNovelist Vladimir Nabokov also named butterfly species, and later genetic research backed his theory.
- Anna AkhmatovaAnna Akhmatova wrote poems on scraps of paper that visitors read and then burned in her stove.
- Andrei BelyIn Andrei Bely's novel Petersburg, a young man is assigned to kill his own father. The target is a government official.
- Eldar RyazanovEldar Ryazanov first refused to direct a comedy. He wanted to make serious films, but Carnival Night was a hit.
- Vladimir MayakovskyPoet Vladimir Mayakovsky once threw tea at his audiences. He later wrote propaganda posters for the Communist Party.
- Sergei YeseninPoet Sergei Yesenin wrote his farewell poem in his own blood. He was found dead in a Leningrad hotel room at thirty.
- Sergey MikhalkovSergey Mikhalkov wrote a friendly giant policeman for children, then anthems for two countries.
- Ivan BuninExiled in France, Ivan Bunin became the first Russian to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.
- Konstantin BalmontPoet Konstantin Balmont burned every leftover copy of his own first book after it flopped.