Marina Tsvetaeva: The Essential Poetry includes translations by Michael M. Naydan and Slava I. Yastremski of lyric poetry from all of great Modernist Russian poet Marina Tsvetaeva’s published collections and from all periods of her life. It also includes a translation of two of Tsvetaeva’s masterpieces in the genre of the long poem, “Poem of the End” and “Poem of the Mountain.” The collection strives to present the best of Tsvetaeva’s poetry in a small single volume and to give a representative overview of Tsvetaeva’s high art and development of different poetic styles over the course of her creative lifetime. Also included in the volume are a guest introduction by eminent American poet Tess Gallagher, a translator’s introduction and extensive endnotes. Naydan and Yastremski have previously published a well-received annotated translation of Tsvetaeva’s collection After Russia with Ardis Publishers. The fourteen previously published translations from the After Russia collection have been revised for this volume.
