Voznesensky, Andrei Andreyevich [key], 1933–2010, Russian poet, b. Moscow. Voznesensky studied at the Moscow Architectural Institute and later became a close friend and protégé of Boris Pasternak. After publishing his first poems in 1958, Voznesensky, whose works were considered extremely daring, became immensely popular. In the post-Stalin era he presented numerous public readings of his works, often filling stadiums with his admirers. In 1963 the government antimodernist campaign curtailed his writing. Gradually his poetry appeared again, but his dramatic work, though not political in content, had to be withdrawn (1970) and he was placed under close surveillance in 1971. His popularity declined after glasnost changed Russia's political climate in the 1980s. Voznesensky's poetry is marked by brilliant use of language with imaginative rhyme schemes and striking metaphors, fine craftsmanship, a wide range of subject matter, and a profound knowledge of the Russian poetic tradition.
See his Selected Poems, ed. H. Marshall (1966); Antiworlds, ed. by P. Blake and M. Hayward (1967); Dogalypse: San Francisco Poetry Reading (1972); Little Woods (1972), and Arrow in the Wall, ed. by W. J. Smith and F. D. Reeve (1987).
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