Hint taken. I’ll get back to Mandelstam as soon as I can, but the pull of Pushkin is irresistable. He was compared with Byron in his day (a contemporary English reviewer even called him a pale imitation of Byron!), but in terms of his significance to literature, he’s the Russian Shakespeare.

Thank you for this. I've long wanted to know more Pushkin.

My pleasure, John. This is still a young Pushkin, though he had recently finished his first masterpiece, the long poem Ruslan and Ludmila.

Not a hint! I wouldn't presume. Just a personal observation. I'll read whatever you care to serve up.