The book is divided into two parts. The first part discusses the diversity of poetic imagery in literature, both classical and contemporary, including such new trends as Conceptualism and Metarealism. It also examines poets’ fates and the myths and «legends» that surround their work, ranging from Derzhavin and Pushkin to Block and Mandelstam, Prigov and Parshchikov.
The second part examines the concepts of the «poetical» outside of poetry, as a mode of imaginative thinking that defines the ways of civilization. Such «superpoetry» embraces the realms of nature and society, scientific discoveries and technological innovations. The book aims to connect these two worlds: the poetical within and without verse, as a force prompting the transformation of society and the self-creation of human beings.
