Mikhail Lozinsky

"In the difficult and noble art of translation," said Anna Akhmatova, "Lozinsky was for the twentieth century what Zhukovsky was for the nineteenth.

His uncle was married to an aunt of Alexander Blok, who was one of the first to appreciate Lozinsky's highly polished verse.

During the Silver Age of Russian Poetry he was close to the Acmeist circle of Nikolay Gumilyov; he was briefly arrested and interrogated following the latter's execution.

Despite his impeccable craftsmanship, Lozinsky's poetry failed to attract public attention owing to its lack of substance and originality.

Lozinsky's greatest feat was his translation of Dante's The Divine Comedy which he completed between 1939 and 1945 in spite of poor health.