He taught himself to read Polish and English and began writing poetry. Sentenced to five years' work on a collective farm in northern Russia, he was released after 18 months because of protests from the West. His criticism of the Soviet regime resulted in his expulsion in 1972. Brodsky has never married. I believe I will return.
Poets always return in the flesh, or on paper.
I belong to the Russian culture. I feel part of it, its component, and no change of place can influence the final consequence of this. A language is a much more ancient and inevitable thing than a state. I belong to the Russian language. A New Book of Poems.