Joseph Brodsky (image courtesy of AP Photo Archive)

Excerpt from: “Joseph Brodsky (1940–96)”. Columbia Granger's World of Poetry Online. 2008. Columbia University Press. 21 Feb. 2008.

"Joseph Brodsky, a Russian-American poet, was born in St. Petersburg (then called Leningrad). A disciple of Anna Akhmatova, he began writing poetry in 1955. He was first denounced by the state (for decadence and modernism, among other charges) in 1963 and was exiled by Soviet authorities in 1972. Brodsky emigrated to the United States, where he became a citizen, taught at several colleges, and continued to build a reputation as a distinguished literary figure." Read more