Brodsky, Joseph Alexandrovich (1940–1996)

Russian poet. He emigrated to the USA in 1972. His work, often dealing with themes of exile, is admired for its wit and economy of language, particularly in its use of understatement. Many of his poems, written in Russian, have been translated into English (A Part of Speech (1980)). Later in his career he also wrote in English. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1987 and became US poet laureate in 1991.