[Yevgeny Yevtushenko]writes about metaphysical overtones. The leading theme of his … sequence 'The Bratsk Station' is a dialogue between an Egyptian pyramid and this electrogenerating station in the Siberian tundra. The work Bratsk has a double meaning: it stands both for brotherhood and for the place. Yevtushenko's sequence hymns the Russian achievement and prophesies a spiritual future of vaster achievement, but not of faith; though his ideas are strictly Communist, his expression is individual…. This book contains Yevtushenko's best poetry till now: an individual restatement of a commonplace passionately accepted by his audience. It can and should be read in the West with suspension of disbelief, for it is fine poetry…. (p. 78)

J. M. Cohen, in The Spectator (© 1967 by The Spectator; reprinted by permission of The Spectator), July 21, 1967.