Yevtushenko has come close to being an ideal socialist-realist poet, lending his talents to the exposition of social and political themes as well as to the intimate lyrical expression of personal feelings. He is a gifted poet, but his dual dedication to Marx and Apollo has resulted in a somewhat uneven performance: his poems range from propagandist doggerel to truly expressive lyrics…. (p. 173)

Yevtushenko made his first trip to the United States … during the spring of 1961. The trip seems to have had a profound effect on him, for soon after it a subtle but very significant change began to manifest itself in his political poems. The first evidence of this change is found in the absence of a barrage of anti-American poems after the trip. This is important for two reasons: first, because negative reports are expected of Soviet writers who visit America, and second, because Yevtushenko had...