The book presents the works of an outstanding Russian philologist, academician V.M. Zhirmunsky (1891-1971), one of the founders of Russian - Soviet literary criticism. The main articles were written in the 1910s and 1920s and are devoted to the problems of poetics based on Russian literature, as well as the work of Russian poets of the early 20th century. Many of these articles (" Tasks of poetics ", " Overcoming symbolism ", " Poetry of Alexander Blok ") have long been included in the golden fund of Russian literary criticism. The book also includes the work of Zhirmunsky, written in the last years of his life - " Anna Akhmatova and Alexander Blok ". The book is intended for literary philologists, students and graduate students of philological faculties, as well as everyone interested in Russian poetry.