Mandelshtam spent three years in Western Europe, where he encountered the French Symbolists and other contemporary writings of the day. Returning to Russia in 1911, Mandelshtam joined with poets Anna Akhmatova and Nikolai Gumilyov in establishing the poetic movement Acmeism. Following the Russian Revolution, his work and that of fellow Acmeists came under scrutiny and Mandelshtam was ultimately imprisoned and died at a Vladivostock transit station en route to a hard labour camp. This volume, Mandelshtam's second, established his literary reputation.