This is the first extended study of the poetics of Marina Tsvetaeva (1892-1941), one of the great Russian poets of the twentieth century. Tsvetaeva's work has an originality and diversity that has been hitherto neglected by critics. Michael Makin's book examines in depth her entire poetic output, paying particular attention to the appropriation, and frequent distortion, of familiar literary material in her lyrical, dramatic, and narrative verse. Major chapters are devoted to the long narrative poems, the mature lyric verse, and the verse plays, on which very little has so far been written. Extensive quotations appear in Russian and in the author's own translations. Highly readable and deeply researched, Marina Tsvetaeva: Poetics of Appropriation will be invaluable for all readers and students of this most important of Russian poets.