“Without me the young men will sing, the elders will not listen to me...” Yesenin turned out to be a bad prophet. It is not only sung and listened to. On the eve of the third millennium, according to a survey conducted by the Institute of Social Research, he was elevated to the rank of the First Poet of the Russian twentieth century. And this is not the conclusion of scientific experts, but the opinion of the people. This collection was compiled with the widest reader in mind. In addition to selected poetic works and a biographical essay written by the author of several books about Yesenin, Alla Marchenko, the book includes memoirs of contemporaries, created in the very first days of 1926, immediately after the tragic death of the poet, as well as an illustrated chronicle of his life and work.