About the book: 1977 / The collection "Parts of Speech" was published in 1977 by the American publishing house Ardis and consists of poems written by Brodsky from 1972 to 1976. The collection was compiled by the author himself in collaboration with his friends Karl and Ellendea Proffer, the creators of Ardis. Over the course of many years, this publishing house published many important works of Russian literature, whose publication in the Soviet Union in those years was not possible, including “ Ardis" published all the author's collections of Brodsky's poems. Brodsky was very proud of the title of the book and the cycle of the same name included in it. The idea that what was created by man, his “part of speech,” was more than a person as a biological individual or a social unit, was very dear to him.