This anthology expounds the rich history of Kazan Tatar poetry, which has its beginnings in the early 12th century. Poets bear witness to the cultural, political as well as spiritual history of their nations, and in this sense, the history of poetry is the history of the nation. The authors try to single out the main themes of Kazan Tatar poetry in every epoch and period of time, the most penetrating of which is the theme of forceful alienation from one »s motherland. The anthology unfolds against a rich and colourful background of social, cultural and political settings of each epoch, and presents Kazan Tatar poetry as it is, preserving its rhythmical, visual and rhyming structure supported by commentaries.