Sergej Esenin never got to Persia. He could arrive only to Azerbaijan, not very far from Persia, that alleviate the poet’s hunger for exoticism and mystery. In fact Persian Motifs is mainly an account of a psychological journey rather than a physical one. In this poetical cycle Esenin is no more the insolent and challenging chuligan of Tavern Moscow but a man who is in search of spiritual rest and serene love (almost all of the
poems of Persian Motifs is about it). The preponderance of the psychological factor is revealed by the manneristic depiction of Persia, dreamed through the poetry of great Persian bards as Firdouzi, Saadi and Omar Khayyam.