They demand, in addition, that they shall be fed and clothed; granted.

They get the carpet; their daily supply of food appears from its folds, on demand (they may double, but not treble the allowance), and they vow not to return to their families until they shall have succeeded in their quest of a happy man in Russia.

Their first encounter is with a priest, who in response to their questions, asks if happiness does not consist in "peace, wealth, and honor ?" He then describes his life, and demonstrates that a priest gets none of these things.

As they proceed on their way, they meet and interrogate people from all ranks and classes.

This affords the poet an opportunity for a series of pictures from Russian life, replete with national characteristics, stories, arguments, songs, described in varying meters.
The whole forms a splendid and profoundly interesting national picture-gallery.
The movements of the '40's and the '60's brought to the front several poets who sprang directly from the people.