It covers works from the earliest attempts ("Causative") to the poet's arrest in April 1847. It includes commentaries on the following significant works:

Early ballads and poems: "Catherine", "Tarasov's Night", "Gaidamaks".

The "Three Years" period: "Dream", "Caucasus", "Both to the Dead and to the Living...", "Testament".

The cycle "In the Casemate": Written during the investigation in St. Petersburg (although these poems formally open the period of exile, Ivakin included them in the first volume as the conclusion of the pre-arrest stage).