As a poet who had mastered English as a second language and gone on to write brilliantly in it, Brodsky placed enormous value on precision of expression. He argued that the accumulation of experiences, thoughts, and perceptions that remain unnamed — 'unable to be voiced and dissatisfied with approximations' — get pent up within a person and can lead to psychological explosion or implosion. His prescription was characteristically practical and witty: acquire a dictionary and read it daily, supplemented with books of poetry. He noted that even the most expensive dictionary with a magnifying glass costs far less than a single visit to a psychiatrist. The underlying argument was profound: that language is not merely a tool for communication but the foundation of psychological health and self-knowledge. Without the words to name our inner experiences, we cannot fully be ourselves.