Anna Akhmatova: From Alicia

I feel like maybe you were drawn to Anna Akhmatova because of her poetry (by the way, Mom, YOU should really start writing again) and her unfailing courage.

The things I found out about her that stood out to me as examples of her strength and courage as a writer and woman include:

-an unofficial ban on her opinionated and criticizing poetry (writing)- 1925-1940, a long time! Her work was also often censored by Stalinist authorities. But this did not stop her.

-Her "Requiem" piece dedicated to the memory of Stalin's victims: (this next section is from Wikipedia, about this work...):



Structure

Requiem is separated into three sections which set the structure of the entire cycle.[9]

1. The introduction also known as the prose paragraph is located at the beginning of the cycle. It details the background story of how Anna Akhmatova came to the decision of writing this poem and also explains the environment they were a part of during that period in history. Below is the paragraph that introduces the cycle:

"During the frightening years of the Yezhov terror, I spent seventeen months waiting in prison queues in Leningrad. One day, somehow, someone "picked me out". On that occasion there was a woman standing behind me, her lips blue with cold, who, of course, had never in her life heard my name. Jolted out of the torpor characteristic of all of us, she said into my ear (everyone whispered there) "Could one ever describe this?" And I answered, "I can." It was then that something like a smile slid across what had previously been just a face."[10]

2. The second section of the cycle is the first ten poems after the introduction, which are references to her personal grief. Her husband Nikolay Punin had been arrested for his second time and placed into jail where he ended up passing away before he was let go.[11] In the first poem of this set titled "Dedication", she references her unsettling feelings toward his arrest and his passing away, and also reaches out to her close friends who had also been arrested. While the first paragraph is a dedication to people who were very important to her, the other nine of the second section directly relate to the arrest of her only son Lev Gumilev.[6] Akhmatova expresses her inner sadness, pain and anger about the situation her and many other women were put in. For 17 months, she waited outside the prison in Leningrad just waiting for glimpse or notification of what was going to happen to her son. This section concludes with Akhmatova describing how no one can take away the important things that go unnoticed such as a touch, a look, visits, ext.[9]

3. The third and last section of this set starts with the title "Crucifixion". This set of poems is from the perspective of the other women who also stood outside of Leningrad prison waiting for just a glimpse or notification from their fathers, sons, or husbands who had been arrested also.[6] Through intricate details, she describes the grieving, pain, weakness, and fear she observed while waiting along with them during this time of terror. Overwhelmed with sadness, the ending closes with:

And let the prison dove coo in the distance
While ships sail quietly along the river.


-She was expelled from the Writer's Union after WWII, but still kept on writing as she felt true to herself... (And, funny enough, ended up being chosen president of Writer's Union two years before she died.)

-I also think it's amazing that she translated (among others) some of Victor Hugo's work, with how much I love Les Miserables.

-Many family members (and lovers/husbands) of hers were lost when they stood against Stalin(ist authorities)or were sent to labor camps. She wrote about these experiences to raise awareness and to work through it for herself.

-And, last (for now), but not least:

This portrait of her by Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin makes her look like Alida. :)