The Russian poetess A. Gorenko, who took the Tatar pseudonym Akhmatova , had a difficult life and career. "Twenty first. Night. Monday ... ”: we will analyze this short, early poem in an article.
Briefly about the biography
The noblewoman Anna Andreevna was the third child in a large family. Her three sisters died of tuberculosis in her youth, the elder brother committed suicide, the youngest died in exile 10 years after the death of Anna. That is, relatives, relatives in difficult moments of life were not with her.
A. Gorenko was born in Odessa in 1889, and spent her childhood in Tsarskoye Selo, where she studied at the Mariinsky Gymnasium. In the summer, the family went to the Crimea.
The girl learned French by listening to conversations between tutors and her older sister and brother. She began to write poetry at 11 years old. By 1905, the aspiring poet, the handsome N. Gumilev, fell in love with her and published her poem in Paris. In 1910, they connected their lives, and Anna Andreevna took the pseudonym Akhmatova - the name of her great-grandmother. Two years later, the son of Leo was born.
Six years later, relations between the poets became tense, and in 1918 they divorced. It is no accident that in 1917 the third collection of poems entitled “The White Pack” was published. It included the work “Twenty-first. Night. Monday ... ”, the analysis of which will be lower. In the meantime, let's say that it sounds a disappointment in love.
Life after the bloody revolution
In the same 1918, at the age of 29, Anna Andreevna hastily married Vladimir Shileyko and after three years broke up with him. At this time, N. Gumilyov was arrested and almost a month later shot. At 33, Anna Andreevna connects her life with art critic N. Punin. During this period, her poems cease to print. When his son was 26 years old, he was arrested for five years. The poetess parted with N. Punin and will be able to see her son for a short time only in 1943. In 1944, he joined the army and participated in the capture of Berlin. However, in 1949, N. Punin and his son were arrested. Leo sentenced to 10 years in camps. Mother studded all the rapids, stood in lines with programs, wrote poems that glorified Stalin, but did not let her son out. The XX Congress of the CPSU brought freedom to him.
In 1964, a poetess was awarded a prize in Italy.
In 1965, a trip to Britain took place: she received an honorary diploma from the University of Oxford.
And in 1966, at the 77th year of her life, Anna Andreevna died. Could the poetess have come up with such a bitter fate for herself when, at 28, the lines “Twenty-first. Night. Monday..."? An analysis of the work will be given below. Unfulfilled love occupied her thoughts at that moment.
Briefly about the "White Pack" in the work of A. Akhmatova
One may ask: why is the third collection of the poetess such a strange name? White is an innocent, pure, and also the color of the Holy Spirit, which descended to the sinful earth in the form of a dove. Also this color is a symbol of death.
The image of birds is freedom, hence the flock that has come off the ground, looks at everything detached. Pure freedom and death of feelings - this is the theme of the work “Twenty-first. Night. Monday…". An analysis of the poem shows how the lyrical heroine separated from the “pack” in order to indulge in concrete thinking at night: do I need love? A poem without a title. This suggests that the poet fears that the name may be considered as a separate text and give an additional meaning that is not required by the author.
"Twenty first. Night. Monday…". Poem Analysis
The work begins with short, in one line, complete sentences. And it seems that the lyrical heroine is separated from everyone and everything: “Twenty-first. Night. Monday". An analysis of the last two lines of the first stanza reveals a nightly conversation in silence with oneself, full of confidence that there is no love on earth. It was only composed by some idler. Business people do not feel feelings, according to the lyrical heroine.
The second stanza is no less contemptuous. Everyone believed the idler only from laziness and boredom. Instead of doing business, people are full of dreams and hopes of meeting, suffering from separation.
The last quatrain is dedicated to the elect, those to whom the secret has been revealed, and therefore nothing bothers them. At 28 years old stumble upon such a discovery, when all his life is ahead, very bitter. That's why the lyrical heroine says that she seemed to get sick. For her, miserable and lonely, it is as difficult as a young girl experiencing her first dramatic love.
This collection is largely inspired by meetings with his lover Boris Anrep, whom A. Akhmatova met in 1914 and met frequently. But fate parted them: Anrep spent his whole life in exile. They met only when Anna Andreyevna came to England in 1965. In his opinion, even at that age she was majestic and beautiful.
Finishing the analysis of Akhmatova’s poem “Twenty-first. Night. Monday ... ”, it should be added, it is written in anapaest.