Anna Akhmatova, whose life and work we will present to you, is a literary pseudonym with which A. A. Gorenko signed her poems . This poetess was born in 1889, on June 11 (23), near Odessa. Her family soon moved to Tsarskoye Selo, where Akhmatova lived until the age of 16. Creativity (briefly) of this poetess will be presented after her biography. First we get acquainted with the life of Anna Gorenko.
Young years
The young years were not cloudless for Anna Andreevna. Her parents broke up in 1905. Mother took daughters with tuberculosis to Yevpatoria. Here, for the first time, the “wild girl” encountered the everyday life of rude alien and dirty cities. She also survived a love drama, made an attempt to commit suicide.
Education in Kiev and Tsarskoye Selo Grammar Schools
The early youth of this poetess was marked by studies in Kiev and Tsarskoye Selo gymnasiums. She passed the last class in Kiev. After that, the future poetess studied law in Kiev, as well as philology in St. Petersburg, at the Higher Women's Courses. In Kiev, she learned Latin, which subsequently allowed her to master fluent Italian, read in the original Dante. However, Akhmatova soon lost interest in legal disciplines, so she went to Petersburg, continuing her studies in historical and literary courses.
First poems and publications
The first poems, in which Derzhavin’s influence is still noticeable, were written by the young schoolgirl Gorenko when she was only 11 years old. In 1907, the first publications appeared.
In 1910, from the very beginning, Akhmatova regularly began to appear in Moscow and St. Petersburg publications. After the creation of the "Workshop of poets" (in 1911), a literary association, she acts as secretary in it.
Marriage, a trip to Europe
Anna Andreevna in the period from 1910 to 1918 was married to N.S. Gumilev, also a famous Russian poet. She met him while studying at Tsarskoye Selo Gymnasium. Then Akhmatova made a trip to Paris in 1910-1912, where she made friends with Amedeo Modigliani, the Italian artist who created her portrait. Also at the same time she visited Italy.
The appearance of Akhmatova
Nikolai Gumilev introduced his wife to the literary and artistic environment, where her name gained early significance. Not only Anna Andreevna’s poetic manner became popular, but also her appearance. Akhmatova amazed contemporaries with grandeur, regality. She was given signs of attention, like a queen. The appearance of this poetess inspired not only A. Modigliani, but also artists such as K. Petrov-Vodkin, A. Altman, Z. Serebryakova, A. Tyshler, N. Tyrsa, A. Danko (the work of Petrov-Vodkin is presented below) .
The first collection of poems and the birth of a son
In 1912, significant for the poetess, two important events took place in her life. The first collection of poems by Anna Andreevna, entitled "Evening," was released, which marked her work. Akhmatova also gave birth to a son, a future historian, Leo Gumilyov , an important event in her personal life.
The verses in the first collection are plastic in the images used in them, clear in composition. They made Russian critics say that a new talent arose in poetry. Although Akhmatova’s “teachers” are such symbolic masters as A. A. Blok and I. F. Annensky, her poetry was perceived from the very beginning as acmeistic. In fact, together with O. E. Mandelshtam and N. S. Gumilev, the poetess at the beginning of 1910 formed the core of this new trend in poetry that appeared at that time.
The next two collections, the decision to stay in Russia
Followed by the first collection and the second book, entitled "Rosary" (in 1914), and three years later, in September 1917, the collection "White Pack" was released, the third in a row in her work. The October coup d'etat did not force the poet to emigrate, although mass emigration began at that time. One after another, Russia was left by people close to Akhmatova: A. Lurie, B. Antrep, as well as O. Glebova-Studeykina, her friend of youth. However, the poetess decided to stay in "sinful" and "deaf" Russia. A sense of responsibility to her country, a connection with the Russian land and the language prompted Anna Andreevna to enter into a dialogue with those who decided to leave her. For many years, those who left Russia continued to justify their emigration to Akhmatova. R. Gul, in particular, is polemicizing with her, turning to Anna Andreevna V. Frank and G. Adamovich.
Difficult time for Anna Andreevna Akhmatova
At this time, her life changed dramatically, which reflected her work. Akhmatova worked in the library at the Agronomy Institute, in the early 1920s she managed to publish two more poetry collections. These were “Plantain”, released in 1921, as well as “Anno Domini” (translated - “In the Summer of the Lord”, published in 1922). For 18 years after that, her works did not appear in print. There were various reasons for this: on the one hand, it was the execution of N.S. Gumilev, a former husband who was accused of participating in a conspiracy against the revolution; on the other, rejection of the poet’s creativity by Soviet criticism. Anna Andreevna, during the years of this forced silence, was engaged in the work of Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin a lot.
Visit to Optina Desert
Akhmatov linked the change in his "voice" and "handwriting" with the mid-1920s, with a visit in 1922, in May, to the Optina Desert and a conversation with Elder Nectarius. Probably, this conversation greatly influenced the poetess. Akhmatova was maternally related to A. Motovilov, who was a worldly novice of Serafim Sarovsky. Through generations, she embraced the idea of ​​atonement, sacrifice.
Second marriage
In the fate of Akhmatova, the turning point was also associated with the personality of V. Shileyko, who became her second husband. He was an oriental scholar who studied the culture of such ancient countries as Babylon, Assyria, Egypt. Personal life with this helpless in life and tyrannical person did not work out, however, the poetess attributed the growth of philosophical restrained notes in her work to the influence of his poetry.
Life and work in 1940
A collection entitled "Of the Six Books" appears in 1940. He returned for a short time to contemporary literature of that time such a poetess as Anna Akhmatova. Her life and work at this time are quite dramatic. Akhmatova was found in Leningrad by the Great Patriotic War. She was evacuated from there to Tashkent. However, in 1944, the poetess returned to Leningrad. In 1946, criticized unjustly and cruelly, she was expelled from the Writers Union.
Return to Russian literature
After this event, the next decade in the work of the poetess was marked only by the fact that Anna Akhmatova was engaged in artistic translation at that time. Creativity her Soviet power was not interested. L.N. Gumilyov, her son, was serving his sentence in forced labor camps at that time as a political criminal. The return of Akhmatova’s poems to Russian literature took place only in the second half of the 1950s. Since 1958, collections of lyrics of this poetess have again begun to be published. It was completed in 1962, "The Poem Without a Hero", created over the course of 22 years. Anna Akhmatova died in March 1966. The poetess was buried near St. Petersburg, in Komarov. Her grave is presented below.
Acmeism in the work of Akhmatova
Akhmatova, whose work today is one of the peaks of Russian poetry, later treated her first book of poetry rather coolly, highlighting only one line in it: "... drunk with a sound like a voice like yours." Mikhail Kuzmin, however, ended his preface to this collection with the words that a young, new poet is coming to us, having all the information to become real. In many ways, the poetics of “Evenings” predetermined the theoretical program of acmeism - a new trend in literature, which often includes a poetess like Anna Akhmatova. Her creativity reflects many characteristic features of this direction.
The photo below was taken in 1925.
Acmeism arose as a reaction to the extremes of the symbolist style. So, for example, an article by V. M. Zhirmunsky, a well-known literary critic and critic, on the work of representatives of this trend was called as follows: "Overcome Symbolism." Mystical distances and "purple worlds" were opposed by life in this world, "here and now." Moral relativism and the various forms of new Christianity have been replaced by "values ​​unshakable rock."
The theme of love in the work of the poetess
Akhmatova came into the literature of the 20th century, its first quarter, with the most traditional theme for world lyrics - the theme of love. However, her decision in the work of this poetess is fundamentally new. Akhmatova’s verses are far from sentimental female lyrics, represented in the 19th century by such names as Karolina Pavlova, Julia Zhadovskaya, Mirra Lokhvitskaya. They are also far from the "ideal", abstract lyrics, characteristic of the symbolist love poetry. In this sense, it relied mainly not on Russian lyrics, but on 19th-century prose Akhmatov. Her work was innovative. O. E. Mandelstam, for example, wrote that the complexity of the 19th century Russian novel by Akhmatov brought into the lyrics. An essay on her creative work could begin precisely with this thesis.
In the “Evening” they presented in different guises of love, but the heroine was invariably rejected, deceived, suffering. K. Chukovsky wrote about her that the first to discover that being unloved is poetical is precisely Akhmatova (an essay on her work, “Akhmatova and Mayakovsky”, created by the same author, contributed greatly to her persecution when the poetry of this poetess not published). In unhappy love, a source of creativity was seen, not a curse. Three parts of the collection are named, respectively, "Love", "Deception" and "Muse". Fragile femininity and grace were combined in the lyrics of Akhmatova with a courageous acceptance of her suffering. Of the 46 poems in this collection, almost half were devoted to separation and death. This is no coincidence. In the period from 1910 to 1912, the poetess was possessed by a sense of short-dayness, she foresaw death. By 1912, her two sisters had died from tuberculosis, so Anna Gorenko (Akhmatova, whose life and work we are considering) believed that this fate would also befall her. However, she did not connect, in contrast to the Symbolists, separation and death with feelings of hopelessness, longing. These moods gave rise to an experience of the beauty of the world.
Outlined in the collection "Evening" and finally took shape first in the "Rosary", then in the "White Pack" distinctive features of the style of this poetess.
Motives of conscience and memory
Deeply historical is the intimate lyrics of Anna Andreevna. Already in the "Rosary" and "Evening", along with the theme of love, two other main motives arise - conscience and memory.
The "fateful minutes", which marked the history of Russia (the first world war began in 1914), coincided with the difficult period in the life of the poetess. She had tuberculosis in 1915; her family had a hereditary disease.
"Pushkinism" by Akhmatova
The motives of conscience and memory in the White Pack are further strengthened, after which they become dominant in her work. The poetic style of this poetess is evolving in 1915-1917. Increasingly, criticism mentions the peculiar "Pushkinism" of Akhmatova. Its essence is artistic completeness, accuracy of expression. The presence of a “citation layer” with numerous roll calls and allusions with both contemporaries and predecessors: O. E. Mandelstam, B. L. Pasternak, A. A. Blok is also noted. All the spiritual wealth of the culture of our country stood behind Akhmatova, and she rightly felt herself to be his heiress.
The theme of the motherland in the work of Akhmatova, attitude to the revolution
The dramatic events of the poetess's life could not but be reflected in the work. Akhmatova, whose life and work took place in a difficult period for our country, took the 1917 revolution as a disaster. The former country, in her opinion, is no more. The theme of the motherland in the work of Akhmatova is presented, for example, in the collection "Anno Domini". The section that opens this collection, published in 1922, is called "After Everything". To the whole book, the line “in those fabulous years ...” by F. I. Tyutchev was taken as an epigraph. The motherland is no longer for the poetess ...
However, for Akhmatova, revolution is also a retribution for the sinful life of the past, retribution. Although the lyrical heroine did not do evil herself, she feels that she is involved in a common guilt, so Anna Andreevna is ready to share the difficult share of her people. Motherland in the work of Akhmatova is obliged to atone for her guilt.
Even the title of the book, which means “In the summer of the Lord,” says that the poetess perceives her era as God's will. The use of historical parallels and biblical motifs is becoming one of the ways to comprehend the artistic events in Russia. Akhmatova is increasingly resorting to them (for example, the poems "Cleopatra", "Dante", "Bible Verses").
In the lyrics of this great poetess, "I" at this time turns into "we." Anna Andreevna speaks on behalf of "many." Each hour, not only of this poetess, but also of her contemporaries, will be justified precisely by the poet's word.
These are the main themes of Akhmatova’s work, both eternal and characteristic for the era of the life of this poetess. She is often compared with another - with Marina Tsvetaeva. Both of them are today the canons of female lyrics. However, it has not only much in common, but also in many ways the work of Akhmatova and Tsvetaeva is very different. An essay on this topic is often asked to write to schoolchildren. In fact, it is interesting to speculate on why it is almost impossible to confuse a poem written by Akhmatova with a work created by Tsvetaeva. However, this is another topic ...