Anna Andreevna Akhmatova is one of the greatest poets of the 20th century. A woman whose stamina and devotion in Russia was admired. The Soviet government took her husband first, then her son, her poems were forbidden, and the press persecuted her. But no sorrows failed to break her spirit. And the trials that fell to her share were embodied in her works by Akhmatova. “Requiem”, the history of creation and analysis of which will be considered in this article, has become the swan song of the poetess.
The idea of the poem
In the preface to the poem, Akhmatova wrote that the idea of such a work arose from her during the years of "night", which she spent in prison lines, seeking a meeting with her son. Once they recognized her, and one of the women asked if Akhmatova could describe what was happening around. The poetess replied: “I can.” From this moment the idea of the poem was born, as Akhmatova herself claims.
“Requiem”, the history of which is associated with very difficult years for the Russian people, was suffered by the writer. In 1935, the son of Akhmatova and Nikolai Gumilyov, Lev Gumilyov, was arrested for anti-Soviet activities. Then Anna Andreevna managed to quickly free her son by writing a letter to Stalin personally. But in 1938 a second arrest followed, then Gumilyov Jr. was sentenced to 10 years. And in 1949, the last arrest was made, after which he was sentenced to death, later replaced by exile. A few years later, Lev Gumilyov was completely rehabilitated, and the charges were declared unfounded.
Akhmatova’s poem “Requiem” embodied all the sorrows that the poetess endured during these terrible years. But not only family tragedy was reflected in the work. It expressed the grief of all the people who suffered at that terrible time.
First lines
Outlines appeared in 1934. But it was a lyrical cycle, the creation of which was originally planned by Akhmatova. “Requiem” (the history of which is our theme) became a poem later, already in 1938-40. The work was completed already in the 50s.
In the 60s of the 20th century, the poem published in samizdat was very popular and passed from hand to hand. This is due to the fact that the work was banned. She endured much to save her poem, Akhmatova.
Requiem: History of Creation - First Publication
In 1963, the text of the poem goes abroad. Here in Munich, the work is officially published for the first time. Russian emigrants appreciated the poem, the publication of these verses confirmed the opinion of the poetic talent of Anna Andreevna. However, the full text of Requiem was not published until 1987, when it was published in the journal October.
Analysis
The theme of Akhmatova’s poem “Requiem” is the suffering of a person in his family, whose life weighs in the balance. The work consists of poems written in different years. But they are all united by a mournful and mournful sound, which is already in the title of the poem. Requiem is a piece of music intended for a requiem.
In the prose foreword, Akhmatova reports that the work was written at the request of others. Here the tradition laid down by Pushkin and Nekrasov proved itself. That is, the execution of the order of a simple person, embodying the will of the people, speaks of the civic orientation of the whole work. Therefore, the heroes of the poem are all those people who stood with her under the "red blind wall." The poetess writes not only about her grief, but also about the suffering of the whole people. Therefore, her lyrical “I” is transformed into a large-scale and all-encompassing “we”.
Polyphony and multifaceted “Requiem” (Akhmatova), the content of the poem and determined these features. Thanks to multi-heroes, the reader hears crying and feels the grief of not only one person, but all the victims.
The first part of the poem, written by a three-legged anapaest, speaks of its folklore orientation. And the images (dawn, dark room, arrest, similar to the removal of the body) create an atmosphere of historical authenticity and lead back centuries: "I am like streltsy women." Thus, the sufferings of the lyrical heroine are interpreted as timeless, familiar to women back in Peter's years.
The second part of the work, written by the four-footed chorea, is designed in the style of a lullaby. The heroine no longer laments and does not cry, she is calm and restrained. However, this humility is pretended, inside it grows real madness from the experienced grief. At the end of the second part, in the thoughts of the lyrical heroine, everything interferes, madness takes control of her completely.
The culmination of the work was the chapter "To Death." Here, the main character is ready to die in any way: from the hands of a bandit, illness, "shell". But there is no mother of deliverance, and she literally stones with grief.
Conclusion
Akhmatova’s poem “Requiem” carries the pain and suffering of the entire Russian people. And not only experienced in the 20th century, but also for all past centuries. Anna Andreevna does not present her life with documentary accuracy, she talks about the past of Russia, its present and future.