Akhmatova: Biographical/Historical Overview
by Jill Dybka
A Life Amid Change
In the late 19th Century, Russia's Tsarist autocracy was
under siege. Oppositional political parties were formed, in
violation of the law. One of these parties was the "Social
Democratic Party." Vladimir Lenin was the leader of a faction
of this group called the "Bolsheviks," or "majority," though they
were actually the minority (Kublin 123). The factions were
divided on certain philosophical opinions, but like the rest of
the Social Democrats, the Bolsheviks were devoted to socialism
and worked toward the goals of revolution and the overthrow of
the Tsar. The Bolsheviks would eventually succeed. It was on the
cusp of these revolutionary events that the Russian poet Anna
Akhmatova was born in 1889. She witnessed as a child the reign of
the last Russian Tsar, Nicholas II. In her lifetime she also
witnessed the Bolshevik Revolution, the Stalinist Terror and
Purges, and Russia's involvement in both World Wars. She would
be persecuted by the Soviets for her links to pre-Revolutionary
Russia, but she survived, a symbol of truth and integrity. Today
she is considered one of the four great Modern Russian lyric
poets, with Boris Pasternak, Osip Mandelshtam and Marina
Tsvetaeva (Herschemeyer vii).
Akhmatova was born Anna Andreevna Gorenko. She was
raised in an upper class family in the town of Tsarskoye
Selo, near St. Petersburg. At an early age, she became
interested in poetry, though it was not fashionable at the
time. When her father found out about her aspirations, he
told her not to shame the family name by becoming a
"decadent poetess" (Kenyon 2). He forced her to take a
pen-name, and she chose the last name of her maternal
Great-Grandmother, a Tartar, from whom she inherited high
cheekbones and striking features. She started signing her
name "Anna Andreevna Akhmatova." That same year, the
Revolution of 1905 took place. Thousands marched to the
Tsar's palace, and many were shot by palace guards on
"Bloody Sunday." From then on, the downfall of the
Autocracy was near. Nicholas II implemented reforms to try
to stop the strikes and unrest, but his government was
weakening.
In 1910, Akhmatova married Nikolai Gumilev. He was a
romantic figure, a poet and adventurer enamored with North
Africa. Gumilev founded a literary movement in Russia
called "Acmeism," which was a reaction to the current
Symbolism. The Acmeists emphasized clarity and directness,
in contrast to the Symbolists, who the Acmeists believed
clouded their poetry with ideologies and intangibilities
like mysticism and symbols (Gibian 1). Shortly after Gumilev
and Akhmatova were married, he left on a journey to
Abyssinia, leaving her behind. While Gumilev was away,
Akhmatova wrote many of the poems that would be published in
1912 in her first book,
Evening.
Akhmatova's first book was wildly popular. She became
a cult figure among the intelligentsia, and often read at a
cabaret in a St. Petersburg cellar called the Stray Dog
Cafe. She became well-known as a part of the St. Petersburg
literary scene and remained forever connected with that
city. In her early lyric poems she concentrates on love,
with a confessional, frank style. Akhmatova was a master of
the Acmeist ideals of real experience and clarity. The same
year she found success as a poet, her son Lev was born. He
was raised by his paternal grandmother, who disliked
Akhmatova. Akhmatova protested this situation, but her
husband took the side of his family. She would visit with
her son during holidays and summer. Later, Akhmatova would
write that "motherhood is a bright torture. I was not worthy
of it" (Kenyon 3).
Two years later, Akhmatova's second book,
Rosary,
was published. It, too, was widely read and critically popular.
A parlor game based upon the book was even invented. One
person would recite a line of poetry and the next person
would try to recite the next, until the entire book was
recited. Though Akhmatova was enjoying professional success,
her personal life was falling apart. Her marriage to
Gumilev--in trouble from the start--was failing. They were
unfaithful, and Gumilev was jealous of Akhmatova's success.
That year was a time of great tumult, politically, as well.
World War I broke out in Europe, and in August Germany
declared war on Russia. Also, Akhmatova's beloved
St.Petersburg was renamed Petrograd. Akhmatova would write
about the war in her next book of poems,
White Flock,
which was published in 1917. Russia suffered heavy losses during
WWI and this helped to contribute to the downfall of the
Romanov empire.
Akhmatova's fourth book of poems was published in 1917,
the same year the Bolshevik revolution took place and
changed Russia forever. Early in 1917 the "March
Revolution" occurred and the Tsar was forced to abdicate and
a Provisional Government was installed. Meanwhile, World
War I was still raging. The Russian troops did not have
enough food or weapons and other necessary supplies. The
people did not want Russia's involvement in the war to
continue, yet the Provisional Government continued it.
Following the March Revolution, Lenin seized an opportunity
for the Bolsheviks to gain power. Almost as powerful as the
Provisional Government was the "Soviet," a council of
citizens such as workers or soldiers. The Soviets wielded
enormous influence. Lenin maneuvered Bolsheviks into
influential Soviets like the Petrograd Soviet. This set the
stage for the Bolshevik Revolution in the Fall of 1917
(Kublin 154). After the Revolution, a civil war was fought
in Russia that ended in 1921. When the Civil War ended, the
Bolsheviks (known also as "Communists") were in control of
Russia's government and military. Three years after the
Civil War ended, Lenin died.
Plantain was published the year the Civil War
ended, 1921. It was Akhmatova's fifth book of poetry. By this
time she had divorced Gumilev, but the two poets still
remained friends. After the divorce she married Vol'demar
Shileiko, the next in a series of failed relationships in
Akhmatova's life. He, too, was jealous of Akhmatova's fame.
Like many during this time period, they didn't have enough
to eat, or enough fuel to keep warm. In the fifth book,
several poems appear about this period of time.
Lenin, after he seized power, began using tactics of
terror. The Cheka, or secret police, had the power to
arrest and to execute without a trial. It was used to
liquidate the opposition, or anyone else they wished to get
rid of. In 1921, Akhmatova's ex-husband, Nikolai Gumilev,
was arrested and executed for anti-government activities. He
was falsely accused of taking part in a plot to overthrow
the government. Akhmatova was devastated.
The government's agenda to spread fear was a response
to the fact that the Bolsheviks were never a majority. If
the Bolsheviks could keep an opposition from being
organized, they could stay in power. If the citizens were
afraid to trust anybody--including their families--an
opposition could not be organized. Many of Akhmatova's friends
left Russia and the terrible persecution.
Joseph Stalin gained power in 1924, after the death of
Lenin. He perfected the tactics of terror that his
predecessor had initiated. The Communist rule turned into a
totalitarian dictatorship fueled by paranoia. In the 1930's
the Terror peaked. The Stalinist Purges claimed millions of
victims. Public show trials were performed, where the
accused were forced to read prepared confessions. Many of
Akhmatova's friends and fellow writers were arrested or
executed. In 1933 her son Lev was arrested, and again in
1935.
One of the agendas of the Bolsheviks, once they took
control, was to eliminate all vestiges of pre-revolutionary
culture. "Petit bourgeois" culture like lyric poetry had no
place in the new Communist society. The government formally
established "Socialist Realism" as the guideline for all of
the arts. Writers were required to evoke an ideal Socialist
State (Reeder 225). There was an unofficial ban on
Akhmatova's poetry from 1925 until 1940. During this time,
Akhmatova devoted herself to literary criticism,
particularly of Pushkin, and to literary translation work.
During the latter part of the thirties, she composed a long
poem, Requiem, dedicated to the memory of Stalin's victims.
In 1940, a collection of previously published poems, From
Six Books, was published. A few months later it was
withdrawn.
In 1941 Germany declared war on Russia. Akhmatova gave
a radio speech in 1941 during the Siege of Leningrad urging
the women of Leningrad (formerly St. Petersburg/Petrograd)
to be courageous. Even though Akhmatova was forbidden to
publish her poems, she was asked by the government to speak
because she symbolized Russian culture and was associated
with the city of Leningrad. During the war, Akhmatova was
evacuated to Tashkent with other writers as well as artists
and musicians.
Immediately after the war, Akhmatova enjoyed
popularity. In 1946, however, there was an official decree
banning publication of her poetry. Andrey Zhadanov, the
Secretary of the Central Committee, expelled her from the
Writer's Union. Zhadanov called her "half nun, half harlot"
and said, "What positive contribution can Akhmatova's work
make to our young people? It can do nothing but harm"
(Reeder 292). When Akhmatova was expelled, it meant that
her ration card was taken away. The poet had no means of
support. She relied on her friends for the rest of her
life.
Lev Gumilev, Akhmatova's son, was arrested again in
1949. He was not released until 1956. To try to win her
son's release, Akhmatova wrote a few poems in praise of
Stalin and the government, but it was of no use. Later she
requested that these poems not appear in her collected
works.
In 1953 Joseph Stalin died, and Nikita Krushchev became
leader. In 1956 Krushchev gave an infamous speech to high
ranking Party leaders. He denounced Stalin, calling him a
tyrant. That same year, Akhmatova's son was released from
prison.
Akhmatova's poetry was again published in 1958 and 1961
but with heavy censorship. Young poets like Joseph Brodsky
flocked to her. To them, she represented a link with the
pre-Revolutionary past--that which had been destroyed by the
Communists. Brodsky would later call Akhmatova "The muse of
keening" (McFadden).
On March 5, 1966, Akhmatova died peacefully. It was
the 12th anniversary of Stalin's death. Akhmatova is
considered one of the finest Russian lyric poets, and
perhaps the finest female Russian poet of all time. She has
been compared to Antigone because she kept the memory of
pre-revolutionary Russian culture alive when the government
was trying to destroy it. Akhmatova also kept the memory of
the victims of the Terror alive in her poetry.
Poetry and the Times
Anna Akhmatova is considered a poet of the "Silver Age" of
Russian poetry, which lasted from approximately 1894 to 1922.
Albert C. Todd, in his editor's preface to
Twentieth Century
Russian Poetry, describes how the poets of the Silver Age are
forever connected with the October Revolution that brought the
Soviets to power. The editor writes:
"This generation was endowed with poetic genius
that first foresaw then fully witnessed the
imponderable, inescapable, mad experiment with
history whose awesome cost in life and culture is
still being tallied." (lxviii)
The poetry of Akhmatova is often a response to the "mad
experiment," the post-revolutionary Soviet State. Her role as
witness to the horrors of the twentieth century is a major theme
in her verse, which she wrote in a ground-breaking, concise
modern style.
Akhmatova's first husband, the poet Nikolai Gumilev, founded
the Acmeist movement as a response to Symbolism. Both Akhmatova
and Gumilev were influenced by Symbolism at an early age, but
grew restless. Acmeism was founded in 1912 and "rejected the
vague, the vatic, the ethereal, and otherworldly aspects of
Symbolism" (Herschemeyer ix-x). Jane Kenyon explains that
Acmeism proposed that "a rose is beautiful in itself, not because
it stands for something" (Kenyon 4). The same year that Acmeism
was founded, Akhmatova's first book of poetry,
Evening,
was published.
Evening was critically successful. Akhmatova
became a leading figure in the literary scene in St. Petersburg.
A major theme in Akhmatova's first book of poetry is love,
particularly the ending of a relationship. It is fitting that
she has a crater on Venus, the planet of love, named after her
(Batson). Akhmatova's concise, clear style is evident even in
these early poems. In the poem "He Loved..." translated by
Judith Hemschemeyer, the succinct details convey more by leaving much
unsaid and without the use of flowery Symbolic images:
He loved three things in life:
Evensong, white peacocks
And old maps of America.
He hated it when children cried,
He hated tea with raspberry jam
And women's hysterics.
...And I was his wife. (1-7)
(Hemschemeyer 105)
Akhmatova's intimate lyric style was strikingly clear and
candid--a quality that fulfilled the Acmeist ideal of "beautiful
clarity" and imparts a quiet strength (Kenyon 2). After the
revolution, the government would point to these poems and
criticize Akhmatova's writing as "useless to the revolution"
(
Fear and the Muse).
Rosary was Akhmatova's second book and was published in
1914. The book of poems was immensely popular throughout Russia
with critics and readers alike. Akhmatova became famous. In
Rosary, she continued writing of love, but she also took on
religious themes as well. The Russian Orthodox Church was
important to her, and she was deeply religious. Because of
these themes, love and religion, the Soviets would later call
Akhmatova "half nun, half whore" in their criticism of her
non-Soviet Realist style of writing (Reeder 69). The same year
that
Rosary was published, World War I began. Her subsequent
books of poetry would begin to incorporate broader themes in conjunction
with the upheavals in Russian society.
In 1917, during World War I, Akhmatova's third book,
White
Flock, was published. Russia experienced extremely heavy losses
during the war, and Akhmatova often gave poetry readings for the
benefit of the wounded (Reeder 89).
White Flock contains
Akhmatova's famous poem about World War I, "In Memoriam, July 19,
1914." It begins with the lines, "We aged a hundred years, and
this/Happened in a single hour" (Herschemeyer 210). Another poem
in this book, "We thought: we're poor," gives voice to the
suffering of those who lost loved ones in the war:
We thought: we're poor, we have nothing,
but when we started losing one after the other
so each day became
remembrance day,
we started composing poems
about God's great generosity
and--our former riches. (1-7)
(McKane 74)
With this book, Akhmatova's connectedness with the suffering of
her country began to be an important theme in her writing. In
the poem, "Prayer," this is an almost mystical union:
Give me bitter years of sickness,
Suffocation, insomnia, fever,
Take my child and my lover,
And my mysterious gift of song--
This I pray at your liturgy
After so many tormented days,
So that the stormcloud over darkened Russia
Might become a cloud of glorious rays. (1-8)
(Hemschemeyer 203)
Roberta Reeder calls Akhmatova "Poet and Prophet," and this poem
is tragically prophetic of the adversity that would occur later
in Akhmatova's life.
The next few years brought revolution and great strife to
Russia.
Plantain, Akhmatova's forth book, was published
in 1921, the same year her ex-husband Gumilev was executed by the state.
Akhmatova wrote the following stanza in the winter of 1919, and
it has been translated by Richard McKane:
Now no one will listen to songs.
The prophesied days have begun.
Latest poem of mine, the world has lost its
wonder,
Don't break my heart, don't ring out. (1-4)
(McKane 94)
During this period of time, terrible persecution by the state,
famine, and shortages were occurring. Many of Akhmatova's
friends emigrated, mostly to Paris. Akhmatova refused to
emigrate. She felt it would be a betrayal to her culture and
language. In
Plantain she wrote:
A voice came to me. It called out comfortingly,
It said, "Come here,
Leave your deaf and sinful land,
Leave Russia forever.
I will wash the blood from your hands. . . .(9-13)
In the last three lines of the poem she answers, "I covered my
ears with my hands/So that my sorrowing spirit/Would not
be stained by those shameful words" (18-21) (Hemschemeyer 254).
That year brought condemnation from the state. A Marxist critic
denounced her poetry, saying that it was "unworthy of
consideration in a revolutionary Communist society" (Hemschemeyer
4). Akhmatova's next book of poetry would be her last
publication until 1940.
Akhmatova's fifth book of poetry was
Anno Domini MCMXXI,
published in 1922. Lenin's Red Terror was in full swing, and some
of Akhmatova's poems in this volume give voice to the
afflicted--the persecuted citizens of the Soviet Union. There is
an element of fear in some poems in this book that was unseen
in Akhmatova's previous poetry. One poem, translated by Judith
Hemschemeyer, begins with an image of terror:
Terror, fingering things in the dark,
Leads the moonbeam to an ax.
Behind the wall there's an ominous knock.... (1-3)
(Hemschemeyer 282)
A poem about Gumilev's death also appeared in this book. This
version has also been translated by Judith Hemschemeyer:
You are no longer among the living,
You cannot rise from the snow.
Twenty-eight bayonets,
Five bullets.
A bitter new shirt
For my beloved I sewed.
The Russian earth loves, loves
Droplets of blood.
(Hemschemeyer 287-288)
Roberta Reeder has written that with the publication of
Anno
Domini MCMXXI, Akhmatova declared to the people "I--am your
voice" (163). At this time, the Communists were busy dismantling
all vestiges of the old Russian society, including literature.
In 1924 there was an unofficial Communist Party resolution
banning the publication of Akhmatova (Reeder 174). The same year,
Stalin took control of the government after the death of Lenin.
Stalin's reign brought death to millions through exile, execution
and starvation.
Akhmatova's book,
Reed, was prepared for publication,
but was released in 1940 only as part of a collection of her poetry
called From Six Books. It was withdrawn from publication after a
few months. Reportedly, Stalin did not like one of the poems
(Reeder 230). The
Reed verses were written from
1924 to 1940, which were difficult times. The Stalinist Terror
was in full force during the thirties. In "Voronezh," from
Reed,
Akhmatova writes:
But in the room of the poet in disgrace
Fear and the Muse keep watch by turns.
And the night comes on
That knows no dawn. (14-17)
(Herschemeyer 381)
According to Akhmatova's friend Lidiya Chukovskaya, who kept a
meticulous journal of their conversations and friendship,
Akhmatova added the lines above in 1958. The subject is
Akhmatova's close friend, the poet Osip Mandelshtam, who died in
a labor camp (Chukovskaya 219). It remains a mystery that Stalin
did not have Akhmatova herself exiled or executed.
Reed
contains other poems which dealt with the Terror. In an untitled poem,
translated by the poet Jane Kenyon, Akhmatova writes:
Wild honey has the scent of freedom,
dust--of a ray of sun,
a girl's mouth--of a violet,
and gold--has no perfume.
Watery--the mignonette,
and like an apple--love,
but we have found out forever
that blood smells only of blood. (1-8)
(45)
The poem ends with an image from
Macbeth, "And the Scottish
queen/In vain washed the spattered red drops/From her slender
palms/In the stifling gloom of the king's home..." (Herschemeyer
382). In Russian literature there is a tradition of using
literary allusions to represent political situations. In this
instance, Akhmatova is using Shakespeare to help depict the blood
shed by the Communists (Reeder 194).
Akhmatova outlived Stalin by exactly eight years and also
lived to see him denounced by Khrushchev in 1961. In 1965 a
collection of Akhmatova's poetry was finally published again, and
she was "rehabilitated" by the government. She outlived her
persecutors while giving voice to the truth.
Conclusion
Akhmatova's life spanned the time between the
pre-Revolutionary and post-Stalin eras of Russian history. Despite
terrible persecution and censorship by the State, her poetry gave
voice to the Russian people during times of great upheaval in
Russian society. She did so with verse that is original and
strikingly modern. Akhmatova outlived her persecutors, and her
life has become a symbol of truth and integrity.
The poetry of Akhmatova fulfills the Acmeist ideal of
"beautiful clarity." In her poems she uses everyday speech and
simple language, and her poetry appealed to all segments of
Russian society. Today she is known as one of the four great
Modern Russian lyric poets.
Works Cited
Akhmatova, Anna.
Selected Poems. Trans. Richard McKane.
Newcastle-Upon-Tyne: Bloodaxe, 1989.
Akhmatova, Anna.
Twenty Poems of Anna Akhmatova.
Trans. Jane Kenyon. St. Paul: Eighties Press, 1985.
Akhmatova, Anna.
Complete Poems of Anna Akhmatova. Trans.
Judith Hemschemeyer, Ed. Roberta Reeder. 2nd ed. Boston:
Zephyr, 1992.
Batson, Raymond M. and Joel F. Russell, eds.
Gazetteer of
Planetary Nomenclature 1995. Working Group for Planetary
System Nomenclature International Astronomical Union.
Online. U.S. Geological Survey, Branch of Astrogeology,
Flagstaff Field Office. Internet. 2 Sept. 1996.
Link
Chukovskaya, Lydia.
The Akhmatova Journals: Volume One 1938-
1941. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1994.
Fear and the Muse. Videocassette. Mystic Fire Video, 1990.
Gibian, George and H.W. Tjalsma, eds.
Russian Modernism:
Culture and Avant-Garde, 1900-1930. Ithaca: Cornell UP,
1976.
Kublin, Hyman.
Russia. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1970.
McFadden, Robert D. "Joseph Brodsky, Exiled Poet Who Won Nobel
Prize, Dies at 55."
New York Times 29 Jan. 1996.
Reeder, Roberta.
Anna Akhmatova: Poet and Prophet. New York:
St. Martin's Press. 1994.
Todd, Albert C. and Max Hayward, eds.
20th Century Russian
Poetry: Silver and Steel. New York: Doubleday, 1993.