Anna Ahkmatova's Requiem Analysis

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Ahkmatova’s Requiem: A Discussion of the Events that Inspired a Russian Masterpiece Few authors can convey the raw emotion of world changing events in such a moving and simplistic fashion. Anna Ahkmatova is able to capture this through her almost tangible use of imagery. Her words can transport the reader through time, allowing them to feel the same pain and fear she survived in Russia during Stalin’s reign of terror. Ahkmatova’s writing is known for its abrupt changes in point of view, and quickly shifting stanzas. Her unique style and poetic form can be attributed to the emotional turmoil of the world changing events she and her nation suffered through; and her innate love for music, as found in Mussorgsky’s Russian Opera, Boris Godunov. Requiem is unique for its simplicity; a quality that can be attributed to the furtive way in which it was written, and …show more content…

It is the reason the speaker is in constant, silent agony and the reason she continues forth. She describes her pain in the poem as an unmovable force, “Mountains bow down to this grief, / … but the prison gates hold firm,” (Dedication lines 1 and 3). Not even the force of nature can penetrate the cold iron and stone of the prison walls. The wailing and grieving of millions of mothers cannot move the cold heart of Stalin. One can clearly see how this emotional fight against a looming and imminent figure, shaped Ahkmatova’s voice and style. Ahkmatova is known for her quickly changing point of view. In “Dedication” the speaker initially refers herself and many others as “we” (line 8). However, the speaker then begins describing herself and the following events in third person, only to shift again to first person. Once again, Ahkmatova is showing a personal struggle within the whole of a community. The speaker feels a communal grief, as these women suffer the same fate outside the gates of Leningrad, waiting for their loved ones to be

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