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Anna Akhmatova (23 June 1889 – 5 March 1966 / Odessa)
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Anna Andreyevna Gorenko, better known by the pen name Anna Akhmatova, was a Russian and Soviet modernist poet, one of the most acclaimed writers in the Russian canon.
Akhmatova's work ranges from short lyric poems to intricately structured cycles, such as Requiem (1935–40), her tragic masterpiece about the Stalinist terror. Her style, characterised by its economy and emotional restraint, was strikingly original and distinctive to her contemporaries. The strong and clear leading female voice struck a new chord in Russian poetry. Her writing can be said to fall into two periods - the early work (1912–25) and her later work (from around 1936 until her death), divided by a decade of ... more »
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Quotations
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It was a time when only the dead
Anna Akhmatova (1889-1966), Russian poet. "Requiem," introduction, trans. by Richard McKane (1985). Though Akhmatova's long poem about the Stalini...
smiled, happy in their peace.
...
Stars of Death stood over us,
and innocent Russia squirmed
under the bloody boots,
under th...
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''The triumphs of a mysterious non-meeting are desolate ones; unspoken phrases, silent words.''
Anna Akhmatova (1889-1966), Russian poet. "Two Poems," no. 2, l. 1 (1956), trans. by Dimitri Obolensky (1965).
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''Wild honey smells of freedom
Anna Akhmatova (1889-1966), Russian poet. "Wild Honey Smells of Freedom," lines 1-4, as translated by Lenore Mayhew and William McNaughton (1943).
The dust—of sunlight
The mouth of a young girl, like a violet
But gold—smells of nothing.''
She has a voice...
No one can cross...
She has a chant...
Like a 'Breathing Rose'...!
Her words are so simply hung. I love her words.
i like it very touching