Anna Akhmatova: life and work. Akhmatova: the main themes of creativity

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Anna Akhmatova, whose life and work we will present to you, is the 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. Let's get acquainted first with the life of Anna Gorenko.

Young years

Young years were not cloudless for Anna Andreevna. Her parents separated in 1905. The mother took her daughters with tuberculosis to Evpatoria. Here, for the first time, the "wild girl" encountered the life of rude foreign and dirty cities. She also experienced a love drama, attempted to commit suicide.

Education at the Kyiv and Tsarskoye Selo gymnasiums

The early youth of this poetess was marked by her studies at the Kyiv and Tsarskoye Selo gymnasiums. She took her last class in Kyiv. After that, the future poetess studied law in Kyiv, as well as philology in St. Petersburg, at the Higher Women's Courses. In Kyiv, she learned Latin, which subsequently allowed her to become fluent in Italian, to read Dante in the original. However, Akhmatova soon lost interest in legal disciplines, so she went to St. Petersburg, continuing her studies at historical and literary courses.

First poems and publications

The first poems in which Derzhavin's influence is still noticeable were written by a young high school student Gorenko when she was only 11 years old. The first publications appeared in 1907.

In the 1910s, from the very beginning, Akhmatova began to publish regularly in Moscow and St. Petersburg publications. After the "Shop of Poets" (in 1911), a literary association, is created, she acts as secretary in it.

Marriage, trip to Europe

Anna Andreevna in the period from 1910 to 1918 was married to N. S. Gumilyov, also a famous Russian poet. She met him while studying at the Tsarskoye Selo gymnasium. After that, Akhmatova traveled to Paris in 1910-1912, where she became friends with Amedeo Modigliani, the Italian artist who created her portrait. She also visited Italy at the same time.

Akhmatova's appearance

Nikolai Gumilyov introduced his wife to the literary and artistic environment, where her name acquired early significance. Not only the poetic manner of Anna Andreevna became popular, but also her appearance. Akhmatova impressed her contemporaries with her majesty and roy alty. She was treated like a queen. The appearance of this poetess inspired not only A. Modigliani, but also such artists as K. Petrov-Vodkin, A. Altman, Z. Serebryakova, A. Tyshler, N. Tyrsa, A. Danko (below is the work of Petrov-Vodkin).

The first collection of poems and the birth of a son

In 1912, a significant year for the poetess, two important events took place in her life. The first collection of Anna Andreevna's poems is published under the name "Evening", which marked her work. Akhmatova also gave birth to a son, a future historian, Lev Nikolayevich Gumilyov - an important event in her personal life.

The poems included in the first collection are plastic in terms of the images used in them, clear in composition. They forced Russian criticism to say that a new talent had arisen in poetry. Although Akhmatova's "teachers" are such symbolist 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. Mandelstam and N. S. Gumilyov, the poetess in the early 1910s formed the core of this new trend in poetry that appeared at that time.

The next two compilations, the decision to stay in Russia

Followed the first collection and the second book called "Rosary" (in 1914), and three years later, in September 1917, the collection "White Flock" was released, the third in a row in her work. The October Revolution did not force the poetess to emigrate, although mass emigration began at that time. Russia was left one after another by people close to Akhmatova: A. Lurie, B. Antrep, as well as O. Glebova-Studeikina, her friend of her youth. However, the poetess decided to stay in "sinful" and "deaf" Russia. A sense of responsibility to their country, connections with the Russian land andlanguage 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, argues with her, V. Frank and G. Adamovich turn to Anna Andreevna.

Difficult times for Anna Andreevna Akhmatova

At this time, her life changed dramatically, which reflected her creativity. Akhmatova worked in the library at the Agronomic Institute, in the early 1920s she managed to publish two more poetry collections. These were "Plantain", released in 1921, as well as "Anno Domini" (in translation - "In the summer of the Lord", released 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. Gumilyov, ex-husband, who was accused of participating in a conspiracy against the revolution; on the other - the rejection of the work of the poetess by Soviet criticism. During the years of this forced silence, Anna Andreevna was engaged in the work of Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin a lot.

Visit Optina Pustyn

Akhmatova associated the change in her "voice" and "handwriting" with the mid-1920s, with a visit in 1922, in May, to Optina Pustyn and a conversation with Elder Nektary. Probably, this conversation had a strong influence on the poetess. Akhmatova was maternally related to A. Motovilov, who was a lay novice of Seraphim of Sarov. She took over the generations of the idea of redemption, sacrifice.

Secondmarriage

In the fate of Akhmatova, the turning point was also connected with the personality of V. Shileiko, who became her second husband. He was an orientalist who studied the culture of such ancient countries as Babylon, Assyria, and Egypt. Personal life with this helpless and despotic person did not work out, however, the poetess attributed the increase in philosophical restrained notes in her work to his influence.

Life and work in the 1940s

A collection called "From Six Books" appears in 1940. He returned for a short time to the modern literature of that time such a poetess as Anna Akhmatova. Her life and work at this time are quite dramatic. Akhmatova was caught in Leningrad by the Great Patriotic War. She was evacuated from there to Tashkent. However, in 1944 the poetess returned to Leningrad. In 1946, subjected to unfair and cruel criticism, 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 at that time Anna Akhmatova was engaged in literary translation. Creativity of her Soviet power was not interested. LN Gumilyov, her son, was at that time serving his sentence in labor camps as a political criminal. Akhmatova's poetry returned to Russian literature only in the second half of the 1950s. Since 1958, collections of lyrics by this poetess have begun to be published again. Was completed in 1962 "Poem without a hero", created for as many as 22years. Anna Akhmatova died on March 5, 1966. The poetess was buried near St. Petersburg, in Komarov. Her grave is shown below.

Acmeism in the work of Akhmatova

Akhmatova, whose work today is one of the pinnacles of Russian poetry, later treated her first book of poems rather coolly, highlighting only a single line in it: "… drunk with the sound of a voice similar to 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 data to become a real one. In many ways, the poetics of "Evening" predetermined the theoretical program of acmeism - a new trend in literature, to which such a poetess as Anna Akhmatova is often attributed. Her work reflects many of the characteristic features of this trend.

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, about the work of representatives of this trend was called as follows: "Overcoming symbolism." Mystical distances and "purple worlds" were opposed to life in this world, "here and now." Moral relativism and various forms of new Christianity have been replaced by "an unshakable rock of values".

The theme of love in the works of the poetess

Akhmatova came to literature 20century, its first quarter, with the most traditional theme for world lyrics - the theme of love. However, its solution in the work of this poetess is fundamentally new. Akhmatova's poems are far from the sentimental female lyrics presented in the 19th century by such names as Karolina Pavlova, Yulia Zhadovskaya, Mirra Lokhvitskaya. They are also far from the "ideal", abstract lyrics characteristic of the love poetry of the Symbolists. In this sense, she relied mainly not on Russian lyrics, but on the prose of the 19th century Akhmatov. Her work was innovative. O. E. Mandelstam, for example, wrote that the complexity of the Russian novel of the 19th century Akhmatova brought to the lyrics. An essay on her work could begin with this thesis.

In the "Evening" love feelings appeared in different guises, but the heroine invariably appeared rejected, deceived, suffering. K. Chukovsky wrote about her that it was Akhmatova who was the first to discover that being unloved is poetic (an essay based on her work, "Akhmatova and Mayakovsky", created by the same author, largely contributed to her persecution, when the poems of this poetess not published). Unhappy love was seen as a source of creativity, not a curse. Three parts of the collection are named respectively "Love", "Deceit" and "Muse". Fragile femininity and grace were combined in Akhmatova's lyrics with the courageous acceptance of her suffering. Of the 46 poems included in this collection, almost half was devoted to parting and death. This is no coincidence. In the period from 1910 to 1912, the poetess had a feelingshort days, she foresaw death. By 1912, two of her sisters had died of tuberculosis, so Anna Gorenko (Akhmatova, whose life and work we are considering) believed that the same fate would befall her. However, unlike the Symbolists, she did not associate separation and death with feelings of hopelessness and melancholy. These moods gave rise to the experience of the beauty of the world.

The distinctive features of the style of this poetess were outlined in the collection "Evening" and finally took shape first in the "Rosary", then in the "White Flock".

Motives of conscience and memory

Anna Andreevna's intimate lyrics are deeply historical. Already in "Rosary" and "Supper" along with the theme of love, two other main motives appear - conscience and memory.

"Fateful minutes", which marked the national history (which began in 1914 the First World War), coincided with a difficult period in the life of the poetess. She was diagnosed with tuberculosis in 1915, a hereditary disease in her family.

"Pushkinism" by Akhmatova

The motives of conscience and memory in the "White Flock" are further enhanced, after which they become dominant in her work. The poetic style of this poetess evolved in 1915-1917. Increasingly, Akhmatova's peculiar "Pushkinism" is mentioned in criticism. Its essence is artistic completeness, accuracy of expression. The presence of a "quotation layer" with numerous roll calls and allusions both with contemporaries and withpredecessors: O. E. Mandelstam, B. L. Pasternak, A. A. Blok. All the spiritual we alth of the culture of our country stood behind Akhmatova, and she rightly felt like his heir.

The theme of the motherland in the work of Akhmatova, attitude to the revolution

The dramatic events of the lifetime of the poetess could not but be reflected in her work. Akhmatova, whose life and work took place in a difficult period for our country, perceived the revolution of 1917 as a catastrophe. 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." The line "in those fabulous years …" by F. I. Tyutchev was taken as an epigraph to the entire book. There is no more homeland for the poetess…

However, for Akhmatova, the revolution is also a retribution for the sinful life of the past, retribution. Even though the lyrical heroine did not do evil herself, she feels that she is involved in the common guilt, so Anna Andreevna is ready to share the difficult lot of her people. The homeland in the work of Akhmatova is obliged to atone for its guilt.

Even the title of the book, which means "In the Year of the Lord", indicates that the poetess perceives her era as God's will. The use of historical parallels and biblical motifs becomes one of the ways to comprehend artistically what is happening in Russia. Akhmatova resorts to them more and more often (for example, the poems "Cleopatra", "Dante", "Bible verses").

In the lyrics of thisgreat poetess "I" at this time turns into "we". Anna Andreevna speaks on behalf of "many". Every hour, not only of this poetess, but also of her contemporaries, will be justified precisely by the word of the poet.

These are the main themes of Akhmatova's work, both eternal and characteristic of 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 women's lyrics. However, it has not only much in common, but also the work of Akhmatova and Tsvetaeva differs in many respects. An essay on this topic is often asked to write to schoolchildren. In fact, it is interesting to speculate about why it is almost impossible to confuse a poem written by Akhmatova with a work created by Tsvetaeva. However, that is another topic…