"Native land" by Akhmatova: analysis of the poem

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

Outrageous, extraordinary, talented - this is the image of Anna Akhtmatova, left as a legacy to posterity. Her themes were different: civil, philosophical, lyrical. But there is one little-known work in her work that falls out of the clip of her typical creations. His theme was his native land.

Anna Akhmatova

Analysis is a logical method, can it be used to study such subtle and sometimes mystical things as poetry? Let's try.

Anya had a simple Ukrainian surname Gorenko in her childhood. It was the desire for creativity that prompted her to take the family name of her grandmother, the Tatar princess: this is how she managed to hide her published poems from her father under the name Akhmatova.

Anna was an ordinary child with typical inclinations and interests for her age. Only poems that were born from the heart did not give her rest. She wrote on those topics to which she was not indifferent, to which her soul responded.

She had a chance to visit various parts of the planet, to see a variety ofnational and cultural traditions, suggestive of the fate of the world. Love, falling in love, fans, experiences and impressions gave birth to poetic lyrics that came out from under her pen. Pushkin and Derzhavin were her inspirations.

But one topic was alien to her for a long time - Yesenin's paganism, nature worship, a sense of eternal connection with the outside world and the infinity of life.

Was Yesenin?

Akhmatova never mentioned any sympathy for Yesenin or a penchant for his poetic images. Yes, and at first glance, the poets differed in the style and themes of their works. But didn't "experience, the son of difficult mistakes" play a role in Anna's later worldview?

Akhmatova had many trials: war, famine, loss of her beloved husband, arrest of her son, persecution and injustice against her. The faded shadow of Leningrad dear to her heart met her after the war. All this fell upon the poetess and, undoubtedly, inspired reflections and influenced the worldview.

Akhmatova for years reflected on the fate of mankind in a civil, social tone, but it is hardly possible to find even a hint of nature worship in her early works. The civil homeland was not identified in her young mind with mother earth. And the analysis of Akhmatova's poem "Native Land" leaves a completely different impression.

Paganism in the works of Anna Akhmatova

In 1961, a somewhat illogical and atypical verse "Native Land" by Akhmatova was published. Analysis of thisa small work was performed more than once, and usually experts attributed it to the so-called civil lyrics. Probably, such conclusions are inspired by the image of the motherland, which is ignored, not noticed and trampled upon, taking it for granted.

From a different point of view, Akhmatova's "Native Land" may produce a different impression: analysis of thoughts "between the lines" forces us to assert that this text perfectly illustrates the centuries-old paganism characteristic of all those born in Russia.

What is paganism? This is the animation and deification of the forces of nature, the perception of its phenomena as manifestations of the eternal, beyond the scope of human understanding and life. Where is all this in Akhmatova's lines?

"Native Land" by Akhmatova

The analysis of this verse is as difficult as the text itself. In fact, glorification from the opposite occurs here: the poetess, with ostentatious cynicism and indifference, seems to lower the level of sanctity of her native land. “We don’t carry it on our chests in treasured amulets,” the author states coldly, voicing the modern man. What is heard in these words: sadness, regret, longing? It seems that one indifference.

Further - more. Akhmatova utters: "Yes, for us it is dirt on galoshes," thereby completely leveling the significance of the country-motherland and the earth as a homeland for billions of people. Having achieved a 3D effect from the reader, a sense of presence, the poetess suddenly strikes at the very heart, goes deep into the fear of everyone - reminds of the inevitable end. With just a few words she finishesproud and indifferent contemporary: "But we lie down in it and become it."

It is in these few lines that the essence of the poem lies: a deep pagan worldview comes out, representing the earth as an eternal living being, the foremother and grave of all things.

And before this last ruthless blow to modern soullessness, the poetess, as if by chance, throws a line about the sinlessness of the earth, its holiness: "That unmixed dust." Such an outcome is revealed to us by Akhmatova. "Native land", the analysis of the poem demonstrates this, appears as a multifaceted picture of being. Wordsmith and pagan!

Mother Earth

So, does Akhmatova's "Native Land" refer to civilian lyrics? The analysis above is quite subjective, but it has the right to exist, especially today, in the age of thoughtless consumer attitude to the environment and the simultaneous discovery of intimate knowledge about the origin and destiny of man.

Earth from time immemorial has been a symbol of fertility, birth and motherhood. Yes, this is how it is: everything essential for man grows and flows from the earth. How is it that the inhabitants of the beautiful planet Earth remain indifferent to their nurse, and sometimes cruel? This is what the poem makes you think about.

"What is the source of our life and refuge in death?" - asks Akhmatova. Motherland! An analysis of the lines of the poetess leaves no doubt about the answer.