"Twenty-one. Night. Monday". Analysis of the early work of A. Akhmatova

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

The Russian poetess A. Gorenko, who took the Tatar pseudonym Akhmatova, had a difficult life and creative path. "Twenty first. Night. Monday … ": we will analyze this short early poem in the article.

Biography in Brief

Noblewoman Anna Andreevna was the third child in a large family. Three of her sisters died of tuberculosis in their youth, the elder brother committed suicide, the youngest died in exile 10 years after Anna's death. That is, relatives, relatives in difficult moments of life were not next to her.

A. Gorenko was born in Odessa in 1889, and spent her childhood in Tsarskoe Selo, where she studied at the Mariinsky Gymnasium. In the summer the family went to the Crimea.

The girl learned French by listening to the conversations of tutors with her older sister and brother. She began writing poetry at the age of 11. By 1905, an aspiring poet, the handsome N. Gumilyov, fell in love with her and published her poem in Paris. In 1910, they connected their lives, and Anna Andreevna took the pseudonym Akhmatova - her last name.great-grandmothers. Two years later, the son Leo was born.

Six years later, relations between the poets became tense, and in 1918 they divorced. It is no coincidence that in 1917 the 3rd collection of poems en titled "The White Flock" was published. It included the work “Twenty-first. Night. Monday…”, the analysis of which will be below. For now, let's just say that it sounds disappointed in love.

Life after the bloody revolution

In the same 1918, at the age of 29, Anna Andreevna hastily marries Vladimir Shileiko and after three years breaks up with him. At this time, N. Gumilyov was arrested and almost a month later they were shot. At the age of 33, Anna Andreevna joins her life with the art critic N. Punin. During this period, her poems cease to be printed. When the son was 26 years old, he was arrested for five years. The poetess breaks up with N. Punin and will be able to see her son for a short time only in 1943. In 1944 he joined the army and participated in the capture of Berlin. However, in 1949, N. Punin and his son were arrested. Lev is sentenced to 10 years in the camps. Mother knocked all the thresholds, stood in lines with programs, wrote poems that sang the glory of Stalin, but her son was not allowed out. The 20th Congress of the CPSU brought him freedom.

In 1964, the poet was awarded a prize in Italy.

In 1965 she made a trip to Britain: she received an honorary diploma from the University of Oxford.

And in 1966, at the age of 77, Anna Andreevna died. Could the poetess think up such a bitter fate for herself whenat the age of 28, the lines “Twenty-first. Night. Monday… ? An analysis of the work will be given below. Unfolded love occupied her thoughts at that moment.

Briefly about the "White Pack" in the work of A. Akhmatova

One can ask a question: why such a strange name for the third collection of the poetess? White is innocent, pure, and also the color of the Holy Spirit, which descended to the sinful earth in the form of a dove. Also this color is a symbol of death.

The image of birds is freedom, hence the flock, which has come off the ground, looks at everything aloofly. Pure freedom and death of feelings - this is the theme of the work “Twenty-first. Night. Monday… . An analysis of the poem shows how the lyrical heroine separated from the “flock” in order to indulge in concrete reflection alone at night: is love needed? A poem without a title. This suggests that the poet is afraid that the title may be treated as a separate text and give additional meaning that the author does not need.

"Twenty-one. Night. Monday…". Analysis of the poem

The work begins with short, one-line, completed sentences. And it creates the impression of separation of the lyrical heroine from everyone and everything: “Twenty-first. Night. Monday . An analysis of the last two lines of the first stanza shows a nightly conversation in silence with oneself, full of confidence that there is no love on earth. It was just written by some bum. Business people do not experience feelings, according to the lyrical heroine.

The second stanza is no less contemptuous. Everyone believed the idler only out of laziness and boredom. Instead of doing business, people are full of dreams and hopes for meeting, suffering from separations.

The last quatrain is dedicated to the chosen people, those to whom the secret has been revealed, and therefore nothing disturbs them. At the age of 28, to accidentally stumble upon such a discovery, when the whole life is still ahead, is very bitter. That is why the lyrical heroine says that she seemed to be ill. She, unhappy and lonely, is as difficult as a young girl experiencing her first dramatic love.

This collection is largely inspired by meetings with her beloved Boris Anrep, whom A. Akhmatova met in 1914 and met often. But fate separated them: Anrep spent his whole life in exile. They met only when Anna Andreevna came to England in 1965. In his opinion, even at that age she was majestic and beautiful.

Finishing the analysis of Akhmatova's poem “Twenty-first. Night. Monday…”, it should be added, it is written in anapaest.