The history of Russian poetry cannot be imagined without the name of Anna Andreevna Akhmatova. She began her creative journey by joining the “Workshop of Poets” and then becoming an “Acmeist”.
Many critics immediately noted, perhaps, the main feature of her work. The first collections of this poet are almost exclusively love lyrics. It would seem that what new can be brought to this long-used topic? Nevertheless, Akhmatova managed to reveal it in a way that no one had done before. Only she managed to become the female voice of her time, a woman poet of universal significance. It was Akhmatova who, for the first time in Russian literature, showed in her work the universal lyrical character of a woman.
Also, Akhmatova’s love lyrics are distinguished by deep psychologism. Her poems were often compared to Russian psychological prose. She knew how to incredibly subtly notice the state of her lyrical heroes and express this through skillfully selected external details.
One of the most famous works related to love lyrics is the poem “Clenched my hands under a dark veil...”. It is included in the collection “Evening” (Akhmatova’s first collection) and was written in 1911. Here is a love drama between two people:
She clasped her hands under a dark veil...
“Why are you pale today?”
Because I am tartly sad
Got him drunk.
The image of a “dark veil” already sets the reader up for tragedy, especially in combination with the antithesis “pale.” Most likely, this is a symbol of death, but not the death of some person. Thanks to the further text, you can understand that this is the death of a relationship, the death of love.
But whose fault is it that feelings are broken? The heroine admits that it was she who “poisoned” her lover with “tart sadness.” It is very interesting that the heroine drinks sadness like wine (the original metaphor is “drunk with sadness”, the epithet “tart sadness”). And the hero gets drunk on her with bitterness and pain. “To get drunk” in the context of this poem means to cause a lot of suffering. Of course, the reader understands that it is the lyrical heroine who is to blame for what happened.
The following lines show the hero’s suffering, conveyed through the perception of the lyrical heroine herself:
How can I forget? He came out staggering
The mouth twisted painfully...
I ran after him to the gate.
The lyrical heroine notes that she will never be able to forget what her lover looked like at that moment. In the phrase “He went out staggering,” the motif of wine again echoes the motif of suffering.
It is important to notice how the hero behaves. He does not insult the woman who betrayed him, does not shout at her. His behavior conveys severe pain, from which “his mouth twisted painfully.” The hero silently leaves the room. And the lyrical heroine already managed to regret what she had done and rushed after her lover.
Akhmatova conveys her swiftness and impulse with just one detail. She ran down the stairs “without touching the railing.” And we understand that this woman is trying to catch up with her departing love, which she herself lost. Regretting her action, the heroine wants to return her beloved:
Smiled calmly and creepily
Of course, behind her scream lies severe emotional pain. And the heroine herself confirms this with the words “if you leave, I’ll die.” I think she doesn't mean physical death, but rather psychological and emotional death. This is a cry from the soul, a last attempt to stop what has already gone. How does the hero respond to this? His remark “Don’t stand in the wind” combined with a “calm and creepy” smile suggests that you can’t get your lover back. Everything is lost. The hero’s indifferently caring phrase says that feelings are lost forever. The heroes are no longer family, but casual acquaintances. This gives the poem a genuine tragedy.
This poem is plot-driven and lyrical at the same time: it is filled with action, both physical and mental. The heroine’s swift actions help convey the flurry of feelings in her soul and in the hero’s soul: he came out staggering; the mouth twisted; ran away without touching the railing; ran to the gate; gasping for breath, she screamed; smiled calmly and creepily.
The direct speech of the characters is introduced into the poem. This was done in order to more visibly convey the tragedy of two people losing love, to bring the characters closer to the reader, and also to enhance the confessional nature of the poem and its sincerity.
Akhmatova’s skillfully used means of artistic expression help her convey all the intensity of feelings, all the emotional pain and experiences. The poem is filled with psychological, emotional epithets (tart sadness, twisted painfully, smiled calmly and terribly); metaphors (sadness made me drunk). There are antitheses in the work: the dark one - pale, gasping, screamed - smiled calmly and creepily.
The poem has a traditional cross rhyme, as well as a traditional strophic division - into three quatrains.
She clasped her hands under a dark veil...
“Why are you pale today? ”
Got him drunk.
How can I forget? He came out staggering.
The mouth twisted painfully...
I ran away without touching the railing,
I ran after him to the gate.
Gasping for breath, I shouted: “It’s a joke.
All that has gone before. If you leave, I’ll die.”
Smiled calmly and creepily
And he told me: “Don’t stand in the wind.”
January 8, 1911 Kyiv.
This poem, which is truly a masterpiece of Akhmatova’s work, evokes a complex range of feelings in me and I want to read it again and again. Of course, all her poems are beautiful, but this is my favorite.
In Anna Andreevna’s artistic system, a skillfully chosen detail, a sign of the external environment, is always filled with great psychological content. Through a person’s external behavior and his gesture, Akhmatova reveals the mental state of her hero.
One of the clearest examples is this short poem. It was written in 1911 in Kyiv.
Here we are talking about a quarrel between lovers. The poem is divided into two unequal parts. The first part (first stanza) is a dramatic beginning, introduction to action (question: “Why are you pale today?”). Everything that follows is an answer, in the form of a passionate, ever-accelerating story, which, having reached its highest point (“If you leave, I’ll die”), is abruptly interrupted by a deliberately everyday, offensively prosaic remark: “Don’t stand in the wind.”
The confused state of the heroes of this little drama is conveyed not by a lengthy explanation, but by the expressive details of their behavior: “came out, staggering,” “mouth twisted,” “ran away without touching the railing” (conveys the speed of desperate running), “screamed, gasping,” “smiled.” calm down" and so on.
The drama of the situations is concisely and precisely expressed in contrast to the ardent impulse of the soul of a deliberately everyday, insultingly calm answer.
To depict all this in prose would probably take a whole page. And the poet managed with only twelve lines, conveying in them the full depth of the characters’ experiences.
Let us note in passing: the strength of poetry is brevity, the greatest economy of expressive means. To say a lot about a little is one of the testaments of true art. And Akhmatova learned this from our classics, primarily from Pushkin, Baratynsky, Tyutchev, as well as from her contemporary, fellow Tsarskoe Selo resident Innokenty Annensky, a great master of natural speech information and aphoristic verse.
Returning to the poem we read, we can notice another feature of it. It is full of movement, in which events continuously follow one another. These twelve short lines can easily even turn into a movie script if you break them down into frames. It would go something like this. Introduction: question and short answer. 1 part. He. 1. Came out staggering. 2. His bitter smile (close-up). Part 2. She. 1. Runs up the stairs, “without touching the railing.” 2. He catches up with him at the gate. 3. Her despair. 4. Her last cry. Part 3. He. 1. Smile (calm). 2. A sharp and offensive answer.
The result is an expressive psychological film study in which the internal drama is conveyed through purely visual images.
This excellent poem deserves the highest appreciation from the reader.
Analysis and interpretation of A. Akhmatova’s poem “Clenched her hands under a dark veil...”
- What emotions did reading the poem evoke in you? What feelings and mood is it imbued with?
- What questions did you have when reading the poem that remained unclear?
Note: in a class familiar with this type of activity, students, as a rule, identify the entire range of issues related to the analysis and interpretation of the work.
The following is a sample diagram of questions that students can identify.
- Why does the heroine run only to the gate, what features of the artistic space can be identified?
- How do past and present tenses relate in the poem? What time are we talking about anyway?
-Whose person is the poem speaking from? What is this dialogue between the lyrical heroine and the lyrical hero or the monologue of the heroine?
- What is the theme of this poem?
- What is the main event of the verse.
“She clenched her hands under a dark veil...” Anna Akhmatova
poetry Clasped her hands under a dark veil...
“Why are you pale today?”
- Because I have tart sadness
Got him drunk.
How can I forget? He came out staggering
The mouth twisted painfully...
I ran away without touching the railing,
I ran after him to the gate.
Gasping for breath, I shouted: “It’s a joke.
All that has gone before. If you leave, I will die."
Smiled calmly and creepily
And he told me: “Don’t stand in the wind.”
Analysis of Akhmatova’s poem “Clenched her hands under a dark veil...”
Anna Akhmatova is one of the few representatives of Russian literature who gave the world such a concept as women's love lyrics, proving that representatives of the fairer sex can not only experience strong feelings, but also figuratively express them on paper.
The poem “Clenched her hands under a dark veil...”, written in 1911, dates back to the early period of the poetess’s work. This is a magnificent example of intimate female lyricism, which still remains a mystery to literary scholars. The thing is that this work appeared a year after the marriage of Anna Akhmatova and Nikolai Gumilev, but it is not a dedication to her husband. However, the name of the mysterious stranger, to whom the poetess dedicated many poems filled with sadness, love and even despair, remained a mystery. People around Anna Akhmatova claimed that she never loved Nikolai Gumilyov and married him only out of compassion, fearing that sooner or later he would carry out his threat and commit suicide. Meanwhile, throughout their short and unhappy marriage, Akhmatova remained a faithful and devoted wife, did not have affairs on the side and was very reserved towards admirers of her work. So who is the mysterious stranger to whom the poem “Clenched her hands under a dark veil...” was addressed? Most likely, it simply did not exist in nature. A rich imagination, an unspent feeling of love and an undoubted poetic gift became the driving force that forced Anna Akhmatova to invent a mysterious stranger for herself, endow him with certain traits and make him the hero of her works.
The poem “Clenched my hands under a dark veil...” is dedicated to a quarrel between lovers. Moreover, acutely hating all the everyday aspects of people’s relationships, Anna Akhmatova deliberately omitted her reason, which, knowing the bright temperament of the poetess, could be the most banal. The picture that Anna Akhmatova paints in her poem tells about the last moments of a quarrel, when all the accusations have already been made, and resentment fills two close people to the brim. The first line of the poem indicates that its heroine is very acutely and painfully experiencing what happened, she is pale and clasped her hands under the veil. When asked what happened, the woman replies that she “made him drunk with tart sadness.” This means that she admits that she was wrong and repents of those words that caused so much grief and pain to her lover. But, understanding this, she also realizes that to do otherwise means to betray herself, allowing someone else to control her thoughts, desires and actions.
This quarrel made an equally painful impression on the main character of the poem, who “came out staggering, his mouth twisted painfully.” One can only guess what feelings he is experiencing, since Anna Akhmatova clearly adheres to the rule that she writes about women and for women. Therefore, the lines addressed to the opposite sex, with the help of careless strokes, recreate the portrait of the hero, showing his mental turmoil. The ending of the poem is tragic and filled with bitterness. The heroine tries to stop her lover, but in response she hears a meaningless and rather banal phrase: “Don’t stand in the wind.” In any other situation, it could be interpreted as a sign of concern. However, after a quarrel, it means only one thing - reluctance to see the one who is capable of causing such pain.
Anna Akhmatova deliberately avoids talking about whether reconciliation is even possible in such a situation. She breaks off her narrative, giving readers the opportunity to figure out for themselves how events developed further. And this technique of understatement makes the perception of the poem more acute, forcing us to return again and again to the fate of the two heroes who broke up due to an absurd quarrel.
Poem by A.A. Akhmatova “Clenched her hands under a dark veil...”(perception, interpretation, evaluation)
Analysis of the poem
1. The history of the creation of the work.
2. Characteristics of a work of the lyrical genre (type of lyrics, artistic method, genre).
3. Analysis of the content of the work (analysis of the plot, characteristics of the lyrical hero, motives and tonality).
4. Features of the composition of the work.
5. Analysis of means of artistic expression and versification (presence of tropes and stylistic figures, rhythm, meter, rhyme, stanza).
6. The meaning of the poem for the poet’s entire work.
The poem “Clenched her hands under a dark veil...” refers to the early work of A.A. Akhmatova. It was written in 1911 and was included in the collection “Evening”. The work relates to intimate lyrics. Its main theme is love, the feelings experienced by the heroine when parting with a person dear to her.
The poem opens with a characteristic detail, a certain gesture of the lyrical heroine: “She clenched her hands under a dark veil.” This image of the “dark veil” sets the tone for the entire poem. Akhmatova’s plot is given only in its infancy, it is incomplete, we do not know the history of the relationships between the characters, the reason for their quarrel, separation. The heroine speaks about this in half-hints, metaphorically. This entire love story is hidden from the reader, just as the heroine is hidden under a “dark veil.” At the same time, her characteristic gesture (“She clenched her hands…”) conveys the depth of her experiences and the severity of her feelings. Also here we can note Akhmatova’s peculiar psychologism: her feelings are revealed through gestures, behavior, and facial expressions. Dialogue plays a big role in the first stanza. This is a conversation with an invisible interlocutor, as researchers note, probably with the heroine’s own conscience. The answer to the question “Why are you pale today” is a story about the heroine’s last date with her loved one. Here Akhmatova uses a romantic metaphor: “I made him drunk with tart sadness.” The dialogue here increases the psychological tension.
In general, the motif of love as a deadly poison is found in many poets. Thus, in the poem “Cup” by V. Bryusov we read:
Again the same cup with black moisture
Once again a cup of fire moisture!
Love, an undefeatable enemy,
I recognize your black cup
And the sword raised above me.
Oh, let me fall with my lips to the edge
Glasses of mortal wine!
N. Gumilyov has a poem “Poisoned”. However, the motive of poisoning there unfolds literally in the plot: the hero was given poison by his beloved. Researchers have noted the textual overlap between the poems of Gumilyov and Akhmatova. So, from Gumilyov we read:
You are completely, you are completely snowy,
How strangely and terribly pale you are!
Why are you shaking when you serve?
Should I have a glass of golden wine?
The situation is depicted here in a romantic way: Gumilyov’s hero is noble, in the face of death he forgives his beloved, rising above the plot and life itself:
I'll go far, far away,
I won't be sad and angry.
To me from heaven, cool heaven
White reflections of the day are visible...
And it’s sweet to me - don’t cry, dear, -
To know that you poisoned me.
Akhmatova’s poem also ends with the words of the hero, but the situation here is realistic, the feelings are more intense and dramatic, despite the fact that the poisoning here is a metaphor.
The second stanza conveys the hero's feelings. They are also indicated through behavior, movements, facial expressions: “He came out staggering, His mouth twisted painfully...”. At the same time, the feelings in the heroine’s soul acquire a special intensity:
I ran away without touching the railing,
I ran after him to the gate.
This repetition of the verb (“ran away”, “ran away”) conveys the sincere and deep suffering of the heroine, her despair. Love is her only meaning of life, but at the same time it is a tragedy, full of insoluble contradictions. “Without touching the railing” - this expression emphasizes swiftness, recklessness, impulsiveness, and lack of caution. Akhmatova’s heroine does not think about herself at this moment; she is overwhelmed by acute pity for the one whom she unwittingly made to suffer.
The third stanza is a kind of culmination. The heroine seems to understand what she can lose. She sincerely believes in what she says. Here again the swiftness of her running and the intensity of her feelings are emphasized. The theme of love is coupled here with the motive of death:
Gasping for breath, I shouted: “It’s a joke.
All that has gone before. If you leave, I’ll die.”
The ending of the poem is unexpected. The hero no longer believes his beloved, he will not return to her. He tries to maintain external calm, but at the same time he still loves her, she is still dear to him:
Smiled calmly and creepily
And he told me: “Don’t stand in the wind.”
Akhmatova uses an oxymoron here: “He smiled calmly and creepily.” Feelings are again conveyed through facial expressions.
The composition is based on the principle of gradual development of the theme, plot, with a climax and denouement in the third quatrain. At the same time, each stanza is built on a certain antithesis: two loving people cannot find happiness, the desired harmony of relationships. The poem is written in three-foot anapest, quatrains, and cross rhymes. Akhmatova uses modest means of artistic expression: metaphor and epithet (“I made him drunk with tart sadness”), alliteration (“My mouth twisted painfully... I ran away from the railing without touching, I ran after him to the gate”), assonance (“Gasping, I shouted: "A joke That's all that happened. If you leave, I'll die").
Thus, the poem reflects the characteristic features of Akhmatova’s early work. The main idea of the poem is the tragic, fatal disunity of loved ones, the impossibility of them gaining understanding and sympathy.
Stylistic analysis of the poem by A. Akhmatova
"I clenched my hands under a dark veil..."
Anna Akhmatova is a subtle lyricist, capable of penetrating into the very heart, touching the innermost corners of the soul, evoking emotions - familiar, painful, tearing to pieces.
Her love lyrics evoke a range of complex feelings, as they convey the strongest emotions at fateful moments in life. A striking example of such an experience is the poem “I clenched my hands under a dark veil...”. This work is about a painful quarrel between two lovers, and judging by the intensity of passions, perhaps about separation...
A.A. Akhmatova is interested in the most dramatic moments in the development of the relationships of her characters. The poem does not describe the quarrel itself, but its consequences. When with your mind you begin to understand all the absurdity of what you have done, all the stupidity of the words spoken in the heat of the moment. And then with all the cells of your body you feel emptiness and growing despair.
The poem can be roughly divided into two unequal parts. The first part, as it were, introduces us to the action with the question: “Why are you pale today?” Everything that follows is an answer, in the form of a rapid, ever-accelerating story, which, having reached its highest point (“If you leave, I will die”), is abruptly interrupted by the phrase of the departing lover: “Don’t stand in the wind.”
The mood of the poem is contained in the expression “ tart sadness." It was as if our heroine had drunkenly drunk her beloved with the “tart” wine of harsh phrases.
In the first line you can see first gesture despair (“she clenched her hands”). She clenched her hands, that is, an attempt to calm down, “gather all her strength into a fist,” to hold back her emotions, at the same time this is a gesture of unbearable pain, which she is trying to pacify, but in vain. “Dark veil” - as a symbol of mourning. “Veil” is like something feminine and light. That is, this detail immediately brings to mind the grief that happened earlier. The image of the “dark veil” seems to cast a shadow of mystery over the entire subsequent plot. The first stanza is built on dialogue. Who the lyrical heroine is franking with also remains a mystery.
The second stanza continues the line of “gestures of despair”. The hero, intoxicated with “tart sadness,” “went out , staggering" The verb “to stagger” itself carries the meaning of some kind of disorientation, loss of balance, loss of oneself. It is obvious that he is so amazed by what happened (we do not fully know what his beloved said to him), that even “ grimaced painfully mouth". This is a grimace of horror, unbearable pain... tearing, cutting, destroying pain. (third “gesture of despair”).
Lines 7 and 8 in the poem are the most rapid, you can feel movement in them. Akhmatova conveys the speed of desperate running with the line “I ran away without touching the railing.” And anaphora, as it were, intensifies and intensifies this state. Conveys haste and crazy excitement of speech, confusion.
In the last stanza, the main motive of Akhmatova’s love lyrics “love or death” is revealed. Love is the whole meaning of earthly existence, without it there is only death (“You will leave. I will die”). The departure of her lover plunges the heroine into despair. And it is not clear whether she is suffocating from running, or from the inability to live without her loved one. Mental illness brings physical suffering to the characters and carries real pain. The very structure of the poem organically conveys this. When reading the words of the heroine in the center of the phrase, a pause inevitably occurs, as if her breath is being taken away from grief and despair, from the inability to hold Him.
The oxymoron in the hero’s smile (“calm and creepy”) tells us about the confusion and contradictory nature of his feelings, which are about to be torn apart. The calmness in such a situation is truly eerie. You can understand the tears, hysterics, screams. Calmness here most likely expresses some kind of dull despair that has struck the hero. No, he does not realize what happened, he still does not fully understand that he has lost his beloved. This is proven by his phrase, striking with care, tenderness, trepidation: “Don’t stand in the wind!” In my opinion, this phrase sounds like a farewell: “I’m leaving, and you take care of yourself...”
The pathos of the poem is tragic. It unfolds the tragedy of great love, destroyed by an everyday quarrel, but still burning. The flame of feelings seems to burn the characters from the inside, causing hellish pain. Isn't this drama? Isn't this a tragedy?
Rhythmic-melodic analysis:
1. _ _ ? / _ _ ? / _ _ ? / _ A
2. _ _ ? / _ _? / _ _ ?/ b
3. _ _ ? / _ _ ? / _ _ ? /_a
4. _ _ ? / _ _ ? / _ _ ? /b
3-foot anapest
5. _ _ ? / _ _ ? / _ _ ? /_a
6. _ _ ? / _ _? / _ _ ?/ b
7. _ _ ? / _ _ ? / _ _ ? /_a
8. _ _ ? / _ _ ? / _ _ ? /b
Cross rhyme
9. _ _ ? / _ _ ? / _ _ ? /_a
10. _ _ ? / _ _? / _ _ ?/ b
eleven. _ _ ? / _ _ ? / _ _ ? /_a
The poem “Clenched her hands under a dark veil...” refers to the early work of A.A. Akhmatova. It was written in 1911 and was included in the collection “Evening”. The work relates to intimate lyrics. Its main theme is love, the feelings experienced by the heroine when parting with a person dear to her.
The poem opens with a characteristic detail, a certain gesture of the lyrical heroine: “She clenched her hands under a dark veil.” This image of the “dark veil” sets the tone for the entire poem. Akhmatova’s plot is given only in its infancy, it is incomplete, we do not know the history of the relationships between the characters, the reason for their quarrel, separation. The heroine speaks about this in half-hints, metaphorically. This entire love story is hidden from the reader, just as the heroine is hidden under a “dark veil.” At the same time, her characteristic gesture (“She clenched her hands…”) conveys the depth of her experiences and the severity of her feelings. Also here we can note Akhmatova’s peculiar psychologism: her feelings are revealed through gestures, behavior, and facial expressions. Dialogue plays a big role in the first stanza. This is a conversation with an invisible interlocutor, as researchers note, probably with the heroine’s own conscience. The answer to the question “Why are you pale today” is a story about the heroine’s last date with her loved one. Here he uses a romantic metaphor: “I made him drunk with tart sadness.” The dialogue here increases the psychological tension.
In general, the motif of love as a deadly poison is found in many poets. Thus, in the poem “Cup” by V. Bryusov we read:
Again the same cup with black moisture
Once again a cup of fire moisture!
Love, an undefeatable enemy,
I recognize your black cup
And the sword raised above me.
Oh, let me fall with my lips to the edge
Glasses of mortal wine!
N. Gumilyov has a poem “Poisoned”. However, the motive of poisoning there unfolds literally in the plot: the hero was given poison by his beloved. Researchers have noted the textual overlap between the poems of Gumilyov and Akhmatova. So, from Gumilyov we read:
You are completely, you are completely snowy,
How strangely and terribly pale you are!
Why are you shaking when you serve?
Should I have a glass of golden wine?
The situation is depicted here in a romantic way: Gumilyov’s hero is noble, in the face of death he forgives his beloved, rising above the plot and life itself:
I'll go far, far away,
I won't be sad and angry.
To me from heaven, cool heaven
White reflections of the day are visible...
And it’s sweet to me - don’t cry, dear, -
To know that you poisoned me.
Akhmatova’s poem also ends with the words of the hero, but the situation here is realistic, the feelings are more intense and dramatic, despite the fact that the poisoning here is a metaphor.
The second stanza conveys the hero's feelings. They are also indicated through behavior, movements, facial expressions: “He came out staggering, His mouth twisted painfully...”. At the same time, the feelings in the heroine’s soul acquire a special intensity:
I ran away without touching the railing,
I ran after him to the gate.
This repetition of the verb (“ran away”, “ran away”) conveys the sincere and deep suffering of the heroine, her despair. Love is her only meaning of life, but at the same time it is a tragedy full of insoluble contradictions. “Without touching the railing” - this expression emphasizes swiftness, recklessness, impulsiveness, and lack of caution. Akhmatova’s heroine does not think about herself at this moment; she is overwhelmed by acute pity for the one whom she unwittingly made to suffer.
The third stanza is a kind of culmination. The heroine seems to understand what she can lose. She sincerely believes in what she says. Here again the swiftness of her running and the intensity of her feelings are emphasized. The theme of love is coupled here with the motive of death:
Gasping for breath, I shouted: “It’s a joke.
All that has gone before. If you leave, I’ll die.”
The ending of the poem is unexpected. The hero no longer believes his beloved, he will not return to her. He tries to maintain external calm, but at the same time he still loves her, she is still dear to him:
Smiled calmly and creepily
And he told me: “Don’t stand in the wind.”
Akhmatova uses an oxymoron here: “He smiled calmly and creepily.” Feelings are again conveyed through facial expressions.
The composition is based on the principle of gradual development of the theme, plot, with a climax and denouement in the third quatrain. At the same time, each stanza is built on a certain antithesis: two loving people cannot find happiness, the desired harmony of relationships. The poem is written in three-foot anapest, quatrains, and the rhyme pattern is cross. Akhmatova uses modest means of artistic expression: metaphor and epithet (“I made him drunk with tart sadness”), alliteration (“My mouth twisted painfully... I ran away from the railing without touching, I ran after him to the gate”), assonance (“Gasping, I shouted: "A joke That's all that happened. If you leave, I'll die").
Thus, the poem reflects the characteristic features of Akhmatova’s early work. The main idea of the poem is the tragic, fatal disunity of loved ones, the impossibility of them gaining understanding and sympathy.
“Clenched her hands under a dark veil...” (1911)
The collection “Evening” opened with a poem in the title of the book.<>Rogo identified its main theme - “Love”. Waiting for feelings, moments of meetings, separation, memories - experiences that fulfill the inner world of the lyrical heroine Akhmatova. Each of them is subjective, intimate and at the same time unusually creative, as it awakens the soul to life:
Then in the bright frost it will flash, It will seem like a left-handed tree in the slumber... But faithfully and secretly it leads Or to joy and from peace...
("Love", 1911)
The poem “Clenched my hands under a dark veil...” is one of the first in the collection of miniatures, which detail episodes of the heroine’s life and love. Their specifics are reminiscent of diary entries (“In a fluffy muff, my hands were cold...,” “Forgotten on the table // A whip and a glove...”, “It struck three in the dining room...”, “I lost my mind, oh strange boy. ,//On Wednesday, at three o’clock!..”, “I put on my right hand//The glove from my left hand...”). This poem also begins with the following detail: “I clenched my hands under a dark veil...”
Key details carry a double meaning: they not only record the situation, but also convey the psychological mood of the lyrical heroine, the reflection of which is the artistic purpose of the poem. Thus, in this miniature, love appears as a tragic experience, full of insoluble contradictions (“...If you leave, I’ll die” - “...I got him drunk with tart sadness,” “He came out staggering” - “He smiled calmly.. ."). It fills the inner world of the heroes, it is evidenced by their features (“Why are you pale today?”, “Your mouth is twisted painfully...”). But it does not bring happiness, since each of the lovers is not able to shout to the beloved (“Gasping, I shouted: “A joke // that’s all that happened...””), to achieve understanding and sympathy. Psychological experience, thanks to the depiction of a dramatic episode, acquires a generalized meaning: the poem reflects not a momentary mood, but the eternal tragedy of the separation of people on the road.
The figurative antitheses also find correspondence at the phonics level; the instrumentation of the poem is based on the alliterative sounds “r” - “l”:
How can I forget? He came out staggering. My mouth twisted painfully... I ran away, without touching the railing, I ran after him to the gate.
Two sonorant sounds, contrasting in their emotional coloring, permeate all three stanzas, creating the impression of swaying scales, leaning either towards a smooth, melancholy “l” (which is especially noticeable in the rhymes of the first stanza: “veil” - “sadness”), then towards a rolling, alarming “ R". Rhymes with “r” (“I’ll die”, “in the wind”) crown the poem, emphasizing the tragic hopelessness in the mood of the lyrical heroine.
(first version “When in the anguish of suicide...”-1917, final text-1921)
The events of 1917 became a new “bitter” milestone for Akhmatova in the history of the country. She was one of the first to see the beginning of “terrible circumstances” already in the February revolution ( Briefly about yourself. 1965). Being in Petrograd at that time, despite the shooting, she walked around the city, observing what was happening and absorbing new impressions. In her opinion, modernity appeared as a “Troubled and anxious hour,” when the country continued to live, “as under Catherine,” “boring on the islands” and in the theater, forgetting how, “frightened by their own groans, // The crowd rushes about in mortal anguish "("Every day there is one...", "The river flows slowly through the valley...", "Now goodbye, capital...", "And all day long, afraid of your own groans..." - all 1917. ).
In September 1917, Akhmatova’s third collection, “The White Flock,” was published. Recalling the time when he appeared, Akhmatova wrote in her autobiography: “Transport froze - it was impossible to send a book even to Moscow... Magazines were closed, newspapers too... Hunger and devastation grew every day” (“A Brief About Me”) . The poems included in her next books (“Plantain”, 1921; “Anno domini” (“In the Lord’s Summer”), 1921-1922) reflected changes in the author’s worldview caused by “the pain of defeats and insults,” and at the same time confirmed the internal regularity of the poet's path.
In the lyrical heroine of the poem “I had a voice. He called comfortingly...” a new incarnation of Pushkin’s “prophet” is visible. Again, as in the early miniature “A dark-skinned youth wandered through the alleys...”, “a century” separates the poets. In 1817, the ode “Liberty” was written, which is indicated as a source of reminiscence by the eight-line in the first stanza of Akhmatova’s poem, repeating (inaccurately) Pushkin’s stanza, and the size of both works (iambic tetrameter), and the similarity in some supporting images. The image of “shame” in Pushkin’s ode is repeated twice:
Autocratic villain! I hate you, your throne...
You are the horror of the world, the shame of nature...
Oh shame! oh the horror of our days! Like beasts, the Janissaries invaded!.. Inglorious blows will fall... The crowned villain died...
For A. Akhmatova, this is one of the important concepts in characterizing modern Russia:
I will wash the blood from your hands, I will take the black shame from my heart...
Thanks to Pushkin’s reminiscence, it becomes clear what has become the new “horror of our days,” “the shame of nature.” In the ode “Liberty”, both “tyrant” and “murderers”, violence “on thrones” and in popular “storms” are equally unacceptable for the lyrical hero, after which the “terrible voice of Klia” (the muse of history) is always heard, broadcasting a new “ slavery". The revolution is included in a chain of tragic misfortunes in Russia, its “defeats and insults,” which are repeated with living inevitability and evoke a desire to “leave” this world, this unfortunate country “forever.”
The “voice,” bringing consolation, “called” to leave Russia, which was turning into a desert, a “deaf land,” promising to give a “new name” to the lyrical heroine. She finds herself at a “crossroads,” like the hero of another Pushkin poem, who saw “in the dark desert” the appearance of the “six-winged seraphim” and heard the “voice of God,” giving him a “new name” as a prophet:
“Arise, prophet, and see and heed, Be fulfilled by my will, And, going around the seas and lands, Burn the hearts of people with your verb.”
("Prophet", 1826)
The lyrical heroine of A. Akhmatova hears not “God’s voice”, but “unworthy speech”, the “voice” of the tempter, calling to “defile” oneself with betrayal, to abandon Russia in “blood”, in sin, after “defeat” in the next historical battle. The “grievances” of the lyrical heroine are inseparable from the troubles of “her land”; oblivion will not satisfy them. These “sad lines,” as in Pushkin’s “Memoirs” (1828), cannot be “washed away” neither with tears nor with time, cannot be “covered” with a “new name,” especially since in the context of Akhmatova’s poem this is the name of Judas.
Pushkin's "prophet", thanks to a miraculous transformation, "in the dark desert" heard "noise and ringing", learned that only a "wise", fiery word can find an echo in the "hearts of people." The “prophet”, not finding understanding among his “neighbors,” returned to the “desert”, where all “creatures... earthly”, keeping the “eternal covenant,” were “submissive” to him. For the lyrical heroine A. Akhmatova, as well as for Pushkin’s hero, the desert is filled with suffering and life, it has a “name”, a history in which contemporaries participate, whose “sorrowful spirit” is the legacy of the past. Awareness of our role as continuers of tradition gives peace in trials, prophetic knowledge of the future.
The reminiscent background and the solemn rhythm of iambic tetrameter complement the odic intonation of the poem. The celebration of perseverance, courage, dignity, and loyalty is the answer to both temptation and the historical question about the fate of Russia. “Sorrowful circumstances” are opposed by the Russian national Character, the “sorrowful spirit”, invincible by the outside world.
“I am not with those who abandoned the earth...” (1922)
In A. Akhmatova’s poems of the post-revolutionary years, the motive of chosenness, the exaltation of those whom: In a bloody circle, day and night, cruel languor fills with more and more significance...
("Petrograd, 1919")
Above them is the “Black Death... wing”, around “Everything is plundered, betrayed, sold”: “collapsed dirty houses”, “hungry melancholy”, but it is they (“we”) who are destined to see the “wonderful”, “unprecedented”, “desired from the ages” light (“Everything is plundered, betrayed, sold...”, 1921).
A special tragedy was added to A. Akhmatova’s worldview during this period by her difficult personal experience - on August 25, 1921, she was shot on charges of counter-revolutionary activity. Despite the fact that their marriage ended in divorce in 1918, the image of a “friend”, “darling” in A. Akhmatova’s lyrics throughout her career was often based on the personality of her first husband. Aware of his importance as a poet, she spent her entire life engaged in biographical and historical-literary research related to his work.
In the poem “I am not with those who abandoned the earth...” the image of the homeland is created in “bloody”, “black” tones: “the dull child of a fire”, death, “blows”. But the road of those “who abandoned the earth” is also “dark.” The motive of Their guilt is strengthened: they left her “to be torn apart by enemies.” But the lyrical heroine does not feel anger towards them, but pity:
I always feel sorry for the exile, Like a prisoner, like a patient.
“Wanderers” remain alone in a “foreign” land and fall out of the chain of generations that create Russian history. They are doomed to oblivion “in a later assessment,” but in the present their life is bitter,
Like "wormwood".
The lyrical heroine “not with those... who abandoned the earth,” she
remains
Here, in the depths of the fire
Ruining the rest of my youth...
In this choice, we follow the concept that is expressed in Tyutchev’s “Cicero” (1830), a poem from which reminiscences were characteristic of a variety of authors in the post-revolutionary period. Few, like A. Akhmatova, saw in the “terrible circumstances” of the revolution “sublime spectacles,” a “feast” of the gods, to which the “all-good” “called” the one “who visited this world // In its fatal moments.” The lyrical heroine of Akhmatov’s poem, without rejecting “a single blow” of fate, becomes a participant in a tragedy full of high passions and self-sacrifice. However, the style of the poem is different from Tyutchev’s: there is no poeticization in the imagery, there is no odic solemnity in the intonation, reduced, everyday, “rude” vocabulary is used (“threw the earth”, “rude flattery”, “pathetic...//Like a prisoner, like a sick person”, “someone else’s bread”). The compositional structure also reveals the author’s desire to “remove” the tragic pathos. The first and third stanzas characterize polar positions, each of which is a reflection of the tragedy of time, and in the second and fourth the tension is relieved. The tragedy has become an everyday reality. And its heroes are no longer Tyutchev’s “interlocutors” of the gods, “spectators” of their “council”, like “celestial beings”, but people whose “remaining youth” fell on “fateful minutes”. The image became more specific, epic content appeared in it, a reflection of actual features and events. At the same time, lyrical “songs” become that divine “cup” from which they, following Tyutchev’s heroes, drink “immortality”:
And we know that in the later assessment every hour will be justified... But in the world there are no more tearless people, more arrogant and simpler than us.
Akhmatova’s patriotic lyrics continue to follow the two trends that are presented in the poems of the post-revolutionary years - the understanding of what is happening as a tragedy that requires heroism, courage and high thoughts from contemporaries, and the desire to express love for the homeland in “simple”, real images.
"Courage" (1942)
The Great Patriotic War found Akhmatova in Leningrad. After some time, she was evacuated to Moscow, then to Tashkent. In 1944 she returned to the destroyed Leningrad. During the war, Akhmatova recalled: “Like other poets, she often performed in hospitals and read poetry to wounded soldiers.”
The poem “Courage” was included in the cycle “Wind of War” (1941 - 1945). The cycle has a rich emotional palette - from everyday sketches to a folk “oath” and a funeral lament. In the image of the lyrical heroine, the most important characteristic is her unity with the people, with the history of the country:
We swear to the children, we swear to the graves, That no one will force us to submit! (" Oath", 1941)
She personifies the soul of her homeland, for her there is no “bad, no good, no average”, everyone is “baby”, she sees her own in everyone child." At the same time, a generalized view of events is combined with a very personal feeling of pain:
And you, my friends of the last call!
In order to mourn you, my life has been spared.
Do not freeze over your memory like a weeping willow,
And shout all your names to the whole world! (“And you, my friends of the last draft...”, 1942)
The poem “Courage” is a hymn to the strength of spirit of those who, having been caught up in the historical wave, have not lost the idea of true, timeless values. For the “great Russian word” the people are ready to pay the highest price - to remain homeless, “to lie under dead bullets,” since this concept expresses the essence of the national soul, which contemporaries of great events must pass on to their “grandchildren” as “free and pure” as received from our ancestors:
It’s not scary to lie under dead bullets, It’s not bitter to be left homeless, And we will preserve you, Russian speech, the Great Russian word... We will carry you free and pure, And we will give you to our grandchildren, and we will save you from captivity...
The statement is sealed with a final chord, reminiscent of the end of a prayer: “Forever!” The struggle of “mortal hearts” appears eternal both in Akhmatova and in the poem, which is a reminiscent background for “Courage,” in “Two Voices” (1850) by Tyutchev. The rhythm itself reminds of him - all the odd and tenth lines of Akhmatov’s poem are written in amphibrach tetrameter, like Tyutchev’s.
But the most important thing is thematic and figurative proximity. In Tyutchev’s poem, two “voices” are heard arguing with each other, one of which contrasts the earthly view of people’s lives (“For them there is no victory, for them there is an end”) with the romantic exaltation of “unyielding hearts”:
Who, while fighting, fell, defeated only by Fate, He snatched the victorious crown from their hands.
A. Akhmatova, creating the image of the “hour of courage,” was based on Tyutchev’s appeal addressed to all “mortals”:
Take courage, O friend, fight diligently, Even though the battle is unequal...
No matter how brutal the battle...
A. Akhmatova’s image of courage has a specific characteristic; it is closely connected with modernity, it glorifies the dedication of the defenders of the homeland and the great values of the national spirit. In contrast to the inviting, instructive intonation of Tyutchev’s “voice,” the lyrical heroine of Akhmatov’s poem feels like one of those “performing” a feat, entering into a “battle,” creating the fate of her fatherland. This determines the form of the oath in the first person:
We know what is now on the scales and what is happening now. The hour of courage has struck on our watch, And courage will not leave us...
Due to the fact that the heroine expresses not a philosophical conclusion, but a personal feeling that unites her with the whole people, the image acquires a realistic sound, like the heroic pathos of the oath. The promise to “preserve” the Russian word, to “save” the homeland is not a romantic exaggeration, it comes from the depths of the national spirit, its significance is confirmed by the thought. The motive of history is embodied in an appeal to the future (“grandchildren, to eternity. The final exclamation (“Forever!”), forming a monometer line in the free amphibrach of the poem, in connection with the rhythmic expectation is repeated in the reader’s mind, strengthening the affirmative intonation, prolonging the sound of the stanza and establishing its projection into infinity.
"Seaside Sonnet" (1958)
The 1950s were a time to sum up the poet’s long and fruitful life, so rare in Russian literature. Akhmatova, concluding her autobiography, wrote: “I never stopped writing poetry. For Me, they contain my connection with time...” This applies primarily to patriotic lyrics, to the awareness of one’s place in the formation of national character. But the lyrical heroine A. Akhmatova has a special sense of time - she lives not only in modern times, but also in history and in eternity. In this regard, summing up, she perceives her earthly existence as a stage in the world
“Seaside Sonnet” was included in the unpublished collection “Odd” (1936-1946), which later became one of the sections of the “Seventh Book”. The poem embodies such a solid form as a French sonnet. His lyrical heroine has an unusually keen sense of the temporality and instantaneity of her life:
Everything here will outlive me,
Everything, even the old birdhouses...
“Spring Air” also evokes thoughts about the approaching end, the impossibility of a new “spring,” and the irreversibility of time for humans. The heroine hears the “voice of eternity,” sounding “with an unearthly irresistibility.” The focus on the thought of death puts A. Akhmatova’s poem on a par with the thoughts of the lyrical hero in poems of the late 1820s - 1830s, including in the elegy “Am I wandering along the noisy streets...” (also written in iambic tetrameter , 1829). In a sonnet, just like in an elegy, a chain of antitheses is built, expressing the opposition of life and death. To the blossom and radiance of life (“blossoming cherry”, \ “The radiance of the light month is pouring”) Akhmatova gives central
place, in contrast to the aspirations of the lyrical hero AC. Pushkin, in every sign of life, “guess” the “anniversary of the coming death.” The phonic originality of Pushkin’s elegy is built on the assonant sound “u”, which is already from the first stanza, when it is unclear
Whether I wander along the noisy streets, or enter a crowded temple, or sit among crazy youths, - I indulge in my dreams... Such sound symbolism is noticeable in the future: I say: the years will fly by...
I look at the solitary oak...
And even though an insensible body is equal to decay everywhere...
And indifferent nature...
The contrast to such a minor tonic is the combination of vowels in the last line (in the text of the remaining stanzas they are not emphasized by the corresponding vocabulary): “Shine with eternal beauty.”
In Akhmatova they appear at the very beginning of the sonnet, and in the second stanza a figurative and phonic reminiscence of the last line of Pushkin’s elegy is used:
For Akhmatov’s lyrical heroine, death is the road to eternity, and it “seems so easy,” “white,” “bright.” It is one for everyone, and on it you can meet with the most cherished roads, here
Everything looks like the alley near the Tsarskoye Selo pond.
To one of those alleys along which the “swarthy youth” “wandered” in the poem written by Akhmatova forty-seven years earlier. Thus, several time layers intersected in the sonnet: the youth and maturity of the poets, the “hour” about which they reflected in poems, the future that their descendants will see, looking closely at the silent witnesses of their earthly existence (“... the patriarch of the forests // will outlive my age forgotten..."; "Everything here will outlive me,//Everything, even the old birdhouses..."). Events in all “centuries” develop in parallel, like the plots of different writers who become peers and contemporaries of the reader. Therefore, for the heroine Akhmatova, life (“the emerald thicket”) and the “unearthly invincibility” of eternity, which seems “even brighter” as it approaches, are equally beautiful. Following Pushkin, she, freeing herself from the random, the superficial, strives to be “closer to the sweet limit,” leaving “everything” external in the earthly world, bringing the most precious things to the “Tsarskoye Selo pond.”
"Native Land" (1961)
The epigraph (the last two lines from the poem “Not with those who abandoned the earth...”) returns to the events and the moods of forty years ago. Remembering again “those who abandoned the land,” the lyrical heroine argues with how emigrants determined the reasons for leaving. The constant for them was the exaltation of their choice as abandonment of their homeland for the sake of freedom.
In the same 1961, a book by one of the “younger” Acmeists, “The Contribution of Russian Emigration to World Culture,” was published in Paris. In exile, Adamovich became the head of the “Parisian school” of Russian poets, one of the most famous critics. Comparing the literary process in Russia and abroad, he wrote: “We have no more talent in emigration, of course. But our personal creative responsibility remained inviolable - the life-giving condition of any spiritual creation - we still had the right to choose, doubt and search, and therefore in some areas we were truly destined to represent that Russia, whose voice had been in our native land for forty years. has been suppressed for more than a year.”
Akhmatova’s lyrical heroine, on the contrary, understands freedom as a feeling of unity with the people and country. For her, the homeland is “not involved in anything”, is not to blame for people’s misfortunes, and itself is “silent” along with them. The poet's freedom is inseparable from a sense of duty: he can write “Poems About Her” only by seeing what is happening from the inside. To confirm his thoughts, the author uses a number of reminiscences from classical examples of Russian civic and patriotic lyrics. The compositional structure of the poem is similar to Lermontov’s “Motherland” (1841). The first eight-line of A. Akhmatova, like the initial stanza of Lermontov, is dedicated to refuting the usual understanding of patriotism:
We don’t carry it on our chests in treasured amulet, We don’t write poems about her to the point of sobbing, She doesn’t awaken our bitter dreams, It doesn’t seem like a promised paradise...
They live here, “sick, in poverty,” resting from worries in a “bitter sleep,” not believing illusions, “not even remembering” their native land. The lyrical heroine, like the entire people with whom she feels her unity (“we”), is related to her by everyday reality, herself
Yes, for us it’s dirt on our galoshes, Yes, for us it’s a crunch in our teeth...
The realistic specificity of the image of Russia evokes associations with the lyrics. The impression is reinforced by rhythmic echoes: the use of hexameter lines in the free iambic first octet of A. Akhmatova makes one recall Nekrasov’s “Motherland” (1846) and “Elegy” (1874), in which, in turn, Pushkin’s reminiscences are visible (primarily from “The Village”, --1819). The analogy with the tragic pathos of “Elegy” is important for understanding how Akhmatova embodies the theme of poetry. Similar to her, the poet’s life appears as a battle for “worthy” ideals of people’s happiness. The artist is obliged to share the fate of his country, without thinking of making it “in his soul / an object of purchase and sale.” Again his “incorruptible voice” should become “an echo... of the people”:
Love and secret freedom inspired a simple hymn in my heart, And my incorruptible voice Was an echo of the Russian people.
(. *KN, Y. Pluskova", 1818)
Akhmatova’s “simple hymn,” built on “not composed” images (their reality was emphasized by the interjection “yes” in the ninth and tenth lines), ended with a philosophical generalization. The thirteenth line began with the conjunction “but”, since the final thought in its sublime tone contradicted the deliberate reduction of the previous details. The lyrical elaboration of the image of the “native land” gave special poignancy to the assertion of the rightness of those who did not “abandon” the country in order to “become” its history:
But we lie down in it and become it,
That's why we call it so freely - ours.
The semantic diversity is emphasized by rhythmic polymetry. The first eight lines, which outline the “strange love” for the fatherland (Lermontov, “Motherland”), are written in free iambic. It is replaced by a three-foot anapest in a quatrain, in which from the denial of the usual signs of patriotism (“We don’t wear it on our chests,” “we don’t compose,” “we don’t even remember”) the lyrical heroine moves on to characterize the features of her “native land” that are important to her (“Yes, for us it is..."). The final couplet (tetrameter anapest) is the semantic pinnacle of the poem, sharply different in intonation. This intonation difference is also characteristic of a number of poems (“No matter what the year, the strength decreases...”, 1861; “The heart is torn from torment...”, 1863), in which the poet is “stunned” by the sounds of “Drums, chains, an axe.” , only by the power of lyrical “providence” imagined a “golden spring” over the “fatherland”, wherever
In the expanse of freedom
Everything merged into the harmony of life...
(“My heart breaks from agony...”)
A century later, Akhmatova, rejecting such a departure from reality, found within it the grounds for the elevation of man. The era that called the poet’s contemporaries “more tearless, // More arrogant and showed their strength of spirit. Without expecting a “promised paradise”, reward, incorruption, realizing that everything will be mixed up in the “dust” of history, they poeticize their fate, do not complain, do not write “poems” about it, but find the highest manifestation of freedom in selflessness, seeing their wealth is to call “your” “native land”.
Poem “I learned to live simply, wisely...”
Akhmatova’s poetic phenomenon is not limited to her own ironic confession: “I taught women to speak...” In Akhmatova’s lyrics, we are close and understandable not only to the vivid experiences of a woman’s heart, but also to the deep patriotic feelings of the poet, who lived through the tragic events of the twentieth century together with his people. The lyrics “I am Akhmatova are philosophical and genetically connected with Russian
classics, primarily with Pushkin. All this allows
talk about her as one of the best poets of the twentieth century.
The poem “I learned to live simply, wisely...” reminds us of the young poetess who had just published her first collections “Evening” (1912) and “Rosary” (1914), which received approving reviews from experts and the favor of a discerning reader. The unexpected metamorphoses of the lyrical heroine, her variability, the authenticity and drama of her experiences, the poetic skill of the author of their books attract us even now.
The rosary,” dedicated mainly to the theme of love, opens with an epigraph from Baratynsky:
Forgive me forever! but know this
That there are two guilty
Not just one, there are names
In my poems, in love stories.
Reading the poems of the cycle, you notice that in many of them, in addition to the lyrical heroine, whose appearance changes, there is also a lyrical addressee: the lyrical “I” and the lyrical “you”. The poem “I learned...” is perceived as a lyrical narrative of the heroine, the starting point of which is “I” and the ending point is “you”.
The first verse sounds like a statement by the lyrical heroine (“I”), emphasized by the form of the verb and convincing in my aphorism. The lyrical “you” will appear in the last, I it stanza and will sound in the context of the assumption:
which will emphasize the psychological depth of the lyrical heroine’s experiences and give a new shade to her “I”.
This highlights the significance and permanence of the actions and states they denote. The 1st stanza of the poem is one complex sentence, the main part of which is very widespread and built on the principle of syntactic parallelism, enhanced by gradation (simple, wise) which emphasizes the intonation of the statement. However, the stressed “and” in the words “learned”, “live”, “pray”, “tire” introduces some kind of piercing note, which somewhat contrasts with the very content of the statement that a way to cure love has been found. The word “love” is not uttered; here there is a certain “figure of silence,” the meaning of which is hinted at by the striking metaphor “to tire out unnecessary anxiety.” The lyrical heroine appears before us as strong, proud, but at the same time lonely and suffering. Her spiritual world is rich, she strives for a simple and righteous life (“live simply, wisely,” “pray to God”) and this is close to the author, Anna Akhmatova.
The 2nd stanza reveals new aspects of the image of the lyrical heroine, strengthening her connection with the author. The motif of an evening walk, continuing to sound, is first filled with mystery, thanks to the sound recording (“rustling... burdocks”); then the brightness of the sound and colors intensifies (a bunch of yellow-red rowan trees), and “unnecessary anxiety” gives rise to a creative impulse: the lyrical heroine turns out to be a poet. She really learned to “live wisely,” for “cheerful”, that is, life-affirming, poems are written about “perishable life.” The amazing melodiousness of the verse is achieved by inversion and some special purity of sound:
I write funny poems
About life that is perishable, perishable and beautiful.
All imperfective verbs are used in the present tense, and writing poetry is perceived not only | as a result of anxious spiritual yearning, humble acceptance of God’s world as corruptible and beautiful, but as a process internally, deeply connected with this world. Unexpectedly, an implicit lyrical motif of autumn appears. It was heavy. the cluster of ripe rowan trees “grows”, and the burdocks “rustle”, perhaps because they have dried out. The epithet “perishable” in combination with the autumn motif evokes an association with Tyutchev (“How fading is sweet!..”) and Pushkin (“I love nature’s magnificent withering...”), fitting Akhmatova’s poem into the context of Russian philosophical lyrics. The antithesis of “perishable and beautiful life” enhances this feeling.
The significance of the 2nd stanza, the density of its poetic “substance” is increased by an unexpected and bright rhyme: “burdocks are poems”, which has a deep meaning.
Burdocks in a ravine and a bunch of rowan trees - reproduced by the author in accordance with the Acmeist requirement of “beautiful clarity” (M. Kuzmin)- details of the rural landscape. Slepnev’s impressions, the “scarce land of Tver” became the most important motif in the collection “Rosary Beads”, convincingly developed in later lyrics. On the other hand, the famous “burdocks” are part of that “trash” from which, as Akhmatova put it, “poems grow without knowing shame.” Thus, it becomes obvious that the poet’s creative credo was already taking shape during the “Rosary” period.
After the 2nd stanza, an intonation change occurs.
The high style (“composed”, “perishable”, “beautiful”) is replaced by a simple syllable. Returning from the world of poetry occurs as naturally as leaving it. The appearance of a fluffy cat” seems to bring a feeling of homeliness and tranquility, enhanced by alliteration (“face - palm - purrs touchingly”), but there is no enclosure of the space by the protective walls of the house. A bright light "on the turret of a lake sawmill" like a beacon
For someone who has lost their way, the sharp cry of a stork - a bird symbolizing home, family - creates an alarming background for the anticipation of the event. At the sound level, it is expressed by the alternation of sounds “sh” - “zr” - “pr” - “sh” - “kr” - “sh” - (“Only occasionally the cry of a stork cuts through the silence...”)
The ending of the poem is unexpected:
And if you knock on my door, It seems to me that I won’t even hear, -
And at the same time justified. The psychological subtext of these verses is obvious, thanks to the strengthening of the expression “it seems to me”, an intensifying particle, assonance (“it seems to me even”). The lyrical heroine (of that sudden knock on the door, listening to the silence, peering into the distant light.
The poem “I learned...” is one of the best in the poetry of early Akhmatova. It is deep in content and perfect in form. The strength of feeling and the significance of the lyrical heroine’s experiences are depicted by the poetess with the skill of a great artist. The poetic language of the poem is laconic, devoid of pretentiousness and complex symbolism. This is the so-called “spoken verse”, aimed at women’s colloquial speech. At first glance, this style is imprinted with the canons of Acmeism, the declaration of “joyful admiration of being” (N. Gumilev). However, Acmeism sank into oblivion, and Akhmatova continued to “live wisely” and compose poems about life “perishable and beautiful.”
The first resounding success did not foretell a smooth creative path for Akhmatova. She had to endure both persecution and oblivion. Real fame came to her after her death. Anna Akhmatova has become a favorite poet of many art connoisseurs both in Russia and abroad.
Each verse of Anna Andreevna Akhmatova touches the finest strings of the human soul, although the author does not use many means of expressiveness and figures of speech. “Clenched her hands under a dark veil” proves that the poetess could talk about complex things in fairly simple words, accessible to everyone. She sincerely believed that the simpler the language material, the more sensual, vibrant, emotional and life-like her poems became. Judge for yourself...
Features of Akhmatova's lyrics. Thematic groups
A. A. Akhmatova proudly called herself a poet; she did not like it when the name “poetess” was applied to her; it seemed to her that this word belittled her dignity. And indeed, her works stand on a par with the works of such grandiose authors as Pushkin, Lermontov, Tyutchev, Blok. As an Acmeist poet, A. A. Akhmatova paid great attention to word and image. Her poetry had few symbols, few figurative means. It’s just that every verb and every definition was selected with special care. Although, of course, Anna Akhmatova paid great attention to women's issues, that is, topics such as love, marriage. There were many poems dedicated to her fellow poets and the topic of creativity. Akhmatova also created several poems about the war. But, of course, the bulk of her poems are about love.
Akhmatova’s poems about love: features of the interpretation of feelings
In almost no poem by Anna Andreevna, love was described as a happy feeling. Yes, she is always strong, bright, but fatal. Moreover, the tragic outcome of events can be dictated by various reasons: inconsistency, jealousy, betrayal, indifference of a partner. Akhmatova spoke about love simply, but at the same time solemnly, without diminishing the importance of this feeling for any person. Often her poems are eventful, in them one can distinguish a unique analysis of the poem “Clenched her hands under a dark veil” confirms this idea.
The masterpiece called “The Gray-Eyed King” can also be classified as love poetry. Here Anna Andreevna talks about adultery. The gray-eyed king - the beloved of the lyrical heroine - dies by accident while hunting. But the poetess slightly hints that the husband of this very heroine had a hand in this death. And the ending of the poem sounds so beautiful, in which a woman looks into the eyes of her daughter, the colors... It would seem that Anna Akhmatova managed to elevate a banal betrayal to a deep poetic feeling.
A classic case of misalliance is depicted by Akhmatov in the poem “You are my letter, dear, don’t crumple.” The heroes of this work are not allowed to be together. After all, she always has to be nothing to him, just a stranger.
“Clenched hands under a dark veil”: theme and idea of the poem
In a broad sense, the theme of the poem is love. But, to be more specific, we are talking about separation. The idea of the poem is that lovers often do things rashly and without thinking, and then regret it. Akhmatova also says that loved ones sometimes show apparent indifference, while in their souls there is a real storm.
Lyrical plot
The poetess depicts the moment of parting. The heroine, having shouted unnecessary and offensive words to her lover, hurries up the steps after him, but, having caught up, she can no longer stop him.
Characteristics of lyrical heroes
Without characterizing the lyrical hero, it is impossible to make a full analysis of the poem. “Clenched Hands Under a Dark Veil” is a work in which two characters appear: a man and a woman. She said stupid things in the heat of the moment and gave him “tart sadness.” He - with visible indifference - tells her: “Don’t stand in the wind.” Akhmatova does not give any other characteristics to her heroes. Their actions and gestures do this for her. This is a characteristic feature of all Akhmatova’s poetry: not to talk about feelings directly, but to use associations. How does the heroine behave? She clasps her hands under the veil, she runs so that she does not touch the railing, which indicates the greatest tension of mental strength. She doesn't speak, she screams, gasping for breath. And there seems to be no emotion on his face, but his mouth is twisted “painfully,” which indicates that the lyrical hero cares, his indifference and calmness are ostentatious. Suffice it to recall the verse “Song of the Last Meeting”, which also says nothing about feelings, but a seemingly ordinary gesture betrays inner excitement, the deepest experience: the heroine puts a glove on her left hand on her right hand.
An analysis of the poem “Clenched her hands under a dark veil” shows that Akhmatova constructs her poems about love as a lyrical monologue in the first person. Therefore, many mistakenly begin to identify the heroine with the poetess herself. This is not worth doing. Thanks to the first-person narration, the poems become more emotional, confessional and believable. In addition, Anna Akhmatova often uses direct speech as a means of characterizing her characters, which also adds liveliness to her poems.
It is very difficult to emotionally read the lyric poem “Clenched my hands under a dark veil” by Anna Andreevna Akhmatova. It is imbued with deep drama. The action described in it occurs rapidly. Despite the fact that the work consists of only three quatrains, it tells the whole story of two people in love, namely their separation.
The text of Akhmatova’s poem “Clenched her hands under a dark veil” was written in January 1911. Oddly enough, it was not dedicated to Nikolai Gumilyov, although Anna Andreevna had already been married to him for a year at that moment. Who was this poem dedicated to? This still remains a mystery to many researchers, because the poetess was faithful to her husband throughout her marriage. We will never know the answer to this question. We can only guess. Perhaps Akhmatova herself created the image of this lover and constantly wrote poetry to him. This work tells how two people in love break up after another quarrel. Anna Andreevna does not name the reason for what happened, but with the phrase “she made him drunk with tart sadness” she makes it clear to the reader that it is the girl who is to blame. She regrets what she said and wants her lover back. She runs after him, asks him to come back, shouts that she will die without him, but everything is useless. Thanks to the fact that Akhmatova uses a large number of means of artistic expression, it becomes easier for us to understand how difficult it is for the heroes of the poem at this moment, what feelings they experience.
The poem is compulsory to study at school during literature lessons in the 11th grade. It, like Akhmatova’s other poem “Song of the Last Meeting,” is assigned to be taught at home. On our website you can read it online in full or download it to any device absolutely free.
She clasped her hands under a dark veil...
“Why are you pale today?”
- Because I am tartly sad
Got him drunk.
How can I forget? He came out staggering
The mouth twisted painfully...
I ran away without touching the railing,
I ran after him to the gate.
Gasping for breath, I shouted: “It’s a joke.
All that has gone before. If you leave, I’ll die.”
Smiled calmly and creepily
And he told me: “Don’t stand in the wind”
