Anna Akhmatov The Russian Antigone - 1023 Words

Anna Arteaga Mrs.Bausinger English 2 PAP 07 December 2017 The Russian Antigone Anna Akhmatova (June 23, 1889-March 5, 1966) was a renown Russian poet and prophet. Often credited for being the Russian Antigone, Akhmatova was unlike any of the other women of her time. â€Å" Anna Akhmatova was the leader and heat and soul of Saint Petersburg tradition of Russian Poetry in the course of the first half of the twentieth century.†(New World Encyclopedia 1). Along with being a poet, Akhmatova also wrote prose, literary scholarships, memoirs, and autobiographical pieces. In her 77 years of living Anna Akhmatova accomplished so much she went down as one of the greatest Russian poets and an inspiration for women all over the world. Anna Akhmatova,†¦show more content†¦Akhmatova was the modern day feminist of her time ensuring that women had a voice in the face of a man who wanted to keep them quiet. Akhmatova’s writing was even banned from 1925-1940, but Stalin was so afraid to exile a women so popular that he didn’t dare attack her directly (Huck Gutman 1). Akhmatova’s first collection of poetry was entitled, Evening. She published this work when Russia was already in the revolutionary era. Akhmatova was one of the few who never fled Russia during World War 1 and stayed and watched as those who left, lost their creative urges, and were misunderstood or ignored (Antigone 740). One of Akhmatova’s poems, I am not one of those who left the land, was inspired by this very thing. I am not one of those who left the land to the mercy of its enemies Their flattery leaves me cold, my songs are not for them to praise. But I pity the exile’s lot. Like a felon, like a man half-dead. dark is your path, wanderer; wormwood infects your foreign bread. But here, in the murk of conflagration, where scarcely a friend is left to know, we, the survivors, do not flinch from anything, not from a single blow. Surely the reckoning will be made after the passing of this cloud. We are the people without tears, straighter than you... more proud†¦ (Antigone 704) Akhmatova also took on the role of Cassandra, because she was a tragic queen. Cassandra relates Anna Akhmatova to a prophetess of doom.