Anna Akhmatova's "Requiem"

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that poet Anna Akhmatova, born in Odessa, Russia, in 1889, began writing poetry at the age of eleven and experienced lifelong grief and heartache, which is clearly illustrated in her poetry. The author believes that the "Requiem", a set of fifteen thematically linked verses written in 1935, is one of Akhmatova's best pieces. The paper relates that anyone reading "Requiem" could identify with Verse Four because it describes the time Akhmatova looks back on her life wishing someone would have warned her of the troubles that lay ahead.

From the Paper:

"Akhmatova's use of describing emotions felt collectively by the masses of women makes the reader associate with them. One can almost imagine how it would feel to know that your loved one is innocent but locked away, to wait only to hear that the sentence is death, to be strong yet look so weak and desperate. Once these feelings have captured the reader, they become more and more vivid as one finds out Akhmatova's feelings as an individual:
"At dawn they came and took you away.
You were my dead: I walked behind.
In the dark room children cried,
The holy candle gasped for air.""

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