Anna Akhmatova’s last poem in her selected works, “Epilogue,” is very powerful in its resounding solemn and heartfelt remembrance for her experiences. Particularly, \u00a0with the secret police and other terrors of the Stalin era, as well as serving as a remembrance for the people who lived through it alongside her.<\/p>\n
In the first lines of the poem, Akhmatova describes the response of the body to fear. This is her way of delving into her self- awareness. She notes that suffering begins to show on the face, “how faces droop, how terror looks out from under the eyelids, how suffering carves on cheeks…how curls ash-blonde and black turn silver overnight”(287). This physical change caused by the collective pain notes the immortality of people. This also shows the inevitability of death and the passing of time. She also notes the tension of that time, which is present in her description of smiles on submissive lips and the presence of fear in a dry laugh. She highlights the feeling of empty existence in this time in her life, along with those who experienced this with her. She continues her awareness of her physical body to a psychological one, where she immerses herself in her memories. This alludes back to the beginning of the collection, with this \u00a0poem serving as a type of requiem.<\/p>\n
I also think that Akhmatova uses imagery to her advantage, where she subtly alludes to important details of Stalinist rule. Her conclusion to the poem, ending with “let the melting snow stream, like tears from my bronze eyelids, let the prison dove call in the distance and the boats go quietly on the Neva” (288), juxtaposes her desire to keep the memories of the time and the people alive. Additionally, her description of bronze eyelids evoke warmth and a tinge of hope, which greatly opposes the cold and bitter steel, which alludes to Stalin. Her way of expressing her persistence in keeping these places untouched by her presence shows her disdain in staining them with her memories. These contrasting ideas of \u00a0wanting her experiences to be eternal\u00a0and not wanting to disturb the presence of the places she mentioned \u00a0illuminates\u00a0the tension she feels for\u00a0her memories. Overall, her poem\u00a0encapsulates\u00a0emotions that are haunting and beautiful.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Anna Akhmatova’s last poem in her selected works, “Epilogue,” is very powerful in its resounding solemn and heartfelt remembrance for her experiences. Particularly, \u00a0with the secret police and other terrors of the Stalin era, as well as serving as a remembrance for the people who lived through it alongside her. In the first lines of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1028,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1035","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-unit-11-stalinism-thaw-and-stagnation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/russian-2240-spring-2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1035","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/russian-2240-spring-2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/russian-2240-spring-2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/russian-2240-spring-2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1028"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/russian-2240-spring-2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1035"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/russian-2240-spring-2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1035\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/russian-2240-spring-2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/russian-2240-spring-2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.bowdoin.edu\/russian-2240-spring-2020\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}