A legend in her own time both for her brilliant poetry and for
her resistance to oppression, Anna Akhmatova—denounced by the
Soviet regime for her “eroticism, mysticism, and political
indifference”—is one of the greatest Russian poets of the
twentieth century.Before the revolution, Akhmatova was a wildly
popular young poet who lived a bohemian life. She was one of the
leaders of a movement of poets whose ideal was “beautiful
clarity”—in her deeply personal work, themes of love and
mourning are conveyed with passionate intensity and economy, her
voice by turns tender and fierce. A vocal critic of Stalinism,
she saw her work banned for many years and was expelled from the
Writers’ Union—condemned as “half nun, half harlot.” Despite
this censorship, her reputation continued to flourish
underground, and she is still among Russia’s most beloved poets.
Here are poems from all her major works—including the
magnificent “Requiem” commemorating the victims of Stalin’s
terror—and some that have been newly translated for