Review (PDF) White Flock: Poetry Of Anna Akhmatova
Anna Akhmatova (June 23, 1889 – March 5, 1966) is considered by many to be one of the greatest Russian poets of the Silver Age. Her works range from short lyric love poetry to longer, more complex cycles, such as Requiem, a tragic depiction of the Stalinist terror. One of the forefront leaders of the Acmeism movement, which focused on rigorous form and directness of words, she was a master of conveying raw emotion in her portrayals of everyday situations. During the time of heavy censorship and persecution, her poetry gave voice to the Russian people. Anna Akhmatova published the collection "White Flock" in 1917. Joseph Brodsky later described this volume as writing of personal lyricism tinged with the “note of controlled terror.” Today, it remains among her most celebrated publications. It is presented here in full, in a dual-language book, translated by Andrey Kneller.
File Size: 912 KB
Print Length: 217 pages
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Publication Date: January 11, 2014
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Language: English
ASIN: B00ED0JKLI
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(This book was given to me by the translator, Andrey Kneller, in exchange for a review of my thoughts)Anna Akhmatova (1889-1966) is intimidating to review. Her work has such gravity that any attempted encapsulation would fail. White Flock is one of her early collections, published in 1917 and so tightly focused on themes of love and the Muse that at first glance it feels removed from the enormous tragedy of the First World War. Only on first glance. There is in fact a strong somberness at work here that enjoins you to read between the lines and find evidence of a world gone wrong, while as the collection progresses, references to the war become more regular.May SnowA see-through shroud now dispersesAnd melts unnoticed on the sod.The spring, so very cold and merciless,Is killing off each swelling bud.So frightful of the early death,That I can’t look at God’s creation.I feel the grief King David left, -Millenniums of desolation.1916Andrey Kneller is an independent translator and he self-published this bilingual edition of Akhmatova in 2013. It’s a little bit hard for me to comment on his role in White Flock without familiarizing myself with earlier translations (I have only read the Kunitz/Hayward selections prior to this) but he clearly cares a great deal for the text and I found it pleasing to read, though not as impressive as her later works. A large number of the poems (one of the challenges inherent in this review is in her near-complete dispensing with titles – I can’t refer to poems but can only quote them) speak from the vantage point of a woman within whom love has ceased to be requited. An unassailable personage.
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