Poems

A legend in her own time both for her brilliant poetry and for her resistance to oppression, Anna Akhmatovaâ denounced by the Soviet regime for her â eroticism, mysticism, and political indifferenceâ â 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 â beautiful clarityâ â 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 Writersâ Unionâ condemned as â half nun, half harlot.â Despite this censorship, her reputation continued to flourish underground, and she is still among Russiaâ s most beloved poets. Here are poems from all her major worksâ including the magnificent â Requiemâ commemorating the victims of Stalinâ s terrorâ and some that have been newly translated for this edition.