Anna Akhmatova (1889–1966) is the pen name of Anna Andreyevna Gorenko, a twentieth-century Russian poet, writer, and translator whose poetry articulates themes of love, loss of country, and the determination to share her country’s fate under Soviet rule. Akhmatova achieved early acclaim and remained a significant figure in Russian cultural life despite artistic repression; when her writing was censored during the Soviet era, it was circulated secretly. Considered among her finest work are the poem cycle Rekviem (Requiem) and the long poem Poema bez geroia (Poem without a Hero).
Portrait by Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin.
WORKS THAT HAVE APPEARED IN NARRATIVE:
- Slepnevo, 1916, poetry, in Winter 2023