“No foreign sky protected me, no stranger's wing shielded my face. I stand as witness to the common lot, survivor of that time, that place,” wrote Anna Akhmatova as she reflected during Stalin’s reign of terror. Anna Akhmatova was a Russian poet known for her involvement in the Acmeism movement and her haunting depictions of life in Russia after the revolution. In the early 1930s, Stalin’s regime focused on drawing the country together through force and oppressive policies in order to industrialize rapidly.1 Akhmatova was no exception to the terrors under his reign; her son was imprisoned in 19382. As a result of the rise of the USSR and Stalin, Akhmatova’s poetry became more critical in nature, questioning her poetry and people’s place in a totalitarian society.
Originally, Akhmatova was in favor of socialism in Russia, seeing it as a way to topple the upper class and ease the suffering of the proletariats. When WWI broke out in Europe, “Akhmatova interpreted the war as a spiritual event,”3 seeing it as God’s punishment to the aristocracy for ignoring the needs of the commoners.4 She writes in her poem, “July 1914:”
All month a smell of burning, of dry peat smouldering in …show more content…
By 1917, the Russian people were miserable. There was massive corruption in the government, a scarcity of food, as well as consistent defeats of the ill-organized Russian army by the Germans.7 Revolution was inevitable, and in March of that year Tsar Nicholas II was overthrown by the St. Petersburg garrison and a provisional government was put into place.8 During those tumultuous months, the Bolshevik party formed, gathering considerable support from the workers and soldiers with their ideals of “peace, land, and bread”. In November, the Bolsheviks and other socialist parties staged a coup, overthrowing the provisional government and forming a new one made of mainly
Originally, Akhmatova was in favor of socialism in Russia, seeing it as a way to topple the upper class and ease the suffering of the proletariats. When WWI broke out in Europe, “Akhmatova interpreted the war as a spiritual event,”3 seeing it as God’s punishment to the aristocracy for ignoring the needs of the commoners.4 She writes in her poem, “July 1914:”
All month a smell of burning, of dry peat smouldering in …show more content…
By 1917, the Russian people were miserable. There was massive corruption in the government, a scarcity of food, as well as consistent defeats of the ill-organized Russian army by the Germans.7 Revolution was inevitable, and in March of that year Tsar Nicholas II was overthrown by the St. Petersburg garrison and a provisional government was put into place.8 During those tumultuous months, the Bolshevik party formed, gathering considerable support from the workers and soldiers with their ideals of “peace, land, and bread”. In November, the Bolsheviks and other socialist parties staged a coup, overthrowing the provisional government and forming a new one made of mainly