As Anna Akhmatova is the Queen of Russian poetry, I found it most appropriate to pick the first poetic analysis to be of The Gray-Eyed King. Hardly anyone contests Akhmatova’s wide influence on all of poetry throughout Eastern Europe (and beyond); each of the Greats after her (Tsvetaeva, Pasternak, Mayakovsky, Brodsky) have cited her as an influence on their poems.
In terms of poetic influence, I wish to then descend the poetic “family line.” While Akhmatova is clearly the poetic Grandmatriarch, Marina Tsvetaeva follows closely behind her as Matriarch. The royal theme will be present throughout the analyses of the three poems/poets I have chosen. Therefore, I shall analyze Tsvetaeva’s To You in a Hundred Years. To complement these works, the final poem I will be analyzing was written by the next poet down on the poetic line: the “grandson” Joseph Brodsky. Once again, sticking to the royal theme, I shall analyze Brodsky’s To a Tyrant. …show more content…
Each poem consists of time past, present, and future. In The Gray-Eyed King, the narrator experiences the death of her lover, the King (past), her husband’s nonchalance at the news (present), and the future of her daughter, the presumed illegitimate child of the King (future). In To You in a Hundred Years, Tsvetaeva merges the past and present - her life in the present will one day become the past. When that day comes (in the future), she wishes to maintain communication through her poetry. In To a Tyrant, Brodsky chronicles the effect of a Tyrant’s rise to power and rule. The use of a consistently inconsistent tense in all of these works creates the illusion of tales that will forever be relevant. Certainly within the span of a century, they have not yet become
In terms of poetic influence, I wish to then descend the poetic “family line.” While Akhmatova is clearly the poetic Grandmatriarch, Marina Tsvetaeva follows closely behind her as Matriarch. The royal theme will be present throughout the analyses of the three poems/poets I have chosen. Therefore, I shall analyze Tsvetaeva’s To You in a Hundred Years. To complement these works, the final poem I will be analyzing was written by the next poet down on the poetic line: the “grandson” Joseph Brodsky. Once again, sticking to the royal theme, I shall analyze Brodsky’s To a Tyrant. …show more content…
Each poem consists of time past, present, and future. In The Gray-Eyed King, the narrator experiences the death of her lover, the King (past), her husband’s nonchalance at the news (present), and the future of her daughter, the presumed illegitimate child of the King (future). In To You in a Hundred Years, Tsvetaeva merges the past and present - her life in the present will one day become the past. When that day comes (in the future), she wishes to maintain communication through her poetry. In To a Tyrant, Brodsky chronicles the effect of a Tyrant’s rise to power and rule. The use of a consistently inconsistent tense in all of these works creates the illusion of tales that will forever be relevant. Certainly within the span of a century, they have not yet become