Poems Book

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.