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amyborch's review
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
slow-paced
4.0
Written during the Revolution and wwii. These poems are often haunting.
moswanky's review against another edition
3.0
Akhmatova’s poetry is split into two periods, and you can definitely see distinct differences in subject and overall depth of feeling. I prefer her later work. Her earlier period focused on love and its anguishes, while her later work concentrated on the war and especially on her sufferings under Stalin.
She uses a lot of nature imagery in both periods, but definitely increases her use of literary and historical works and characters in the later period.
I just am not a huge poetry fan on my best day, so 3 stars.
She uses a lot of nature imagery in both periods, but definitely increases her use of literary and historical works and characters in the later period.
I just am not a huge poetry fan on my best day, so 3 stars.
shanviolinlove's review
Lovely. While some of Akhmatova's poems feel a bit sentimental (i.e. many of the earlier jilted love poems), most resonate with evocative lyricism and breathtaking imagery. Akhmatova takes her time to set the stage, doing a 360 in the interiority she is describing: wind in the firs, owls in the night sky. She frames the conflict of a friend's death or a lovers' tryst with sights and sounds, grounding the reader in a tangible setting. I reread the final stanza of "On the Road" a dozen times.
I'm always impressed by poetry translation that keeps the integrity of rhyme and meter--and meaning!--across different languages. Brodsky's introduction hails Akhmatova's deliberate structures and rhyming patterns, and while I don't read Russian, I can appreciate the instincts in Coffin's translation.
I'm always impressed by poetry translation that keeps the integrity of rhyme and meter--and meaning!--across different languages. Brodsky's introduction hails Akhmatova's deliberate structures and rhyming patterns, and while I don't read Russian, I can appreciate the instincts in Coffin's translation.
katarinamilica's review
dark
emotional
reflective
5.0
that stick in your hand is tracing mansions
in which we shall always be together.
in which we shall always be together.