Week 13 Analysis: Anna Akhmatova

Anna Akhmatova's Requiem was a very heartbreaking poem about a mother and her son who was taken away by the secret police in Russia.  The stanza's that make up the Requiem are actually meant to be read together, one after another.  They tell the story of a woman who waiting outside to hear her son's sentence for 17 months while he was in jail.  The stanza that really stuck out to me was "VII".

In stanza "VII", she showed hope that she could live again.  She got word of her sentence, and at first she was crushed. "And the stone word fell On my still-living breast" (571).  The reader can see here her emotion as she got the news that her son was going to be sentenced to death, when she got word of the sentence her heart sank.

She offers hope though that she will be okay and will be able to push through this suffering.  She said, "never mind, I was ready.  I will manage somehow" (571).  She believes she can continue on with life and leave it behind her.  However, for her to do this, she must change herself.  The first thing she mentions she must do is, "i must kill memory once and for all,".  She believes that in order for her to continue on with life, she must forget everything about her son.  Next she said, "I must turn my soul to sone, I must learn to live again" (571).  This is in reference to her heart.  She is pretty much saying that she must turn her heart to stone, so she will not feel any emotion so she can live on her life. 

This was my favorite stanza from this Poem because the lady showed a sign of hope.  Up until this point, the poem was very sad and heartbreaking for her.  The situation was out of her control and there was nothing she could do but sit back and watch with agony.

Anna Akhmatova, Requiem, Pages 568-575