Reading Notes W13, Anna AKhmatova, Part B

Anna Akhmatova and her writings were a threat to Russians symbolism. She was treated like a prisoner of war in her own country, forced into internal emigration. Her writings were not considered socially useful and it did not align to fit the government-approved model of literature (566). The author'swriting exposed truth and encouraged individualism. She speaks in first person for herself, son, husband, and others who endured the same fate of seeing someone imprisoned or murdered.  She recollects a woman who recognized her as she stood outside the prison of Leningrad where her son was. I don’t know the real interpretation, but I wonder if the woman was asking Anna, knowing she was a poet to write about what she was witnessing- the injustice of their loved ones. “Can you describe this?” and Anna answered, “Yes I can”  (568). Which is why a smiled passed over the sorrowed woman, who had once been a woman full of life. The woman found solace in the fact that Anna would tell their story and speak of their pain.  Anna gave voice and validation to her pain but also the pain of her people. In the end she too found some solace in her lament concerning her faith. She draws strength from Mary, the mother of Jesus, who had to watch her son be crucified. Mary was comforted by the fact that Jesus' death was considered just the beginning not the end and she stood on the same promise for her son.