"Twenty first. Night. Monday..." Anna Akhmatova

Twenty first. Night. Monday.
The outlines of the capital in the darkness.
Composed by some slacker,
What love happens on earth.

And out of laziness or boredom
Everyone believed, and so they live:
Looking forward to dates, afraid of separation
And they sing love songs.

But to others the secret is revealed,
And silence will rest on them...
I came across this by accident
And since then everything seems to be sick.

Analysis of Akhmatova’s poem “The Twenty-First. Night. Monday…"

In 1917, Akhmatova’s third collection, “The White Flock,” was released, considered the most significant of her pre-revolutionary books. Contemporary critics practically ignored the publication. The fact is that it came out during a difficult period for Russia. According to Anna Andreevna’s later memoirs, the first printed edition could not get from St. Petersburg to Moscow. Nevertheless, the book still received a certain number of reviews. Most critics noted the stylistic difference between “The White Flock” and “Evening” (1912) and “The Rosary” (1914). Slonimsky believed that the poems included in Akhmatova’s third collection were marked by a new, in-depth worldview, conditioned by the victory of the spiritual over the sensual, to the extreme, feminine. According to Mochulsky, in “The White Flock” the poetess becomes stronger, stricter, and more severe. In her work the image of the Motherland appears and the echo of war is heard. Perhaps the main feature of the collection is polyphony, which many researchers of Akhmatov’s lyrics have written about.

A short poem “Twenty-one. Night. Monday…”, dated 1917, is included in the collection “The White Flock”. His example clearly shows what changes the motif of love has undergone in Anna Andreevna’s poetry. The first quatrain begins with parcellation - a speech device that is an intonational division of a statement into segments, which are graphically designated as independent sentences. The use of this trope allows Akhmatova to achieve greater emotionality, expressiveness, and brightness. It seems that the opening line of the poem is an excerpt from a telegram. Everything is brief, everything is to the point - just a time indication, nothing superfluous, no details.

At first, it seems that the lyrical heroine of the poem treats love with obvious irony. According to her, the existence of this feeling on earth was invented by some slacker. The rest of the people believed him, either out of laziness or boredom. In “The White Flock,” the lyrical heroine no longer treats love with such trepidation. The excitement generated by the first feeling disappeared. The girl who clasped her hands under a dark veil, put the glove on her left hand on her right hand, ran after her endlessly adored man to the gate, and promised to die if he left, was gone. The love dramas she experienced changed her forever, made her calmer and wiser. However, one should not think that she gave up the most beautiful feeling on earth. Rather, the lyrical heroine completely rethought him. She perceives love as a secret, accessible only to selected people. Comprehension of the truth brings them peace (“silence rests upon them”). The heroine of the poem was accidentally lucky enough to fall into the circle of those “others”. Love as a disease, love as a mystery - this is the new perception that is revealed to readers in Akhmatova’s third collection.

The book “The White Flock” was influenced not only by the tragic events that took place in Russia, but also by Anna Andreevna’s relationship with the Russian muralist and writer Boris Anrep, who spent most of his life in Great Britain. The poetess met him in 1914. Before Anrep left the Russian Empire, the lovers saw each other often. Akhmatova dedicated about thirty poems to Boris Vasilyevich, a significant part of them were included in the collection “The White Flock”. Anna Andreevna's last meeting with Anrep took place in 1965, in Paris, after honoring the poetess in Oxford. Boris Vasilyevich later recalled that the image of the once beloved woman seemed to him as young, fresh and charming as in 1917.

Who took the Tatar pseudonym Akhmatova. "Twenty first. Night. Monday…”: we will analyze this short early poem in the article.

Briefly about the biography

Noblewoman Anna Andreevna was the third child in a large family. Her three sisters died of tuberculosis in their youth, her older brother committed suicide, and the youngest died in exile 10 years after Anna’s death. That is, her loved ones and relatives were not with her during difficult moments of her life.

A. Gorenko was born in Odessa in 1889, and spent her childhood in Tsarskoe Selo, where she studied at the Mariinsky Gymnasium. In the summer the family went to Crimea.

The girl learned French by listening to her tutors' conversations with her older sister and brother. She began writing poetry at the age of 11. By 1905, an aspiring poet, the handsome N. Gumilyov, fell in love with her and published her poem in Paris. In 1910, they connected their lives, and Anna Andreevna took the pseudonym Akhmatova - the surname of her great-grandmother. Two years later, their son Lev was born.

After six years, relations between the poets became tense, and in 1918 they divorced. It is no coincidence that the 3rd collection of poems entitled “The White Flock” was published in 1917. It included the work “Twenty-one. Night. Monday…”, the analysis of which will be below. For now, let's say that it sounds like disappointment in love.

Life after the bloody revolution

In the same 1918, at the age of 29, Anna Andreevna quickly married Vladimir Shileiko and after three years broke up with him. At this time, N. Gumilyov was arrested and almost a month later shot. At the age of 33, Anna Andreevna unites her life with art critic N. Punin. During this period, her poems ceased to be published. When my son was 26 years old, he was arrested for five years. The poetess breaks up with N. Punin and will be able to see her son for a short time only in 1943. In 1944, he joined the army and took part in the capture of Berlin. However, in 1949, N. Punin and his son were arrested. Lev was sentenced to 10 years in the camps. The mother knocked on all the doorsteps, stood in lines with parcels, wrote poems singing the glory of Stalin, but they did not let her son out. The 20th Congress of the CPSU brought him freedom.

In 1964, the poetess was awarded a prize in Italy.

In 1965, she traveled to Britain: she received an honorary diploma from the University of Oxford.

And in 1966, at the 77th year of her life, Anna Andreevna died. Could the poetess have imagined such a bitter fate for herself when, at the age of 28, the lines “Twenty-one. Night. Monday..."? An analysis of the work will be given below. Unfulfilled love occupied her thoughts at that moment.

Briefly about the “White Flock” in the works of A. Akhmatova

One might ask: why does the poetess’s third collection have such a strange title? White is innocent, pure, and also the color of the Holy Spirit, who descended to the sinful earth in the form of a dove. This color is also a symbol of death.

The image of birds is freedom, hence the flock that has left the ground and looks at everything with detachment. Pure freedom and death of feelings - this is the theme of the work “Twenty-one. Night. Monday…". An analysis of the poem shows how the lyrical heroine separated from the “pack” in order to indulge in specific reflection at night alone: ​​is love necessary? A poem without a title. This suggests that the poet fears that the title may be considered a separate text and provide additional meaning that is not required by the author.

"Twenty first. Night. Monday…". Analysis of the poem

The work begins with short, one-line, complete sentences. And one gets the impression that the lyrical heroine is separated from everyone and everything: “Twenty-one. Night. Monday". Analysis of the last two lines of the first stanza shows a nightly conversation in silence with herself, full of confidence that there is no love on earth. It was just written by some slacker. Business people do not experience feelings, according to the lyrical heroine.

The second stanza is no less contemptuous. Everyone believed the slacker only out of laziness and boredom. Instead of being busy, people are full of dreams and hopes for meetings, and suffer from separation.

The last quatrain is dedicated to chosen people, those to whom the secret has been revealed, and therefore nothing disturbs them. At the age of 28, to accidentally stumble upon such a discovery, when you still have your whole life ahead of you, is very bitter. That’s why the lyrical heroine says that she seemed to be sick. For her, unhappy and lonely, it is just as difficult as for a young girl experiencing her first dramatic love.

This collection is largely inspired by meetings with her lover Boris Anrep, whom A. Akhmatova met in 1914 and met often. But fate separated them: Anrep spent his entire life in exile. They met only when Anna Andreevna came to England in 1965. In his opinion, even at that age she was majestic and beautiful.

Concluding the analysis of Akhmatova’s poem “The Twenty-First. Night. Monday…”, it should be added, it is written in anapest.

Poem “Twenty-one. Night. Monday” is considered one of the most important for understanding the early period of Akhmatova’s work. Brief analysis of “Twenty-one. Night. Monday” according to the plan can be used in literature classes in the 9th grade so that schoolchildren can understand this issue.

Brief Analysis

History of creation- the work was written in 1917, which was turbulent for Akhmatova both personally and socially.

Theme of the poem- disappointment in love.

Composition– linear, from the first stanza to the third the thought develops sequentially.

Genre- lyric poem.

Poetic size- trimeter anapaest.

Epithet – “love songs”.

Metaphor – “and silence will fall upon them“.

History of creation

1917 was a very difficult year for Akhmatova. Not only because of the revolution that shook all of Russia, but also for personal reasons: the discord with her husband became more and more obvious and deeper. In addition, the poetess begins to doubt that she is truly talented - and this despite the fact that the collections of her poems were very well received by both critics and the public. The history of the creation of the work is associated with strong experiences, especially of a personal nature.

Akhmatova had a presentiment that her marriage was not just cracking - it was falling apart. She was disappointed in herself for allowing her feelings for Nikolai Gumilev to completely take over her heart, which ended up being broken. She was truly disappointed in the relationship and treated love without the same trepidation.

The poem was first published in the same year in the landmark collection “The White Flock” for Anna Andreevna, where she appears in a new poetic form.

Subject

The theme of the work is quite simple. It is dedicated to disappointment in love - this wonderful feeling that the lyrical heroine experienced in full, and at the same time it ultimately made her unhappy. That is why she speaks about love with such irony, renounces it, believes that its very existence is a fairy tale composed by some slacker.

At the same time, the reader is left with the feeling that behind all the cold phrases, said as if in the hearts, there actually lies sadness over a lost feeling and a desire to love and, of course, to be loved in return.

Composition

The linearly developing composition of the verse allows the reader to penetrate into the spiritual world of the lyrical heroine. In the first stanza, she seems to outline the time of action, showing how deep her thoughtfulness is. It seems that the woman is simply talking to herself, convincing herself that love doesn’t really exist. It is not difficult to imagine such a picture.

The second stanza is also full of disappointment - after all, everyone believes in the fiction of love and lives with it, worrying about a non-existent and insignificant feeling.

In the third stanza, the main idea is revealed - that for the lyrical heroine herself, the lost illusion took away the joy of life, took away the opportunity to simply live. At the same time, she says that an epiphany similar to the one that visited her is not available to everyone. And it becomes clear that the girl herself would gladly refuse him.

Genre

This is a lyrical poem in which Akhmatova describes her own feelings, putting bitter words into the mouth of the lyrical heroine. She is still so young, but she has become disillusioned with the most important feeling for every woman, and this leads her to despair.

The three-foot anapaest, used to give poetic lines the form of reflection, is most often used specifically to create lyrical works.

Means of expression

Akhmatova made this poem deliberately simple, essentially using only two figurative and expressive means: epithet– “love songs” and metaphor- “and silence will rest upon them.” It is interesting that such stinginess does not make the work less lyrical - moreover, it is precisely it that helps to emphasize the confused state of mind of a disappointed woman. She has no time for lofty phrases.

At the same time, the epithet “love songs” plays a very important role - it shows how ironic the worldview of the lyrical heroine is, who used to write such songs with pleasure.

Poem “Twenty-one. Night. Monday" was written by Anna Akhmatova in 1917, a turbulent year for all of Russia. And the poetess’s personal life was also shaken: more and more difficulties arose in her relationship with her husband, and, despite the success of her first collections, she began to have doubts about her own talent.

The poem begins with short, chopped phrases, like a telegram. Just a statement of time and place. And then a longer and softer line: “outlines of the capital in the darkness”. It was as if Akhmatova, in a conversation with someone (or at the beginning of a letter), named the date, with her sensitive ear caught the poetic rhythm, went to the window - and further words began to spill out by themselves. This is exactly the impression that arises after reading the first quatrain, and one even glimpses the vague reflection of the poetess in the dark window glass.

“Some slacker wrote that there is love on earth.” This is a conversation between a woman and herself, still young (Anna Andreevna was only twenty-eight), but already faced with drama.

And the second stanza is all permeated with disappointment. To the slacker who invented love, “everyone believed, and that’s how they live”. Both this faith and the actions associated with it are a meaningless fairy tale, according to the lyrical heroine. Like the one that people believed in several centuries ago, about three whales and a turtle. And therefore, the next stanza, in addition to sadness, is also imbued with triumph.

“But to others the secret is revealed, And silence rests upon them.”- word "other" it could very well have been originally "chosen", if the size allowed. At least that's the meaning. “And silence will rest upon them”- as a blessing, as freedom from illusions. In this place, the voice of the lyrical heroine sounds the most firm and confident. But the last two lines give rise to a different feeling: as if they are being uttered by a very young girl who has lost some kind of landmark, who has forgotten something important. “I came across this by accident, and since then it’s been like I’ve been sick.” What is this if not regret? If not the understanding that the lost illusion is the same opened "secret" took away the main joy of life? It is not for nothing that these last words are separated from the calm, confident lines by ellipses. And triumphant righteousness gives way to quiet sadness.

The poem is written in three-foot anapest - a meter most suitable for reflection and lyricism. The entire work is imbued with lyricism, despite the emphasized absence of visual and expressive means. Stilted metaphor “and silence will rest upon them” seems like a foreign element, words that belong not to the lyrical heroine, but to the cold and disappointed woman she appears to be. But the true, soft and sad voice that sounds in the last words, at once overturns the cumbersome structures in the glory of disappointment and leaves the reader with the impression of loss and thirst for love.

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