Reviews

Selected Poems Of Anna Akhmatova by Richard McKane, Anna Akhmatova

bsolarz's review against another edition

4.0

A great collection of poems that struck inspiration every so often.

arekusu16's review against another edition

3.0

Con un marcado contexto político, los versos de Akhmatova cuentan sus visiones y vivencias desde un punto de vista pesimista y condicionado por la situación de su tierra.

Aunque no del todo mi estilo, es muy interesante y personal, cotidiano y complejamente simple. Quizá demasiado.

Me quedo con estos versos:

“And let them smile, secretly,
On reading my sad story...
If I can't have love, if I can't have peace,
Grant me a bitter glory.”

a_1212's review against another edition

3.0

~3.75

grp101's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring lighthearted mysterious reflective relaxing sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.5

I found some of the poems a little confusing but this wasn’t originally in English and they were probably too smart for me anyway. Even translated her poetry is gorgeous and unique

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Death, and Suicide

themes of fascism, death, heartbreak, suicide, misogyny, etc…

habiba_r's review against another edition

dark emotional inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

rachelhelps's review against another edition

3.0

Nostalgic, gloomy, and reflective are the poems of Akhmatova. I especially liked this edition because it included the Russian. Akhmatova is pretty much Russia's most famous female poet, and not without reason.

agneix's review against another edition

4.0

"The stone word fell
on my still living breast.
Never mind, I was prepared,
somehow I'll come to terms with it. [...]"

margu's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

spacestationtrustfund's review against another edition

2.0

The poems in this collection were translated by D.M. Thomas. I haven't read many English translations of Akhmatova's poetry that I felt came close to capturing the nuance and emotion of the original Russian, and this is no exception; overall the translations felt like a "dumbed down" version of Akhmatova. As an example, here's one of my favourites of her poems, in Russian:

К СМЕРТЬ

Ты всё равно придёшь. Зачем же не теперь?
Я жду тебя. Мне очень трудно.
Я потушила свет и отворила дверь
Тебе, такой простой и чудной.
Прими для этого какой угодно вид,
Ворвись отравленным снарядом
Иль с гирькой подкрадись, как опытный бандит,
Иль отрави тифозным чадом,
Иль сказочкой, придуманной тобой
И всем до тошноты знакомой,—
Чтоб я увидела верх шапки голубой
И бледного от страха управдома.
Мне всё равно теперь. Струится Енисей,
Звезда полярная сияет.
И синий блеск возлюбленных очей
Последний ужас затмевает.

And Thomas's translation:

You will come in any case, so why not now?
Life is very hard: I'm waiting for you.
I have turned off the lights and thrown the door wide open
For you, so simple and so marvellous.
Take on any form you like.
Why not burst in like a poisoned shell,
Or steal in like a bandit with his kunckleduster,
Or like a typhus-germ?
Or like fairy-tale of your own invention—
Stolen from you and loathsomely repeated,
Where I can see, behind you in the doorway,
The police-cap and the white-faced concierge?
I don't care how. The Yenisei is swirling,
The Pole Star glittering. And eyes
I love are closing on the final horror.

It could be worse.

asterionsiren's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? N/A
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.0