AA Akhmatova: "Courage". Analysis of the poem

Anna Akhmatova did not like it when she was called a poetess. She heard something disparaging in this word. Her poetry, on the one hand, was very feminine, intimate and sensual, but, on the other hand, there were completely male themes in it, such as creativity, historical upheavals of Russia, war. Akhmatova was a representative of one of the modernist trends - acmeism. Participants in the group "The Poet Workshop" - the organization of Acmeists - believed that creativity is a kind of craft, and the poet is a master who, as a building material, must use the word.

Akhmatova as a poet-acmeist

Akemism is one of the trends of modernism. Representatives of this direction came into conflict with the Symbolists and their mysticism. For Acmeists, poetry is a craft, it can be learned if you constantly practice and improve. Akhmatova was of the same opinion. Acmeists in poetry have few images and symbols, the words are selected carefully, so it is not necessary to use them in a figurative sense. One of the most famous poems that Akhmatova wrote is "Courage." Analysis of the poem shows how significant the poet was Russian. Ator refers to him very reverently and respectfully: this manifests itself both at the level of form and at the level of content. Means of expressiveness in the poem is practically nonexistent, the phrases are short and capacious.

Anna Akhmatova "Courage"

The analysis of the poem must begin with the history of creation. Anna Akhmatova began work on the collection "Wind of War" immediately after her beginning, in 1941. It was supposed to be her contribution to the victory, her attempt to raise the fighting spirit of the people. The poem "Courage" entered this cycle of poems and became one of the most striking.

Theme and idea of the poem

The main theme of the poem is the Great Patriotic War. Akhmatova realizes this theme in her own way. The main thing that is required for people, so Akhmatova thinks, is courage. The analysis of the verse shows how in just a few lines the poetess was able to express the idea that the enemies are claiming the destruction of Russian culture, the enslavement of Russian people. She does this by calling the most important thing for a Russian person - the Russian language, original and inimitable.

Size, rhyme, rhetoric and strings

The analysis of the verse "Courage" by Akhmatova must necessarily begin with consideration of its construction. It is written with a five-foot amphibrachium. Such a size gives verse recitative and clarity, it sounds abruptly, invitingly, rhythmically. There are three stanzas in the poem. Two of them are high-grade quatrains, that is, they consist of four lines connected by cross rhyme. The third stanza unexpectedly breaks off on the third line, which consists of only one word - "forever". Akhmatova thereby emphasizes the importance of this word, its steadfastness and confidence in the power of the Russian people and the country as a whole. With this word she sets the general mood of the text: Russian culture will exist forever, nobody can destroy it. Of course, neither the language nor the culture of the country can survive without a people who must show courage, can not simply surrender.

"Courage", Akhmatova: analysis of means of expressiveness

In any aspect of the analysis of verse, there is necessarily a point of "means of expressiveness." And it is not enough just to write them out, you also need to determine the function of each of the means in the text. As noted above, the Acmeists used little imaginative means in their poems, Akhmatova also adhered to the same principle: "Courage," the analysis of which necessarily requires consideration of lexical and syntactic figures of speech, is of great interest. The poem begins with a detailed metaphor. "Our watch" is a dark modernity. Akhmatova lost hard times: World War I, revolution, civil war ... And the Second World War ... Akhmatova did not leave the country, when the first wave of emigration swept away, she did not leave it during the years of Hitler's invasion. Akhmatova personifies Russian speech and the Russian word, referring to him as a friend, to "you." In connection with this personification, a metaphor arises - we will save from captivity. This metaphor means that if Hitler's Germany wins Russia, Russian language would be left in the background, he would not be taught children, he would cease to develop. And the decline of the Russian language means the complete decline of Russian culture and the destruction of centuries-old traditions and the nation as a whole.

In the poem, a lexical repetition is used, the author attends to certain senses: hour-hours, courage-courage (in the first stanza). Also the poetess used the syntactic parallelism in the second stanza, which strengthens the effect of the expressed thought that the Russian people will fight desperately, to the last drop of blood, not sparing themselves, showing courage. Akhmatova (the analysis has proved this) does not change the canons of acmeism, but speaks of a topical issue.