Anna Akhmatova once admitted that she does not know how to be friends with women, whom she considers envious, selfish and stupid. However, in her life there was still someone whom she, although with a stretch, still considered her friend. This is Nadezhda Chulkova, the wife of the famous Russian writer who helped Akhmatova publish her first poetry collections. It was with this woman that the poetess shared her creative plans and in 1915 even dedicated the poem “Before spring there are days like this...” to her.
The reason for writing this work
A long-standing dispute arose between Akhmatova and Chulkova, during which the writer’s wife suggested that the poetess try herself in the genre of landscape lyrics in order to objectively assess her creative potential. Chulkova was embarrassed by the fact that Akhmatova, being a married woman, writes poems about love for other men who exist only in her imagination. Therefore, in the early spring of 1915, while on the Slepnevo estate, which belonged to the family of Nikolai Gumilyov, the wife of the poetess, Akhmatova decided to follow the advice of her friend. However, she did not consider it necessary to describe the process of nature awakening from hibernation. The poetess was much more worried about the feelings that she experienced looking at the meadow, which “rests under the dense snow” and the “cheerfully dry” trees, rustling from the slightest gust of wind.
On days like these, as the poetess admitted, her worldview becomes completely different, as if she feels everything that surrounds her in a new way. “And your body marvels at its lightness, and you don’t recognize your home,” notes Akhmatova. It is precisely such changes in the soul, and not a warm and gentle wind, that are a sure sign of the coming spring, which seems to renew the poetess from the inside, filling her with incomprehensible joy and expectation of a miracle.
It is on days like these that Akhmatova feels different and understands that life is taking another turn, and the past is leaving without regret. And even the old song, “which was boring before,” now sounds completely new and is filled with a completely different meaning, which is in tune with the mood and feelings. For Akhmatova, spring, first of all, is associated with deep emotional experiences, in which there is a place for awareness of the transience of life, rethinking of one’s own actions, new ideas and hopes. And this is precisely what gives her the strength to live on, without looking back and without reproaching herself for mistakes that can no longer be corrected.
(1
votes, average: 5.00
out of 5)
- “The Rosary” is Akhmatova’s second collection, published by the Hyperborey publishing house for the first time in 1914. It was this book that made the poetess truly famous. The main feature of Anna Andreevna’s work – “sparingness of words” – was revealed...
- During her lifetime, the work of Anna Akhmatova was never viewed in a Christian manner. At the beginning of the 20th century, literature and religion were considered incompatible concepts, and later analyze poetry from the point of view of their...
- Anna Akhmatova. Now every cultured person pronounces this name with great respect. But has it always been this way? Let's remember the beginning of the poetess's journey. Her first poems appeared in Russia in 1911...
- After breaking off relations with Nikolai Gumilyov, Anna Akhmatova mentally continues to conduct arguments and dialogues with him, reproaching her ex-husband not only for infidelity, but also for destroying the family. Indeed, u...
- The poem “In Memory of Sergei Yesenin” was written by Akhmatova in 1925, and published only in 1968 after her death. This is a mournful poem about the tragic fate of the poet. “Thoughtlessly and painlessly...
- From the very beginning, the marriage union of Anna Akhmatova and Nikolai Gumilev was like a deal in which each party received a certain benefit. Gumilev was hopelessly in love for several years...
- The marriage of Anna Akhmatova and Nikolai Gumilyov was doomed to collapse from the very beginning. It was extremely difficult for two creative people to get along under one roof, although in many ways their views on literature...
- Anna Akhmatova’s work was significantly influenced by several poets, among whom was Innokenty Annensky. He was not familiar with the young poetess, but Akhmatova considered him her spiritual mentor....
- Anna Akhmatova met Nikolai Gumilev in 1904, and the 17-year-old boy did not make much of an impression on her. Moreover, the future poetess treated her admirer very coldly, although she loved...
- Anna Akhmatova did not have many true friends, one of whom was the writer Mikhail Lozinsky. The poetess met him in 1911, when she joined the Acmeist circle and...
- It is no secret that Anna Akhmatova agreed to become the wife of the poet Nikolai Gumilev not out of love for her chosen one, but out of pity and compassion. The thing is that this young man...
- Stalin's repressions did not spare Anna Akhmatova's family. First, her ex-husband Nikolai Gumilyov was arrested and shot, and then in 1938 her son, Lev Gumilyov, was convicted on false charges....
- There were many men in Anna Akhmatova’s life, which is not surprising, because this woman could captivate a man with just one glance, even if she saw him for the first time in her life. Some kind of witchcraft was attributed to her...
- After the revolution, Anna Akhmatova had quite a few opportunities to leave rebellious Russia and move to a well-fed, prosperous Europe. However, every time the poetess received such an offer from relatives or...
- The poem “The Gray-Eyed King,” written by Anna Akhmatova in 1910, is perhaps one of the most mysterious lyrical works of the poetess. Critics are still arguing about who exactly it was...
- The life of poetess Anna Akhmatova was not easy and cloudless. However, in the most difficult and hopeless moments, this amazing woman found the strength and faith to move forward...
- In her youth, Anna Akhmatova was a rather impudent and wayward person who always did as she saw fit, not paying attention to public opinion. Convincing her to do something differently was almost...
- The revolution of 1917 completely changed the life of Anna Akhmatova. By this time, she was already a fairly well-known poetess and was preparing her third literary collection for publication. However, overnight it suddenly became clear...
- In 1906, a tragic event occurred in Anna Akhmatova’s family - Inna, the elder sister of the future poetess, died of tuberculosis. By that time, Akhmatova’s parents had divorced, and her mother, having taken the children,...
- Anna Akhmatova often liked to repeat that some episodes of her life were described in world literature at one time. Indeed, there is nothing new under the sun, especially when it comes to relationships...
- Anna Akhmatova and Dmitry Shostakovich met before the war. They met quite often at various cultural events, although they did not get along with each other. According to one version, Shostakovich did not share...
- In her autobiographical memoirs, Anna Akhmatova repeatedly mentioned that since childhood she dreamed of being a poet. Moreover, she claimed that her fate was predetermined in advance, and someone from above constantly...
- After the dissolution of her marriage with Nikolai Gumilyov, Anna Akhmatova linked her fate with the orientalist scientist Vladimir Shileiko. According to eyewitnesses, at first she rented a room in his St. Petersburg apartment, and later she actually evicted him...
- One of Anna Akhmatova’s favorite poetic images was a man whom she invented and embodied in her poems. There were many disputes and rumors about this in literary circles, which the poetess...
- In 1911, Anna Akhmatova met Alexander Blok, and this fleeting meeting made an indelible impression on the poetess. By this time, Akhmatova was already familiar with the work of this poet, considering... Anna Akhmatova is often accused that her work is painted in pessimistic tones. This is partly true, because this author has developed a special style of storytelling based on public demonstration...
- In her poems, Anna Akhmatova often had endless conversations with fictional characters. For the most part, these were men with whom in her imagination the poetess acted out scenes of jealousy, love, separation and...
- It is no secret that the works of many poets are autobiographical. In them, they re-experience their most powerful feelings and impressions, rethink them and sometimes even provide philosophical comments. Anna Akhmatova...
Anna Akhmatova
Before spring there are days like this:
The meadow rests under the dense snow,
The dry and cheerful trees are rustling,
And the warm wind is gentle and elastic.
And the body marvels at its lightness,
And you won’t recognize your home,
And the song that I was tired of before,
Like new, you eat with excitement.
Anna Akhmatova once admitted that she does not know how to be friends with women, whom she considers envious, selfish and stupid. However, in her life there was still someone whom she, although with a stretch, still considered her friend. This is the hope of Chulkov, the wife of the famous Russian writer who helped Akhmatova publish her first poetry collections. It was with this woman that the poetess shared her creative plans and in 1915 even dedicated the poem “Before spring there are days like this...” to her.
The reason for writing this work was a long-standing dispute between Akhmatova and Chulkova, during which the writer’s wife suggested that the poetess try herself in the genre of landscape lyrics in order to objectively assess her creative potential. Chulkova was embarrassed by the fact that Akhmatova, being a married woman, writes poems about love for other men who exist only in her imagination. Therefore, in the early spring of 1915, while on the Slepnevo estate, which belonged to the family of Nikolai Gumilyov, the wife of the poetess, Akhmatova decided to follow the advice of her friend. However, she did not consider it necessary to describe the process of nature awakening from hibernation. The poetess was much more worried about the feelings that she experienced when looking at the meadow, which “rests under the dense snow” and the “cheerfully dry” trees, rustling from the slightest gust of wind.
On days like these, as the poetess admitted, her worldview becomes completely different, as if she feels everything that surrounds her in a new way. “And your body marvels at its lightness, and you don’t recognize your home,” notes Akhmatova. It is precisely such changes in the soul, and not a warm and gentle wind, that are a sure sign of the coming spring, which seems to renew the poetess from the inside, filling her with incomprehensible joy and expectation of a miracle.
It is on days like these that Akhmatova feels different and understands that life is taking another turn, and the past is leaving without regret. And even the old song, “which was boring before,” now sounds completely new and is filled with a completely different meaning, which is in tune with the mood and feelings. For Akhmatova, spring, first of all, is associated with deep emotional experiences, in which there is a place for awareness of the transience of life, rethinking of one’s own actions, new ideas and hopes. And this is precisely what gives her the strength to live on, without looking back and without reproaching herself for mistakes that can no longer be corrected.
The early work of Anna Andreevna Akhmatova is characterized by great sensitivity, emotionality, and dreaminess. The poem “Before spring there are days like this...” was no exception, in which the poetess, in her characteristic emotionally expressive manner, described the awakening of nature after winter sleep. The proposed brief analysis “Before spring there are days like this...” according to the plan, will be useful when preparing for a literature lesson in the 4th grade.
Brief Analysis
History of creation– The poem was written in the spring of 1915, during a vacation on the family estate.
Theme of the poem– The awakening of nature and the human soul with the arrival of spring.
Composition– The composition of the poem includes two conventional parts: in the first, the author describes the spring renewal of nature, in the second, he reveals the inner feelings of the lyrical heroine.
Genre– Landscape lyrics.
Poetic size– Iambic using paired rhyme.
Metaphors-“the trees are cheerfully dry”, “the wind is gentle and elastic.”
Epithets – “dense”, “warm”, “new”.
Anaphora– 4 lines begin with “and”.
Personifications – “the meadow is resting,” “the trees are rustling.”
History of creation
The poem was written by Anna Andreevna in the spring of 1915, during her stay at the family estate of her husband Nikolai Gumilyov. One of Anna Andreevna’s few friends was the wife of the famous writer Chulkov, Nadezhda.
At one of the literary evenings, a dispute arose between the ladies: Nadezhda Chulkova assured that a truly talented poet must develop the facets of his skill, covering a wide variety of topics with his creativity. Thus, she hinted at the “one-sidedness” of Akhmatova’s works, in which she often described love feelings for mysterious strangers who existed only in her fantasies.
Anna Andreevna accepted her friend’s challenge and wrote a short poem entitled “Before spring there are days like this...”, which became an excellent example of landscape lyricism in the poetess’s creative repertoire.
Subject
The theme of the work is the arrival of spring and the changes associated with it. However, nature itself is not of particular interest to the poetess: she is much more concerned about those feelings and emotions that appear when looking at the renewal of nature.
It is in the spring, according to Akhmatova, that a feeling of fullness of life arises. All surrounding objects and events are perceived differently, the soul trembles in anticipation of the coming joyful changes.
Akhmatova is sure that only renewed internal sensations are true harbingers of spring, capable of filling with a feeling of happiness and joy. The first days of spring, when the earth is just awakening after a long winter sleep, give a strong feeling of the onset of a new period in life. Everything that was past irrevocably fades into oblivion, giving way to something unknown.
Composition
The work is small in volume - only 8 lines. However, even such a modest size of the verse did not prevent the poetess from fully reflecting the feelings and emotions of the lyrical heroine.
The compositional structure is represented by two conventional parts. The first quatrain is dominated by narration, conveying an atmosphere of anticipation.
In the second part, there is a sharp transition in the mood of the lyrical heroine, who shares the lightness and novelty of feelings caused by the arrival of spring.
Genre
The work is written in the genre of landscape poetry. The meter of the poem is iambic, the rhyme is paired.
Means of expression
Even in a small poem, the poetess managed to convey the heroine’s emotional experiences. The work evokes exclusively positive, vivid emotions.
The creation of such a mood was facilitated by such means of artistic expression as metaphors(“the trees are cheerfully dry”, “the wind is gentle and elastic”), epithets(“dense”, “warm”, “new”), personifications(“the meadow is resting”, “the trees are rustling”).
The poem “Before spring there are days like this...” was written by Anna Akhmatova at the end of February, beginning of March 1915 in the village of Slepnevo, where the family estate of her husband Nikolai Gumilyov was located. It was created under the influence of one of the few female friends of the poetess Nadezhda Chulkova, the wife of a famous writer, who took an active part in Akhmatova’s work and helped publish her first poetry collections.
This poem, dedicated to Chulkova, was a kind of response from the poetess to her long-standing disagreements with her friend, who suggested that Akhmatova show her bright creative personality with the help of landscape lyrics. And all because she had long been embarrassed by Akhmatova’s poetry, in which she, already married, described her love feelings for strangers who existed exclusively in her fantasies.
Main theme
Arriving in early spring at the Gumilev family estate in the village of Slepnevo, and following Chulkova’s recommendations, Akhmatova writes this work. Nature itself and the process of its awakening from winter sleep are not at all interesting to her, and therefore in the poem it is described literally in the first three lines. The poetess is more interested and worried about her feelings that appear when she looks at the picture of the spring resurrection of nature surrounding her.
It is on such days, as the poetess herself admits, that her sense of the surrounding reality changes radically, it’s as if she begins to live again and perceives the objects and phenomena around her differently: “And your body marvels at its lightness, and you don’t recognize your house.” Akhmatova believes that only these new spiritual sensations, and not the warm and gentle breeze or the noise of waking trees, become real harbingers of the onset of spring and future changes. This changing mood and the acute novelty of spiritual feelings seem to renew the poetess from the inside, filling her with a feeling of joy, happiness, a premonition of miracles and bright events.
It is in the first days of spring, described in the poem, that Akhmatova feels the changes taking place in her soul, realizes that her life’s path is taking another turn, and her past life is irrevocably passing, giving way to something new and unknown in her destiny. Thanks to this spiritual renewal, even an old song, “which was boring before,” begins to sound updated and fresh, evoking completely different feelings and emotions.
Features of compositional construction
Brief (only 8 lines), but as always brilliant, Akhmatova’s poem carries a deep philosophical meaning and very subtly conveys the state of mind of the lyrical heroine. The depth of the poetess's feelings and experiences is conveyed using such poetic devices as metaphor (the trees are cheerfully dry, the warm wind is gentle and resilient), personification (the meadow is resting, the trees are rustling). To enhance the general mood, the technique of anaphora is used (four lines in the middle of the poem begin with the conjunction “and”). The poem has a bright emotional coloring, its first part is a little restrained due to the use of simple narrative sentences, the second is joyful and peaceful (a harmonious combination of highly poetic expressions with neutral ones: “and the body marvels at its lightness”).
The poetess first of all associates the arrival of spring with her personal feelings and sensations; they are full of thoughts about how fleeting human life is, dedicated to understanding their own actions, and filled with hopes and dreams about the future. All this gives Akhmatova vitality and self-confidence in order to continue her path in life, without grieving about the past and without being sad because of the mistakes she once made.
Before spring there are days like this:
The meadow rests under the dense snow,
The dry and cheerful trees are rustling,
And the warm wind is gentle and elastic.
And the body marvels at its lightness,
And you won’t recognize your home,
And the song that I was tired of before,
Like new, you eat with excitement.
Analysis of the poem “Before spring there are such days” by Akhmatova
In the early work of A. Akhmatova, descriptions of any specific things were rarely found. The poetess mostly depicted her inner world, which was full of fantastic dreams and hopes. A considerable part of the works was devoted to fictitious love images that have nothing to do with reality. For this, Akhmatova was often reproached by her friends and relatives, since they knew about her infallible loyalty to her husband. A close friend of the poetess N. Chulkova suggested that she write a poem in the genre of landscape lyricism in order to test her creative powers. Akhmatova’s response was the work “Before spring there are days like this...” (1915).
The poetess passed the proposed test with honor. Her poem is written with great artistic skill. The first part of the work is devoted to the landscape itself. It depicts the last days of the passing winter. It was not by chance that Akhmatova chose this borderline state of nature. Many poets enthusiastically described the first signs of spring. For the poetess’s inner world, the moment when nature seems to freeze before its awakening is much more important. The snow has not even begun to melt, so the earth is not burdened by its burden (“the meadow is resting”). The controversial epithet “cheerfully dry” emphasizes that the trees are already preparing for the spring movement of sap, which is about to begin. The first “warm wind” has already replaced the fierce cold gusts. It is not yet full of spring aromas, but it brings significant relief.
The second part describes the feelings of the heroine herself caused by this state of nature. An amazing lightness appears throughout the body. There is still a long way to go before a rapid surge of vitality. Nature gives all creatures a short respite to throw off the burden accumulated over the winter and prepare for the rapid awakening of spring. At this time, you can free yourself from burdensome thoughts and experiences, cleanse your soul for new joyful impressions. Therefore, the heroine claims that “you don’t recognize your home.” She perceives everything around her in a completely new light. Akhmatova symbolically compares this state with a boring song that is sung in a new way.
The poem “Before spring there are such days...” proves Akhmatova’s mastery in the genre of landscape lyricism, which is unusual for her. The poetess not only successfully described the interesting state of nature, but also directly connected it with human feelings and thoughts.