Two centuries of the Russian classics Two centuries of the Russian classics 2686-7494 IWL RAS https://doi.org/10.22455/2686-7494-2025-7-4-304-325 Research Article Articles A. Akhmatova’s Lyrics in the Late 1910s and Early 1920s: Tragedy and Heroics Shevchuk Yuliya V. red@rusklassika.ru 25 12 2025 7 4 304 325 A. Akhmatova civic lyrics tragedy Christian heroism poetics of a hint autobiographical circumstances Copyright © 2026, IWL RAS 2026 The article analyzes A. Akhmatova’s lyrics of the late 1910s and early 1920s, when the poet deliberately focuses his thought and poetic word on reflections on the history and fate of Russia. A new sense of life is embodied in tragic and heroic forms of the author’s emotionality. The cathartic effect of the lyrics of the transition period is largely due to Akhmatova’s Christian attitudes — her appeal to prayer, biblical imagery, and collegiality as a state of collective experience of disaster. In her works, the motifs of the native home, memory, moral guilt, loneliness, fear, and faith in a miracle are strengthened. The article provides a comprehensive analysis of the cycle Three Poems. 1919, poems “Petrograd, 1919,” “Everything is Plundered, Betrayed, Sold...,” “The Moon Stopped behind the Lake...,” “Lament,” “Lot’s Wife,” “To Many,” as well as thematic cycles of works related to the fate of B. Anrep, who emigrated from Russia, and executed N. Gumilyov. Akhmatova’s poetics of reticence is replaced by a poetics of a hint of tragic autobiographical circumstances. Immersing in the suffering of people, supporting their faith, reminding them of the inviolability of personal values, and justifying life — all this becomes, according to Akhmatova, the mission of the poet of modern times. 1. Averintsev, S. S. “Agasfer” [“Agasphere”]. Mify narodov mira. Entsiklopediia: v 2 t. [Myths of the Peoples of the World. Encyclopedia: in 2 vols.], vol. 1. Moscow, Sovetskaia entsiklopediia Publ., 1980, p. 34. (In Russ.) 2. Davtian, L. A. “Motivy chekhovskoi dramaturgii v stikhotvorenii A. A. Akhmatovoi ʽZa ozerom luna ostanovilas’…’.” [“The Motifs from Chekhov’s Dramaturgy in A. A. Akhmatova’s Poem ʽBehind the Lake, the Moon Stopped...’.”] Chekhoviana. Chekhov i “serebrianyi vek” [Chekhoviana. Chekhov and the “Silver Age”]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1996, pp. 133–138. (In Russ.) 3. Zhirmunskii, V. M. “Preodolevshie simvolizm” [“Overcoming Symbolism”]. Zhirmunskii, V. M. Poeziia Aleksandra Bloka. Preodolevshie simvolizm [Poetry of Alexander Blok. Overcoming Symbolism]. Moscow, Avtograf Publ., 1998, pp. 25–56. (In Russ.) 4. Kikhnei, L. G. Poeziia Anny Akhmatovoi: Tainy remesla [Poetry of Anna Akhmatova: Secrets of the Craft]. Moscow, Dialog MGU Publ., 1997. 148 p. (In Russ.) 5. Losev, L. “ʽStrashnyi peizazh’: marginalii k teme Akhmatova / Dostoevskii” [“ʽTerrible Landscape’: Marginals to the Theme of Akhmatova / Dostoevsky”]. Zvezda, no. 8, 1992, pp. 148–156. (In Russ.) 6. Timenchik, R. “O ʽbibleiskoi’ tainopisi u Akhmatovoi” [“About ʽBiblical’ Cryptography at Akhmatova”]. Zvezda, no. 10, 1995, pp. 201–207. (In Russ.) 7. Tropkina, N. E. “ʽChuzhoe slovo’ v stikhotvorenii A. Akhmatovoi ʽMne golos byl. On zval uteshno…’.” [“ʽSomeone Else’s Word’ in the Poem by A. Akhmatova ʽI Heard a Voice. He Called Consolingly...’.”] Gumilevskie chteniia: Materialy mezhdunarodnoi konferentsii filologov­slavistov [Gumilev Readings: Materials of the International Conference of Slavic Philologists]. St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg Humanitarian University of Trade Unions Publ., 1996, pp. 51–58. (In Russ.) 8. Etkind, E. G. “Pamiat’ i vernost’ (Vmesto predisloviia)” [“Memory and Fidelity (Instead of Preface)”]. Zhirmunskii, V. M. Tvorchestvo Anny Akhmatovoi [Creative Work of Anna Akhmatova]. Leningrad, Nauka Publ., 1973, pp. 3–20. (In Russ.)