Confusion by Anna Akhmatova
"Confusion" is a poignant poem by Anna Akhmatova, featured in her acclaimed collection "Chetki." The poem encapsulates the complex emotions surrounding love and separation, portraying a painful yet necessary confrontation with a former lover. Akhmatova explores the depth of her feelings, contrasting her intense emotional experience with the detached civility reflected in her lover's actions. Through vivid imagery and physical descriptions, she evokes the turmoil of her heart, using lines like "a mist clouds my eyes" to convey her emotional state.
The poem's fluid narrative and lyrical quality demonstrate how confusion intertwines with love and loss, ultimately leading to a sense of introspective peace. In this process, Akhmatova reveals a transformative understanding of her experiences with love, suggesting that the chaos of emotions can yield personal growth. Her biographer Amanda Haight notes that "Chetki" marks a pivotal point in Akhmatova's career, signaling her journey toward survival and individuality in the face of heartbreak. "Confusion" illustrates not only the struggle of navigating love’s complexities but also the solace that can emerge from such turmoil.
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Confusion by Anna Akhmatova
Excerpted from an article in Magill’s Survey of World Literature, Revised Edition
First published: “Smyatnie,” 1914 (collected in The Complete Poems of Anna Akhmatova, 1997)
Type of work: Poem
The Work
“Confusion,” included in Akhmatova’s popular collection Chetki, captures the tone of the entire work, which focuses on the meetings and separations of lovers and former lovers. The poet describes the painful meeting as draining, yet necessary, because it provides closure for the relationship that has left her hanging on during “Ten years of cries and trepidation.” As she looks into her former lover’s face, she does not see in him the intense emotion that she feels. She sees only the “simple civility” reflected in his kiss of her hand. At the conclusion of the poem, her soul is both “empty and serene.”
The feeling of love’s being both painful and exhilarating permeates every line. Concrete imagery and physical descriptions represent the intense emotion felt by the poet. The lines “a mist clouds my eyes” and “with a kiss you brushed my hand” characterize these literary devices. This use of concrete imagery is common throughout most of her earlier works. Also representative of the poet’s craft is her dramatization of the moment. She sketches as if it were a painting in motion, the lyrical quality of her verse reflected in the lines: “And I can no longer fly,/ I who was winged from childhood.”
Further exemplified in the poem is the poet’s reliance on the narrative form to provide movement. In addition, the fluidity of the poem illustrates that confusion is as much a part of life as are love and loss. The realization of this is demonstrated by the persona’s recognition that her soul is now serene for the first time in ten years after “all my sleepless nights.” Out of her confusion she has found an inner peace that would not have come if she had not loved and lost.
Amanda Haight, Akhmatova’s biographer, describes Chetki as representing a poet who is “beginning to know how to survive” lost love and abandonment. Haight concludes that finally poetry now plays a positive role in the poet’s life, allowing her a sense of freedom and individuality. In addition, Chetki marked the beginning of Akhmatova’s popularity as a poet and the maturation of her adult poetic voice.
Bibliography
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Feinstein, Elaine. Anna of All the Russias: The Life of Anna Akhmatova. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2005.
Haight, Amanda. Anna Akhmatova: A Poetic Pilgrimage. New York: Oxford University Press, 1976.
Harrington, Alexandra. The Poetry of Anna Akhmatova: Living in Different Mirrors. New York: Anthem Press, 2006.
Hingley, Ronald. Nightingale Fever: Russian Poets in Revolution. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1981.
Kalb, Judith E., and J. Alexander Ogden, eds. Russian Writers of the Silver Age, 1890-1925. Vol. 295 in Dictionary of Literary Biography. With the collaboration of I. G. Vishnevetsky. Detroit: Gale, 2004.
Nayman, Anatoly. Remembering Anna Akhmatova. New York: Henry Holt, 1991.
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