Dark Dream by Anna Akhmatova
"Dark Dream" by Anna Akhmatova is a poignant poem that explores the complexities of love and the painful dissolution of a marriage. Featured in her collection "Anno Domini MCMXXI," the poem intertwines themes of personal loss with the broader struggle between idealized love and the harsh realities of a couple's life together. Akhmatova vividly portrays the emotional turmoil faced by the speaker as she confronts the slow decay of her marital bond, expressing anguish and a sense of betrayal.
Throughout the poem, the speaker grapples with the intensity of her feelings, oscillating between passion and numbness as her love transforms into a source of pain. The imagery of blood and the starkness of coldness illustrate the deep emotional scars inflicted by a relationship that has lost its vitality. Yet, amidst this heartache, the speaker ultimately embraces her individuality and strength, rejecting submission to her husband’s will.
The poem concludes on a note of acceptance and hope as the speaker bids farewell to her husband, symbolizing both a personal rebirth and the reclaiming of her artistic spirit. "Dark Dream" thus serves as a reflection on the bittersweet nature of love, the grief of loss, and the resilience found in embracing one's freedom.
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Dark Dream by Anna Akhmatova
Excerpted from an article in Magill’s Survey of World Literature, Revised Edition
First published: “Chernyy son,” 1922 (collected in The Complete Poems of Anna Akhmatova, 1997)
Type of work: Poem
The Work
From the collection Anno Domini MCMXXI, the poem “Dark Dream” unifies two of Akhmatova’s important themes: her strength and her individuality. Moreover, it laments not only a personal loss of love but also the conflict of ideal love with the realities of a husband and wife’s relationship.
The poet laments the slow death of the marriage bond. Although it is on “the edge of the stage” she struggles to hold on to it despite its exacting cruelty: “You forbid singing and smiling// As long as we don’t separate,/ Let everything else go!” The poet learns that the love is too painful; in part 3 she describes the love as blood, gushing “from my throat onto the bed.” The fourth part is all coldness and numbness. The lover is beyond feeling pain, beyond feeling love or passion, as exemplified in the following: “If necessary—kill me// Everything your way: let it be!” The concluding part is a rebirth of the persona’s strength as she tells her husband that she will not be submissive to him. “You’re out of your mind,” she chides, to think that she will submit to his will. Ultimately saying good-bye to her husband, she resolves that they are no longer bonded together, but she feels compassion for him “because you let this pilgrim into your home.”
The poet anguishes over the death of her marriage and laments its passing in stages. By the end of the narrative, she has let go of a part of herself, a form of death, and given birth to the artist once more, who loves singing and freedom. Moreover, she is one who no longer will submit to the “hangman” and his “prison.”
The poem ends with hope as the poet says good-bye to her husband and concludes that she now has peace and good fortune, as should he for having taken her in. The bitter tone of much of the poem is replaced with one of acceptance of the end of their relationship.
Bibliography
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