Akhmatova lyric

[Olga Meerson]

The poem is fascinating: it belongs yet does not belong to the Russian tradition of trochaic pentameters: line 4 has six feet and line 6, only four. The only "regular" one is the last one, but this unpredictable return to predictability sounds eerie, especially as we are dealing with the wrestling away---and perhaps amputation? -- of the lyrical heroine's soul...

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