Anna Akhmatova
In Our Time: Culture
BBC
4.5 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 18 January 2018
⏱️ 49 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the work, ideas and life of the Russian poet whose work was celebrated in C20th both for its quality and for what it represented, written under censorship in the Stalin years. Her best known poem, Requiem, was written after her son was imprisoned partly as a threat to her and, to avoid punishment for creating it, she passed it on to her supporters to be memorised, line by line, rather than written down. She was a problem for the authorities and became significant internationally, as her work came to symbolise resistance to political tyranny and the preservation of pre-Revolutionary liberal values in the Soviet era.
The image above is based on 'Portrait of Anna Akhmatova' by N.I. Altman, 1914, Moscow
With
Katharine Hodgson Professor in Russian at the University of Exeter
Alexandra Harrington Reader in Russian Studies at Durham University
And
Michael Basker Professor of Russian Literature and Dean of Arts at the University of Bristol
Producer: Simon Tillotson.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | You don't need us to tell you there's a general election coming. |
| 0:04.7 | So what does it mean for you? |
| 0:06.7 | Every day on newscast we dissect the big talking points, the ones that you want to know more about. |
| 0:12.4 | With our book of contacts, we talk directly to the people you want to hear from. |
| 0:16.8 | And with help from some of the best BBC journalists, |
| 0:19.5 | we'll untangle the stories that matter to you. |
| 0:23.4 | Join me, Laura Kunsberg, Adam Fleming, Chris Mason, |
| 0:26.6 | and Patty O'Connell for our daily podcasts. |
| 0:29.4 | Newscast, listen on BBC Sounds. This is the BBC. |
| 0:35.0 | Thanks for downloading this episode of in our time. |
| 0:38.0 | There's a reading list to go with it on our website and you can get news about our programs |
| 0:42.0 | if you follow us on Twitter at BBC in our time. |
| 0:45.0 | I hope you enjoy the programs. |
| 0:47.0 | Hello, Anna Akmatova, 1889 and 9066, |
| 0:51.0 | was one of the most famous Russian poets of the 20th century and one a few to survive |
| 0:55.6 | Stalin's terrorists banned at home though published abroad. Her first husband was |
| 0:59.8 | executed, their son was jailed as a warning to her, and her third husband died in the gulags, |
| 1:07.0 | and she dared not even write down her most subversive requiem at trusting it said to the memory of her friends until the time after her death |
| 1:17.0 | when Russians might read it. |
| 1:19.7 | To the Cold War West she was a symbol of Soviet oppression of creative freedom. |
| 1:24.3 | In Russia, she was treasured for keeping alive the flame of poetry from before the revolution, |
| 1:28.6 | the nation's literary heartland, and for doing it so brilliantly. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.