(1899-1966) is one of Russia’s greatest poets, justly renowned as a brilliant and unflinching witness to the Stalinist terror. Her first book of poetry, “Evening,” with its classical clarity and psychological insight, forms a bridge between the elegant mysticism of the Symbolists and the raw expression of the moderns. Her poems were an overnight sensation, and were widely imitated, particularly by women.

Told, “You have given a voice to Russian women,” she replied, “Yes. But now how do I get them to shut up?”

image: portrait of Akhmatova, Nathan Altman 1914, public domain in US.