Acmeist Movement

[Dark Muse]

Is anyone else here famillar with the Acmeist movement a friend of mine first tipped me off about it, and I read some of the poems and quite enjoyed them. It is a Russian form of poetry that came about in the 20th century. It was developed as a reaction against symbolisim, it is a neo-classical style with an emphasis on clear words about demystified realites. Major figures include Osip Mandelshtam, Anna Akhmatova, and Nikolay Gumilyov.

I know anyone who has acutally read any of my poetry is probably laughing at the irony of me posting this, sense my poems are just the opposite usually, but still I do enjoy this mode of work.

You can read some of the poems here

http://www.ualberta.ca/~lmalcolm/poetry/acmeists.html

And if anyone else is already familair with the form, I would love for you to share some of your faveorites in the style.

[JBI]

I am familiar with the works of Akhmatova in particular, but not to well informed about the others. She seems to be however, one of the strongest poets I have encountered, and perhaps the greatest female Russian poet.

Apparently though in translation many of these writers undergo extreme modification. I know from a Russian professor who told me that the Russian tradition isn't big on free-verse, and in fact most of the free-verse Russian poetry we read is just made that way by translators. She said that Akhmatova is thought to have written in free verse, but in fact was heavily metrical.

[Dark Muse]

Yes I can understand with poetry how translations can really alter things, escpailly when rhyme is used, a rhyme in one langauge will not be the same translated into another.

[JBI]

No, but most translators make some effort at maintaining the prosody of a poem.

[quasimodo1]

http://www.spiritus-temporis.com/acmeist-poetry/ resource

[Dark Muse]

Thanks, I will take a look at that.