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Swan Songs: Akhmatova & Gumilev

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Review of Frances Laird's Swan Songs

L.A. Girifalco


Swan Songs is the story of the strange love relationship between two of the foremost Russian poets of the twentieth century. Laird's translations of Anna Akhmatova and Nikolai Gumilev, along with her comments and interpretations on their poems, are a pleasure. But I hope this book will find a wider audience than just those who are interested in Russian poetry. If you want an exceptional intellectual experience, read this book. It can be read at several levels: as a love story; as an introduction to Russian poetry; as the struggle of the human spirit against tyranny.
The writing is excellent, not only in content and style, but also in its overall design as it traces changes in both literature and individuals.
The insight into the pre-revolutionary literary world of Petersburg alone is worth careful attention. Starting slowly, through the writings and actions of the poets, the author gradually exposes the realities of that world. In reading of that era, I have the sense that she admires its artistic achievements. The city, after all, was the leading center of Russian literature and the inheritor and preserver of centuries of Russian culture. But Laird's scholarly integrity could not let her ignore or gloss over the personal failings of the literary elite. There was an in crowd of poets and writers who met often at the Stray Dog café to recite poetry, argue, drink and brag; in short they seemed intent on having as much fun as possible. They were a hedonistic bunch, much given to sexual pleasure through numerous affairs in and out, between and within, marriages that were often shallow and unsatisfying. They defined the "Silver Age" of Russian literature
They were a self-absorbed and self-indulgent crowd, members of an elite whose primary concern was themselves. Reading of their behavior it is easy to understand why there was a revolution; why a revolution was inevitable.
Laird's stated theme of the book is to explore the impact of the love between Anna and Kolya on their poetry and how the poetry expressed that love. This love was claimed to be extraordinary. It persisted through personal hardships, tragedies, oppression, desertions and betrayals. Perhaps, as Anna apparently thought, it existed on a spiritual plane, not at all like ordinary love. It is hard to believe that for Gumilev it was any more than an ego centered obsession fueled by the drive for male conquest. Of course Laird is correct. The peculiar relationship between them certainly did inform and enhance their poetry, which recorded and revealed deeper aspects of human nature than otherwise would have been the case. They had a profound effect on each other's art.
But what about ordinary reality? It is true that both of them, especially Anna, were great poets. It is true that they suffered greatly for their liberal beliefs after the revolution. Gumilev especially was daringly outspoken and was executed with others after an interrogation in which he exhibited uncommon bravery and integrity. And it is true that their Soviet era poetry was a testament to the human aspirations for freedom. But at a personal level, they were less than admirable. Gumilev was particularly self-centered. His idea of manhood was to exhibit bravado at every opportunity and to seduce as many women as possible. He was good at both and successfully pursued many women before, during and after his marriage to Anna. And he abandoned her whenever he wanted a new adventure. Perhaps this is acceptable for a spiritual love. He was no more responsible in his role as a father, leaving his son in the care of his mother while he indulged himself. Anna was better, but she also had extramarital affairs and allowed her son to be raised by someone else.
Perhaps my remarks are focused too much on their personal failings. But the intense love between Akhmatova and Gumilev, and how that love affected their lives and works, is the theme of this book, so the true facts are fair game.
The Revolution transformed them and brought out the best in them, not only as poets but also as human beings. By her sheer will to survive, Anna lived past Gumilev's execution and through the Soviet dictatorship that stifled freedom and degraded the human spirit. Through great hardships she was circumspect without any essential betrayal of her ideals and she became an important, if sometimes silent, anti-Soviet voice of her generation.
Laird's achievement is to bring two great poets and their complex interactions to life.

Although I know the author and, therefore, may be slightly biased, I was greatly impressed by the quality of her writing. On the surface the subject is not one that I would normally be interested in but I found Ms Laird's first book to be very readable and quite engrossing. In fact it inspired me to write the following:

A Poetess of Prosody

A poetess of prosody
Has burst upon the scene
For Swan Songs is an odyssey
That is her 1st Book supreme
This tale of princely Gumilev
And Akhmatova the queen
Of Acmeistic poetry
Is the best there has ever been
Her lyrical voice imbues one with
A sense of being there
From Tsarskoe Selo to the end
Of their life-long love affair
Incise thought and explication
Surround her every line
Close-coupled with her new translation
Of their poetry divine
Proud Literature enriched will be
By this work of one who cared
From duckling to a swan comes she
The fabulous Frances Laird

Andrew Roxburgh McGhie