The Phenomenon of “Podakhmatovki”: Akhmatova’s Discourse in Women’s Poetry of the First Third of the 20th Century

Abstract

The article mainly deals with the role of Akhmatova’s discourse in women’s poetry of the first third of the 20th century. After the publication of Akhmatova’s first collections of poems characterized by “the superior simplicity,” women’s poetry got access to the new opportunities for self-presentation. There emerged such phenomenon as “podakhmatovki” (e.g. female poets influenced by Akhmatova), the list of which, however, varies in different studies. We argue that the most representative “podakhmatovki” were L.F. Kopylova, N.G. L’vova, and V.M. Inber. For the first time, the article proposes a specific analysis of the poems by these three female poets which allows us to discover their ways of absorbing and developing Akhmatova’s insights from a psychological stand. We claim that Kopylova almost duplicates Akhmatova’s methods of comprehending the inner world of women being, to a certain extent, an imitator; L’vova is trying to combine the image of Akhmatova’s female characters and futuristic poetics; and Inber prefers a dialogue and exhibits “rivalry” of a kind with Akhmatova in her poetry.

Keywords

• akhmatova’s discourse
• l.f. kopylova
• n.g. l’vova
• v.m. inber
• women’s poetry
• psychologism.