Exile and Memory: A Linguistic Analysis of Metaphor in Akhmatova’s Poetry

• In Event: Exploring Slavic Poetry and Linguistic Diversity

Abstract

Anna Akhmatova’s poetry is deeply intertwined with themes of exile, displacement, and memory. This paper examines how Akhmatova employs metaphor as a linguistic and cognitive tool to navigate and reconstruct the experience of exile. Through these metaphors, Akhmatova reconfigures personal and collective suffering, turning poetry into an act of resistance and remembrance. This study further explores how the tension between presence and absence shapes the poet’s linguistic choices, reinforcing the exilic condition as both a physical and psychological state.

Author

• Bita Takrimi, Northwestern U