Requiem

“Leningrad” by Osip Mandelstam (1930)

One of the victims of Stalin’s Terror was Osip Mandelstam, a close friend of Akhmatova’s and a famous poet in his own right. “Leningrad” is one of his most famous works and describes the mental state of someone who fears he is about to become one of Stalin’s victims.

“It’s After One” by Vladimir Mayakovsky (1930)

Mayakovsky was a famous avant-garde poet, someone who had embraced the Bolshevik Revolution from the outset and explicitly praised the aims and actions of the Soviet State. By 1930, however, Mayakovsky had grown increasingly disillusioned by Stalin’s power and became depressed. This is the last poem he wrote before committing suicide in 1930—a death that sent shockwaves throughout Soviet Russia.

“Poem Without a Hero”, by Anna Akhmatova (circa 1940’s – 1960’s)

Alongside Requiem, Poem Without a Hero is Akhmatova’s other masterwork. Written as another cycle over twenty years, it centers upon her experiences before, during, and after the Bolshevik Revolution. This link features only an excerpt from the cycle, but full translations are available in various print editions and anthologies of her work.