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Lots Wife, Akhmatovas Version Essay

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“Lot’s Wife'; depicts the fate of a woman following her husband Lot on his departure of their native town Sodom. Sodom was a town that God destroyed, yet he granted Lot and his wife permission to flee the town before this occurrence. Wislawa Szymborska and Anna Akhmatova offer different versions and perspectives on the same story. Each of the authors use different elements of poetry to create two very unique poems that have several similarities as well as many obvious differences. These two different poems are mainly different because of the point of view differs in each poem. Another thing that makes an important difference is how each of the poems begin, each one begins with a different situation, as the speaker is …show more content…

Structure has a direct effect on the rhythm of a poem. Szymborska’s structure (or lack thereof) allows the reader to continuously read from beginning to end, as if the whole poem was one complete thought. Akhmatova’s version also offers a simple rhyme scheme that allows thereader to read the piece in a rhythmic manner. The rhythm of the poem almost shows us that it is all one chain of thoughts spoken continuously, almost as if it were all one emotion, whereas in Akhmatova’s version it is rhythmic but in a more powerful manner, partially because of the third person point of view. This point of view offers a greater difference from someone who is involved in the situation. This is often a powerful technique whether in poetry or literature of any kind, because it offers a clear and unbiased view on things. Akhmatova emphasizes the ending of the poem more so than Szymborska, because the structure of Akhmatova’s depicts the whole last stanza as the ending. It draws everything into question hinting towards the end as opposed to Szymborska’s where she structurally does nothing to foreshadow the ending for us, but merely concludes her poem with a matter of fact statement regarding the possibility of having fallen facing the city. Akhmatova’s poem characterizes the subject of the poem in a way that implies to the reader that she was a woman of little significance. She does this

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