See the Granger's Guided Tour here.

Our 2026 high school poetry contest winners have been selected. See winning poems here.

See our Compare Poems tool with examples of reading poems side-by-side.

Quick Search:

Anna Andreyevna Akhmatova

The great Russian poet Anna Akhmatova was born Anna Andreyevna Gorenko in the town of Bolshoy Fontan, near Odessa, on June 23, 1889 (June 11 Old Style, Julian calendar of her day). Her father was a

Reading Hamlet

by Anna Andreyevna Akhmatova (1889–1966)

1<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
2<author>
3  <person id="13292" sex="2" role="author">
4    <name>
5      <firstname>Anna Andreyevna</firstname>
6      <lastname>Akhmatova</lastname>
7    </name>
8    <life-events>
9      <date ty="birth" circa="false" suffix="ad">1889</date>
10      <date ty="death" circa="false" suffix="ad">1966</date>
11      <text-value>(1889–1966)</text-value>
12    </life-events>
13    <biography>y</biography>
14  </person>
15</author>
16

To the right, wasteland by the cemetery,

Beyond it the river’s dull blue.

You said: ‘Go, get thee, to a nunnery

Or get a fool to marry you…’

Though that’s always how Princes speak,

Still, I’ve remembered the words.

As an ermine mantle let them stream,

Behind him, through endless years.

Click here for complete poem