Analysis of Gray-Eyed King

Anna Akhmatova 1889 (Odessa) – 1966 (Moscow)



Glory to you, inescapable pain!
The gray-eyed king died yesterday.

The autumn evening was sultry and red,
My husband returned and quietly said:

'You know, they brought him back from the hunt,
They found his corpse by the old oak tree.

I pity the queen. He was so young!..
In just one night her hair turned white.'

He found his pipe on the mantelpiece
And went out to his nighttime shift.

I'll go and wake my daughter now,
I'll look into her little gray eyes.

While outside the rustling poplars say:
'Your king is no longer upon this earth…'

Another translation.
By Yevgeny Bonver:

The Grey-Eyed King

Hail! Hail to thee, o, immovable pain!
The young grey-eyed king had been yesterday slain.

This autumnal evening was stuffy and red.
My husband, returning, had quietly said,

'He'd left for his hunting; they carried him home;
They'd found him under the old oak's dome.

I pity the queen. He, so young, past away!...
During one night her black hair turned to grey.'

He found his pipe on a warm fire-place,
And quietly left for his usual race.

Now my daughter will wake up and rise --
Mother will look in her dear grey eyes...

And poplars by windows rustle as sing,
'Never again will you see your young king...'


Scheme AB CC XD XX EX XE BX XD F AA CC GG BB EE EE FF
Poetic Form
Metre 101101001 0111110 0101011001 1100101001 111111101 111110111 110011111 01110111 1111101 0111111 11011101 110101011 11101011 1111100111 010010 1101 0111 1111101001 0111111101 10101011001 11001011001 11111011011 111100111 11001111101 1011011111 1111101101 01001111001 111011101 101100111 011101011 1001111111
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 1,187
Words 222
Sentences 21
Stanzas 16
Stanza Lengths 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 1, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2
Lines Amount 31
Letters per line (avg) 30
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 58
Words per stanza (avg) 14
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 25, 2023

1:07 min read
101

Anna Akhmatova

Anna Akhmatova was born in 1889 in Odessa on the Black Sea coast. In 1910 she married Nikolai Gumilev, who was also a poet. He was shot as an alleged counter-revolutionary in 1921. Very little of Akhmatova's poetry was published between 1923 and 1941. After Stalin's death her poetry began to be published again. She died in 1966, in a suburb of Moscow. more…

All Anna Akhmatova poems | Anna Akhmatova Books

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