The author offers a new reading of Akhmatova’s «Cleopatra». It is analyzed in the general context of Akhmatova’s artistic heritage. Using the method of parallel places (Parallelstellenmethode) and comparing the text of the poem with Akhmatova’s other texts which contain the motif of Cleopatra, the author comes to the conclusion that «Cleopatra» is a double self-portrait: an implicit portrait of Anna Akhmatova in her younger years and an explicit portrait of the poetess in 1940. These portraits share the common motif of inevitable retribution, thus, the poem «Cleopatra» may be regarded as an approach to the subject matter of the «Poem Without a Hero».
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