Anna Akhmatova & Wislawa Szymborska on “Lot’s Wife”

1. The actions and feelings described in the first stanza of this poem is of a man with hope.

2. The memories Lot’s wife has of Sodom are amazing memories. That was the town her house was, the town she found love, the town she gave birth to her kids and where she lived most of her life. It is hard for someone to flee from a town without knowing where they are headed to.

3. Greener pasture and insecurity are some of the major reasons why people flee their homes in the world today.

4. Lot’s wife thinks if she drops dead her husband wouldn’t turn back to look at her so as not to disobey the Angels.

5. I don’t think she knows exactly what made her look back. It was a feeling of guilt, regret, pain, doubt and fear of the unknown.

6. I do not consider Wislawa’s poem to be a religious poem. The reason is that it created a beautiful image of the scenarios that occurred then according to the story narrated, not exactly what happened.

7. I find the second poem more interesting. The reason is that I only knew Lot’s wife turned to salt and didn’t know why or how. The poem told an amazing story.

8. The second poem. Wislawa’s poem

9. The second poem. Wislawa’s poem

10. Wislawa Szymborska’s poem perfectly works with imagery to create a picture of what happened to Lot’s wife, and it has a regular rhythm. While Anna Akhmatova’s poem has a series of quatrain and has a feel of sadness in the poem.

Wildkhard [TA]