Short answers, pulled from the story.
Anna Andreyevna Gorenko was born at Bolshoy Fontan, a resort suburb of the Black Sea port of Odessa in present-day Ukraine. Her family moved north to Tsarskoye Selo near Saint Petersburg when she was eleven months old.
Her father refused to allow any verses printed under his respectable name so she chose to adopt her grandmother's distinctly Tatar surname as a pen name. This decision allowed her to publish poetry without violating her father's wishes regarding their family reputation.
In 1921 former husband Nikolay Gumilev was executed via shooting by the Cheka along sixty-one others for an alleged role in a monarchist anti-Bolshevik conspiracy. The execution occurred after senior officer Yakov Agranov forcibly extracted names from conspirators and Lenin agreed to several pardons that were condemned shot days after Maxim Gorky died.
The work Russian finally appeared book form Munich year whole published within USSR until 1987 consists ten numbered poems examine series emotional states exploring suffering despair devotion rather clear narrative Biblical themes Christ crucifixion devastation Mary Mother Jesus Magdalene reflect ravaging Russia particularly witnessing harrowing women thirties represented rejection own earlier romantic taking public role chronicler Terror holds today.
Anna Akhmatova survived the campaign by publishing overtly propagandist In Praise Peace magazine Ogoniok openly supporting regime remained camps until well after death final release potentially aided concerted efforts Bayley suggests period pro-Stalinist work saved life notably never acknowledged pieces official corpus stature among poets slowly conceded party officials name cited scathing contexts readmitted Union Writers fully recognised following death press heavily controlled Nikita Khrushchev translation praised public review own re-appear same year released embittered believing mother cared more about than worked hard for.