Aniara (poem)

Aniara ( Swedish: Aniara: en revy om människan i tid och rum ) is a fantastic poem by the Swedish writer Harry Martinson . Published October 13, 1956 . Martinson recalled that the idea to write a poem came to him when he examined the Andromeda Nebula with a telescope ^[1] .

As far as can be judged from Chapter 60, the poem takes place in the XL millennium AD, after global glaciation and new warming. After a nuclear war, the Aniara spaceship leaves Earth, heading for (already populated by humans) Mars. But due to the approach to the asteroid (whose name alludes to Hiroshima), the ship changes course without the ability to return and goes on an irrevocable journey into the depths of space. The name of the ship is taken from the Greek word Aniaros - painful, sad.

The narrator of the poem is a mimorob serving the supercomputer Mimu (from the Greek word "mime" is a copycat). Each character carries a certain symbolism, with female images prevailing.

• Doris ( Dorida ) symbolizes earthly fertility and femininity.
• Daisy is a dancer, the beloved of the protagonist.
• Libidelle is the main priestess of the cult of sex.
• Nobia is the personification of conscience, kindness and self-sacrifice. One of the sailors tells about her and their life on Mars.
• Isagel is a mathematician, associated with knowledge and truth.
• Shefork is a dictator trying to seize power on a ship.
• The blind poetess recalls the lost city of Rind.

The author invents many neologisms designed to convey technical terminology: psycho-punched card , gupta matrix , phonoglob , uses proper names from many earthly languages.

The poem includes 103 songs, which have a significant rhythmic variety: from rhymed quatrains written by iambic to hexameter, tunes of the Kalevala runes and fashionable songs.

The harsh cosmos returns us

to forgotten rituals and rites

the phenomena of pre-Goldonian times.

And here are four Aniari faiths:

the cult of the bosom, and the inviting yurginis,

and a society of giggling graters,

and that one, with bells and a crucifix, -

appeared in space, require a place

at eternity, in monstrous deserts.

And I, the servant of Mima, mimarob,

responsible for the collapse of human illusions,

obliged to place everyone in the crypt of Mima,

all agree: idols and gods,

ritual dances, pantomimes,

and shouts, and the ringing of bells (canto 35).

The poem is divided into four parts:

• songs 2-29. End with the death of Mima. “When the megalopolis of Dorisburg was blown up by a photonoturbo, Mima cannot stand it and dies.
• Songs 30-68 - Attempts to restore Mima. After the death of Mima, various religious sects appear on the ship.
• Songs 69-80 are memories of life on Earth. The narrator recalls his youth in Karelia.
• Songs 81-101 - The Last Stage. Characters die one by one.

The poem ends deeply pessimistic: after 24 years of flight, all passengers die, but the "huge sarcophagus" of the ship continues to rush through space.