Stalin's Epigram Analysis

“Stalin’s Epigram” masterfully displays several literary elements. Mandelstam’s poem is in itself an allusion to Stalin, but is also rife with smaller references and allusions to other figures and events of the time period. Stalin, the central figure of the poem also represents an antagonist to Mandelstam and other ordinary Russians, as well as a symbol of the Soviet Union. The entire poem is Mandelstam's denunciation of Stalin and Stalin’s society, as evidenced by “All we hear is the Kremlin mountaineer.” The original poem contains even more subtle references and allusions, of which critics lament their loss in translation (Priesto). For example, the description of “thin-necked leaders” isn’t just an insult to the followers of Stalin as weak and unmanly, but a direct reference to Vasily Molotov, a bureaucrat in Stalin’s
administration, who was known for his thin neck (Bernstein). An Ossete is a person from the Caucasus Mountains, where Stalin was from. In “Final as lead weights,’’ Mandelstam succinctly describes how Stalin was the ultimate commander and his words were obeyed by loyal Russians. The imagery Mandelstam creates not describes his hatred of a man, but the desperation of a country.
“Ten steps away” not references how the people of the Soviet Union dared not speak for fear an informer would betray them, but effectively paints a picture of a terrorizing police state. The cries of the leaders, “The whinny, purr or whine,” are when Stalin would arbitrarily punish and accuse them. Characterizing himself and the people of the Soviet Union as “Deaf to the land beneath us,” Mandelstam reveals how they live in fear and apprehension, unsafe in their own country. Describing Stalin as a “peasant-slayer,” Mandelstam was likely referring to the forced famine in Ukraine as well as forced collectivisation that killed millions of peasants. Mandelstam also uses simile, “One by one forging his laws, to be flung/Like horseshoes,” to emphasize the violence of Stalin and the Soviet Regime. Mandelstam’s tone is derogatory, using simple language, to personify Stalin as a dictator, for example, describing the “fawning half-men” that obeyed him. The words he chooses, like “cockroach whiskers,” have connotations that reveal his disgust for
Stalin. There is no rhyme in the poem, except in the last two lines, “And every killing is a treat/For the broad-chested Ossete.’’ While translation from the original Russian has stripped the rhyme and rhythm from the poem, its powerful imagery and use of literary elements still survives.