The sonnet was composed by Adam Mickiewicz in July (and perhaps in May-June, the opinions of specialists diverge) 1825 under the impression produced by his trip to Akkerman, a small town in Bessarabia on the edge of the liman of the Dniester, and its surroundings. "Akkerman's Steppes" became the introduction and key to the Crimean sonnets written later after Mickiewicz's trip to the Crimea. He was then an exiled and disgraced poet recently released from Vilnius prison.
The silence that reigns in this sonnet struck the authors of this film, Lisa Skvortsova and Ilia Youdovich.