- Nikolay Gumilyov
Nikolay Stepanovich Gumilyov ( _ru. Николай Степанович Гумилёв,
April 15 NS 1886 - August 1921) was an influentialRussia npoet who founded the acmeism movement.Variants of spelling include: "Goumilev", "Gumilev", "Goumilov", "Goemilov", "Goemiljow", "Goumileff", "Gumileff", "Gumiliovas".
Early life and poems
Nikolai was born in
Kronstadt , into the family of Stepan Yakovlevich Gumilev (1836—1920), a naval physician, and Anna Ivanovna L'vova (1854—1942). His childhood nickname was Montigomo the Hawk's Claw."Gumilyov's Magic Wand." Mikhail Sinelnikov.Moscow News (Russia). CULTURE; No. 15. April 18, 1996.] He studied at the gymnasium ofTsarskoe Selo , where the Symbolist poetInnokenty Annensky was his teacher. Later, Gumilev admitted that it was Annensky's influence that turned his mind to writing poetry.His first publication were verses "I ran from cities into the forest" ( _ru. Я в лес бежал из городов) on
September 8 ,1902 . In 1905 he published his first book of lyrics entitled "The Way of Conquistadors". It comprised poems on most exotic subjects imaginable, fromLake Chad giraffe s toCaracalla 's crocodiles. Although Gumilev was proud of the book, most critics found his technique sloppy; later he would refer to that collection as "apprentice's work".From 1907 and on, Nikolai Gumilyov traveled extensively in Europe, notably in
Italy andFrance . In 1908 his new collection "Romantic Flowers" appeared. While inParis , he published the literary magazine "Sirius", but only three issues were produced. On returning to Russia, he edited and contributed to the artistic periodical "Apollon". At that period, he fell in love with a non-existent womanCherubina de Gabriak . It turned out that Cherubina de Gabriak was the literary pseudonym for two people, a disabled schoolteacher andMaximilian Voloshin , and onNovember 22 ,1909 he had a duel with Voloshin over the affair.Like
Flaubert andRimbaud before him, Gumilyov was fascinated withAfrica and travelled there almost each year. He hunted lions inEthiopia and brought to theSaint Petersburg museum of anthropology and ethnography a large collection of African artifacts. His landmark collection "The Tent" (1921) collected the best of his poems on African themes.Guild of Poets
In 1910, Gumilyov fell under the spell of the Symbolist poet and philosopher Vyacheslav Ivanov and absorbed his views on poetry at the evenings held by Ivanov in his celebrated "Turreted House". His wife
Anna Akhmatova accompanied him to Ivanov's parties as well. Gumilyov and Akhmatova married onApril 25 . OnSeptember 18 ,1912 , their child Lev was born. He would become one of the most popular historians in Russia.Dissatisfied with the vague mysticism of
Russian Symbolism , then prevalent in the Russian poetry, Gumilyov andSergei Gorodetsky established the so-called "Guild of Poets", which was modeled after medieval guilds of Western Europe. They advocated a view that poetry needs craftsmanship just like architecture needs it. Writing a good poem they compared to building a cathedral. To illustrate their ideals, Gumilyov published two collections, "The Pearls" in 1910 and the "Alien Sky" in 1912. It wasOsip Mandelshtam , however, who produced the movement's most distinctive and durable monument, the collection of poems entitled "Stone" (1912).According to the principles of
acmeism (as the movement came to be dubbed by art historians), every person, irrespective of his talent, may learn to produce high-quality poems if only he follows the guild's masters, i.e., Gumilev and Gorodetsky. Their own model wasTheophile Gauthier , and they borrowed much of their basic tenets from the French Parnasse. Such a program, combined with colourful and exotic subject matter of Gumilyov's poems, attracted to the Guild a large number of adolescents. Several major poets, notablyGeorgy Ivanov andVladimir Nabokov , passed the school of Gumilyov, albeit informally.War experience
When the
World War I started, Gumilyov rushed to Russia and enthusiastically joined a corps of elite cavalry. For his bravery he was invested with two St. George crosses (December 24 1914 andJanuary 5 1915 ). His war poems were assembled in the collection "The Quiver" (1916).During the Russian Revolution, Gumilyov served in the Russian expedition corps in
Paris . Despite advice to the contrary, he rapidly returned toPetrograd . There he published several new collections, "Tabernacle" and "Bonfire", and finally divorced Akhmatova (August 5 ,1918 ), whom he had left for other woman several years prior to that. The following year he married Anna Nikolaevna Engelhardt, a noblewoman and daughter of a well-known historian.Later poems and death
"Despite the hard experiences of real travels and battles, he remained, to the end of his life, a schoolboy entranced by the "
Iliad of childhood " - the adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer. He never outgrew the influence ofMayne Reid ,Dumas ,Jules Verne ,Gustave Aimard and others." In 1920 Gumilyov co-founded the "All-Russia Union of Writers". Gumilyov made no secret of his anti-communist views. He also crossed himself in public and didn't care to dissimulate his contempt for half-literateBolshevik s.On
August 3 1921 he was arrested byCheka on allegation of participation in monarchist conspiracy. Most historians believe that it was one of the first entirely fabricated cases byCheka . OnAugust 24 Petrograd Cheka decreed execution of all 61 participants of the Tagantsev Conspiracy, including Nikolai Gumilev. The exact dates and locations of their execution and burial are still unknown.Gumilyov's direct influence on Russian poetry was intense but short lived. The sentiment is best expressed by Nabokov, who once remarked that Gumilyov is the poet for adolescents, just like
Korney Chukovsky is the poet for children. His most durable verse, written in mystical strain, appeared in the collection "The Pillar of Fire" (1921).Although "banned in the Soviet times, Gumilyov was loved for his adolescent longing for travel and giraffes and hippos, for his dreams of a fifteen-year-old captain" and was "a favorite poet among geologists, archaeologists and paleontologists." His "The Tram That Lost Its Way" is considered one of the greatest poems of the 20th century.
Reportedly, Gumilyov's a hundred and tenth anniversary coincided with the seventy-fifth anniversary of his execution.
When
Mikhail Sinelnikov was asked to study the archives of the lateMikhail Zenkevich , the last of the Acmeists - his teacher - he "found piles of secreted verse, an unpublished novel, manuscripts whichPasternak brought to the old master to be critiqued, the poems and letters of his friends. According to Sinelnikov, "at the bottom of a wide box lay a copy of "Izvestia Petrosovieta " with a list of people executed in connection with the Tagantsev case. The type was barely legible, more like wisps of old wool. Some names, those of Zenkevich's acquaintances, were ticked off. Gumilyov's name was underlined in red."ee also
*
List of famous duels Notes
References
* _ru. Владимир Полушин. "Николай Гумилев. Жизнь расстрелянного поэта." – М., Молодая гвардия, 2006, 750 с. ( ЖЗЛ).
External links
* [http://www.gumilev.ru Russian Site on Gumilev]
* [http://www.litera.ru/stixiya/authors/gumilev.html Nikolay Gumilyov. Poems]
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