Nikolai Gumilyov's love for travel and antiquity is reflected in the poet's poems, although the influence of Russian classicism is also noticeable. Gumilyov's poems are easy to read and have a hidden subtext, and in some works there is a place for the gift of divination, for example, "In the Desert" ends with the lines:
All before death, Thersites and Hector,
Equally insignificant and glorious,
I will also drink the sweet nectar
In the fields of the azure country.
Only Nicholas had to drink the nectar of death not in the azure country, but in the dungeons of the NKVD.
In poetry, Gumilyov often refers to mythical heroes, he often mentions Hercules, Odysseus and Achilles, more than once returns the reader to the era of Rome to Mary and Manlius (the poem "Manlius"). The love of travel allows Gumilyov to skillfully describe distant countries and the mystery of foreign nature in his poems (“Lake Chad”, “Suez Canal”, “Egypt” and others). Faust and Margarita, Rigoletto and Rublev, Caracalla and Pausanias come to life in the lines of the poet.
Such a selection of topics and characters speaks of the versatility of the poet, the width of the spectrum of his interests and the ability to transfer feelings and dreams onto a piece of paper.
Here you will find the best, according to readers, and selected poems of Gumilyov. Penetration into the lines and interlines will help to understand the difficult fate of the poet and open up the world of deep poetry of the talented author. Let's start with The Lost Tram.
Gumilev's poem performed by Yulia Skirina.
Games
Whom does Gumilyov bring to the arena of the amphitheater in the face of a sorcerer worshiped by wild animals? Who is the consul who pleases the public with kindness and fills the sand with blood for the third day? Are not the germs of the revolution hidden behind the mask of a sorcerer, and is it not the tsarist regime that the consul depicts in the poem "Games"?
Who then are we, the audience? Those who see that something needs to be changed, but are afraid of the cold of death on the way to victory? Or those who have enough games - circuses and bread. We don't know or don't want to know.
The Consul is kind: in the bloody arena
The third day the games do not end,
And the tigers went completely mad,
Boa constrictors breathe ancient malice.
Elephants and bears! Such
Drunk with blood fighters
Tur, beating everywhere with horns,
Admired hardly even in Rome.
And then only the prisoner was given to them,
All wounded, the leader of the Alamans,
Wind and Mist Conjurer
And a killer with hyena eyes.
How we longed for this hour!
We were waiting for the battle, we knew he was brave.
Beat, beasts, hot body,
Rip, beasts, bloody meat!
The son of a naval doctor. As a child, he lived in Tsarskoe Selo, from 1895 - in St. Petersburg, in 1900-03 - in Tiflis, where Gumilev's poem (1902) was first published in a local newspaper. He studied at the St. Petersburg and Tiflis gymnasiums.
In the fall of 1903, the Gumilyov family returned to Tsarskoe Selo, where the young man completed (1906) his gymnasium education. The literary tastes of the novice poet, apparently, were influenced by the director of the Tsarskoye Selo gymnasium, the poet I. F. Annensky; the works of F. Nietzsche and the poems of the Symbolists also influenced.
"The Path of the Conquistadors"
The first collections of poems - "The Way of the Conquistadors" (1905), "Romantic Flowers" (1908; marked by an appeal to exotic themes) - reflected Gumilyov's feeling for Anna Gorenko, the future A. A. Akhmatova, whom he met in 1903 in Tsarskoye Selo (their marriage, concluded in 1910, broke up three years later). The image of a lonely conqueror, opposing his world to dull reality, became decisive for Gumilyov's poetry.
wanderings
In 1906 Gumilyov left for Paris, where he listened to lectures at the Sorbonne, studied French literature, painting, and theater. He published three issues of the literary and artistic magazine Sirius (1907). In 1908 he traveled to Egypt (later he went to Africa three more times - in 1909, 1910, 1913, collecting folk songs, fine arts, ethnographic materials).
"Letters on Russian Poetry"
For some time (1908-09) Gumilyov studied at St. Petersburg University - at the Faculty of Law, then at the Faculty of History and Philology. At the same time, he meets Vyach. I. Ivanov, published in the newspaper Rech, the magazines Libra, Russian Thought, etc., publishes a collection of poems Pearls (1910).
Gumilyov takes part in the organization of the Apollo magazine (1909), in which until 1917 he kept a permanent column “Letters on Russian Poetry” (separate edition - 1923), which earned him a reputation as an insightful critic: “his assessments are always to the point; they reveal in brief formulas the very essence of the poet" ( V. Ya. Bryusov).
Acmeism
Desire to be free from care Vyacheslav Ivanova and organizational dissociation from "theurgic" symbolism led to the creation in 1911 of the "Workshop of poets", which, together with Gumilyov, who led it as a "syndic", included Akhmatova, S. M. Gorodetsky, O. E. Mandelstam, M. A. Zenkevich and other acmeist poets. Declaring a new direction - acmeism - the heir of symbolism, which ended "its development path", Gumilyov urged poets to return to the "materiality" of the world around him (article "The Legacy of Symbolism and Acmeism", 1913). Gumilyov's first acmeist work is considered to be the poem The Prodigal Son, included in his collection Alien Sky (1912). Criticism noted the virtuosity of the form: according to Bryusov, the meaning of Gumilyov's poems "is much greater in how he speaks than in what he says." The next collection, The Quiver (1916), the dramatic fairy tale The Child of Allah, and the dramatic poem Gondla (both 1917) testify to the strengthening of the narrative principle in Gumilyov's work.
War
Gumilyov's everyday behavior correlated with his poetry: he transposed the romantic pathos of conquistadorism from poetry into life, overcoming his own weaknesses, professing a personal cult of victory. At the beginning of the First World War, Gumilyov volunteered for a lancer regiment; He was awarded two George Crosses. According to the memoirs of colleagues, he was attracted to danger. In 1916, Gumilyov sought to be sent to the Russian expeditionary force on the Thessaloniki Front, but was delayed in Paris, where he communicated with M. F. Larionov and N. S. Goncharova, as well as with French poets (including G. Apollinaire).
Return to Russia. Doom
In 1918 Gumilyov returned to Russia. He was attracted by M. Gorky to work at the World Literature publishing house, lectured at institutes, taught in literary studios. He was engaged in translations (the Epic of Gilgamesh, English and French poetry). He published several collections of poems, including his best book Pillar of Fire (1921; dedicated to his second wife, A. N. Engelhardt).
In the autumn of 1920, Gumilyov vaguely promises the participants in the so-called "Tagantsev conspiracy" his assistance in the event of an anti-government speech and is nominally involved in secret activities. On August 3, 1921, he was arrested by the Petrograd Extraordinary Commission, and on August 24 he was sentenced to death.
"Courageous Romanticism"
Gumilyov introduced into Russian poetry "an element of courageous romanticism" (D. Svyatopolk-Mirsky), created his own tradition based on the principle of ascetically strict selection of poetic means, a combination of intense lyricism and pathos with light irony. “The epigrammatic nature of a strict verbal formula” (V. M. Zhirmunsky), a well-balanced composition in his latest collections, became a receptacle for the concentrated spiritual experience of the entire post-symbolist generation.
R. D. Timenchik
Nikolai Gumilyov was born on April 15 in Kronstadt in the family of a ship's doctor. He wrote his first quatrain at the age of six, and at the age of sixteen his first poem "I fled from the cities to the forest ..." was published in the Tiflis Leaflet.
Gumilyov was seriously influenced by the philosophy of F. Nietzsche and the poems of the Symbolists, which changed the young poet's view of the world and its driving forces. Impressed by new knowledge, he writes the first collection - "The Way of the Conquistadors", where he already shows his own recognizable style.
Already in Paris, the second collection of Gumilyov's poems, entitled "Romantic Poems", dedicated to his beloved Anna Gorenko, was published. The book opens the period of Gumilyov's mature creativity and collects the first slams to the poet, including from his teacher Valery Bryusov.
The next turning point in Gumilyov's work was the creation of the "Workshop of Poets" and his own aesthetic program, acmeism. The poem "The Prodigal Son" secures the poet's reputation as a "master" and one of the most significant contemporary authors. This will be followed by many talented works and fearless deeds that will forever inscribe the name of Gumilyov in the history of Russian literature.
Giraffe (1907)
Today, I see your eyes are especially sad
And the arms are especially thin, hugging their knees.
Listen: far, far, on Lake Chad
Exquisite giraffe roams.
Graceful harmony and bliss is given to him,
And his skin is decorated with a magic pattern,
With whom only the moon dares to equal,
Crushing and swaying on the moisture of wide lakes.
In the distance it is like the colored sails of a ship,
And his run is smooth, like a joyful bird flight.
I know that the earth sees many wonderful things,
When at sunset he hides in a marble grotto.
I know funny tales of mysterious countries
About the black maiden, about the passion of the young leader,
But you inhaled the heavy mist for too long,
You don't want to believe in anything but rain.
And how can I tell you about the tropical garden,
About slender palm trees, about the smell of unimaginable herbs.
You cry? Listen... far away, on Lake Chad
Exquisite giraffe roams.
More than once you remember me
And my whole world is exciting and strange
Ridiculous world of songs and fire
But among others, one is undeceitful.
He could become yours too and did not,
You had a little or a lot of it,
I must have been bad at writing poetry.
And you unjustly asked God.
But every time you bow down without strength
And you say: “I don’t dare to remember.
After all, another world has enchanted me
With its simple and rough charm."
I dreamed: we both died... (1907)
I dreamed we both died
We lie with a calm look,
Two white, white coffins
Placed side by side.
When did we say "Enough"?
How long ago, and what does it mean?
That the heart does not cry.
Powerless feelings are so strange
Frozen thoughts so clear
And your lips are not welcome
Even if they are forever beautiful.
It happened: we both died,
We lie with a calm look,
Two white, white coffins
Placed side by side.
Evening (1908)
Another unnecessary day
Gorgeous and useless!
Come caressing shadow
And clothe a troubled soul
With his pearly robe.
And you came... You drive away
Sinister birds are my sorrows.
Oh mistress of the night
Nobody can overcome
The winning step of your sandals!
Silence falls from the stars
The moon shines - your wrist,
And again in a dream given to me
Promised Land -
A long-mourned happiness.
Gentle Unprecedented Joy (1917)
I would accept only one thing without arguing -
Quiet, quiet golden peace
Yeah twelve thousand feet of sea
Over my broken head.
Sixth Sense (1920)
Lovely wine in us
And good bread that sits in the oven for us,
And the woman to whom it is given
First exhausted, we enjoy.
I Dreamed (1907)
When did we say "Enough"?
How long ago, and what does it mean?
But it's strange that the heart does not hurt,
That the heart does not cry.
There are many people who, having fallen in love ... (1917)
How do you love, girl, answer,
What languor do you yearn for?
Can you not burn
A secret flame you know?
Magic Violin (1907)
We must forever sing and cry to these strings, sonorous strings,
Eternally must beat, twist a mad bow,
And under the sun, and under the blizzard, under the whitening surf,
And when the west burns, and when the east burns.
Modernity (1911)
I closed the Iliad and sat by the window.
The last word fluttered on her lips.
Something shone brightly - a lantern or the moon,
And the sentinel's shadow moved slowly.
Sonnet (1918)
Sometimes in the sky vague and starless
The fog is growing... but I'm laughing and waiting
And I believe, as always, in my star,
I am a conquistador in an iron shell.
Don Juan (1910)
My dream is haughty and simple:
Grab the oar, put your foot in the stirrup
And fool the slow time
Always kissing new lips.
Stone (1908)
Look how evil the stone looks,
The cracks in it are strangely deep,
Hidden flames flicker under the moss;
Don't think it's not fireflies!
