Gumilyov's life and creative path briefly. Nikolai Gumilyov

Report on the poet " Silver Age”.

Pupil 11 "B" class

Alekseenko Nikolai.

Nikolai Stepanovich Gumilyov.

Report plan:

Time image.
Definition of a literary trend.
Creative biography of Gumilyov.
analysis of his work.
Conclusion.

Thank you for your attention!

School # 1278, class. 11 "B".

Acmeism. Nikolai Gumilyov.

The following books were used in the preparation of this report:

1. “Gumilev Nikolai Stepanovich. Poems and Poems".

The author of the preface is V.P. Enisherlov, the author of the biographical sketch is V.K. Luknitskaya.
2. "Russian literature of the XX century." L.A. Smirnova, A.M. Turkov, A.M. Marchenko and others.
3. Soviet Encyclopedic Dictionary.
4. "Tagantsev business". V. Khizhnyak. (“Evening Moscow”).

The literature of the 20th century developed in an atmosphere of wars, revolutions, and then the formation of a new post-revolutionary reality. All this could not but affect the artistic searches of the authors of that time. The social cataclysms of the beginning of our century strengthened the desire of philosophers and writers to understand the meaning of life and art, to explain the upheavals that befell Russia.
Therefore, it is not surprising that any area of ​​literature of the early 20th century is striking in the unusualness and diversity of the author's attitudes, forms, and structures.
Artistic searches have acquired a rare intensity and completely new directions. For each Master, the glory of the discoverer of some new previously inaccessible direction or method in literature was firmly established.

Modernists of the Silver Age.

Literary movements opposed to realism were called modernist.

Modernists (French - “newest”, “modern”) denied social values ​​and tried to create a poetic culture that promotes the spiritual improvement of mankind. Each author presented it in his own way, as a result of which several currents were formed in modernist literature. The main ones were: symbolism, acmeism and futurism. There were also word artists who were not organizationally associated with these literary groups, but internally gravitating towards the experience of one or the other (M. Voloshin,
M. Tsvetaeva and others).

The development of modernism had its own, very intense history. In a sharp controversy, one trend was replaced by another. Disputes often flared up between members of each of the associations. Thus, the bright originality of creative individuals was manifested. The artistic accomplishments of the participants in the movement have forever remained with us and for us.

The period of creativity of the main representatives of modernism is usually called
"Silver Age" by analogy with the "golden" XIX century in Russian literature.
Indeed, never before has there been such a multitude and variety of talented authors. Conventionally, the beginning of the "Silver Age" is considered to be
1892, when the ideologist and oldest member of the symbolist movement Dmitry
Merezhkovsky read the report "On the Causes of the Decline and New Trends in Modern Russian Literature." So for the first time the modernists declared themselves.
The actual end of the Silver Age came with the October Revolution.
In the first years after it, some searches were still possible among individual poets, but with the resolution “On the Party’s Policy in the Field of Literature” in 1925, all of them stopped, and only proletarian literature and only the method of socialist realism were recognized as the only possible ones.

One of the most famous trends in modernist literature was acmeism. The association of acmeists put forward its own aesthetic program of interaction with the world, its own idea of ​​​​harmony, which it sought to bring into life. From the Soviet Encyclopedic Dictionary:

“Acmeism (from the Greek akme - the highest degree of something, blooming power), a trend in Russian poetry of the 1910s (S. Gorodetsky, M. Kuzmin, early N.
Gumilyov, A. Akhmatova, O. Mandelstam); proclaimed the liberation of poetry from symbolist impulses to the “ideal”, from the ambiguity and fluidity of images, complicated metaphor, a return to the material world, the subject, the elements of “nature”, the exact meaning of the word. However, the “earthly” poetry of the acmeists is characterized by modernist motifs, a tendency to aestheticism, intimacy, or to poeticization of the feelings of primitive man.”

The idea of ​​such a new direction in literature was first expressed by
Mikhail Kuzmin (1872-1936) in his article "On beautiful clarity" (1910). It outlined all the main postulates of future acmeists. Actually, the acmeist movement arose in 1913 on the basis of the author's association "Poets' Workshop", which included Nikolai Gumilyov, Sergey
Gorodetsky (1884-1967), Anna Akhmatova (1889-1966) and Osip Mandelstam (1891-
1938). The first manifestos of acmeism appeared in the magazine "Apollo"
(modernist literary magazine of the turn of the century) in January. In his article
“The legacy of symbolism and acmeism” Gumilyov subjected the symbolists to strong criticism; Sergei Gorodetsky, in his article “Some Trends in Modern Russian Literature,” spoke out even more sharply, declaring the catastrophe of symbolism. Nevertheless, many acmeists still gravitated towards poetry.
Balmont, Bryusov or Blok, although Innokenty was considered their Teacher
Annensky and Mikhail Kuzmin. And although the acmeists, as an association, did not last long, only 2 years, they undoubtedly made a huge contribution to Russian literature.

Biography of Nikolai Gumilyov.

One of the leading acmeist poets was Nikolai Stepanovich Gumilyov. In reality, his work was much wider and more varied, and his life was unusually interesting, although it ended tragically.

Nikolai Stepanovich Gumilyov was born on April 3 (old style) 1886 in Kronstadt, where his father worked as a military doctor. Soon his father retired, and the family moved to Tsarskoye Selo. Poems and stories
Gumilyov began to write very early, and for the first time in print, his poem appeared in the newspaper "Tiflis Leaf" in Tiflis, where the family settled in
1900. Three years later, Gumilyov returned to Tsarskoye Selo and entered
The 7th grade of the Nikolaev gymnasium, the director of which was the wonderful poet and teacher I.F. Annensky, who had a great influence on his student.
Gumilyov studied, especially in the exact sciences, poorly, he early realized himself as a poet and set success in literature for himself as his only goal. After graduating from the gymnasium, he left for Paris, having managed to release the first collection “The Way
Conquistadors". He apparently considered this book of youthful poems unsuccessful and never republished it.

In Paris, Gumilyov attended lectures at the Sorbonne on French literature, studied painting and published three issues of the Sirius magazine, where he published his works, as well as poems by the Tsarskoye Selo poetess Anna Gorenko (the future famous Anna Akhmatova), who soon became his wife.

In 1908, Gumilyov's second book, Romantic Flowers, was published in Paris. Demanding V. Bryusov, who severely assessed the first collection of the poet, in his review of “Romantic Flowers” ​​pointed out the prospect of the young author’s path: “Perhaps, continuing to work with the persistence as now, he will be able to go much further than we have planned possibilities that we do not suspect.”

Arriving in Russia, Gumilyov becomes close to Vyach. Ivanov, under whose leadership the so-called "Academy of Verse" was created. Gumilev became one of the initiators of her organization. In the Apollo magazine founded by S. Makovsky, he began to constantly publish his Letters on Russian Poetry, collected in 1923 by G. Ivanov in a separate collection published in Petrograd.

In 1910, Gumilyov married A.A. Gorenko, and in the autumn of this year he went to Abyssinia for the first time, having made a difficult and dangerous journey.

“I have been to Abyssinia three times and in total I have spent almost two years in this country. I made my last journey as leader of an expedition sent by Russian Academy sciences,” wrote in
"Records of Abyssinia" by Nikolai Stepanovich Gumilyov.

One can only admire the love of the Russian poet, traveler, for the great, its people and culture. Until now, a good memory of N. Gumilyov has been preserved in Ethiopia. Gumilyov's African poems, included in the collection “Tent” prepared by him, and the dry, precise prose of the diary are a tribute to his love for
Africa.

Gumilyov's third book "Pearls" (1910) brought him wide popularity. It was dedicated to V. Bryusov, whom the author called a teacher.
Noting the romanticism of the poems included in the collection, Bryusov himself wrote:
“...Obviously, his verse also got stronger. Gumilyov is slowly but surely moving towards full mastery in the field of form. Almost all of his poems are written in beautifully thoughtful and refined-sounding verse.”

And Vyach. Ivanov, it was in "Pearls" that he saw the points of divergence between Gumilyov and
Bryusov and predicted a different path for the young poet. It is characteristic that it is precisely with the liberation from the influence of Bryusov that the search for their place in Russian poetry of the beginning of the century is connected with such different poets as Blok and Gumilyov.

Many of the poems of "Pearls" are popular, but, of course, the famous ballad "Captains" is the most popular. A fresh breeze of real art fills the sails of the “Captains”, which are certainly associated with the romantic tradition.
Kipling and Stephenson. N. Gumilyov called his poetry the Muse of the Far
Wanderings. Until the end of his days, he remained faithful to this theme, and with all the variety of themes and the philosophical depth of late Gumilyov's poetry, it casts a very special romantic reflection on his work.

The controversy around symbolism that flared up in 1910 revealed a deep crisis in this literary trend. As a reaction to symbolism, a new literary trend created by N. Gumilyov and S. Gorodetsky arose - acmeism, the forerunner of which was the literary association Workshop of Poets.
The organizational meeting of the Workshop, which was attended by A. Blok, took place at the apartment of S. Gorodetsky on October 20, 1911.

Acmeists, opposing themselves not only to the Symbolists, but also to the Futurists, organized themselves around the Poets' Guild, publishing a small magazine called Hyperborea.

On the shield of the acmeists it was inscribed - "clarity, simplicity, affirmation of the reality of life." Acmeists rejected the "obligatory mysticism" of the Symbolists.
“Among the Acmeists,” S. Gorodetsky wrote in the Apollon magazine, “the rose again became good in itself, with its petals, smell and color, and not with its conceivable similarities with mystical love or anything else.”

The First World War broke the usual rhythm of life. Nikolai Gumilyov went to the front as a volunteer. His courage and contempt for death were legendary. Rare awards for an ensign - two soldier's "George" - serve as the best confirmation of his military exploits. The collection “Quiver” reflects the themes of the war:

And bloody weeks

Dazzling and light

Above me, shrapnel is torn,

The blades of the birds take off faster.

It's copper hitting copper

I, the bearer of a great thought,

I can't, I can't die.

Like thunder hammers

Or the waters of angry seas,

Golden heart of Russia

Beats rhythmically in my chest.

Speaking of military lyrics Gumilyov, it is impossible not to remember the psychological characteristics of his personality. Gumilyov was called the poet-warrior for a reason. A contemporary of the poet wrote: “He accepted the war with modern simplicity, with straightforward fervor. He was perhaps one of those few people in Russia whose soul the war found in the greatest combat readiness. But Gumilyov saw and realized the horror of the war, showed it in prose and poetry, and some romanticization of the battle, the feat was a feature of Gumilyov - a poet and a person with a pronounced, rare, courageous, chivalrous beginning both in poetry and in life.

In “Kolchan”, a new theme for Gumilyov begins to be born - “about
Russia". Completely new motives sound here - Andrey's creations and genius
Rublev and a bloody bunch of mountain ash, ice drift on the Neva and Ancient Russia. He gradually expands and deepens his themes, and in some poems he even achieves frightening insight, as if predicting his own fate:

He stands before a fiery mountain,

A short old man.

A calm look seems submissive

From the blinking of reddish eyelids.

All his comrades fell asleep,

Only he does not sleep alone yet:

He is all busy casting a bullet,

That will separate me from the earth.

The October Revolution caught Gumilyov abroad, where he was sent in May 1917. He lived in London and Paris, studied oriental literature, translated, worked on the drama "The Poisoned Tunic".
In May 1918 he returned to revolutionary Petrograd. He was captured by the then tense literary atmosphere. N. Gumilyov together with A. Blok,
M. Lozinsky, K. Chukovsky and other major writers work in the created
A.M. Gorky publishing house “World Literature”. In 1918, the sixth collection of N. Gumilyov "The Bonfire" and a collection of translations of oriental poetry were published.
"Porcelain Pavilion".

The last lifetime collections of poems by N. Gumilyov were published in 1921
- this is the "Tent" (African verses) and the "Pillar of Fire". In this collection we see a new, “top” Gumilyov, whose refined poetic art of the leader of acmeism was enriched with the simplicity of high wisdom, pure colors, and the masterful use of intricately intertwined prosaic-everyday and fantastic details to create a multidimensional, deeply symbolic artistic image:

I was walking down an unfamiliar street

And suddenly I heard a crow's voice,

And lute chimes, and distant thunders,

A tram was flying in front of me.

How I jumped on his bandwagon

It was a mystery to me

In the air a fiery track

He left even in the light of day.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Where I am? So languid and so anxious

My heart beats in response:

You see the station where you can

Buy a ticket to the India of the Spirit?

The completely politically illiterate Gumilyov had his own “theory” about what should, remaining under any convictions, honestly and conscientiously serve his Motherland, regardless of what kind of power exists in it.
Therefore, he recognized Soviet power, believed that he was obliged to be loyal in all respects, despite the fact that he was in difficult personal conditions of existence, and that the country was in a state of ruin. But life
N.S. Gumilev tragically ended in August 1921. For many years it was officially stated that the poet was shot for participating in the counter-revolutionary, so-called Tagantsev conspiracy. But in fact, his fault was only in not reporting to the authorities that he was offered to join a conspiratorial organization, which, by the way, is also subject to doubt.

The "Tagantsev case" caused a wide negative resonance. The world community could not agree with such a verdict. Aleksey Tolstoy wrote later: “I don’t know the details of his murder, but, knowing Gumilyov, I know that standing at the wall, he did not even give the executioners a look of confusion and fear. Dreamer, romantic, patriot, harsh teacher, poet. His gloomy shadow, indignantly, flew away from ... his passionately beloved Motherland ... Light to your soul.
Glory to your name."

Analysis of Gumilev's work.

Gumilyov's poetry in different periods of his creative life is very different. Sometimes he categorically denies the Symbolists, and sometimes he is so close to their work that it is difficult to guess that all these wonderful poems belong to one poet. Here we recall the words of the insightful A. Blok: “The writer is a perennial plant... the soul of the writer expands in periods, and his creation is only the external results of the underground growth of the soul. Therefore, the path of development can only appear straight in perspective, while following the writer along all stages of the path, you do not feel this straightness and steadiness, due to stops and distortions.

These words of Blok, a poet highly valued by Gumilyov, and at the same time his main opponent in critical articles, are most suitable for describing Gumilyov's creative path. Thus, the early Gumilyov gravitated toward the poetry of the older symbolists Balmont and Bryusov, was fond of the romance of Kipling, and at the same time turned to foreign classics: W. Shakespeare, F. Rabelais, F. Villon,
T. Gauthier and even to the epic-monumental works of Nekrasov. Later, he moved away from the romantic decorativeness of exotic lyrics and the lush brightness of images to a clearer and more rigorous form of versification, which became the basis of the acmeist movement. He was strict and inexorable towards young poets, the first to declare versification a science and a craft that needs to be learned in the same way as music and painting are taught. Talent, pure inspiration, in his understanding, had to have a perfect apparatus for versification, and he stubbornly and sternly taught the young mastery. The poems of the acmeist period, which made up the collection "The Seventh Heaven", confirm such a sober, analytical, scientific approach of Gumilyov to the phenomena of poetry. The main provisions of the new theory are outlined by him in the article “The Legacy of Symbolism and Acmeism”. The “new direction” was given two names: acmeism and adamism (from Greek - “a courageously firm and clear outlook on life”). Gumilyov considered their main achievement to be the recognition of the "intrinsic value of each phenomenon", the displacement of the cult of the "unknown" by "childishly wise, painfully sweet feeling of one's own ignorance." Also of this period is the writing of Gumilyov's serious critical work "Letters on Russian Poetry", published later in 1923.

This book of exclusively poetic criticism occupies a special place in the history of Russian critical thought. The articles and reviews included in it were written by a great poet and passionate theoretician of verse, a man of impeccable poetic ear and precise taste. Possessing an unconditional gift of foresight, Gumilyov the critic outlines in his works the ways of development Russian poetry, and today we can see how accurate and far-sighted he was in his assessments. He expressed his understanding of poetry at the very beginning of his program article.
"Anatomy of a Poem", which opens the collection "Letters on Russian Poetry".
“Among the numerous formulas that determine the essence of poetry, two stand out,” wrote N. Gumilyov, “proposed by poets who ponder the secrets of their craft. They say: "Poetry is best words in the best order" and
"Poetry is what is created and, therefore, does not need to be remade."
Both of these formulas are based on a particularly vivid sense of the laws by which words affect our consciousness. A poet is one who "takes into account all the laws that govern the complex of words he has taken." It is precisely this position that underlies the enormous work that, after the revolution, was carried out by
Gumilyov with young poets, persistently teaching them the technique of verse, the secrets of that craft, without which, in his opinion, real poetry is impossible. Gumilyov wanted to write a theory of poetry, this book was not destined to be born, and his attitude to the "holy craft" of poetry is concentrated in several articles and reviews that made up the Letters on Russian Poetry.

But over the years, Gumilyov's poetry has changed somewhat, although the foundation remains solid. In the collections of the military era, distant echoes of Blok's Russia, surrounded by rivers, and even Andrei Bely's "Ashes" suddenly appear in it. This trend continues in post-revolutionary creativity. It is amazing, but in the poems of the "Pillar of Fire" Gumilyov, as it were, extended his hand to the rejected and theoretically denounced symbolism. The poet seems to be immersed in a mystical element, in his poems fiction is intricately intertwined with reality, the poetic image becomes multidimensional, ambiguous. This is already a new romanticism, the lyric-philosophical content of which differs significantly from the romanticism of the famous "Captains", acmeistic "beautiful clarity" and concreteness.

Conclusion.

Nikolai Gumilyov was a far from ordinary personality with an amazing and at the same time tragic fate. There is no doubt about his talent as a poet and literary critic. His life was full of severe trials, which he coped with valor: several suicide attempts in his youth, unhappy love, almost a duel, participation in the world war.
But it ended at the age of 35, and who knows what brilliant works Gumilyov could still create. An excellent artist, he left an interesting and significant legacy, and had an undoubted influence on the development of Russian poetry. His students and followers, along with high romanticism, are characterized by the utmost accuracy of poetic form, so appreciated by Gumilyov himself, one of the best Russian poets of the early 20th century.

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Creativity N. Gumilyov

In the work of many poets of the early twentieth century. there is a certain collective image, one way or another connected with different channels of their search. The ideal of N. Gumilyov is symbolically expressed in the guise of a fantastic heroine of the poem "The Discovery of America" ​​- the Muse of Distant Wanderings. The unstoppable wanderings of the artist were changeable, heterogeneous, but it was they who determined his life, art, romantic worldview. The movement to the alluring distances was, however, forcibly interrupted. Gumilyov, who was indiscriminately accused of an anti-Soviet conspiracy, was shot in 1921. Only after more than six decades, it became possible to openly admit this crime.

Gumilyov was born in the family of a ship's doctor in Kronstadt. He studied at the gymnasium of Tsarskoye Selo. Then for a short time (1900-1903) he left (his father's new appointment) to Georgia. Returning, in 1906 he graduated from the Nikolaev Tsarskoye Selo Gymnasium. However, staying there was no longer usual. The interests and activities natural for the young man were immediately pushed aside by the intense inner life. Everything was determined by the early awakening, exciting vocation of the poet. Back in 1902, the Tiflis Leaflet published Gumilyov's first poem - "I fled from the cities to the forest ...".

The events and facts of Gumilyov's biography vividly testify to his rare courage and thirst for knowledge of the world. After graduating from high school, he went to Paris to study French literature, but soon left the Sorbonne, going, despite his father's ban, to Africa. The dream to see the mysterious, uncivilized lands took possession of the poet. On the first trip, Gumilyov visited only cities: Istanbul, Izmir, Port Said, Cairo. But the experience left an indelible mark on my soul. On this mysterious land for a European, he endured many hardships and voluntary risky, sometimes fatal trials, and as a result he brought valuable materials for the St. Petersburg Museum of Ethnography. During the First World War, he volunteered for the front, where he did not consider it necessary to protect himself, and participated in the most difficult maneuvers. In May 1917, he left of his own free will for the Thessaloniki (Greece) operation of the Entente, with the hope (unfulfilled) of being in Africa again. The return from Europe to dilapidated, hungry and cold Petrograd in 1918 was also a necessary stage for Gumilyov to comprehend himself and life.

The greedy desire for travel and danger was still secondary, stemming from an all-pervading passion for literary creativity. In a letter to V. Bryusov, Gumilyov explained the purpose of the trip to Abyssinia in the following way: "to find new words in a new environment." He thought constantly and fruitfully about the maturity of poetic vision and skill.

Gumilyov's artistic talent can most accurately be defined as a bold exploration of the always mysterious, boundless, wonderful country of Russian literature. The variety of paths laid here is amazing. Gumilyov is the author of collections of lyrics, poems, dramas, essays, stories, essays, literary-critical and journalistic articles, works on the theory of verse, reviews of the phenomena of foreign art ... And the development of Gumilyov's most native element of self-expression - poetry - is marked by unprecedented intensity. One after another (beginning from the gymnasium time) his books are published: 1905 - "The Way of the Conquistadors"; 1908 - "Romantic Flowers"; 1910 - "Pearls"; 1912 - "Alien Sky"; 1916 - "Quiver"; 1918 - "Bonfire", "Porcelain Pavilion" and the poem "Mick"; 1921 - "Tent" and "Pillar of Fire".

And all this array of creative accomplishments is "stacked" in some fifteen years.

V. Bryusov saw in Gumilyov's first youthful collection a "new school" of verse, but reproached him for imitating the Symbolists. The values ​​of love and beauty sung by the author were reminiscent of the ideals of older contemporaries, but were defended "with thunder and sword." Courageous intonations, a strong-willed beginning were new, and the new images of the Beautiful gleaned from their legends are addressed to the earthly demands of man. The image of the conquistadors becomes only a symbol of the conquest of beauty and love.

"Romantic Flowers" is full of sad sensations: fragility high gusts, illusory happiness. However, the power of aspirations wins here too - to transform the existing according to the will of the author. “He created his own dream,” said the poet. And he created it, correlating life phenomena, but looking beyond the line of their possible existence (the source of romantic imagery). The ecstasy of dreams and desires perfectly matches the name of the collection.

The third, mature book of "Pearls" in many ways clarified the position of the artist. It was here that the motive of the search was finally revealed - the "sense of the path", now turned not to the subjective depths, but outward. However, such “objectification” is very conditional, since a “country” is acquired spiritual being. Therefore, it is as if the specific theme of the journey (here it is visibly expressed for the first time) symbolizes the path of aesthetic quest. The very image of pearls is drawn from an unprecedentedly beautiful land: “Where no human foot has set foot, | Where giants live in sunny groves! | And pearls shine in clear water. The discovery of hitherto unknown values ​​inspires and justifies life.

In such an atmosphere, there is a need to understand and affirm a personality capable of powerful accomplishments. On the way, the conqueror of peaks does not know retreats: “Blind Nothing is better, | Than golden yesterday. The flight of a black eagle attracts the eye with a dizzying height, and the author's imagination completes this perspective - "not knowing decay, it flew forward":

He died, yes! But he couldn't fall

Entering the circles of planetary movement,

The bottomless mouth gaped below,

But the forces of attraction were weak.

Truly Gumilyov's is boldly manifested - the search for Light beyond the line of being. Even the Dead, given to the fire, is capable of a daring desire: “I will burn one more time | The intoxicating life of fire." Creativity is proclaimed as a form of self-immolation: “Here, play the magic violin, look into the eyes of monsters | And die a glorious death terrible death violinist" ("The Magic Violin").

The figurative structure is woven from familiar realities. Nevertheless, they are diverse, contrasting, so correlated with each other, and most importantly, their properties and functions are so freely speculated that a fantastic world arises that conveys the “super-earthly” in strength and character to the ideal. The "I" of the subject is rarely manifested openly, but any of the embodied "persons" is informed of his ultimate emotions and aspiration. Everything is transformed by the will of the poet.

In the small cycle "Captains" there is a household color, for example, in the coastal life of seafarers. The figures of famous travelers appear here: Gonzalvo and Cook, La Perouse and Vasco da Gama. With rare skill, the appearance of each hero is recreated through the colorful details of the attire (“pinkish cuffs”, “gold lace”). But all this is only an external, thematic layer of the cycle, which allows juicy, visibly expressing the inner. He is in the chanting of a feat: “Not one trembles before a thunderstorm, | Not one will turn the sails. And in the glorification of the unbending strength of spirit of all, "who dares, who wants, who seeks." Even in justifying their harshness (previously crudely sociologically interpreted):

Or, discovering a riot on board,

From behind the belt tears a gun,

So gold is pouring from lace,

With pinkish Brabande cuffs.

The entire collection is imbued with a strong-willed intonation and a self-withering thirst to discover unknown potentialities in oneself, a person, life. It does not at all follow from this that Gumilyov is betrayed by a cheerful mood. Trials on the chosen path are not compatible with them. Tragic motives are born of a collision with "monstrous grief", unknown enemies. Excruciatingly boring, stagnant reality. Her poisons penetrate the heart lyrical hero. The “always patterned garden of the soul”, once colored with romantic colors, turns into a hanging, gloomy, where the face of the night luminary, the moon, leans terribly low. But the more passionately the courage of search is upheld.

In the article "The Life of the Poet" Gumilyov pointed out the need for a special "arrangement of words, repetition of vowels and consonants, accelerations and decelerations of the rhythm" so that the reader "experiences the same as the poet himself." In "Pearls" such skill has reached brilliance.

The "viscous" anapaests in the part of "The Magic Violin" convey the weariness that gripped the musician. The iambs of the first poem "Captains" electrify with energetic intonation. Condensation of the same type or contrasting features recreates the specific atmosphere of different eras and countries in the "Old Conquistador", "Barbarians", "Knight with a Chain", "Journey in China". On the other hand, the author constantly expands the content of each work by means of associations. Sometimes with their former images (“garden of the soul”, conquistador, flight, fire, etc.). Often with historical and cultural phenomena. The Balzac accent arises with the mention of "shagreen bindings". The creativity and personality of romantic composers (most likely Schumann) suggests a lot in Mestro. Captain with the face of Cain deepens the topic Flying Dutchman. Gumilyov's alliterations are absolutely amazing: the fear of falling is conveyed by “z-z-z” - “bottomless below gaped”, the melodiousness of the violin is the combination “vl” - “own the magic”. What the poet found here will develop in various ways in his subsequent work.

In the spring of 1909, Gumilyov said about his cherished desire: “The world has become more human. An adult (how many of them?) Is glad to fight. He is flexible, he is strong, he believes in his right to find a land where he could live. The joy of struggle manifested itself in active literary and organizational activities. In 1910, Gumilyov created the "Workshop of Poets", bringing together a large group of his like-minded people to resolve professional issues. In 1913, together with S. Gorodetsky, he formed an association of acmeists. The search for "earth" in its generalized sense determined a new stage in Gumilyov's poetry, clearly tangible in the book "Alien Sky".

Here appeared the "Discovery of America". Next to Columbus stood the Muse of Far Wanderings. But she does not just captivate with travel, under her light wings Columbus finds a previously unknown, beautiful land:

He sees a miracle with a spiritual eye,

The whole world, unknown to the prophets,

What lies in the abyss of blue,

Where the west meets the east.

The mysterious part of the world is open. However, her gifts are not mastered: Columbus returns to the Old World. And a feeling of deep dissatisfaction covers yesterday's winner:

I am a shell, but without pearls,

I am the stream that was dammed

Dropped, now no longer needed.

'Like a lover, to play another | He is abandoned by the Muse of Wanderings. The analogy with the disappointments of the artist is unconditional and sad. The “pearl” that shines to the inner eye, no, the windy Muse left the one who rubbed his “jewel”. The poet thinks about the purpose of the search.

Gumilyov sought to understand the phenomenon of life. She appears in an unusual and capacious image - "with an ironic grin, the king-child on the skin of a lion, forgetting toys between his white tired hands." Life is natural and strong, complex and contradictory. But her essence eludes. Having rejected the deceptive brilliance of "pearls", the lyrical hero nevertheless finds his "land". She is truly inexhaustibly rich, most importantly, she always needs a person who gives her new breath. Thus, in the subtext (not directly named), a sacred concept arises - service to culture, harmonization of its current state for the author. The ancient world, long gone, was chosen as the ideal:

We go through the foggy years

Vaguely feeling the wind of roses,

Ages, spaces, nature

Reclaim ancient Rhodes.

The path paved in time connects the past and the future by the feat of a person who creates beauty.

With such a majestic goal, the acquisition of fresh impressions, forms, words becomes urgently needed. Gumilyov reflects the "immortal features" of what he saw, experienced. Including in Africa. The collection includes Abyssinian songs based on local folklore (“Military”, “Five Bulls”, “Slave”, “Zanzibar Girls”, etc.). Natural, social, everyday flavor is reproduced here. Exotic, however, gives not just unexpected images, details, but an understanding of spiritual features close to the author: strong, natural feelings, merging with nature, imaginative thinking. The living juices of primitive culture were absorbed by the artist.

Gumilyov revered art as the true "country" of his "habitation"; idol in this "promised land" called the French poet Theophile Gauthier. In an article dedicated to him, he singled out the creative aspirations characteristic of both of them: to avoid “both accidental, concrete, and vague, abstract”; to know "the majestic ideal of life in art and for art." Elusive in everyday existence, beauty is comprehended only by an artist and only for the further development of creativity, the enrichment of spiritual culture. "Alien Sky" includes a selection of Gauthier's lyrics translated by Gumilyov. Among them are lines of admiration for the human gift of creating the Beautiful:

All dust. - One, rejoicing,

Art won't die

The people will survive.

The problem of artistic mastery therefore acquired a fundamental character. On the one hand, Gumilyov bows to the sharpness of vision, turned to the diversity of existence: “Poets should have a Plushkin economy. And the rope will come in handy. On the other hand, he considered: "poetry is one thing, and life is another." The concept of mastery has traditionally been associated with the achievement of perfect forms, with the global question of transforming realities into a worthy value for art. In Gauthier's translations, this resulted in an aphoristic statement:

Making themes more beautiful

Than taken material

More dispassionate.

The meaning of being-creativity was found. Gumilyov wanted to develop the truth he had suffered in cooperation with like-minded people. Thus, the idea of ​​their unification under the banner of acmeism arose.

The relationship between life and art in Gumilyov's poetry is clearly seen in the book "Quiver". Here were reflected his observations and experiences during the First World War. At the front, Gumilyov fought, according to eyewitnesses, with enviable calm courage, for which he was awarded two St. George's crosses. And for patriotism, the poet was accused of chauvinism for many years. Particularly indignant was the line from the poem “Iambic Pentameters”: “In the silent call of the battle trumpet | I suddenly heard the song of my fate…” Whereas it was a sincere and moral confession. Gumilyov still considered the trials a necessary school of growth, now necessary not only for him, but for the whole country. In merging with it, he opened up new horizons for understanding the world and man. The lyrics of "Quiver" allow you to see how such a process took place.

Russia awakened painful questions. Considering himself "not a tragic hero" - "more ironic and drier", the poet comprehended only his attitude to his homeland:

Oh, Russia, the sorceress is harsh,

You will take yours everywhere.

Run? But do you like new

Will you live without you?

In the "lair of fire" there is a unity with the "severe sorceress":

Golden heart of Russia

Beats rhythmically in my chest ...

That's why: “…death is clear and simple: | Here, a comrade grieves over the fallen | And kisses him on the mouth. A bitter hour gives a truly simple and great feeling of mutual understanding. Such is the worldly, by the way, slightly outlined in the verses, the meaning of the experience. There is also a deep, philosophical, corresponding to the needs of life.

In the prose "Notes of a Cavalryman" Gumilyov revealed all the hardships of war, the horror of death, the torment of the home front. Nevertheless, it was not this knowledge that formed the basis of the Quiver. Seeing the people's troubles, Gumilyov came to a broad conclusion: "The spirit is just as real as our body, only infinitely stronger than it." This idea has received artistic development.

In suffering, the wise exactingness of a person to himself grows: “how could we live in peace before ...”. This is where the truly Gumilyov theme of soul and body grows. As long as there is no confrontation between them:

The spirit blossoms like a May rose,

Like fire it breaks the darkness

The body does not understand anything

Blindly obey him.

In Quiver, spiritual power is expressed in many ways: “everything goes with the soul, burns with its destiny ...”, “everything is contained in itself by a person who loves the world”; “the sun of the spirit, oh, without sunset, it’s impossible for the earth to overcome it.”

The Muse of Distant Wanderings is now awakened not by the call of spaces and times, but by the self-deepening of the personality, its “fiery conversation”, “pacification of tired flesh”. But such a “journey” can be even more difficult and responsible. The short-sightedness supposedly inherent in everyone before is severely debunked: “We never understood | What was worth understanding”; «And the former dark burden | Continues to live in the present. Gumilyov refers to mythology, the work of deceased masters. But only in order to verify in someone else's experience your search for the Beautiful in the human soul. It is related to art. The high goal is addressed to the artist - to compose "winged verses, unchaining the dream of the elements" (alliteration emphasizing the contrast). Among the deaf, blind:

And a symbol of mountain majesty,

Like a beneficent covenant,

High tongue-tied

You are granted, poet.

Opposite states ultimately turn out to be the fruits of one "garden of the soul." There are no agonizing struggles, no division here. But the beginnings that disagree with each other are divided by a sharp line into light and darkness. Dissonances are embodied with penetration into the real, visible world and with the means of unbridled fantasy. The usual smells are clearly felt: “tar, and dust, and grass”, “the earth smells of smoldering temptingly”; one sees: “dazzling height”, “wild charm of the steppe expanses”, “mystery of the wilderness”. And next to it is amazing - "the unsteady distance of mirrors", "Satan in unbearable splendor", humane in suffering, "once terrible" eyes of the mythical Medusa. And everywhere: "Colors, colors - bright and clean." Diverse is organized by the author's chased thought. "Now my voice is slow and measured" - the confession of the poet himself. Strictly, exactingly comprehended the highest demands in a critical time.

Reflections on the "sun of the spirit" and human internal contrasts led Gumilyov to sum up his personal life results. They were expressed in the poems of "Bonfire", which included the lyrics of the Paris and London albums created in the capitals of France and England, when Gumilyov participated in the Entente operation.

The author proceeded as if from the "small" observations - behind the trees, the "orange-red sky", the "honey-smelling ray", the "sick" river in the ice drift. The expressiveness of the landscape is unique here. But Gumilyov was attracted not only by nature. He opened the secret of a bright sketch that explained his attitude. The poet still gravitated towards the idea of ​​the transformation of existence, which can be no doubt, having heard his passionate appeal to the meager land, almost a spell: “And become, as you are, a star, | Fire pierced through and through! Everywhere he looked for an opportunity to "rush off in pursuit of the world." As if the young dreamy hero of Gumilyov returned to the pages of a new book. No, that didn't happen. Mature and sad comprehension of one's place in the world is the epicenter of "Bonfire".

Now you can understand in a new way why the long road called the poet, what was its danger. The poem "Great Memory" contains an antinomy:

And that's all life! Spinning, singing, And here again delight and grief,

Seas, deserts, cities, Again, as before, as always,

Flickering reflection Gray-haired mane waves the sea,

Lost forever. Deserts and cities rise.

The pathfinding beacon never goes out, as it promises to bring back "the lost forever". Therefore, the lyrical hero calls himself a "gloomy wanderer" who "must go again, must see." Under this sign are meetings with Switzerland, the Norwegian mountains, the North Sea, a garden in Cairo. And on this material basis, capacious, generalizing images of sad wandering are formed: wandering, “like along the beds of dried up rivers”, “blind transitions of spaces and times”.

In love lyrics, similar motives are read. The beloved leads "the heart to heights", "scattering stars and flowers." Nowhere, as here, did not sound such a sweet delight in front of a woman. But happiness is only in a dream, I'm delirious. But really - longing for the incomprehensible:

Here I stand at your door,

No other way was given to me

Even though I know I won't dare

Never enter this door.

Immeasurably deeper, more multifaceted and fearless spiritual conflicts are embodied in the works of the Pillar of Fire. Each of them is a pearl. It is quite possible to say that the poet created this long-sought treasure with his own word. Which does not contradict the general concept of the collection, where creativity is assigned the role of sacred rites. There is no gap between the desired and the accomplished for the artist.

Poems are born of eternal problems - the meaning of life and happiness, the contradictions of the soul and body, the ideal and reality. The appeal to them informs poetry of majestic severity, the wisdom of the parable, the aphoristic sound. But everything is colored with warm human intonation, confessional sincerity. The individual and the general, a strict thought about the world and quivering personal confessions merge together.

Reading the "Pillar of Fire" evokes the feeling of ascending to great heights. It is impossible to determine which of the dynamic "turns" excites more in "Memory", "Forest", "Soul and Body", "The Sixth Sense". Each time a new “layer of being” opens up.

The introductory stanza of "Memory" disturbs with a bitter observation-warning:

Only snakes shed their skins

So that the soul grows old and grows.

We, alas, are not like snakes,

We change souls, not bodies.

Then the readers are captivated by the poet's confession about his past. But at the same time, a painful thought about the imperfection, the precariousness of human destinies. These nine soulful quatrains unexpectedly lead to a harsh chord that transforms the theme:

I am a gloomy and stubborn architect

A temple that rises in darkness.

I was jealous for the glory of the Father,

As in heaven and on earth.

And from it - to a trembling dream of the flourishing of the earth, the country. However, it is not finished here either. The final lines, partially repeating the initial ones, carry a new sad feeling of the temporal limitations of human life. The poem, like many other collections, has a symphonic development.

Gumilyov achieves rare expressiveness by combining incompatible elements. The forest in the lyrical creation of the same name is uniquely bizarre. Giants, dwarfs, lions live in it, about which “you can’t dream even in a dream”, “women with a cat’s head” and ... ordinary fishermen, priests appear. It seems that the poet has returned to his early phantasmagoria. But here the fantastic is easily removed: “Maybe that forest is my soul…”

To embody complex, confusing, sometimes incomprehensible inner impulses, such bold figurative comparisons were made. In The Baby Elephant, experiences of love that are difficult to associate with him are connected with the title image. But such a correlation turns out to be necessary to reveal the two hypostases of this feeling: imprisoned “in a tight cage” and strong, sweeping away all obstacles, like that elephant “that once carried Hannibal to quivering Rome.” The ambiguity of each phenomenon is captured and deepened in a concrete, material form.

Gumilyov created capacious symbols born of his imagination - for centuries. The "Lost Tram" symbolizes the insane and fateful movement of history to nowhere. And it is furnished with frightening details of the dead kingdom. Sensually changeable (fear, suffering, tenderness for the beloved) mental states are painfully linked with it. The tragedy of humanity and personality is conveyed, which, as brightly as possible, is expressed and interpreted in the strange image of a “lost tram”.

The poet, as it were, was constantly pushing the boundaries of the text. Unexpected endings played a special role. The triptych "Soul and Body" seemed to continue the familiar theme of "The Quiver", although in a new twist (a dispute between the soul and body for power over a person). And in the finale, the unexpected suddenly arises: all the motivations of people turn out to be a “weak reflection” higher consciousness. "The Sixth Sense" immediately captivates with the contrast between meager comforts and genuine beauty, love, poetry. The effect seems to have been achieved. Suddenly, in the last stanza, the thought breaks out to other frontiers - to the dream of the transformation of human nature:

So century after century - soon, Lord? -

Under the scalpel of nature and art

Our spirit screams, the flesh languishes,

Giving birth to an organ for the sixth sense.

The most complex, difficult to implement phenomena appear in line-by-line images, where ordinary subject details are combined with generalized, sometimes abstract concepts. Each of these images acquired an independent meaning: “a scalpel of nature and art”, “a ticket to India of the Spirit”, “a garden of dazzling planets…”.

The secrets of poetic "witchcraft" in the "Pillar of Fire" are innumerable. But it is necessary on the chosen path: to discover the essence and perspectives of spiritual life in strict, "pure" artistic forms. With a courageous ascent to these heights, Gumilyov was very far from complacency. The painful sensation of irresistible surrounding imperfection was excruciating. The cataclysms of revolutionary times intensified tragic forebodings to the utmost. They resulted in the "Lost Tram":

He raced like a storm, dark, winged,

He got lost in the abyss of time...

Stop, wagon driver,

Stop the car now.

The "pillar of fire" melted, however, in its depths the worship of light and beauty. The art of the poet made it possible to affirm these principles without the slightest shade of speculation or idealization. In Canzone II we read:

Where all the sparkle, all the movement,

Singing everything, we live there with you;

Here is only our reflection.

Put a rotting pond.

Gumilyov taught and, I think, taught his readers to remember and love “All the cruel, sweet life! | All my dear, terrible land ... ". He saw both life and the earth as endless, alluring distances, which helped to “predict” an experience that was not yet born by mankind, following his “ineffable nickname”. The romantic exclusivity of the revealed spiritual movements and metamorphoses gave such an opportunity. It is precisely in this way that the poetic heritage of N. Gumilyov is infinitely dear to us.

Bibliography

Gumilyov N. The legacy of symbolism and acmeism // Russian literature of the twentieth century. Pre-October period / Comp. N.A. Trifonov.- M., 1960.

Russian Literature: XX century: Ref. Materials: Book. For students Art. classes / Comp. L.A. Smirnova. – M.: Enlightenment, 1995.

Luknitskaya V. K. Nikolai Gumilyov: The life of a poet based on materials from the home archives of the Luknitsky family. - L., 1990.

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Gumilyov Nikolai Stepanovich was born in 1886 in Kronstadt. His father was a naval doctor. Nikolai Gumilyov, whose photo will be presented below, spent his entire childhood in Tsarskoye Selo. He received his education in the gymnasiums of Tiflis and St. Petersburg. The poet Gumilyov Nikolai wrote his first poems at the age of twelve. For the first time, his work was published in the Tiflis Leaflet when the boy was 16 years old.

Nikolai Gumilyov. Biography

By the autumn of 1903, the family returned to Tsarskoye Selo. There, the future poet finishes his studies at the gymnasium, the director of which was Annensky. The turning point in Kolya's life was his acquaintance with the works of the Symbolists, and in the same 1903, the future poet met the schoolgirl Gorenko (later Akhmatova). After graduating from the gymnasium, in 1906, Nikolai, who would be very filled with events in subsequent years, leaves for Paris. In France, he attends lectures and gets acquainted with representatives of the literary and artistic environment.

Life after graduating from high school

The collection "The Way of the Conquistadors" became the first printed collection, which was released by Gumilev Nikolai. The poet's work in the early stages was in some way a "collection of early experiences", in which, nevertheless, its own intonation was already found, the image of a courageous, lyrical hero, a lonely conqueror, was traced. While subsequently in France, he makes an attempt to publish the Sirius magazine. In the issues (the first three), the poet is published under the pseudonym Anatoly Grant and under his own name - Nikolai Gumilyov. The biography of the poet in subsequent years is of particular interest. It should be said that, while in Paris, he sent correspondence to various publications: the newspapers Rus, Early Morning, and the magazine Libra.

mature period

In 1908, his second collection was published, the works in which were dedicated to Gorenko ("Romantic Poems"). With him began a mature period in the work of the poet. Bryusov, who praised the author, stated, not without pleasure, that he was not mistaken in the forecasts. "Romantic poems" became more interesting in their form, beautiful and elegant. By the spring of 1908, Gumilyov returned to his homeland. In Russia, he makes acquaintances with representatives of the literary world of St. Petersburg, begins to act as a constant critic in the newspaper Rech. Later, Gumilyov began to print his works in it.

After a trip to the East

The first trip to Egypt took place in the autumn of 1908. After that, Gumilyov entered the law faculty at the capital's university, and subsequently transferred to the historical and philological. Since 1909, he began active work as one of the organizers of the Apollo magazine. In this edition, until 1917, the poet will publish translations and poems, as well as keep one of the headings. Quite brightly Gumilev in his reviews covers the first decade of the 20th century. At the end of 1909, he leaves for a few months in Abyssinia, and on his return from there he publishes the book "Pearls".

Life since 1911

In the autumn of 1911, the "Poets' Workshop" was formed, which manifested its own autonomy from symbolism, creating its own aesthetic program. Gumilyov's "Prodigal Son" was considered the first acmeist poem. It was included in the 1912 collection Alien Sky. By that time, the reputation of a "sindic", "master", one of the most significant of them, had already firmly established itself behind the writer. In 1913, Gumilev went to Africa for six months. At the beginning of World War I, the poet volunteers for the front. In 1915, "Notes of a Cavalryman" and the collection "Quiver" were published. In the same period, his printed works "Gondla", "Child of Allah" were published. However, his patriotic impulses soon pass, and in one of his private letters he admits that for him art is higher than Africa and war. In 1918, Gumilyov sought to be sent as part of an expeditionary force, but was delayed in London and Paris until spring. Returning to Russia in the same year, the writer begins work as a translator, preparing the Gilgamesh epic, English verses and for World Literature. The Pillar of Fire was the last book published by Nikolai Gumilyov. The poet's biography ended with his arrest and execution in 1921.

Brief description of the works

Gumilyov entered Russian literature as a student of the symbolist poet Valery Bryusov. However, it should be noted that this poet was, among other things, the director of one of the gymnasiums (in Tsarskoye Selo), in which Gumilyov studied. The main theme of his works was the idea of ​​courageous overcoming. Gumilyov's hero is a strong-willed, brave man. Over time, however, his poetry becomes less exotic. At the same time, the author's predilection for an unusual and strong personality remains. Gumilyov believes that this kind of people are not intended for everyday, everyday life. And he considers himself the same. Quite a lot and often reflecting on his own death, the author invariably presents it in an aura of heroism:

And I will not die in bed
With a notary and a doctor,
And in some wild crack,
Drowned in thick ivy.

Love and Philosophy in Late Poems

Gumilev devoted a lot of his works to feelings. His heroine in love lyrics takes on completely different forms. She can be a princess from a fairy tale, the legendary beloved of the famous Dante, a fantastic Egyptian queen. A separate line runs through his work poems to Akhmatova. Quite uneven, complex relationships were associated with her, worthy of a novel plot in themselves ("She", "From the Lair of the Serpent", "The Tamer of Beasts", etc.). Gumilyov's late poetry reflects the author's predilection for philosophical themes. At that time, living in terrible and hungry Petrograd, the poet was active in creating studios for young authors, being for them in some way an idol and teacher. At that time, some of his best works came out from Gumilyov's pen, permeated with arguments about the fate of Russia, human life, destiny ("Lost Tram", "The Sixth Sense", "Memory", "My Readers" and others).

Creativity of the outstanding poet of the early XX century. Nikolai Stepanovich Gumilyov (1886-1921) is an example of overcoming the aesthetic doctrine of acmeism.

N.S. Gumilyov was born in Kronstadt in the family of a naval doctor on April 3 (15), 1886. The childhood of the future poet passed in Tsarskoye Selo, where he studied at the Tsarskoye Selo gymnasium, the director of which was I.F. Annensky. At the end of 1903, he met Anya Gorenko, a schoolgirl (the future Anna Akhmatova). In 1905, in St. Petersburg, he published the first collection of poems, The Path of the Conquistadors. He spent about three years in Paris, where he published the Sirius magazine and published a collection of poems, Romantic Flowers (1908).

Upon his return to Russia, Gumilyov entered St. Petersburg University, actively collaborated in newspaper and magazine periodicals, founded the "Academy of Verse" for young poets. In 1909-1913. made three trips to Africa. In 1910, he married A. A. Gorenko (the break with her occurred in 1913, the official divorce - in 1918). For 1911-1912. the period of organizational unity and creative flourishing of acmeism came. Gumilev published at that time his most "acmeistic" collection of poems - "Alien Sky" (1912). With the outbreak of the First World War, the poet volunteered for the Lancers Regiment, and was awarded two St. George Crosses for participation in hostilities.

In 1916, a new collection of poems, Quiver, was published. Gumilyov at that time was abroad as part of an expeditionary corps. There he met the events of 1917 and returned to St. Petersburg only in 1918. In the last three years of his life, he was actively engaged in creative, organizational and teaching work, published collections of poems "Bonfire", "Porcelain Pavilion", "Tent", "Pillar of Fire" .

On August 3, 1921, Gumilyov was arrested on charges of participating in a counter-revolutionary conspiracy, and on August 25, 1921, he was shot.

Gumilyov began his career in literature during the heyday of symbolist poetry. It is not surprising that in his early lyrics there is a very palpable dependence on symbolism. It is interesting that the future acmeist in his work did not follow the chronologically closest generation of young symbolists, but was guided by the poetic practice of older symbolists, primarily K.D. Balmont and V.Ya. Bryusov. From the first in Gumilyov's early poems - the decorativeness of landscapes and the general craving for catchy external effects, with the second, the novice poet was brought together by an apology for a strong personality, reliance on solid qualities of character.

However, even against the background of Bryusov's lyrical heroism, the position of the early Gumilyov was distinguished by special energy. For his lyrical hero there is no abyss between reality and dream: Gumilyov affirms the priority of bold dreams, free fantasy. His early lyrics are devoid of tragic notes, so characteristic of the poetry of Annensky, Blok, Andrei Bely. Moreover, Gumilyov is characterized by restraint in the manifestation of any emotions: at that time he assessed a purely personal, confessional tone as neurasthenia. The lyrical experience in his poetic world is certainly objectified, the mood is conveyed by visual images, ordered into a harmonious "picturesque" composition.

The Symbolists proceeded from the idea of ​​the fusion of different sides and facets of life, the principle of continuous correspondences implied the low value of the individual, the separate. In relation to specific manifestations of reality, optical farsightedness was deliberately cultivated: the “earthly” space surrounding the lyrical hero became a briefly drawn, deliberately blurred background onto which “cosmic” intuitions were projected. Gumilyov and the poets of his generation trusted much more sensory perception, primarily visual. The evolution of the early Gumilyov is the gradual consolidation of precisely this stylistic quality: the use of the visual properties of the image, the rehabilitation of a single thing, important not only as a sign of spiritual movements or metaphysical insights, but also (and sometimes in the first place) as a colorful component of the overall scenery.

In the early 1910s Gumilyov became the founder of a new literary movement - acmeism. The principles of acmeism were largely the result of Gumilyov's theoretical understanding of his own poetic practice. The key categories in acmeism were the categories of autonomy, balance, concreteness. The "place of action" of the lyrical works of the acmeists is earthly life, the source of eventfulness is the activity of the person himself. The lyrical hero of the acmeist period of Gumilyov's work is not a passive contemplator of life's mysteries, but the organizer and discoverer of earthly beauty. The poet believes in the creative power of the word, and which he values ​​not volatility, but the constancy of semantic qualities. And in the poems of the collection "Alien Sky" (the pinnacle of Gumilyov's acmeist poetics) - moderation of expression, verbal discipline, balance of feeling and image, content and form.

From the lush rhetoric and decorative flamboyance of the first collections, Gumilyov gradually moves to epigrammatic rigor and clarity, to a balance of lyricism and epic descriptiveness. “His poems are poor in emotional and musical content; he rarely talks about intimate and personal experiences; ... avoids the lyrics of love and the lyrics of nature, too individual confessions and too heavy self-deepening, wrote V.M. Zhirmunsky in 1916. - To express his mood, he creates an objective world of visual images, tense and vivid, he introduces a narrative element into his poems and gives them a semi-epic character - a ballad form. The search for images and forms, in their strength and brightness corresponding to his worldview, leads Gumilyov to the image of exotic countries, where in colorful and colorful visions he finds a visual, objective embodiment of his dream. Gumilyov's muse is the "muse of distant wanderings"...

The poetics of Gumilyov's late lyrics is characterized by a departure from the formal principles of acmeism and the growth of intimate confessional lyricism. His poems are filled with a sense of anxiety, eschatological visions, feelings of existential tragedy. The pathos of "subjugation" and optimistic daring is replaced by a position of tragic stoicism, courageous rejection. Sensually perceived images in his poems are transformed by bold metaphors and unexpected comparisons. Often a poetic composition is built on the deployment of a key metaphor, which by the end develops into a symbol. The poet is now not satisfied with the colorful objectivity of descriptions, he sees life much deeper than its outward signs. Gumilyov's late lyrics, in their tone and deep content, are much closer to symbolism than to acmeism.

Among other poets of the Silver Age, Gumilyov stands out for the significance of the evolution that has taken place in his lyrics. It is no coincidence that many memoirists who left memories of him, and most critics and researchers of Gumilyov's poetry, wrote primarily about the noticeable qualitative growth of his work, about the thematic and stylistic transformation of poetry. In parallel with the expansion of the thematic content, Gumilyov's lyrics gradually deepened, and the growth of the poet's formal skill was only an outward expression of the spiritual growth of his lyrical hero. Between the poems of the first three collections of Gumilyov and the masterpieces of his last poetic book there is not only continuity (it is, of course, palpable), but also a contrast. Sometimes this contrast is even absolutized, interpreted as a break or an unexpected metamorphosis. So, according to Vyach.Vs.Ivanov, Gumilyov's poetic fate "reminiscent of the explosion of a star, before its destruction suddenly flashed brightly ... ..." Pillar of Fire "and directly adjacent ... to this collection of poems is immeasurably higher than all the previous ones."

Let us compare the first poem of the cycle "Captains", published in the first issue of the magazine "Apollo" in 1909, and "Canzone II", included in Gumilev's last collection "Pillar of Fire".

The poem "Captains" became for readers of the 1910s. a kind of visiting card of the poet. In the foreground in it is the image of captains created by the poet’s imagination, a picturesque projection of the poet’s ideas about the ideal modern man. This man, close to the lyrical hero of the early Gumilyov, finds himself in the romance of wanderings. He is attracted by the line of the receding horizon and the inviting twinkling of a distant star - away from home comfort and everyday life of civilization. The world opens up to him, as if to the first person, in its original freshness, promising a series of adventures, the joy of discovery and the intoxicating taste of victories.

Gumilyov's hero is seized with a thirst for geographical novelty, for him "as if not all the stars have been counted." He came into this world not as a dreamy contemplator, but as a strong-willed participant in the life unfolding before his eyes. Therefore, reality seems to him to be successive moments of persecution, struggle, overcoming. It is characteristic that the central fourth and fifth stanzas of the poem represent a generalized "captain" at the moment of confrontation - first with an angry sea element ("trembling bridge", "shreds of foam"), and then with a sailor's team ("mutiny on board").

The author is so captured by the poeticization of the volitional impulse that he does not notice how the grammatical plural (“captains lead”) within one complex sentence changes to the singular ("who... notes... remembers... or... vomits"). In this syntactic inconsistency, the inherent hesitation between the “general” and “large” plans of the image, inherent in the early Gumilyov, is manifested. On the one hand, the general "marine" background of the poem is created by sweeping conventionally romantic contrasts ("polar - southern", "basalt - pearl", "malstroms - stranded"). On the other hand, “exquisite” substantive details are presented in close-up (“shreds of foam from high over the knee boots”, “gold ... from pinkish Brabant cuffs”).

Although the poem was written by Gumilyov two years before the institutionalization of acmeism, the tendencies of acmeist stylistic reform are already noticeable in it. This is, first of all, a setting for awakening in the reader plastic, and not musical (as with the Symbolists) ideas. In contrast to symbolism, imbued with the "spirit of music", acmeism will focus on the roll call with the spatial arts - painting, architecture, sculpture.

"Captains" is built as a poetic description of a painting. The sea background is written on it with the help of standard techniques of marine art ("rocks", "hurricanes", "shreds of foam", "wave crests"). In the center of the pictorial composition is a strong man raised above the elements and a crowd of extras-sailors, as if descended from the pages of R. Kipling's prose (Gumilyov was fond of the work of this English writer). However, in the external appearance of this person there are more accessories of theatricality, deliberate dandyism than specific signs of a risky profession. There is no hint of the hardships of ship life in it, even the metonymy “salt of the sea”, falling on a par with the fashionable “cane”, spectacular “high over the knee boots” and decorative “laces”, is perceived as a picturesque decoration. In the poem, both lexical exoticism (“malstroms”, “feluccas”) and acoustic effects serve decorative purposes. In the sound composition of the verse, alternately rolling waves of alliterations to “z” (“bends of green swells”), “r” (“on a torn map ... impudent”), “b” (“discovering a riot on board”) are palpable.

One of the fundamental theses of the acmeist manifestos will be the thesis about trust in the three-dimensional world, about the artistic development of the diverse and vibrant earthly world. Indeed, against the background of symbolist imagery, Gumilyov's early poems look much more concrete and juicy. They are built according to the laws of rhetorical clarity and compositional balance (clarity and balance are another of the important stylistic principles of acmeism). However, a large degree of objectivity, which is noticeable in the "Captains", in itself did not guarantee the poet's approach to socio-historical reality, and even more so - a meaningful deepening of the lyrics.

Only the type of lyricism changed: intimate-confessional lyricism was replaced by a manner of indirect expression, when the poet avoided open reflection, as if "translating" his mood into the language of visible, graphically clear images. These images themselves were more often associated with images of other types of art (theater, painting) and the legacy of previous literary eras than with the historical reality of the pre-revolutionary decade in Russia.

The early Gumilyov clearly strives for the formal perfection of verse, he eschews the elusive, volatile, difficult to express - all that, according to his former teacher Annensky, "there is no consonance or echo in this world." Such self-restraint at first played a positive role: he avoided the fate of the poets-epigons of Symbolist poetry, managed to find his own theme and gradually develop his own style.

However, his later work reveals a "secret kinship" with the heritage of the Symbolist era - all the more remarkable because the "overcoming of symbolism" at first seemed to give the main meaning to his poetic work.

The poem "Canzone II" from the collection "Pillar of Fire" is sustained in a completely different key than "Captains". Instead of a romantic life-affirmation, there is an intonation of mournful reassurance, instead of bright exoticism, there are signs of a “damned outback”. If the early Gumilyov shied away from individual confessions and too personal tone, then in the collection Pillar of Fire it is the life of the soul and the anxieties of consciousness that constitute the meaningful core of the poems.

The word "canzona" (translated from Italian - "song") in the title is used not in a poetic, but in the most general sense: the lyrical, confessional quality of the poem is indicated. The very nature of the headings of the late Gumilyov is much more diverse than before: in addition to geographical or zoological exoticism (“Hyena”, “Jaguar”, “Giraffe”, “Lake Chad”, etc.) and naming the heroes of poems (“Don Juan” , “Captains”, etc.) are increasingly used direct or metaphorical designations of feelings, emotional states, higher values ​​(“Memory”, “Word”, “Soul and Body”, “Sixth Sense”, “Lost Tram”, “ Star Horror).

This evolution of titles reflects changes in the very thematic repertoire of later lyrics. The main motif of "Canzona" is the feeling of a dual world, an intuition about a different life, full of meaning and beauty, in contrast to the "this world" world - the world of a "rotting reservoir" and dusty roads. The central opposition of the poem is given by a pair of pronominal adverbs "here - there". The organizing principle of the “here” shadow world is the brute power of time. Expanding the metaphor of the “captivity of time”, the poet uses a string of personifications: summer mechanically flips through the “pages of days”, the pendulum turns out to be the executioner of the “conspirator-seconds”, roadside bushes are obsessed with a thirst for death. Everything here bears the stamp of repetitiveness, lifelessness, languishing hopelessness. Even in the word “dusty”, due to the phonetic similarity with the verb “polonil”, unexpected semantic echoes arise: dust corresponds to captivity.

The most expressive image of the "shadow" life is created by the unexpected "materialization" of the category of time in the second stanza. As components of a single image, semantically and stylistically heterogeneous elements are used: physiologically specific "heads" belong to abstract "seconds", the movement of the pendulum sheds blood. The metaphor seems to strive to "forget" that it is a metaphor, and acquire non-metaphorical flesh.

Such combinations of logically incompatible objects and signs - characteristic surreal style. Surrealist style uses spectacularly bright, but inexplicable, illogical combinations of images, collides the ordinary and the wonderful. As an independent literary movement, surrealism existed in the 1920s. in France. In Russian literature, after Gumilyov, elements of surrealism appeared in the work of the poet of the Russian emigration B. Poplavsky. The same type of imagery is found in the famous "Lost Tram".

In the world of present reality, true miracle and true beauty are impossible - this is the meaning of the new unexpected combination in the third stanza of "Canzona" ("The unicorn will not lead / The white seraph will lead us by the bridle").

As we can see, if earlier Gumilyov's style was characterized by aestheticized, decorative objectivity, then in the verses of the last collection the materiality, texture of certain details serves completely non-ornamental purposes. Instead of festive variegation, the lyrical hero now discovers the limitations of earthly life. Earthly existence has lost its intrinsic value for him.

It is important that the monologue of the lyrical hero in Canzone is addressed to his soul mate. Moreover, it is the intimate connection of two souls that turns out to be the source of the hero's metaphysical intuition. He sees the promise of "true peace" in the "hidden sadness" of his beloved. The place of objective concreteness in the finale of the poem is occupied by the "symbolist" way of expression - the images-symbols of "fiery dope" and "wind from distant lands", the extremely subdivided combinations "all sparkling, all movement", intonation of understatement.

With all the brightness of the images and the thoughtfulness of the composition, there is no picturesqueness in itself in Canzone II. Visual tasks have given way here to expressive ones: the poem is perceived as a “landscape of the soul”, as a direct lyrical confession of the poet. Gumilyov's late poetry remarkably confirmed one of the theses expressed by him in the article "Reader": "Poetry and religion are two sides of the same coin. Both require spiritual work from a person. But not in the name of a practical goal, like ethics and aesthetics, but in the name of a higher one, unknown to them.”

Nikolay Gumilyov- a famous Russian poet of the Silver Age, prose writer, translator and literary critic. His biography is full of many sad events, which we will tell you about right now.

At 35, Gumilyov was shot on suspicion of participating in a conspiracy. However, in his short life he managed to write many works that have become classics of Russian literature.

We bring to your attention the key points of Nikolai Gumilyov. .

Biography of Gumilyov

Nikolai Stepanovich Gumilyov was born on April 3, 1886 in Kronstadt. He grew up in a noble family of military doctor Stepan Yakovlevich, whose wife was Anna Ivanovna.

Childhood and youth

As a child, Nikolai Gumilyov was constantly ill, and in general was a physically weak child. In addition, he could not stand the noise and suffered from frequent migraine attacks.

Despite this, already early age Nikolai began to write poetry, showing remarkable abilities.

After graduating in 1906, he goes to. There, Nikolai begins to attend lectures and meets various writers.

Life after high school

Gumilev's first collection of poems is The Path of the Conquistadors. Interestingly, the book was published with the money of the parents. And although she did not have much success, in general, the collection was positively received by critics.

Subsequently, between Gumilyov and the famous symbolist poet, even friendly relations began.

While in Paris, Gumilyov begins to publish the Sirius magazine, which will soon be closed. An interesting fact is that it was in this journal that Anna Akhmatova published her first poems (see).

mature period

In 1908, the second collection of works by Nikolai Gumilyov, entitled "Romantic Poems", was published. Most of the works were dedicated to Akhmatova, with whom he began a close relationship.

After Bryusov read Gumilyov's new poems, he once again repeated that the poet had a great future (see).

In the same year, Gumilev decides to return to his homeland. There he met Russian poets and began working as a critic in the Rech newspaper, in which he would also publish his works.

In the autumn of 1908, Gumilyov set off on a journey. He manages to visit, and. Due to lack of money, Nikolai has to return home.

A trip to the "country of the pharaohs" made a great impression on him. Subsequently, he became one of the largest explorers, having made several scientific expeditions to this continent.

Nikolai Gumilyov in Paris, photograph by Maximilian Voloshin, 1906

In 1909, Nikolai Gumilyov entered the law faculty of St. Petersburg University. Together with his like-minded people, he creates the Apollo magazine, in which he continues to publish poetry and keep one of the headings.

At the end of the same year, the poet goes to Abyssinia, where he spends several months. He will describe his impressions of the trip in the work "Pearls".

Biography after 1911

Nikolai Gumilyov is the founder of the school of acmeism. This literary movement opposed symbolism.

Representatives of acmeism promoted the materiality and accuracy of the word, avoiding abstract concepts.

The first acmeist poem in Gumilyov's biography is "The Prodigal Son". Every day his popularity is growing, and he begins to be considered one of the most talented poets.

In 1913, Gumilyov again went to Africa, where he spent half a year. In connection with the outbreak of the First World War (1914-1918), he had to return home.

Being a patriot of his country, he goes to the front. However, the service did not prevent Nikolai Stepanovich from continuing to engage in writing.

In 1915, the Notes of a Cavalryman and the collection Quiver were published.

After the end of the war, Gumilyov began to work on the translation of the Gilgamesh epic. In parallel with this, he translates the poems of Western poets.

The last collection in Gumilyov's biography is Pillar of Fire. This book is considered by many to be the pinnacle of his work.

Creativity Gumilyov

In his works, Gumilyov paid great attention to. In his poetry, the themes of love, mythology and. Many of his poems were dedicated to Anna Akhmatova.

In a later period of biography, Gumilyov increasingly touched on. He not only talked to the reader, but also made him reflect on the main problems of mankind.

Personal life

Gumilyov's first wife was Anna Akhmatova, with whom they had a son, Leo. Together they lived for 8 years, after which they divorced.

Gumilyov and Akhmatova with their son

The second wife of the poet was Anna Engelhard, who gave birth to his girl Elena. An interesting fact is that Anna, along with her daughter, died in Leningrad during the blockade.

After that, Gumilyov had a stormy romance with Olga Vysotskaya. Subsequently, their son Orestes was born, but the poet never found out about this due to death.

Death

On August 3, 1921, Gumilyov was arrested by the NKVD and charged with an anti-Bolshevik conspiracy.

And although many writers tried to save the poet, the authorities did not make any concessions. personally met with, wanting to change the decision on Gumilyov, but this did not give any results.

Nikolai Gumilyov, photo from the investigation file, 1921

As a result, on August 24, a decree was announced on the execution of the poet, as well as 56 of his "accomplices".

Two days later, on August 26, 1921, Nikolai Stepanovich Gumilyov was shot at the age of 35.

Thus, Russia lost one of the most talented poets and scientists of its time.

Before going to his death, Nikolai Gumilyov wrote the following lines on the cell wall: “Lord, forgive my sins, I am going on my last journey.”

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