Poet nikolai gumilev biography. Other biography options. Death accepted with dignity

Short biography Nikolay Gumilyov (option 1)

Gumilev Nikolai Stepanovich (1886 - 1921) - Russian poet, prose writer, literary critic, translator, representative of the literature of the "Silver Age", founder of the school of Russian Acmeism.

Childhood and first works

Nikolai Stepanovich Gumilev was born on April 3 (15), 1886 in Kronstadt, in the family of a ship doctor. The childhood of the future writer took place first in Tsarskoe Selo, and then in the city of Tiflis. In 1902, Gumilyov's first poem "I fled to the forest from the cities ..." was published.

In 1903, Nikolai Stepanovich entered the 7th grade of the Tsarskoye Selo gymnasium. In the same year, the writer met his future wife, Anna Gorenko (Akhmatova). In 1905, an important event took place in Gumilyov's short biography - the poet's first collection, The Way of the Conquistadors, was published.

Mature creativity. Trips

After graduating from high school in 1906, Gumilev left for Paris and entered the Sorbonne. While in France, Nikolai Stepanovich tried to publish the magazine Sirius, which was exquisite at the time (1907). In 1908, the second collection of the writer "Romantic Flowers", dedicated to Anna Akhmatova, was published. This book marked the beginning of the mature work of Gumilyov.

Nikolai Stepanovich returns to Russia, but soon leaves again. The writer visits Sinop, Istanbul, Greece, Egypt, African countries with expeditions.

In 1909, Gumilyov entered St. Petersburg University, first at the Faculty of Law, but then transferred to the Historical and Philological Department. The writer takes an active part in the creation of the Apollo magazine. In 1910, the collection "Pearls" was published, which received positive reviews V. Ivanov, I. Annensky, V. Bryusov. The book includes the famous work of the writer "Captains".

In April 1910, Gumilev married Anna Akhmatova.

"Workshop of Poets" and Acmeism. World War I

In 1911, with the participation of Gumilyov, a poetic association "Workshop of Poets" was created, which included O. Mandelstam, S. Gorodetsky, V. Narbut, M. Zenkevich, E. Kuzmina-Karavaeva. In 1912, Nikolai Stepanovich announced the emergence of a new artistic movement, Acmeism, the magazine Hyperborey was soon created, and Gumilyov's collection Alien Sky was published. In 1913, the writer again went to the East.

With the outbreak of the First World War, Gumilev, whose biography was already full of extraordinary events, voluntarily goes to the front, for bravery he is awarded two St. George's crosses. During his service in Paris in 1917, the poet falls in love with Helene du Boucher and dedicates to her a collection of poems "To the Blue Star".

Post-war years. Doom

In 1918, Gumilyov returned to Russia. In August of the same year, the writer divorces Akhmatova.

In 1919 - 1920 the poet worked in the publishing house "World Literature", teaches, translates from English, French. In 1919 he married Anna Engelhardt, daughter of N. Engelhard. Gumilyov's poems from the collection "The Pillar of Fire" (1921) are dedicated to his second wife.

In August 1921, Nikolai Gumilyov was arrested on charges of participating in the anti-government "Tagantsev conspiracy." Three weeks later, he was sentenced to execution, executed the very next day. Exact date the execution and the place of burial of Nikolai Stepanovich Gumilyov are unknown.

Interesting Facts

In 1909, Gumilyov took part in a ridiculous duel with M. Voloshin due to the fact that Nikolai Stepanovich spoke unflatteringly about the poet Elizaveta Dmitrieva. Both poets did not want to shoot, Gumilev shot in the air, Voloshin's pistol misfired.
In 1916, Gumilyov was enlisted in the special Fifth Hussar Alexandria Regiment, whose soldiers took part in the most fierce battles near Dvinsk.
Anna Akhmatova has always criticized Gumilyov's poetry. This often led to the fact that the poet burned his works.
For a long time, Gumilyov's works were not published. The poet was rehabilitated only in 1992.
Two documentaries were filmed about Gumilyov's life - "Testament" (2011) and "New Version. Gumilyov against the dictatorship "(2009)

Brief Biography of Nikolai Gumilyov (option 2)

Nikolai Stepanovich Gumilyov can be called a poet-acmeist. His short life was full of interesting events, but ended tragically. He was born in 1886 in the city of Kronstadt, where his father worked as a doctor. Nikolai had an older brother Dmitry, and the age difference between them was two years. The author's family is noble.

As a child, the poet was a sickly child, but this did not prevent him from leading an active life and making friends with his peers. Some say that he wrote his very first quatrain at the age of six, and the first verses at twelve. He received his education in gymnasiums and graduated in 1906. We can say that he studied poorly and received only one A in his certificate in the subject of "logic". And once he was even expelled, but then left for the second year.
While still in the seventh grade, Nikolai met Anna Gorenko (Anna Akhmatova), who in the future would become his life companion.

After graduating from the gymnasium, the poet left for France, where he studied the culture of the country. While living in Paris, Gumilev was engaged in publishing a magazine.

In addition to France, he visited Greece, Italy, Turkey and Egypt. And besides that, as part of the expedition, he visited Africa, where he had been 4 times for the entire time, he really liked it very much. We can say that the poet was also a researcher, and upon his arrival from Africa, he brought many interesting specimens to the museum. While in Egypt, Gumilev studied at the university at the Faculty of Law.

The first collection of poems was published in 1905, and this was a very important event in the life of the author. He dedicated a collection of poems to his wife, which came out in 1908 and was called "Romantic Flowers".

The poet constantly raised his level and at the same time he got acquainted with the work of the famous authors of that time, drawing from them all the most necessary and interesting. In 1909, the poet took part in a duel with his friend M. Voloshin, and both of them remain alive. The reason for the duel was Elizaveta Dmitrieva, a young poetess who liked Gumilyov, but preferred his friend M. Voloshin. This is precisely what caused the duel to take place.

When the first one began World War, then Gumilyov volunteered for the front and for his courage and courage he was awarded two St. George's Crosses, of which he was proud. His brother Dmitry also went to war with him and died in 1922.
From 1917 to 1918, Nikolai lived in Greece, and when he returned, he set to work. During this time, he actively worked as a translator.

In 1921, on August 3, Nikolai Stepanovich was arrested for participating in a conspiracy and on August 24, sentenced to death. This is how the life of the poet, researcher and officer ended tragically. Numerous friends of Gumilyov tried to free him, but nothing came of it. Gumilyov was rehabilitated in 1992. However, until now it is not known where Gumilyov was buried after the execution.

In 1919, the poet married Anna Engelgard and in the same year their daughter Elena was born.

Gumilyov's last book was published in 1921. Critics say it was the most best job the author.

Gumilyov had many famous works and collections. These include a collection of poems on the military theme "Quiver", a collection of poems "Bonfire", poems about his travels in Africa with the name "Tent". The last collection was said to be a textbook on geography, but only in poetry. And, probably, the collection "Pillar of Fire" can be called the best work. The author preferred most of all to write about love and life, about death and art.

In 1921, on August 3, Nikolai Stepanovich was arrested for participating in a conspiracy and on August 24, sentenced to death. This is how the life of the poet, researcher and officer ended tragically. Numerous friends of Gumilyov tried to free him, but they failed. Gumilyov was rehabilitated in 1992. However, until now it is not known where Gumilyov was buried after the execution.

Nikolay Gumilyov

Russian poet Silver Age, founder of the school of acmeism, novelist, translator and literary critic

short biography

Childhood and youth

Born into the noble family of the Kronstadt ship doctor Stepan Yakovlevich Gumilyov (1836-1910). Mother - Anna Ivanovna, nee Lvova (1854-1942).

As a child, Nikolai Gumilyov was a weak and sickly child: he was constantly tormented by headaches, he did not tolerate noise well. According to Anna Akhmatova ("Works and Days of N. Gumilyov", vol. II), the future poet wrote his first quatrain about the beautiful Niagara at the age of six.

He entered the Tsarskoye Selo gymnasium in the fall of 1894, however, after studying for only a few months, due to illness, he switched to home schooling.

In the fall of 1895, the Gumilevs moved from Tsarskoye Selo to Petersburg, rented an apartment in the house of the merchant N.V. Shalin on the corner of Degtyarnaya and 3rd Rozhdestvenskaya streets, and the next year Nikolai Gumilyov began to study at the Gurevich gymnasium. In 1900, his older brother Dmitry (1884-1922) was diagnosed with tuberculosis, and the Gumilevs left for the Caucasus, in Tiflis. In connection with the move, Nikolai entered the 4th grade for the second time, in the 2nd Tiflis gymnasium, but six months later, on January 5, 1901, he was transferred to the 1st Tiflis male gymnasium. N. Gumilyova "I fled to the forest from the cities ...".

In 1903, the Gumilevs returned to Tsarskoye Selo and Nikolai Gumilyov in 1903 again entered the Tsarskoye Selo gymnasium (in the 7th grade). He studied poorly and once was even on the verge of expulsion, but the director of the gymnasium I.F. Annensky insisted on leaving the student for the second year: "All this is true, but he writes poetry"... In the spring of 1906, Nikolai Gumilyov nevertheless passed his final exams and on May 30 received a certificate of maturity No. 544, which included the only five, in logic.

A year before graduating from the gymnasium, the first book of his poems, The Way of the Conquistadors, was published at the expense of his parents. This collection was honored with a separate review by Bryusov, one of the most authoritative poets of that time. Although the review was not laudatory, the master concluded it with the words "Suppose that she [the book] is only the 'path' of the new conquistador and that his victories and conquests are ahead.", it was after this that correspondence began between Bryusov and Gumilev. For a long time Gumilyov considered Bryusov his teacher, Bryusov's motives can be traced in many of his poems (the most famous of them is "Violin", however, dedicated to Bryusov). The master is long time he patronized the young poet and treated him, unlike most of his students, kindly, almost in a fatherly way.

After graduating from the gymnasium, Gumilev went to study at the Sorbonne.

Abroad

Photo of 1906

Since 1906, Nikolai Gumilyov lived in Paris: he attended lectures on French literature at the Sorbonne, studied painting, and traveled a lot. Visited Italy and France. While in Paris, he published the literary magazine "Sirius" (in which Anna Akhmatova made her debut), but only 3 issues of the magazine were published. He visited exhibitions, got acquainted with French and Russian writers, was in intensive correspondence with Bryusov, to whom he sent his poems, articles, stories. At the Sorbonne, Gumilev met the young poetess Elizaveta Dmitrieva. This fleeting meeting a few years later played a fatal role in the fate of the poet.

Photo of Maximilian Voloshin, Gumilyov N.S. in Paris, 1906.

In Paris, Bryusov recommended Gumilyov to such famous poets, like Merezhkovsky, Gippius, Bely, etc., but the masters were careless about the young talent. In 1908, the poet "avenged" the offense by anonymously sending them the poem "Androgyne". It received extremely favorable feedback. Merezhkovsky and Gippius expressed a desire to get to know the author.

In 1907, in April, Gumilyov returned to Russia to pass the draft board. In Russia, the young poet met with his teacher, Bryusov, and his beloved, Anna Gorenko. In July, he set off from Sevastopol on his first trip to the Levant and returned to Paris at the end of July. There is no information about how the trip went, except for letters to Bryusov.

after our meeting I was in the Ryazan province, in St. Petersburg, spent two weeks in the Crimea, a week in Constantinople, in Smyrna, had a fleeting romance with some Greek woman, fought with the Apaches in Marseilles and only yesterday, I don’t know how, I don’t know why , ended up in Paris.

There is a version that it was then that Gumilev first visited Africa, this is also evidenced by the poem "Ezbekie", written in 1917 (How strange, exactly ten years have passed // Since I saw Ezbekye). However, chronologically this is unlikely.

In 1908, Gumilyov published a collection of "Romantic Flowers". Sergei Makovsky wrote about him: “The poems seemed to me rather weak even for an early book. However, with the exception of one - "Ballad"; it struck me with a tragic tone. "

On the money received for the collection, as well as on the saved funds of the parents, he goes on a second trip. I arrived in Sinop, where I had to be in quarantine for 4 days, from there to Istanbul. After Turkey, Gumilev visited Greece, then went to Egypt, where he visited Ezbikie. In Cairo, the traveler suddenly ran out of money, and he had to go back. On November 29 he was again in St. Petersburg.

Nikolai Gumilyov is not only a poet, but also one of the largest researchers in Africa. He made several expeditions to East and North-East Africa and brought a rich collection to the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera) in St. Petersburg.

First expedition to Abyssinia

Africa attracted Gumilev since childhood, he was inspired by the exploits of Russian volunteer officers in Abyssinia (later he would even repeat the route of Alexander Bulatovich and partially the routes of Nikolai Leontiev). Despite this, the decision to go there came suddenly, and on September 25 he went to Odessa, from there to Djibouti, then to Abyssinia. Details of this trip are unknown. It is only known that he visited Addis Ababa for a formal reception at the Negus. Can be considered proven friendly relations mutual sympathy that arose between the young Gumilev and the wise experience Menelik II. In the article "Did Menelik Die?" the poet both outlined the troubles that took place under the throne, and revealed his personal attitude to what was happening.

Between trips

The three years between expeditions were very busy in the life of the poet.

Gumilyov and Akhmatova with their son

Gumilyov visits the famous "Tower" of Vyacheslav Ivanov and the Society of Zealots of the Artistic Word, where he makes many new literary acquaintances.

In 1909, together with Sergei Makovsky, Gumilyov organized an illustrated magazine on visual arts, music, theater and literature "Apollo", in which he begins to head the literary-critical department, publishes his famous "Letters on Russian Poetry".

In the spring of the same year, Gumilyov again meets Elizaveta Dmitrieva, they have an affair. Gumilyov even invites the poetess to marry him. But Dmitrieva prefers Gumilyov to another poet and his colleague on the Apollo editorial board, Maximilian Voloshin. In the fall, when the personality of Cherubina de Gabriac, the literary hoax of Voloshin and Dmitrieva, is scandalously exposed, Gumilyov allows himself to speak unflatteringly about the poetess, Voloshin publicly insults him and receives a challenge. The duel took place on November 22, 1909 and the news about it got into many metropolitan magazines and newspapers. Both poets survived: Voloshin shot - a misfire, again - again a misfire, Gumilyov shot up.

In 1910, the collection "Pearls" was published, which included "Romantic Flowers" as one of the parts. The composition of "Pearls" includes the poem "Captains", one of famous works Nikolai Gumilyov. The collection received praise from V. Bryusov, V. Ivanov, I. Annensky and other critics, although it was called "Still a student's book".

On April 25, 1910, after three years of hesitation, he finally got married: in the Nicholas Church in the village of Nikolskaya Slobodka, on the outskirts of the city of Kiev, Gumilyov married Anna Andreevna Gorenko (Akhmatova).

In 1911, with the active participation of Gumilyov, the "Workshop of Poets" was founded, which, in addition to Gumilyov, included Anna Akhmatova, Osip Mandelstam, Vladimir Narbut, Sergei Gorodetsky, Elizaveta Kuzmina-Karavaeva (future "Mother Mary"), Zenkevich and others.

At this time, Symbolism was experiencing a crisis, which the young poets strove to overcome. They proclaimed poetry a craft, and divided all poets into masters and apprentices. In the "Workshop" Gorodetsky and Gumilyov were considered masters, or "syndics". Initially, "Shop" did not have a clear literary orientation. The first meeting, which took place at Gorodetsky's apartment, was attended by Piast, Blok with his wife, Akhmatova and others. Blok wrote about this meeting:

A careless and sweet evening. Young people. Anna Akhmatova. Conversation with N.S. Gumilev and his good poetry... It was fun and easy. You get kinder with the young.

In 1912, Gumilyov announced the emergence of a new artistic currents - acmeism, which included members of the "Guild of Poets". Acmeism proclaimed materiality, the objectivity of themes and images, and the accuracy of words. The emergence of a new trend caused violent reaction mostly negative. In the same year, Acmeists open their own publishing house "Hyperborey" and a magazine of the same name.

Gumilyov enters the Faculty of History and Philology of St. Petersburg University, where he studies Old French poetry.

In the same year, a collection of poetry "Alien Sky" was published, in which, in particular, the first, second and third songs of the poem "Discovery of America" were printed.

Second expedition to Abyssinia

The second expedition took place in 1913. It was better organized and coordinated with the Academy of Sciences. At first, Gumilyov wanted to cross the Danakil Desert, study little-known tribes and try to civilize them, but the Academy rejected this route as expensive, and the poet was forced to propose a new route:

I had to go to the port of Djibutti from there by railroad to Harrar, then, forming a caravan, to the south, to the area between the Somali Peninsula and the lakes of Rudolf, Margarita, Zvay; capture as large a research area as possible.

Together with Gumilyov, his nephew Nikolai Sverchkov went to Africa as a photographer.

First, Gumilyov went to Odessa, then to Istanbul. In Turkey, the poet showed sympathy and sympathy for the Turks, unlike most Russians. There Gumilyov met the Turkish consul Mozar-bey, who was traveling to Harar; they continued on their way together. From Istanbul they went to Egypt, from there to Djibouti. The travelers were supposed to go inland by rail, but after 260 kilometers the train stopped due to the fact that the rains blurred the path. Most of the passengers returned, but Gumilyov, Sverchkov and Mozar Bey begged the workers for a trolley and drove 80 kilometers of the damaged track on it. Arriving in Dire Daua, the poet hired an interpreter and set off in a caravan to Harar.

Haile Selassie I

In Harare, Gumilev, not without complications, bought mules, where he met the Tefari race (then the governor of Harar, later Emperor Haile Selassie I; adherents of Rastafarianism consider him the embodiment of Lord Jah). The poet presented the future emperor with a box of vermouth and photographed him, his wife and sister. In Harare, Gumilyov began to collect his collection.

Aba Muda

From Harar, the path ran through the poorly explored lands of the Gaul to the village of Sheikh-Hussein. On the way, I had to cross the fast-flowing river Ouabi, where Nikolai Sverchkov was almost dragged away by a crocodile. Problems with provisions soon began. Gumilev was forced to hunt for food. When the goal was achieved, the leader and spiritual mentor of Sheikh Hussein Aba Muda sent provisions to the expedition and received it warmly. Here is how Gumilev described him:

Жирный негр восседал на персидских коврах
In a semi-dark uncleaned room
Like an idol, in bracelets, earrings and rings,
Only his eyes sparkled marvelously.

- "Galla"

There Gumilyov was shown the tomb of Saint Sheikh-Hussein, after whom the city was named. There was a cave, from which, according to legend, the sinner could not get out:

I had to undress and crawl between the stones into a very narrow passage. If anyone got stuck, he died in terrible agony: no one dared to reach out to him, no one dared to give him a piece of bread or a cup of water ...

Gumilyov climbed there and returned safely.

Having written down the life of Sheikh-Hussein, the expedition moved to the city of Ginir. Having replenished the collection and collected water in Ginira, the travelers went west, on the hardest way to the village of Matakua.

The further fate of the expedition is unknown, Gumilyov's African diary is interrupted by the word "Road ..." on 26 July. According to some reports, on August 11, the exhausted expedition reached the Dera valley, where Gumilyov stayed at the house of the parents of a certain H. Mariam. He treated the mistress for malaria, freed the punished slave, and the parents named their son after him. However, there are chronological inaccuracies in the Abyssinian's story. Be that as it may, Gumilev safely reached Harar and in mid-August was already in Djibouti, but due to financial difficulties he was stuck there for three weeks. He returned to Russia on September 1.

World War I

The beginning of 1914 was difficult for the poet: the workshop ceased to exist, difficulties arose in relations with Akhmatova, and the bohemian life that he led after returning from Africa was bored.

After the outbreak of World War I in early August 1914, Gumilyov volunteered for the army. Together with Nikolai, his brother Dmitry Gumilyov, who was wounded in battle and died in 1922, went to the war (at the call).

It is noteworthy that although almost all eminent poets of that time composed either patriotic or military poems, only two volunteers participated in the hostilities: Gumilev and Benedikt Livshits.

Gumilyov was enlisted as a volunteer in Her Majesty's Life-Guard Ulansky regiment. Exercises and training took place in September and October 1914. Already in November, the regiment was transferred to southern Poland. The first battle took place on November 19. For night reconnaissance before the battle by the Order of the Guards Cavalry Corps dated December 24, 1914, No. 30, he was awarded the St. George Cross of the 4th degree No. 134060 and was promoted to corporal. The cross was presented to him on January 13, 1915, and on January 15, he was promoted to non-commissioned officer.

At the end of February, as a result of continuous hostilities and traveling, Gumilyov fell ill with a cold:

We attacked, knocked the Germans out of the villages, went on patrols, I also did all this, but as in a dream, now shivering in a chill, now burning in the heat. Finally, after one night, during which I, without leaving the hut, made at least twenty rounds and fifteen escapes from captivity, I decided to measure the temperature. The thermometer showed 38.7.

The poet was treated for a month in Petrograd, then he was returned to the front again.

In 1915, from April to June, although there were no active hostilities, Gumilyov took part in reconnaissance missions almost daily.

In 1915, Nikolai Gumilyov fought in Volyn. Here he passed the most difficult military tests, received the 2nd St. George Cross, which he was very proud of. Anna Akhmatova responded to this somewhat skeptically:

They rarely fly
To our porch.
Gave a white cross
Your father.

This is how she wrote little son Leo.

On July 6, a large-scale attack of the enemy began. The task was set to hold the positions until the infantry approached, the operation was carried out successfully, and several machine guns were saved, one of which was carried by Gumilev. For this, by the Order of the Guards Cavalry Corps dated December 5, 1915, No. 1486, he was awarded the insignia of the military order of the St. George's Cross, 3rd degree, No. 108868.

In September, the poet returned to Russia as a hero, and on March 28, 1916, by order of the Commander-in-Chief of the Western Front No. 3332, he was promoted to ensign with a transfer to the 5th Hussar Regiment of Alexandria. Using this respite, Gumilev was actively involved in literary work.

In April 1916, the poet arrived at a hussar regiment stationed near Dvinsk. In May, Gumilyov was again evacuated to Petrograd. The night jump in the heat described in the "Notes of a Cavalryman" cost him pneumonia. When the treatment was almost over, Gumilev went out into the cold without asking, as a result of which the disease worsened again. Doctors recommended that he be treated in the south. Gumilyov left for Yalta. However, the poet's military life did not end there. On July 8, 1916, he again went to the front, again for a short time. On August 17, by order of regiment No. 240, Gumilyov was sent to the Nikolaev Cavalry School, then again transferred to the front and remained in the trenches until January 1917.

In 1916, a collection of poems "The Quiver" was published, which included poems on a military theme.

In 1917, Gumilev decided to transfer to the Thessaloniki front and went to the Russian expeditionary force in Paris. He traveled to France by the northern route through Sweden, Norway and England. In London, Gumilyov stayed for a month, where he met the poet William Butler Yeats and the writer Gilbert Chesterton. Gumilev left England in an excellent mood: paper and printing costs were much cheaper there, and he could print Hyperborey there.

Arriving in Paris, he served as an adjutant to the commissar of the Provisional Government, where he made friends with the artists M.F. Larionov and N.S. Goncharova.

In Paris, the poet fell in love with the half-Russian, half-French Elena Karolovna du Boucher, the daughter of a famous surgeon. Dedicated to her the collection of poems "To the Blue Star". Soon Gumilev moved to the 3rd brigade. However, the disintegration of the army was felt there as well. Soon the 1st and 2nd brigades mutinied. He was suppressed, and Gumilev personally took part in the suppression, many soldiers were deported to Petrograd, the rest were united into one special brigade.

On January 22, 1918, Anrep arranged for him to work in the encryption department of the Russian Government Committee. Gumilyov worked there for two months. However, the bureaucratic work did not suit him, and on April 10, 1918, the poet leaves for Russia.

In 1918, the collection "The Fire" was published, as well as the African poem "Mick". The prototype of Louis, the monkey king, was Lev Gumilev. The timing for the release of the fairy tale poem was unfortunate, and it was greeted with coolness. His fascination with the Malay pantun dates back to this period - a part of the play "Child of Allah" (1918) was written in the form of a stitched pantun.

On August 5, 1918, a divorce from Anna Akhmatova took place. Relations between the poets went wrong for a long time, but it was impossible to divorce with the right to remarry before the revolution.

In 1919 he married Anna Nikolaevna Engelhardt, daughter of the historian and literary critic N.A. Engelhardt.

In 1918-1920, Gumilev lectured on poetry at the Institute of the Living Word.

In 1920, the Petrograd department of the All-Russian Union of Poets was established, and Gumilyov also entered it. Formally, the Bloc was elected head of the Union, but in fact, the Union was ruled by "More than pro-Bolshevik" tuned group of poets led by Pavlovich. On the pretext that a quorum had not been reached in the presidential elections, re-elections were called. The Pavlovich camp, believing that this was a simple formality, agreed, but Gumilyov was unexpectedly nominated for the re-election, who won by one vote.

Gorky was closely involved in the affairs of the department. When Gorky's plan "The History of Culture in Pictures" arose for the publishing house "World Literature", Gumilyov supported these undertakings. His "Poisoned Tunic" came in handy. In addition, Gumilev gave sections of the play "Gondla", "Rhino Hunt" and "The Beauty of Morny". The fate of the latter is sad: its full text has not been preserved.

In 1921, Gumilyov published two collections of poetry. The first is "The Tent", written on the basis of impressions from travels in Africa. "Tent" was to become the first part of a grandiose "textbook of geography in verse." In it, Gumilev planned to describe the entire inhabited land in rhyme. The second collection is “Pillar of Fire”, which includes such significant works as “The Word”, “The Sixth Sense”, “My Readers”. Many believe that "The Pillar of Fire" is the poet's summit collection.

Since the spring of 1921, Gumilev headed the Studio "Sounding Shell", where he shared his experience and knowledge with young poets, and gave lectures on poetics.

Living in Soviet Russia, Gumilev did not hide his religious and political views- he was openly baptized in churches, declared his views. So, at one of the poetry evenings, when he asked a question from the audience- "What are your political convictions?" replied- "I am a convinced monarchist".

Arrest and execution

Nikolay Gumilyov. Photo from the investigation file. 1921

On August 3, 1921, Gumilyov was arrested on suspicion of participation in the conspiracy of the "Petrograd military organization of V.N. Tagantsev." For several days, Mikhail Lozinsky and Nikolai Otsup tried to help out a friend, but despite this, the poet was soon executed.

Monument to Nikolai Gumilyov in Koktebel

On August 24, a resolution of the Petrograd GubChK was issued on the execution of the participants in the "Tagantsev conspiracy" (a total of 61 people), published on September 1, indicating that the sentence had already been carried out. Gumilyov and another 56 convicts, as established in 2014, were shot on the night of August 26. The place of execution and burial is still unknown, in the newly discovered documents this is not indicated. The following versions are distributed:

Berngardovka (valley of the Lubya river) in Vsevolozhsk. A bridge across the Lubya river, a memorial cross is erected on the bank.
The area of the "Lisiy Nos" pier, behind the powder depots. The wilderness near the Razdelnaya railway station (now Lysiy Nos) was previously used as a place for executions by court-martial sentences.
Anna Akhmatova believed that the place of execution was on the outskirts of the city, in the direction of the Porokhovs.
Kovalevsky forest, near the arsenal of the Rzhevsky test site, at the bend of the Lubya river.

Cross-cenotaph in the likely place of Gumilyov's execution. Berngardovka (valley of the Lubya river)

The pier in Lissy Nos is a traditional place of executions in St. Petersburg and a possible place of execution of Gumilyov

Only in 1992 was Gumilyov rehabilitated.

Versions of 1921 events

There are three versions of Gumilyov's involvement in V.N. Tagantsev's conspiracy:

Gumilyov took part in the conspiracy - the official Soviet version of 1921-1987, supported by some emigrants who knew the poet and a number of biographers, for example, V. Shubinsky.
Gumilyov did not participate in the conspiracy, but only knew about him and did not report - the version of the 1960s, common in the USSR during perestroika (1987-1991) and today.
The conspiracy did not exist at all, it was completely fabricated by the Cheka in connection with the Kronstadt uprising - one of the modern versions.

Addresses in St. Petersburg - Petrograd

1886, April - Kronstadt, Grigorieva's house on Ekaterininskaya street, 7;
1886, June - Tsarskoe Selo, Moskovskaya street, 42, opposite Torgovy lane;
1890 - the Gumilevs bought the estate along the Nikolaev railway - Popovka;
1893, autumn - Petersburg, rented apartment 8 on 3rd Rozhdestvenskaya street, 32 (in the house of the merchant N.V. Shalin at the corner of Degtyarnaya);
1903, summer-Tsarskoe Selo, rented apartment on the corner of Oranzhereinaya and Srednaya streets, in Poluboyarinov's house;
1909-1911 - 5th line of Vasilievsky Island, 10;
1911-1916 years - Tsarskoe Selo, Small street, house 63;
1912-1914 - Tuchkova embankment, 20, apt. 29;
1918-1919 - Ivanovskaya street, 25, apt. 15;
1919-1920 - tenement house - Preobrazhenskaya street, 5 (now - Radishcheva);
1920 - August 3, 1921 - DISK - 25 October Avenue, 15.

A family

Parents:

father Stepan Yakovlevich Gumilyov (July 28, 1836 - February 6, 1910).
mother Anna Ivanovna, nee Lvova (June 4, 1854 - December 24, 1942). From her brother, Rear Admiral Lev Ivanovich Lvov, together with her older sister Varvara, she inherited the Slepnevo family estate in the Bezhetsk district of the Tver province, where she raised her grandson Lev.
- Nikolay Gumilyov
- 1st wife: Anna Andreevna Gorenko (Akhmatova) (June 11 (23), 1889 - March 5, 1966).
  - their son Lev Gumilyov (October 1, 1912 - June 15, 1992). Have no children.
- 2nd wife: Anna Nikolaevna Engelhardt (1895 - April 1942).
  - their daughter Elena Gumilyova (April 14, 1919, Petrograd - July 25, 1942, Leningrad). Anna Engelhardt and Elena Gumilyova died of hunger in besieged Leningrad... Have no children.
- Beloved: Olga Nikolaevna Vysotskaya (December 18, 1885, Moscow - January 18, 1966, Tiraspol).
  - their son Orest Nikolaevich Vysotsky (October 26, 1913, Moscow - September 1, 1992). His 2 daughters and 1 son Nikolai are the only descendants of the poet. Alive for 2008:
    - the eldest daughter of Iya Sazonov, she has a daughter and a granddaughter,
      - 3 daughters of Larisa Vysotskaya, her younger sister, who died in 1999.

Creation

The main features of poetry

The main themes of Gumilev's lyrics are love, art, life and death; there are also military and "geographical" poems. Unlike most poets, there is practically no political theme in Gumilyov's work.

Although the sizes of Gumilev's poems are extremely diverse, he himself believed that he was best at getting anapestas. Gumilyov rarely used vers libre and believed that although he had won "The right to citizenship in the poetry of all countries, however, it is quite clear that free verse should be used extremely rarely"... The most famous free verse of Gumilyov is "My readers".

Main works

Collections of poems

Mountains and Gorges (handwritten) (Tiflis, 1901)
The Way of the Conquistadors (St. Petersburg: Tipolit.R.S. Volpina, 1905)
Romantic Flowers (Paris: Impr. Danzig, 1908) (Romantic Flowers: Poems 1903-1907 - 3rd ed. - St. Petersburg: Prometheus, 1918. - 74 p.)
Pearls (Moscow: "Scorpion", 1910)
Alien Sky (St. Petersburg: Apollo, 1912)
Quiver (Moscow-Petrograd: Alcyone, 1916) (Quiver: 4th book of poems. - 2nd ed. - Berlin: Petropolis, 1923. - 108 p.)
Bonfire (St. Petersburg: Hyperborey, 1918)
Porcelain pavilion. Chinese Poems (St. Petersburg: Hyperborey, 1918)
Tent. Poems 1918 (Sevastopol: Publishing of the workshop of poets, 1921) (Tent: poems. - Revel: Bibliophile,)
Pillar of Fire (Petersburg: Petropolis, 1921)

Plays

Don Juan in Egypt (1912)
The Game (1913, published 1916)
Actaeon (1913)
Gondla (1917)
Child of Allah (1918)
Poisoned Tunic (1918, published 1952)
Transformation Tree (1918, published 1989)
Rhino Hunt (1920, published 1987)

Dramatic scenes and fragments

Achilles and Odysseus (1908)
Green tulip
The Beauty of Morny (1919, published 1984)

Prose

Child of Allah: Arab. fairy tale in 3 cards. (SPb., 1917)
Cavalry Notes (1914-1915)
Black General (1917)
Cheerful brothers
African diary
Up the Nile
Cards
Deucalion

Poems

Mick. African Poem (St. Petersburg: Hyperborey, 1918)
Poem of the Beginning (1921)

Translations

Théophile Gaultier "Enamels and Cameos" (St. Petersburg: publishing house of M.V. Popov, owner M.A.Yasny, 1914)
Pippa Passes by Robert Browning (1914)
Albert Samen "Polyphemus"
Gilgamesh (1918)
William Shakespeare Falstaff (1921)

Criticism

Articles and notes on Russian poetry (1923)

Posthumous editions

Gumilyov N.S. The shadow from the palm tree. Short stories - Petrograd: Thought, 1922
Gumilyov N.S. Poems: Posthumous collection. - 2nd add. ed. - PG .: Mysl, 1923. - 128 p.
Gumilyov N.S. Letters about Russian poetry.- Petrograd: Mysl, 1923.- 223 p.
Gumilyov N.S. To the blue star Unpublished poems 1918 - Berlin: Petropolis, 1923
Gumilyov N.S. Posthumous Poems - Shanghai: Hippocrene, 1935

Influence on literature

Gumilev's persistent and inspired activity to create formalized "schools of poetry" (three "Workshops of Poets", "Studio of the Living Word", etc.), to which many contemporaries were skeptical, turned out to be very fruitful. His students - Georgy Adamovich, Georgy Ivanov, Irina Odoevtseva, Nikolai Otsup, Vsevolod Rozhdestvensky, Nikolai Tikhonov and others - became prominent creative individuals. The acmeism he created, which attracted such major talents of the era as Anna Akhmatova and Osip Mandelstam, became a completely viable creative method. Gumilev's influence was significant both on the emigre, and (both through Tikhonov and directly) on Soviet poetry (in the latter case, despite the semi-forbiddenness of his name, and largely due to this circumstance). Thus, N.N. Turoverov and S.N. Markov, who were not personally acquainted with him, considered themselves to be Gumilyov's students.

1886 , April 3 (15) - was born in Kronstadt, in the family of the ship's doctor Stepan Yakovlevich Gumilyov.

1887 - The Gumilev family moved to live in Tsarskoe Selo.

1900 - to improve the health of children, the family moves to the Caucasus, to Tiflis. Here Gumilyov entered the 2nd Tiflis gymnasium.

1902 - On September 8, the newspaper "Tiflissky leaf" published the first poem of NS Gumilyov: "I fled to the forest from the cities ..." with the signature "K. Gumilev".

1903 - The Gumilev family returns from Tiflis to Tsarskoe Selo. Gumilyov entered the 7th grade of the Nikolaev Tsarskoye Selo gymnasium, the director of which at that time was the poet I.F.Annensky. On December 24, an acquaintance with Anna Gorenko, the future wife of Gumilyov, the poetess Anna Akhmatova, took place.

1905 - In October, the first collection of poems by NS Gumilyov "The Way of the Conquistadors" was published, published with the funds of the parents.

1906 - completion of studies at the gymnasium, Gumilev receives a certificate of maturity. A trip to Paris, admission to the Sorbonne.

1907 - in Paris, since the first half of January, Gumilev has been publishing a two-week literary magazine "Sirius".

1908 - in January the second book of Gumilyov's poems - "Romantic Flowers" (32 poems), dedicated to Anna Andreevna Gorenko, is published. Enters the law faculty of St. Petersburg University, soon transferred to the history and philology.

1909 - leaves for Abyssinia for several months. He takes an active part in the creation of the Apollo magazine.

1910 - a wedding with Anna Gorenko. The release of the third book of poems "Pearls".

1911 - creation of the "Workshop of Poets".

1912 - collection "Alien Sky".

1913 - On March 25, at the Troitsky Theater (Troitskaya, 18), the premiere of the "African" play "Don Juan in Egypt" took place.
April- as the head of the expedition from the Academy of Sciences he leaves for Africa for six months (to replenish the collection of the ethnographic museum), keeps a travel diary (excerpts from the "African Diary" were published in 1916).

1914 - after the outbreak of the First World War, in August, he volunteered for the army. He was awarded the 4th degree military order (St. George's Cross) insignia.

1916 - release of the collection "Quiver".

1917 - in May, Gumilev is transferred to the Thessaloniki front.

1918 - return to Russia. Publishes books of poetry "Fire", "Porcelain Pavilion".

1921 - The collections "Tent", "Pillar of Fire" are published. Since the beginning of spring, Gumilyov was in charge of the Sounding Shell studio.
in August arrested on suspicion of participation in a conspiracy and shot. The date, place of execution and burial are unknown.

NS Gumilev was born in the city of Kronstadt in the family of a military doctor. In 1906 he received a certificate of graduation from the Nikolayevskaya Tsarkoselskaya gymnasium, the director of which was IF Annensky. In 1905, the poet's first collection, The Way of the Conquistadors, was published, which attracted the attention of V. Ya. Bryusov. The characters in the collection seem to have come from the pages adventure novels from the era of the conquest of America, which the poet read in adolescence. The lyrical hero identifies himself with them - "a conquistador in an iron shell". The originality of the collection, saturated with common literary passages and poetic conventions, was given by the features that prevailed in Gumilyov's life behavior: love of exoticism, romance of heroism, will to live and work.

In 1907 Gumilev left for Paris to continue his education at the Sorbonne, where he listened to lectures on French literature. He follows with interest the artistic life of France, establishes correspondence with V. Ya. Bryusov, publishes the magazine "Sirius". In 1908, Gumilyov's second collection Romantic Flowers was published in Paris, where the reader was again expected to meet with literary and historical exoticism, but the subtle irony that touched individual poems translates the conventional position. Gumilyov is working hard on the verse, achieving its "flexibility", "confident severity", as he wrote in his program poem "To the Poet" , considering such a path to be a "salvation" from symbolist "nebulae". According to IF Annensky, this "book reflected not only the search for beauty, but also the beauty of the search."

In autumn 1908 Gumilev made his first trip to Africa, to Egypt. The African continent captivated the poet: he became the discoverer of the African theme in Russian poetry. Acquaintance with Africa "from the inside" turned out to be especially fruitful during the following travels, in the winter of 1909-1910 and 1910-1911. in Abyssinia, the impressions of which were reflected in the cycle "Abyssinian Songs" (collection "Alien Sky").

Since September 1909 Gumilev became a student of the Faculty of History and Philology of St. Petersburg University. In 1910, the collection "Pearls" was published with a dedication to the "teacher" - V. Ya. Bryusov. The venerable poet responded with a review in which he noted that Gumilyov "lives in an imaginary and almost ghostly world ... he himself creates countries for himself and inhabits them with creatures he himself created: people, animals, demons." Gumilyov does not leave his heroes early books, however, they have changed markedly. Psychologism is intensified in his poetry, people with their own characters and passions appear instead of "masks". Attention was also drawn to the confidence with which the poet walked towards mastering the mastery of poetry.

In the early 1910s, Gumilev was already a prominent figure in St. Petersburg literary circles. He is a member of the "young" editorial office of the journal Apollo, where he regularly publishes Letters on Russian Poetry, literary-critical studies that represent a new type of "objective" review. At the end of 1911, he headed the "Workshop of Poets", around which a group of like-minded people had formed, and spoke ideological inspirer new literary direction- Acmeism, the basic principles of which were proclaimed by him in the article-manifesto "The Heritage of Symbolism and Acmeism". His collection "Alien Sky" (1912), the pinnacle of Gumilyov's "objective" lyrics, became a poetic illustration of theoretical calculations. According to MA Kuzmin, the most important thing in the collection is the identification of the lyric hero with Adam, the first person. The Acmeist poet is like Adam, the discoverer of the world of things. He gives things "virgin names", fresh in their primordiality, freed from the previous poetic contexts. Gumilyov formulated not only a new concept poetic word, but also his understanding of man as a being who is aware of his natural givenness, "wise physiology" and accepts the entire completeness of the being around him.

With the outbreak of the First World War, Gumilyov volunteered for the front. In the newspaper "Birzhevye vedomosti" he publishes chronicle sketches "Notes of a cavalryman". In 1916, the book "The Quiver" was published, which differs from the previous ones primarily by the expansion of the thematic range. Italian travel sketches side by side with meditative poems of philosophical and existential content. Here, for the first time, the Russian theme begins to sound, the poet's soul responds to the pains of his native country, ravaged by the war. His gaze, turned to reality, acquires the ability to see through it. The poems included in the collection "Bonfire" (1918) reflected the intensity of the poet's spiritual quest. As the philosophical nature of Gumilyov's poetry deepens, the world in his poems appears more and more as a divine cosmos ("Trees", "Nature"). He is disturbed by "eternal" themes: life and death, the perishability of the body and the immortality of the spirit, the otherness of the soul.

Gumilyov was not an eyewitness to the revolutionary events of 1917. At that time, he was in the Russian expeditionary corps abroad: in Paris, then in London. His creative quest of this period is marked by an interest in oriental culture. Gumilev compiled his collection "Porcelain Pavilion" (1918) from free transcriptions French translations Chinese classical poetry (Li Bo, Du Fu, etc.). The "oriental" style was perceived by Gumilev as a kind of school of "verbal economy", poetic "simplicity, clarity and reliability", which corresponded to his aesthetic attitudes.

Returning to Russia in 1918, Gumilev immediately, with his characteristic energy, was included in the literary life of Petrograd. He is a member of the editorial board of the publishing house "World Literature", under his editorship and in his translation the Babylonian epic "Gilgamesh", works by R. Southey, G. Heine, ST Coleridge are published. He lectures on the theory of verse and translation in various institutions, runs the studio of young poets "The Sounding Shell". According to one of the poet's contemporaries, critic A. Ya. Levinson, "the young were drawn to him from all sides, admirably submitting to the despotism of the young master, who owns the philosophical stone of poetry ..."

In January 1921, Gumilyov was elected chairman of the Petrograd branch of the Union of Poets. In the same year, the last book, "The Pillar of Fire", was published. Now the poet delves into a philosophical understanding of the problems of memory, creative immortality, the fate of the poetic word. Individual vitality, which nourished the poetic energy of Gumilyov before, merges with the supra-individual. The hero of his lyrics reflects on the unknowable and, enriched with inner spiritual experience, rushes to the "India of the Spirit". This was not a return to the circles of symbolism, but it is clear that Gumilyov found in his worldview a place for those achievements of symbolism, which, as it seemed to him at the time of the Acmeist "Sturm und Drang" a ", led" into the realm of the unknown. " , sounding in the last poems of Gumilyov, strengthens the motives of empathy and compassion and gives them a universal and at the same time deeply personal meaning.

Gumilyov's life was tragically interrupted: he was executed as a participant in a counter-revolutionary conspiracy, which, as it has now become known, was fabricated. In the minds of Gumilyov's contemporaries, his fate evoked associations with the fate of a poet of another era - Andre Chénier, who was executed by the Jacobins during the French Revolution.

Biography

Childhood and youth

Born into the noble family of the Kronstadt ship doctor Stepan Yakovlevich Gumilyov (July 28 - February 6). Mother - Gumilyova (Lvova) Anna Ivanovna (June 4 - December 24).

His grandfather - Panov Yakov Fedotovich (-) - was a deacon of the church in the village of Zheludevo, Spassky district, Ryazan province.

As a child, Nikolai Gumilyov was a weak and sickly child: he was constantly tormented by headaches, he did not react well to noise. According to Anna Akhmatova ("Works and Days of N. Gumilyov", vol. II), the future poet wrote his first quatrain about the beautiful Niagara at the age of six.

In the fall of 1895, the Gumilevs moved from Tsarskoye Selo to St. Petersburg, rented an apartment in Shamin's house on the corner of Degtyarnaya and 3rd Rozhdestvenskaya streets, and the following year Nikolai Gumilyov began to study at the Gurevich gymnasium. In 1900, his older brother Dmitry (1884-1922) was diagnosed with tuberculosis, and the Gumilevs left for the Caucasus, in Tiflis. In connection with the move, Gumilyov entered the 4th grade for the second time, in the 2nd Tiflis gymnasium, but six months later, on January 5, 1901, he was transferred to the 1st Tiflis male gymnasium. Here, in the "Tiflis leaf" of 1902, N. Gumilyov's poem "I fled to the forest from the cities ..." was first published.

In 1903 the Gumilevs returned to Tsarskoye Selo and N. Gumilyov in 1903 again entered the 7th grade of the Tsarskoye Selo gymnasium. He studied poorly and once was even on the verge of expulsion, but the headmaster of the gymnasium, I. F. Annensky, insisted on leaving the student for the second year: "All this is true, but he writes poetry." In the spring of 1906, Nikolai Gumilyov nevertheless passed his final exams and on May 30 received a certificate of maturity No. 544, which included the only five in logic.

A year before graduating from the gymnasium, the first book of his poems, The Way of the Conquistadors, was published at the expense of his parents. This collection was honored with a separate review by Bryusov, who at that time was one of the most authoritative poets. Although the review was not laudatory, the master ended it with the words “Suppose that she [the book] is only the“ path ”of the new conquistador and that his victories and conquests are ahead,” it was after this that a correspondence was struck between Bryusov and Gumilev. For a long time Gumilyov considered Bryusov his teacher, Bryusov's motives can be traced in many of his poems (the most famous of them is "The Violin", however, dedicated to Bryusov). The master, for a long time, patronized the young poet and treated him, unlike most of his students, kindly, almost paternally.

After graduating from the gymnasium, Gumilev went to study at the Sorbonne.

Abroad

Photo of 1907

after our meeting I was in the Ryazan province, in St. Petersburg, spent two weeks in the Crimea, a week in Constantinople, in Smyrna, had a fleeting romance with some Greek woman, fought with the Apaches in Marseilles and only yesterday, I don’t know how, I don’t know why , ended up in Paris.

There is a version that it was then that Gumilev first visited Africa, this is also evidenced by the poem "Ezbekie", written in 1917:

How strange - exactly ten years have passed
Ever since I saw the Ezbekie,

However, chronologically this is unlikely.

At this time, Symbolism was experiencing a crisis, which the young poets strove to overcome. They proclaimed poetry a craft, and divided all poets into masters and apprentices. In the "Workshop" Gorodetsky and Gumilyov were considered masters, or "syndics". Initially, "Shop" did not have a clear literary orientation. At the first meeting, which took place at Gorodetsky's apartment, there were Piast, Blok with his wife, Akhmatova and others. Blok wrote about this meeting:

A careless and sweet evening.<…>Young people. Anna Akhmatova. Conversation with N. S. Gumilyov and his good poetry<…>It was fun and easy. You get kinder with the young.

Second expedition to Abyssinia

The second expedition took place in 1913. It was better organized and coordinated with the Academy of Sciences. At first, Gumilyov wanted to cross the Danakil desert, study little-known tribes and try to civilize them, but the Academy rejected this route as expensive, and the poet was forced to propose a new route:

Together with Gumilyov, his nephew Nikolai Sverchkov went to Africa as a photographer.

In Harare, Gumilev, not without complications, bought mules, where he also met the Tefari race (then - the governor of Harar, later Emperor Haile Selassie I; adherents of Rastafarianism consider him the embodiment of the Lord - Jah). The poet presented the future emperor with a box of vermouth and photographed him, his wife and sister. In Harare, Gumilyov began to collect his collection.

Aba Muda

There Gumilyov was shown the tomb of Saint Sheikh-Hussein, after whom the city was named. There was a cave, from which, according to legend, the sinner could not get out:

I should have undressed<…>and crawl between the stones into a very narrow passage. If anyone got stuck, he died in terrible agony: no one dared to stretch out his hand to him, no one dared to give him a piece of bread or a cup of water ...

Gumilyov climbed there and returned safely.

The further fate of the expedition is unknown, Gumilev's African diary is interrupted by the word "Road ..." on 26 July. According to some reports, on August 11, the exhausted expedition reached the Dera valley, where Gumilyov stayed at the house of the parents of a certain H. Mariam. He treated the mistress for malaria, freed the punished slave, and the parents named their son after him. However, there are chronological inaccuracies in the Abyssinian's story. Be that as it may, Gumilev safely reached Harar and in mid-August was already in Djibouti, but due to financial difficulties he was stuck there for three weeks. He returned to Russia on September 1.

World War I

At the end of February, as a result of continuous hostilities and traveling, Gumilyov fell ill with a cold:

We attacked, knocked the Germans out of the villages, went on patrols, I also did all this, but as in a dream, now shivering in a chill, now burning in the heat. Finally, after one night, during which I, without leaving the hut, made at least twenty rounds and fifteen escapes from captivity, I decided to measure the temperature. The thermometer showed 38.7.

The poet was treated for a month in Petrograd, then he was returned to the front again.

In April 1916, the poet arrived at the hussar regiment stationed near Dvinsk. In May, Gumilyov was again evacuated to Petrograd. The night jump in the heat described in the "Notes of a Cavalryman" cost him pneumonia. When the treatment was almost over, Gumilev went out into the cold without asking, as a result of which the disease worsened again. Doctors recommended that he be treated in the south. Gumilyov left for Yalta. However, the poet's military life did not end there. On July 8, 1916, he again went to the front, again for a short time. On August 17, by order of regiment No. 240, Gumilyov was sent to the Nikolaev Cavalry School, then again transferred to the front and remained in the trenches until January 1917.

In Paris, the poet fell in love with the half-Russian, half-French Elena Karolovna du Boucher, the daughter of a famous surgeon. Dedicated to her the collection of poems "To the Blue Star", the top love lyrics poet. Soon Gumilev moved to the 3rd brigade. However, the disintegration of the army was felt there as well. Soon the 1st and 2nd brigades mutinied. He was suppressed, many soldiers were deported to Petrograd, the rest were united into one special brigade.

On January 22, 1918, Anrep arranged for him to work in the encryption department of the Russian Government Committee. Gumilyov worked there for two months. However, bureaucratic work did not suit him, and soon the poet returned to Russia.

On August 5, 1918, a divorce from Anna Akhmatova took place. Relations between the poets went wrong for a long time, but it was impossible to divorce with the right to remarry before the revolution.

Since the spring of 1921, Gumilev headed the Studio "Sounding Shell", where he shared his experience and knowledge with young poets, and gave lectures on poetics.

Living in Soviet Russia, Gumilev did not hide his religious and political views - he openly baptized himself in churches, declared his views. So, at one of the poetry evenings he answered a question from the audience - "What are your political convictions?" answered - "I am a convinced monarchist."