Gumilev N. Koster. Poems.

Gumilev N. Koster. Poems.
Saint Petersburg. Hyperborea. 1918. 48 p. Soft cover, size 16 x 22 cm. Good condition. Small tears at the edges of the binding and some of the pages, the cover is slightly torn along the spine, writing in pencil on the last page.

The collection " Bonfire "is the sixth of nine lifetime poetic editions Of N. Gumilyov, which followed the joyfully fantastic" Quiver " of the first year of the war. In the future, it was published only after the poet's death. Hyperborean publishing house, which published the book, grew out of the literary magazine of the same name, the publisher and editor of which was the poet and translator M. L. Lozinsky. All the editorial meetings were held in his apartment. The publishing house existed from 1914 to 1918, but published only 12 books during this time, among which were exclusively collections of poems: "Rosary" A. Akhmatova, "Gornitsa" G. Ivanov, "Clouds" By G. Adamovich, "Stone" By O. Mandelstam. The last published books were the poem " MIK "and" Porcelain pavilion " By N. Gumilyov. 

The book includes works created in 1916-1917, When N. Gumilev moved away from romanticizing the sacrificial feat of a warrior and turned to world culture and reflections on eternal themes. Here, naturally, there were poems about the Motherland, the art of the monks and Andrei Rublev. In separate poems, he recreated the image of Norway through images of Ibsen and Grieg, Sweden and its" confused, discordant " Stockholm.

Nikolai Stepanovich Gumilev (1886-1921) - one of the Central figures of the Silver age. He was the founder of the school of Acmeism in Russian poetry, the founder of various poetic associations, a traveler and an officer. Born in the family of a ship's doctor, he spent most of his childhood and youth in Tsarskoye Selo. There in 1906, he graduated from the Nikolayev gymnasium and went to Paris. He attended lectures on French literature at the Sorbonne, and made several long trips to Egypt (1908) and Abyssinia (1909-1911, 1913).

N. Gumilyov's attraction to geographical exoticism was connected with the poet's poetic ideas about wild lands inhabited by peoples who carry the genetic memory of an ancient culture and keep spiritual secrets lost by modern Europe. As a poet and critic, he appeared in a number of periodicals, including the magazine "Apollo": as the chief ideologue of the editorial Board, he led the column"Letters about Russian poetry". In 1910, N. Gumilev married the poet A. Akhmatova. In the autumn of 1911, in St. Petersburg, he participated in the creation of the "Workshop of poets" and became its head, "Syndic". At the end of 1912 together with O. Mandelshtam, A. Akhmatova, and V. Narbut, he participated in the design of a new literary trend that opposes symbolism and is called Acmeism from the Greek word "akme", which means "the highest point, apogee, flourishing". In 1914, with the beginning of the First world war, N. Gumilyov, convinced of the need to fulfill his Patriotic duty, volunteered for the life guards Ulan regiment. For special courage at the front, he was awarded two St. George crosses.

To the February and October revolutions of 1917, the poet, who never hid his consistently monarchical beliefs, reacted sharply negatively. The October revolution found him in Paris. In 1918, he returned to Russia, taught at literary studios and institutes, and worked for the publishing house "world literature". In these years, according to the memoirs of his contemporaries, N. Gumilyov emphasized his religiosity both in words and behavior, and spoke of a combination of "exoticism and Orthodoxy". In the summer of 1921, the poet was arrested on charges of anti-Bolshevik conspiracy and then shot.