The son of a naval physician, Gumilev was born in Kronstadt and studied in several

gymnasia

in and near St Petersburg and Tiflis before graduating from the Tsarskosel’skaia

gymnasium

in 1906, two years behind his age group. However, Gumilev’s unimpressive academic performance (he completed none of his Sorbonne and St Petersburg University degrees) was compensated by his literary talent, which manifested itself quite early. He reportedly wrote his first four-line poem at the age of six. His first publication, the poem “Ia v les bezhal iz gorodov” [I Ran from Cities into Woods], appeared in the

Tiflisskii listok

newspaper in 1902. His first collection of poetry,

Put’ konkvistadorov

[Conquistadors’ Way], came out in 1905, while he was still at school. His writings attracted the…

2901 words

Citation: Rogatchevski, Andrei. "Nikolai Gumilev". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 12 July 2018 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=12469, accessed 04 December 2024.]

12469 Nikolai Gumilev 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

Save this article

Leave Feedback

The Literary Encyclopedia is a living community of scholars. We welcome comments which will help us improve.