The son of a naval physician, Gumilev was born in Kronstadt and studied in several
gymnasiain and near St Petersburg and Tiflis before graduating from the Tsarskosel’skaia
gymnasiumin 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 listoknewspaper 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…
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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.]