Poets

Nikolay Stepanovich Gumilyov (Russian: Никола́й Степа́нович Гумилёв; IPA: [nʲɪkɐˈlaj sʲtʲɪˈpanəvʲɪtɕ ɡʊmʲɪˈlʲɵf] ( listen); April 15 NS 1886 – August 25, 1921) was an influential Russian poet, literary critic, traveler, and military officer. He was the first husband of Anna Akhmatova and father of historian Lev Gumilev. Nikolay Gumilev was arrested and executed by the Cheka in 1921.
Nikolay was born in the town of Kronstadt on Kotlin Island, into the family of Stepan Yakovlevich Gumilyov (1836–1920), a naval physician, and Anna Ivanovna L'vova (1854–1942). His childhood nickname was "Montigomo," the Hawk's Claw. He studied at the gymnasium of Tsarskoe Selo, where the Symbolist poet Innokenty Annensky was his teacher. Later, Gumilyov admitted that it was Annensky's influence that turned his mind to writing poetry.

Nikolay Gumilyov, Anna Akhmatova and their son Lev Gumilev, 1913
His first publication were verses I ran from cities into the forest (Я в лес бежал из городов) on September 8, 1902. In 1905 he published his first book of lyrics entitled The Way of Conquistadors. It comprised poems on most exotic subjects imaginable, from Lake Chad giraffes to Caracalla's crocodiles. Although Gumilyov was proud of the book, most critics found his technique sloppy; later he would refer to that collection as apprentice's work.
From 1907 and on, Nikolai Gumilyov traveled extensively in Europe, notably in Italy and France. In 1908 his new collection Romantic Flowers appeared. While..