Poets Guild

Categories / Literature. Book Publishing/Salons, Circles, Creative Associations and Unions
POETS GUILD is the name for three poetic unions which existed in St. Petersburg (Petrograd) in 1911-22. The first Poets Guild (1911-14) founded by N. S. Gumilev and S. M. Gorodetsky as a literary opposition to symbolism prepared the emergence of acmeism. The first meeting was held on 20 October 1911 at the flat of Gorodetsky (143 Fontanka Embankment), A. A. Blok was among those present. Besides the founders, the guild attracted A. A. Akhmatova (who became the guild's secretary), O. E. Mandelstam, M. A. Zenkevich, V. I. Narbut (they all approved of the development of acmeism in 1912), D. V. Kuzmin-Karavaev and E. Yu. Kuzmina-Karavaeva, M. L. Lozinsky, Vas. V. Gippius, M. L. Moravskaya, - M. A. Kuzmin, Vl. Pyast, A. N. Tolstoy amongst others. Meetings were hosted by Gumilev and Akhmatova (Tsarskoe Selo, 63 Malaya Street; not preserved, today section of house 57), Lozinsky (2 Volkhovskoy Lane), the Kuzmins-Karavaevs (12 Manezhny Lane), N. A. Bruni (building of the Academy of Arts, flat 5), by the editorial office of the journal Apollon (24 Moika Embankment). Poetic anthologies of the participants were published under the aegis of the Poets Guild, among them the Evening by Akhmatova (1912); poems and articles by members of the Poets Guild were published in the journals Giperborey and Apollon journal). In 1916-17, the second Poets Guild functioned in Petrograd under the supervision of G. V. Ivanov and G. V. Adamovich. It was there that the third Poets Guild was established in 1920, Adamovich was in charge of it after the death of Gumilev. The last Poets Guild published four anthologies; the first one published The Dragon which was republished in 1923 in Berlin under the name Poets Guild. Besides these ones, poetic circles with the same name existed in Tbilisi (1918-19), Baku (1920), Moscow (1924-25), and also they existed in Berlin and Paris after the emigration of participants of the third Poets Guild. According to the words by Akhmatova, all the workshops with the exception of the first one did not have any meaning for the history of acmeism.

References: Тименчик Р. Д. Заметки об акмеизме // Russ. Lit. 1974. №7/8. Р. 23-46; Лекманов О. А. Книга об акмеизме и другие работы. Томск, 2000. С. 17-44; Бунатян Г. Г., Чарная М. Г. Петербург Серебряного века: Дома, события, люди. СПб., 2002. С. 170-179.

T. M. Dvinyatina. Adamovich Georgy Viktorovich
Akhmatova Anna Andreevna
Blok G.P.
Bruni Nikolay Alexandrovich
Gippius Vasily Vasilievich
Gorodetsky Sergey Mitrofanovich
Gumilev Nikolay Stepanovich
Ivanov Georgy Vladimirovich
Kuzmin Mikhail Alexeevich
Kuzmin-Karavaev Dmitry Vladimirovich
Kuzmina-Karavaeva Elizaveta Yuryevna (nee Pilipenko)
Lozinsky Mikhail Leonidovich
Mandelstam Osip Emilievich
Moravskaya Maria Ludvigovna
Narbut Vladislav Ivanovich
Pyast Vladimir Alexeevich
Tolstoy Alexey Nikolaevich
Zenkevich Mikhail Alexandrovich
Fontanka River Embankment/Saint Petersburg, city, house 143
Malaya Street/Pushkin, town, house 57
Manezhny Lane/Saint Petersburg, city, house 12
Moika River Embankment/Saint Petersburg, city, house 24
Volkhovsky Lane/Saint Petersburg, city, house 2
Тименчик Р. Д. Заметки об акмеизме [I.] // Russ. Lit., 1974
Лекманов О. А. Книга об акмеизме и другие работы. Томск, 2000
Бунатян Г. Г., Чарная М. Г. Петербург Серебряного века: Дома, события, люди. СПб., 2002 Apollon (Apollo), journal
Giperborey (Hyperborean), publishing house and journal, 1914-18
1911