The name of the literary modernist movement in Russian poetry of the early twentieth century, Akmeizim, comes from the Greek word “akme”, translated into Russian meaning flowering, peak or pinnacle of something (according to other versions, the term comes from the Greek roots of Akhmatova’s pseudonym “akmatus”).

This literary school was created in opposition to symbolism, as a response to its extremes and excesses. The Acmeists advocated for the return of clarity and materiality to the poetic word and for the refusal to introduce a mysterious fog of mysticism when describing reality (as was customary in symbolism). Adherents of Acmeism advocated the accuracy of words, the objectivity of themes and images, the acceptance of the surrounding world in all its diversity, colorfulness, sonority and tangible concreteness.

The founders of Acmeism are considered to be such Russian poets of the Silver Age of Russian poetry as Nikolai Gumilyov, Anna Akhmatova and Sergei Gorodetsky, later they were joined by O. Mandelstam, V. Narbut, M. Zenkevich.

In 1912, they founded their own school of professional excellence, “The Workshop of Poets,” and in 1913, articles by Gumilev “The Legacy of Symbolism and Acmeism” and S. Gorodetsky “Some Currents in Modern Russian Poetry” appeared in the Apollo magazine, in which the term “ Acmeism", describes its main features. These articles, which are a kind of program for the Acmeist movement, proclaimed its main humanistic plan - the revival of people's new thirst for life, the return of a sense of its colorfulness and brightness. The first works of the Acmeist poets were published in the third issue of the Apollo magazine (1913) after the publication of manifesto articles. During 1913-1919. Acmeists published their own journal, “Hyperboreas” (that’s why they were also often called “Hyperboreans”).

Unlike symbolism, which, according to many literary researchers, has undeniable similarities with the art of music (like music, it is also mysterious, polysemantic, and can have a large number of interpretations), the work of Acmeism is closer to such spatial three-dimensional movements in art as architecture, sculpture or painting.

The poems of the Acmeist poets are distinguished not only by their amazing beauty, but also by their accuracy, consistency, and extremely simple meaning, understandable to any reader. The words used in the works of the Acmeists are intended to convey exactly the meaning that was originally contained in them; there are no various exaggerations or comparisons, and practically no metaphors or hyperboles are used. The Acmeist poets were alien to aggressiveness, they were not interested in political and social topics, great importance was attached to the highest human values, and the spiritual world of man came first. Their poems are very easy to understand, listen to and remember, because complex things in their talented description become simple and understandable for each of us.

Representatives of this literary movement were united not only by a common passion for the new school of poetry, in life they were also friends and like-minded people, their organization was distinguished by great cohesion and unity of views, although they did not have a specific literary platform and standards on which they could rely when writing of their works. The poems of each of them, differing in structure, character, mood and other creative features, were extremely specific, accessible to the understanding of readers, as required by the school of Acmeism, and did not raise additional questions after reading them.

Despite the friendship and cohesion between the Acmeist poets, the limited scope of this literary movement for such brilliant poets as Gumilyov, Akhmatova or Mandelstam soon became cramped. After Gumilev’s discord with Gorodetsky in February 1914, the school of professional excellence “Poets Workshop”, after two years of its existence, 10 issues of the magazine “Hyperborea” and several poetry collections, collapsed. Although the poets of this organization did not cease to identify themselves with this literary movement and were published in literary magazines and newspapers, in which the publishers called them Acmeists. The young poets Georgy Ivanov, Georgy Adamovich, Nikolai Otsup, and Irina Odoevtseva called themselves continuers of Gumilyov’s ideas.

A unique feature of such a literary movement as Acmeism is that it originated and developed exclusively on the territory of Russia, having a huge influence on the further development of Russian poetry of the early twentieth century. Literary researchers call the invaluable merit of the Acmeist poets the invention of a special, subtle way of conveying the spiritual world of lyrical characters, which can be conveyed with the help of one single movement, gesture, or a way of listing certain things or important details that evoke the appearance of many associations in the readers’ imagination. This ingeniously simple, unique “materialization” of the feelings and experiences of the main lyrical character has enormous impact and becomes understandable and accessible to every reader.

In 1911, among poets who sought to create a new direction in literature, the “Workshop of Poets” circle emerged, headed by Nikolai Gumilyov and Sergei Gorodetsky.

The emergence of Acmeism.

"Acme" - peak, flowering, blossoming.

Acmeism

- literary movement opposed symbolism and that arose at the beginning XX century V Russia . Acmeists proclaimed materiality, objectivity of themes and images, precision of words .

The embodiment of poetry of clarity, thingness

The purpose of creativity

Attitude to reality

Full acceptance of reality

The desire to give a word a certain precise meaning

Attitude to the word

Interest in the previous culture and its traditions

Relation to previous cultures

• Objectivity, accuracy
• Plot content
• Commitment to dialogue
• Clarity and harmony of composition
• Celebrating the beauty of life, affirming eternal values .

Today, I see, your look is especially sad

And the arms are especially thin, hugging the knees.

Listen: far, far away, on Lake Chad

An exquisite giraffe wanders.

He is given graceful harmony and bliss,

And his skin is decorated with a magical pattern,

Only the moon dares to equal him,

Crushing and swaying on the moisture of wide lakes.

In the distance it is like the colored sails of a ship,

And his run is smooth, like a joyful bird's flight.

I know that the earth sees many wonderful things,

When at sunset he hides in a marble grotto.

Representatives.

I know funny tales of mysterious countries

About the black maiden, about the passion of the young leader,

But you've been breathing in the heavy fog for too long,

You don't want to believe in anything other than rain.

And how can I tell you about the tropical garden,

About slender palm trees, about the smell of incredible herbs.

You are crying? Listen... far away, on Lake Chad

An exquisite giraffe wanders.

Nikolay Gumilyov

I don't know where I came from... I don't know where I'll go...

I shudder from the cold, -

I want to go numb!

And gold dances in the sky,

Orders me to sing.

Tomish, anxious musician,

Love, remember and cry,

And, thrown from a dim planet,

Pick up the easy ball!

So here she is, the real one

Connection with the mysterious world!

What aching melancholy,

What a disaster!

What if, having flinched wrongly,

Always flickering

With your rusty pin

Will the star get me?

O.E. Mandelstam

Death

The time will come when I will be gone,

The days will rush by without stopping, like everyone else.

The same sun will shine into the night with its rays

And the grass will burst into flames in the morning dew.

And man, as countless as the stars,

He will begin his new feat for me.

But the song I created

In his works at least a spark will shine.

Acmeism is one of the modernist movements in Russian poetry.

It was in its heyday.

The ideological inspirers of Russian acmeism are considered to be the poets N. Gumilyov and S. Gorodetsky.

Aesthetic maturity of poetry

Throughout its existence, poetry has undergone many different movements and directions. In the first decade of the 20th century, as a counterweight to symbolism in Russian poetry, a new modernist direction was formed - Acmeism. Translated from Greek, this term means the highest degree, peak, maturity, blossoming.

Creative people, and especially poets, are most often far from such concepts as modesty. Almost everyone considers himself a genius or at least a great talent. Thus, a group of young poets, connected not only by creativity, but also by personal friendship, were outraged by the harsh criticism of one of them, Nikolai Gumilyov, and created their own association with the somewhat artisanal name “Poets Workshop.”

But already in the name itself there is a desire to appear not just as lovers of the lyrical poetic genre, but to be artisans, professionals. Acmeists published the magazines "Hyperborea" and "Apollo". Not only poetry was published there, but also polemics were conducted with poets of other movements in the prose genre.

Acmeist poets photo

The ideological inspirers of Acmeism, Nikolai Gumilyov and Sergei Gorodetsky, published in these magazines a kind of program manifesto of the new poetic movement.

Basic concepts of Acmeism

• Poetry must be expressed in a clear and understandable style;
• the reality and vitality of feelings and actions are much more important than emasculated, idealized, far-fetched and sensual concepts;
  
• frozen symbols should not dominate the human worldview;
• it is necessary to completely abandon the mystical creed;
• earthly life is full of diversity and color, which must be brought into poetry;
• the poetic word must sound precise and definite - every object, phenomenon or action must be voiced clearly and understandably;
• a person with his genuine, pristine, one might even say biological, emotions, and not fictitious, sleek and varnished feelings and experiences - this is a worthy hero of real poetry;
• Acmeists should not reject past literary eras, but take from them aesthetically valuable principles and have an inextricable connection with world culture.

The Acmeists considered the Word to be the foundation of their poetry. The backbone of the first composition of the “Workshop of Poets” was made up not just of poets close in their ideology, but also of people connected by ties of friendship. Subsequently, the names of these poets were included in the Golden Fund of Russian Literature.

Acmeist poets

• - born in the 90s of the 19th century. He received an excellent education in a truly intelligent family, where morality, culture and education were considered the main values. At the time of the creation of Acmeism he was a famous poet.
• - an extraordinary and talented personality, a romantic with a very courageous appearance and a subtle soul. From a young age, he tried to establish himself as a person and find his place in this difficult life. Very often this desire grew from position to position, which may have led to an early and tragic death from life.
• - pride, glory, pain and tragedy of Russian poetry. The poetic soul of this courageous woman gave birth to piercing words about the great mystery of love, placing her poems among the beautiful creations of immortal Russian literature.
• - a poetically gifted young man with a keen sense of art. Poems, in his own words, overwhelmed him and sounded like music in him. He considered his friendship with Nikolai Gumilyov and Anna Akhmatova to be the most important success of his life.
• Mikhail Zenkevich, poet and translator, the only one of the founders of Acmeism, lived until the 80s of the 20th century, successfully avoiding repression and persecution.
• Vladimir Narbut, a young poet, belonged to the circle of visitors to the Vsevolod Ivanov Tower and warmly embraced the idea of ​​Acmeism.

Bottom line

As a literary movement, Acmeism existed for just over two years. Despite all the controversial concepts of this movement, its value lies not only in the fact that it was an exclusively Russian movement, but in the fact that the work of remarkable Russian poets is associated with Acmeism, without whose work it is impossible to imagine Russian poetry of the 20th century.

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Acmeism(from the Greek akme - the highest degree of something, blossoming, maturity, peak, edge) - one of the modernist movements in Russian poetry of the 1910s, formed as a reaction to extremes symbolism .

Overcoming the symbolists’ predilection for the “superreal,” polysemy and fluidity of images, complicated metaphors, acmeists they strived for sensual, plastic-material clarity of the image and accuracy, precision of the poetic word. Their “earthly” poetry is prone to intimacy, aestheticism and poeticization of the feelings of primordial man. For AKM e ism was characterized by extreme apoliticality, complete indifference to the pressing problems of our time.

Acmeists, who replaced the Symbolists, did not have a detailed philosophical and aesthetic program. But if in the poetry of symbolism the determining factor was transience, the immediacy of existence, a certain mystery covered with an aura of mysticism, then as a cornerstone in poetry Acmeism a realistic view of things was put in place. The vague instability and vagueness of symbols was replaced by precise verbal images. The word, according to acmeists should have acquired its original meaning.

The highest point in the hierarchy of values ​​for them was culture, identical to universal human memory. That's why it's so common acmeists appeals to mythological subjects and images. If the Symbolists were guided by music in their work, then acmeists- spatial arts: architecture, sculpture, painting. The attraction to the three-dimensional world was expressed in passion acmeists objectivity: a colorful, sometimes exotic detail could be used for purely pictorial purposes. That is, the “overcoming” of symbolism occurred not so much in the sphere of general ideas, but in the field of poetic stylistics. In this sense acmeism was as conceptual as symbolism, and in this respect they are undoubtedly in continuity.

Distinctive feature Acmeist circle of poets was their “organizational cohesion.” Essentially acmeists were not so much an organized movement with a common theoretical platform, but rather a group of talented and very different poets who were united by personal friendship. The Symbolists had nothing of the kind: Bryusov’s attempts to reunite his brothers were in vain. The same thing was observed among the futurists - despite the abundance of collective manifestos that they released. Acmeists, or - as they were also called - “Hyperboreans” (after the name of the printed mouthpiece Acmeism, magazine and publishing house "Hyperborea"), immediately acted as a single group. They gave their union the significant name “Workshop of Poets.” And the beginning of a new movement (which later became almost a “mandatory condition” for the emergence of new poetic groups in Russia) was marked by a scandal.

In the fall of 1911, a “riot” broke out in the poetry salon of Vyacheslav Ivanov, the famous “Tower”, where the poetry society gathered and poetry was read and discussed. Several talented young poets defiantly left the next meeting of the Academy of Verse, outraged by the derogatory criticism of the “masters” of symbolism. Nadezhda Mandelstam describes this incident as follows: “Gumilev’s “Prodigal Son” was read at the “Academy of Verse,” where Vyacheslav Ivanov reigned, surrounded by respectful students. He subjected the “Prodigal Son” to real destruction. The speech was so rude and harsh that Gumilyov’s friends left the “Academy” and organized the “Workshop of Poets” - in opposition to it.”

And a year later, in the fall of 1912, the six main members of the “Workshop” decided not only formally, but also ideologically to separate from the Symbolists. They organized a new community, calling themselves " acmeists", i.e. the top. At the same time, the “Workshop of Poets” as an organizational structure was preserved - acmeists remained in it as an internal poetic association.

Main ideas Acmeism were set out in program articles N. Gumileva"The legacy of symbolism and acmeism" and S. Gorodetsky "Some trends in modern Russian poetry", published in the magazine "Apollo" (1913, No. 1), published under the editorship of S. Makovsky. The first of them said: “Symbolism is being replaced by a new direction, no matter what it is called, acmeism whether (from the word akme - the highest degree of something, a blooming time) or Adamism (a courageously firm and clear view of life), in any case, requiring a greater balance of forces and a more accurate knowledge of the relationship between subject and object than was the case in symbolism . However, in order for this movement to establish itself in its entirety and become a worthy successor to the previous one, it is necessary that it accept its inheritance and answer all the questions it poses. The glory of the ancestors obliges, and symbolism was a worthy father.”

S. Gorodetsky believed that “symbolism... having filled the world with “correspondences”, turned it into a phantom, important only insofar as it... shines through with other worlds, and belittled its high intrinsic value. U acmeists the rose again became good in itself, with its petals, smell and color, and not with its conceivable likenesses with mystical love or anything else.”

In 1913, Mandelstam’s article “ MorningAcmeism", which was released only six years later. The delay in publication was not accidental: acmeistic Mandelstam’s views significantly diverged from the declarations of Gumilyov and Gorodetsky and did not make it onto the pages of Apollo.

However, as T. Skryabina notes, “the idea of ​​a new direction was first expressed on the pages of Apollo much earlier: in 1910, M. Kuzmin appeared in the magazine with an article “On Beautiful Clarity,” which anticipated the appearance of declarations Acmeism. By the time this article was written, Kuzmin was already a mature man and had experience of collaborating in symbolist periodicals. Kuzmin contrasted the otherworldly and foggy revelations of the Symbolists, the “incomprehensible and dark in art,” with “beautiful clarity,” “clarism” (from the Greek clarus - clarity). An artist, according to Kuzmin, must bring clarity to the world, not obscure, but clarify the meaning of things, seek harmony with the environment. The philosophical and religious quest of the Symbolists did not captivate Kuzmin: the artist’s job is to focus on the aesthetic side of creativity and artistic skill. “The symbol, dark in its deepest depths,” gives way to clear structures and admiration of “lovely little things.” Kuzmin's ideas could not help but influence acmeists: “beautiful clarity” turned out to be in demand by the majority of participants in the “Workshop of Poets.”

Another "harbinger" Acmeism can be considered In. Annensky, who, formally being a symbolist, actually paid tribute to him only in the early period of his work. Subsequently, Annensky took a different path: the ideas of late symbolism had practically no impact on his poetry. But the simplicity and clarity of his poems were well understood acmeists.

Three years after the publication of Kuzmin’s article in Apollo, the manifestos of Gumilyov and Gorodetsky appeared - from this moment it is customary to count down the existence Acmeism as an established literary movement.

Acmeism has six of the most active participants in the movement: N. Gumilyov, A. Akhmatova, O. Mandelstam, S. Gorodetsky, M. Zenkevich, V. Narbut. For the role of "seventh" acmeist" was claimed by G. Ivanov, but such a point of view was protested by A. Akhmatova, who stated that " acmeists there were six, and there never was a seventh.” O. Mandelstam agreed with her, who, however, believed that six was too much: “ Akmeistov only six, and among them there was one extra...” Mandelstam explained that Gorodetsky was “attracted” by Gumilev, not daring to oppose the then powerful Symbolists with only “yellow mouths.” “Gorodetsky was [by that time] a famous poet...” At different times, the following took part in the work of the “Workshop of Poets”: G. Adamovich, N. Bruni, Us. Gippius, Vl. Gippius, G. Ivanov, N. Klyuev, M. Kuzmin, E. Kuzmina-Karavaeva, M. Lozinsky, V. Khlebnikov, etc. At the meetings of the “Workshop,” unlike the meetings of the Symbolists, specific issues were resolved: the “Workshop” was a school for mastering poetic skills, a professional association.

Acmeism as a literary direction, it united exceptionally gifted poets - Gumilyov, Akhmatova, Mandelstam, the formation of whose creative individuals took place in the atmosphere of the “Poets Workshop”. Story Acmeism can be considered as a kind of dialogue between these three outstanding representatives. At the same time, from “pure” Acmeism The above-mentioned poets were significantly different from the Adamism of Gorodetsky, Zenkevich and Narbut, who formed the naturalistic wing of the movement. The difference between the Adamists and the Gumilev-Akhmatova-Mandelshtam triad has been repeatedly noted in criticism.

As a literary movement acmeism did not last long - about two years. In February 1914, it split. The "Poets' Workshop" was closed. Acmeists managed to publish ten issues of their magazine “Hyperborea” (editor M. Lozinsky), as well as several almanacs.

“Symbolism was fading away” - Gumilyov was not mistaken in this, but he failed to form a movement as powerful as Russian symbolism. Acmeism failed to gain a foothold as a leading poetic movement. The reason for its rapid decline is said to be, among other things, “the ideological unadaptability of the movement to the conditions of a radically changed reality.” V. Bryusov noted that “for acmeists characterized by a gap between practice and theory,” and “their practice was purely symbolist.” This is where he saw the crisis. Acmeism. However, Bryusov’s statements about Acmeism were always harsh; At first he stated that “... acmeism- an invention, a whim, a metropolitan quirk" and foreshadowed: "... most likely, in a year or two there will be no Acmeism. His very name will disappear,” and in 1922, in one of his articles, he generally denies it the right to be called a direction, a school, believing that there is nothing serious and original in Acmeism no and that he is “outside the mainstream of literature.”

However, attempts to resume the activities of the association were subsequently made more than once. The second “Workshop of Poets,” founded in the summer of 1916, was headed by G. Ivanov together with G. Adamovich. But it didn’t last long either. In 1920, the third “Workshop of Poets” appeared, which was Gumilyov’s last attempt to organizationally preserve acmeistic line. Poets who consider themselves to be members of the school united under his wing Acmeism: S. Neldichen, N. Otsup, N. Chukovsky, I. Odoevtseva, N. Berberova, Vs. Rozhdestvensky, N. Oleinikov, L. Lipavsky, K. Vatinov, V. Pozner and others. The third “Workshop of Poets” existed in Petrograd for about three years (in parallel with the “Sounding Shell” studio) - until the tragic death of N. Gumilyov.

Creative destinies of poets, one way or another connected with acmeism, developed differently: N. Klyuev subsequently declared his non-involvement in the activities of the commonwealth; G. Ivanov and G. Adamovich continued and developed many principles Acmeism in exile; on V. Khlebnikov acmeism did not have any noticeable impact. In Soviet times, poetic manner acmeists(mainly N. Gumilyov) was imitated by N. Tikhonov, E. Bagritsky, I. Selvinsky, M. Svetlov.

In comparison with other poetic movements of the Russian Silver Age acmeism in many ways it seems to be a marginal phenomenon. It has no analogues in other European literatures (which cannot be said, for example, about symbolism and futurism); the more surprising the words of Blok, Gumilyov’s literary opponent, who stated that acmeism was just an “imported foreign thing.” After all, it is acmeism turned out to be extremely fruitful for Russian literature. Akhmatova and Mandelstam managed to leave behind “eternal words.” Gumilyov appears in his poems as one of the brightest personalities of the cruel times of revolutions and world wars. And today, almost a century later, interest in acmeism has been preserved mainly because the work of these outstanding poets, who had a significant influence on the fate of Russian poetry of the 20th century, is associated with it.

Basic principles of Acmeism:

- liberation of poetry from symbolist appeals to the ideal, returning it to clarity;
- rejection of mystical nebula, acceptance of the earthly world in its diversity, visible concreteness, sonority, colorfulness;
- the desire to give a word a specific, precise meaning;
— objectivity and clarity of images, precision of details;
- appeal to a person, to the “authenticity” of his feelings;
— poeticization of the world of primordial emotions, primitive biological natural principles;
- a echo of past literary eras, the broadest aesthetic associations, “longing for world culture.”

The literary movement of Acmeism arose in the early 10s and was genetically connected with symbolism. Close to symbolism at the beginning of their creative career, young poets attended “Ivanovo Wednesdays” in the 900s - meetings in the St. Petersburg apartment of Vyacheslav Ivanov. In the depths of the circle in 1906-1907. a group of poets gradually formed, calling themselves a “circle of young people.” The incentive for their rapprochement was opposition (still timid) to symbolist poetic practice. On the one hand, they sought to learn poetic technique from their older colleagues, but on the other hand, they would like to overcome the speculativeness and utopianism of symbolist theories.

In 1909, participants in the “circle of young people”, in which S. Gorodetsky stood out for his activity, asked Vyach. Ivanov, I. Annensky and M. Voloshin to give them a course of lectures on versification. N. Gumilyov and A. Tolstoy joined the classes that began in Ivanov’s “tower,” and soon the poetry studios were moved to the editorial premises of the new modernist magazine “Apollo.” This is how the “Society of Admirers of the Artistic Word” was founded, or, as the poets who studied versification began to call it, the “Poetry Academy”.

In October 1911, visitors to the Poetry Academy founded a new literary association - the Workshop of Poets. The name of the circle, modeled on the medieval names of craft associations, indicated the attitude of the participants towards poetry as a purely professional field of activity. “The Workshop” was a school of formal craftsmanship, indifferent to the peculiarities of the worldview of the participants. The leaders of the “Workshop” were no longer the masters of symbolism, but the poets of the next generation - N. Gumilyov and S. Gorodetsky. At first, they did not identify themselves with any of the movements in literature, and did not strive for a common aesthetic platform.

However, the situation gradually changed: in 1912, at one of the meetings of the Workshop, the participants decided to announce the emergence of a new poetic movement. Of the several self-names proposed at first, the somewhat arrogant “Acmeism” took root (from the Greek “acme” - the highest degree of something; flowering; peak; edge). From the wide range of participants in the “Workshop”, a narrower and more aesthetically united group of Acmeists emerged. They were N. Gumilev, A. Akhmatova, S. Gorodetsky, O. Mandelstam, M. Zenkevich and V. Narbut. Other participants in the “Workshop” (among them G. Adamovich, G. Ivanov, M. Lozinsky and others), not being true Acmeists, formed the periphery of the movement.

Being a new generation in relation to the Symbolists, the Acmeists were peers of the Futurists, therefore their creative principles were formed in the course of aesthetic demarcation with both. The first sign of the aesthetic reform of Acmeism is considered to be M. Kuzmin’s article “On Beautiful Clarity,” published in 1910. The views of this poet of the older generation, who was not an Acmeist, had a noticeable impact on the emerging program of the new movement. The article declared the stylistic principles of “beautiful clarity”: the logic of the artistic concept, the harmony of the composition, the clarity of the organization of all elements of the artistic form. Kuzminsky’s “clarism” (with this word derived from the French the author summarized his principles) essentially called for greater normativity of creativity, rehabilitated the aesthetics of reason and harmony and thereby opposed the extremes of symbolism - primarily its worldview globalism and absolutization of the irrational principles of creativity.

It is characteristic, however, that the most authoritative teachers for Acmeists were poets who played a significant role in symbolism - M. Kuzmin, I. Annensky, A. Blok. It is important to remember this so as not to exaggerate the severity of the differences between the Acmeists and their predecessors. We can say that the Acmeists inherited the achievements of symbolism, neutralizing some of its extremes. That is why their polemic with their predecessors was a dispute with the epigone simplification of symbolism. In his programmatic article “The Legacy of Symbolism and Acmeism,” N. Gumilyov called symbolism a “worthy father,” but emphasized that the new generation had developed a different “courageously firm and clear outlook on life.”

Acmeism, according to Gumilyov, is an attempt to rediscover the value of human life, abandoning the “unchaste” desire of the symbolists to know the unknowable. Reality is valuable in itself and does not need metaphysical justification. Therefore, one should stop flirting with the transcendental (unknowable): the simple material world must be rehabilitated; it is significant in itself, and not just because it reveals higher essences.

According to the theorists of Acmeism, the main significance in poetry is the artistic exploration of the diverse and vibrant earthly world. Supporting Gumilev, S. Gorodetsky spoke even more categorically: “The struggle between Acmeism and symbolism... is, first of all, a struggle for this world, sounding, colorful, having shapes, weight and time...<...>After all sorts of “rejections,” the world was irrevocably accepted by Acmeism, in all its beauties and ugliness.” The preaching of an “earthly” worldview was initially one of the facets of the Acmeist program, so the movement had another name - Adamism. The essence of this side of the program, which, however, was not shared by the greatest poets of the movement (M. Zenkevich and V. Narbut), can be illustrated by S. Gorodetsky’s poem “Adam”:

The world is spacious and loud,

And he is more colorful than rainbows,

And so Adam was entrusted with it,

Inventor of names.

To name, to recognize, to tear off the veils of both idle secrets and decrepit darkness -

Here is the first feat. New feat -

Sing praises to the living earth.

Acmeism did not put forward a detailed philosophical and aesthetic program. The poets of Acmeism shared the views of the Symbolists on the nature of art, and after them they absolutized the role of the artist. The “overcoming” of symbolism took place not so much in the sphere of general ideas as in the field of poetic stylistics. For the Acmeists, the impressionistic variability and fluidity of words in symbolism turned out to be unacceptable, and most importantly, the overly persistent tendency to perceive reality as a sign of the unknowable, as a distorted likeness of higher entities.

This attitude to reality, according to Acmeists, led to a loss of taste for authenticity. “Let’s take for example a rose and the sun, a dove and a girl,” suggests O. Mandelstam in the article “On the Nature of the Word.” - Is it really that none of these images is interesting in itself, but a rose is a semblance of the sun, the sun is a semblance of a rose, etc.? The images are gutted, like stuffed animals, and stuffed with alien content.<...>The eternal wink. Not a single clear word, only hints, omissions. Rose nods at the girl, the girl at the rose. Nobody wants to be themselves."

The Acmeist poet did not try to overcome the “near” earthly existence in the name of “distant” spiritual gains. The new movement brought with it not so much a novelty of worldview as a novelty of taste sensations: such elements of form as stylistic balance, pictorial clarity of images, precisely measured composition, and precision of details were valued. In the poems of the Acmeists, the fragile edges of things were aestheticized, and a “homely” atmosphere of admiring “cute little things” was established.

This, however, did not mean abandoning spiritual quests. Culture occupied the highest place in the hierarchy of Acmeistic values. O. Mandelstam called Acmeism “longing for world culture.” If the symbolists justified culture by goals external to it (for them it is a means of transforming life), and the futurists sought its applied use (accepted it to the extent of its material usefulness), then for the Acmeists culture was a goal in itself. This is connected with a special attitude to the category of memory. Memory is the most important ethical component in the work of the three most significant artists of the movement - A. Akhmatova, N. Gumilyov and O. Mandelstam. In the era of futuristic revolt against traditions, Acmeism advocated the preservation of cultural values, because for them world culture was identical to the common memory of humanity.

In contrast to the selective attitude of the symbolists to the cultural eras of the past, Acmeism relied on the most cultural traditions. The objects of lyrical comprehension often became mythological subjects, images and motifs of painting, graphics, architecture; Literary quotations were actively used. In contrast to symbolism, imbued with the “spirit of music,” Acmeism was oriented towards a overlap with the spatial arts - painting, architecture, sculpture. Trust in the three-dimensional world was reflected in the Acmeists' passion for objectivity; a colorful, sometimes even exotic detail could be used in a non-utilitarian way, in a purely pictorial function.

Having freed the subject detail from excessive metaphysical load, the Acmeists developed subtle ways of conveying the inner world of the lyrical hero. Often the state of feelings was not revealed directly; it was conveyed by a psychologically significant gesture, movement, or listing of things. A similar manner of “materialization” of experiences was characteristic, for example, of many of L. Akhmatova’s poems.

The Acmeist program briefly united the most significant poets of this movement. By the beginning of the First World War, the framework of a single poetic school turned out to be cramped for them, and individual creative aspirations took them beyond the boundaries of Acmeism. Even N. Gumilyov - a poet of romanticized masculinity and a supporter of aesthetic finishing of verse - evolved towards “visionaryism”, i.e. religious and mystical search, which was especially evident in his late collection of poems “Pillar of Fire” (1921). From the very beginning, A. Akhmatova’s work was distinguished by an organic connection with the traditions of Russian classics, and later her orientation towards psychologism and moral quests became even stronger. O. Mandelstam’s poetry, imbued with “longing for world culture,” was focused on a philosophical understanding of history and was distinguished by increased associativity of figurative words - a quality so valued by symbolists.

Over time, especially after the start of the war, the affirmation of the highest spiritual values ​​became the basis for the creativity of former Acmeists. The motives of conscience, doubt, mental anxiety and even self-condemnation sounded persistently. The previously seemingly unconditional acceptance of the world was replaced by a “symbolist” thirst for inclusion in a higher reality. About this, in particular, is N. Gumilyov’s poem “The Word” (1919):

But we forgot that only the word shines among earthly anxieties,

And in the Gospel of John it is said that the word is God.

We set him as a limit The meager limits of nature,

And like bees in an empty hive,

Dead words smell bad.

ANNOTATED REFERENCES

Lekmanov O. A. A book about Acmeism and other works. Tomsk: Aquarius, 2000.

The book includes articles on the aesthetics and poetics of Acmeism, as well as articles on the work of O. E. Mandelstam, N. S. Gumilev, V. F. Khodasevich, B. L. Pasternak, V. Khlebnikov and other poets and prose writers of the XIX-XX centuries

Kikhney L. G. Acmeism: worldview and poetics. M.: MAKS Press, 2001 (2nd year: M.: Planeta, 2005).

The monograph is a study of the laws of poetic semantics of the Acmeists in the light of their philosophical and aesthetic ideas about words and works of art.

Pakhareva T. A. Experience of Acmeism (Acmeistic component of modern Russian poetry). Kyiv: Parliamentary Publishing House, 2004.

The book is dedicated to the moral and aesthetic values ​​of Acmeism, subsequently adopted by poets of the 1960-1990s. (L. Losev, T. Kibirov, S. Gandlevsky, O. Sedakova).