N. S. Gumilyov: life. A poem from the cycle «Капитаны»
N. S. Gumilyov was born on 15 April 1886 in Kronstadt in the family of a ship’s doctor. His mother came from an old noble family and her father was an admiral. He studied at the Tsarskoye Selo gymnasium (where he met his future wife, A. Akhmatova), then at the history and philology faculty of Petersburg University. In 1907–1908 he studied at the Sorbonne in Paris, saved money and made his first journey to Africa, later returning several times with scientific expeditions. The spirit of travel is reflected in the books «Романтические цветы» (1908) and «Жемчуга» (1910); his calling card is the 1908 poem «Жираф». In 1911 he founded the «Цех поэтов» with S. Gorodetsky and headed the new trend, acmeism. In 1914 he joined a lancer regiment as a volunteer, served as a scout and received two St George crosses. His last collection was «Огненный столп» (1921). In 1921 he was arrested on a false accusation and shot in August of that year. The acmeists (Akhmatova, Mandelstam and others), dissatisfied with symbolism, stood for simplicity and clarity in poetry and returned to the direct meaning of the word.
“A captain’s portrait”. Make a table of epithets and comparisons, then describe the captains as you see them in four or five sentences.