THE TEMPLE OF ACMEISM. FRAGMENTS OF A DIALOGUE BETWEEN NIKOLAY GUMILEV AND OSIP MANDELSTAM

Abstract

In the article numerous allusions and direct citations that reciprocally reveal an intensive dialogue between the two Acmeist poets are pointed out and examined. The data are extracted from O. Mandestam’s and N. Gumilev’s poems and articles, as well as the latter’s narrative poems and plays: mostly texts with references to temples, with which Acmeists strongly identified their creative work on poetic as well as thematic levels. Since the erection of a temple is a recurrent image in Gumilev’s works throughout his lifetime, it is easy to assume that Mandelstam’s poems like Notre Dame, Hagia Sophia [Aya-Sofiya], and others can be seen as responses to the leader of Acmeists from his loyal disciple. Mandelstam tends to follow Gumilev’s lead in this dialogue, developing and detailing his ‘architectural philologism’. However, he also sympathizes with the idea of rebuilding a temple, the topic becoming even more pronounced after Gumilev’s untimely death.