Acmeism in S.M. Gorodetsky’s assessment (newspaper publications of 1914-1915). Article 1

The present paper deals with the evolution of S.M. Gorodetsky’s attitude to Acmeism and acmeists’ poetry after the termination of his alliance with N.S. Gumilev and the completion activity of the first “Guild of Poets” in April 1914. It is suggested that Gorodetsky moved towards the critical perception of this poetic phenomenon gradually, but his own assessment of Acmeism never was totally negative even in Soviet times. Based on the material of Gorodetsky’s literary-critical and journalistic texts published in 1914-1915 in newspapers “Rech” and “Birzhevyie Vedomosti”, it is shown that during these years the poet still shared a number of aesthetic and philosophical principles of Acmeism, speaking in print from the former authoritative position of the founder and theorist of this literary school. In his articles, he criticized the poets of the the Acmeism circle for violating its artistic rules, or noted their fidelity to its theoretical postulates. During the First World War, Gorodetsky continued to develop his concept of the acmeistic worldview as an opposition to the symbolist one, paying great attention to poet’s social tasks in the crisis era, in particular, the need to respond to military events and their reflection in one’s work. Against this background, he highly appreciated Gumilev’s military poems, written under the impression of what he really experienced at the war, seeing in them an example of Acmeism poetry. The further evolution of Gorodetsky’s attitude to the literary school founded by him, which ended with its complete reassessment, will be considered in the second article.