ACMEIST

Russian Akmeist, plural Akmeisty, member of a small group of early-20th-century Russian poets reacting against the vagueness and affectations of Symbolism. It was formed by the poets Sergey Gorodetsky and Nikolay S. Gumilyov. They reasserted the poet as craftsman and used language freshly and with intensity. Centred in St. Petersburg, the Acmeists were associated with the review Apollon (1909-17). In 1912 they founded the Guild of Poets, whose most outstanding members were Anna Akhmatova and Osip Mandelshtam. Because of their preoccupation with form and their ivory-tower aloofness, the Acmeists were regarded with suspicion by the Soviet regime. Gumilyov was executed in 1921 for his alleged activities in an anti-Soviet conspiracy. Akhmatova was silenced during the most productive years of her life, and Mandelshtam died either in or en route to a Siberian labour camp.