Mandelstam 's poetry , acutely populist in spirit after the first Russian revolution in 1905 , became closely associated with symbolist imagery . In 1911 , he and several other young Russian poets formed the `` Poets ' Guild '' ( Russian : Цех Поэтов , `` Tsekh Poetov '' ) , under the formal leadership of Nikolai Gumilyov and Sergei Gorodetsky .
Mandelstam 's poetry , acutely populist in spirit after the first Russian revolution , became closely associated with symbolist imagery , and in 1911 he and several other young Russian poets formed the `` Poets ' Guild '' ( Russian : Цех Поэтов , `` Tsekh Poetov '' ) , under the formal leadership of Nikolai Gumilyov and Sergei Gorodetsky .