Batyushkov's literary direction. Semenko. The main dates of the life and work of K. N. Batyushkov. War with Napoleonic France

Everyone knows the Vologda poet Konstantin Nikolaevich Batyushkov. His biography is bright and tragic. The poet, whose creative discoveries were brought to perfection by Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin, was a pioneer in the development of the melodiousness of the Russian language. He was the first to notice in him, “somewhat stern and stubborn,” remarkable “strength and expressiveness.” Batyushkov’s creative achievements were recognized as classics even during his lifetime by all contemporary Russians. poetic world, and primarily Karamzin and Zhukovsky.

Childhood

Dates of the poet's life: 05/18/1787 - 07/07/1855. He belonged to the ancient noble family Batyushkov, which included generals, public figures, and scientists.

What can Batyushkov’s biography tell about the poet’s childhood? Interesting facts will come later, but for now it is worth noting that the child suffered from the death of his beloved mother. Alexandra Grigorievna Batyushkova (nee Berdyaeva) died eight years after the birth of Kostya. Were the years spent on the family estate in the village of Danilovskoye (modern Vologda region) happy? Hardly. Konstantin's father, Nikolai Lvovich Batyushkov, a bilious and nervous man, did not pay due attention to his children. He had an excellent education and was tormented by the fact that he was unclaimed for his job because of a disgraced relative involved in a palace conspiracy.

Study, self-education

However, at the behest of his father, Konstantin Batyushkov studied in expensive but unspecialized St. Petersburg boarding schools. The biography of his youth is marked by a strong-willed and far-sighted act. He, despite his father’s protests, quit school in boarding schools and zealously began self-education.

This period (from 16 to 19 years) is marked by the transformation of a young man into a person of humanitarian competence. Konstantin’s benefactor and beacon turned out to be his influential uncle Mikhail Nikitich Muravyov, senator and poet, trustee of Moscow University. It was he who managed to instill in his nephew respect for ancient poetry. Thanks to him, Batyushkov, having studied Latin, became an admirer of Horace and Tibullus, which became the basis for his further work. He began to achieve the classical melodiousness of the Russian language with endless edits.

Also, thanks to the patronage of his uncle, eighteen-year-old Konstantin began to serve as a clerk at the Ministry of Education. In 1805, his poem was published for the first time in the magazine “News of Russian Literature.” He meets St. Petersburg poets - Derzhavin, Kapnist, Lvov, Olenin.

First injury and recovery

In 1807, Constantine's benefactor and first adviser, his uncle, died. Perhaps, if he were alive, only he would have persuaded his nephew not to expose his fragile nervous system the hardships and hardships of military service. But in March 1807, Konstantin Batyushkov volunteered for the Prussian campaign. He is wounded in the bloody battle of Heilsberg. He is sent for treatment first to Riga, and then released to the family estate. While in Riga, young Batyushkov falls in love with the merchant's daughter Emilia. This passion inspired the poet to write the poems “Memoirs of 1807” and “Recovery.”

War with Sweden. Mental trauma

Having recovered, Konstantin Batyushkov again set off in 1808 as part of the Jaeger guards regiment to war with Sweden. He was a courageous officer. Death, blood, loss of friends - all this was hard for Konstantin Nikolaevich. His soul was not hardened by the war. After the war, the officer came to rest on the estate with his sisters Alexandra and Varvara. They noted with alarm that the war had left a heavy mark on their brother’s unstable psyche. He became overly impressionable. He periodically experienced hallucinations. In letters to Gnedich, his friend from his service in the ministry, the poet writes directly that he is afraid that in ten years he will completely go crazy.

However, friends tried to distract the poet from painful thoughts. And they partially succeed in this. In 1809, Konstantin Nikolaevich Batyushkov plunged into the St. Petersburg salon and literary life. A short biography will not describe all the events that happened in the poet’s life. This time is marked by personal acquaintances with Karamzin, Zhukovsky, Vyazemsky. Ekaterina Fedorovna Muravyova (the widow of a senator who once helped Batyushkov) brought her cousin to them.

In 1810, Batyushkov retired from military service. In 1812, with the help of friends Gnedich and Olenin, he got a job as an assistant curator of manuscripts at the St. Petersburg Public Library.

War with Napoleonic France

At the beginning Patriotic War With France, retired officer Konstantin Nikolaevich Batyushkov sought to get into the active army. He performs a noble deed: the poet accompanies the widow of his benefactor E.F. Muravyova to Nizhny Novgorod. Only since March 29, 1813, he serves as an adjutant in the Rylsky infantry regiment. For courage in the battle of Leipzig, the officer is awarded 2nd degree. Impressed by this battle, Batyushkov writes the poem “Shadow of a Friend” in honor of his deceased comrade I. A. Petin.

His work reflects the evolution of the poet's personality, from romanticism to match the Age of Enlightenment to the greatness of the spirit of a Christian thinker. His poetry about the war (the poems “On the Ruins of a Castle in Sweden”, “Shadow of a Friend”, “Crossing the Rhine”) is close in spirit to a simple Russian soldier, it is realistic. Batyushkov writes sincerely, without embellishing reality. The biography and work of the poet described in the article are becoming more and more interesting. K. Batyushkov begins to write a lot.

Non-reciprocal love

In 1814, after a military campaign, Batyushkov returned to St. Petersburg. Here he will be disappointed: his feelings are not reciprocated by the beautiful Anna Furman, a pupil of the Olenins’ house. Or rather, she says “yes” only at the request of her guardians. But the scrupulous Konstantin Nikolaevich cannot accept such ersatz love and, offended, refuses such a marriage.

He is awaiting transfer to the Guard, but the bureaucratic delays are endless. Without waiting for an answer, in 1816 Batyushkov resigned. However, the years 1816-1817 turned out to be extremely fruitful for the poet in terms of creativity. He actively participates in the life of the Arzamas literary society.

The period of revelation in creativity

In 1817, his collected works “Experiments in Poetry and Prose” were published.

Batyushkov endlessly corrected his rhymes, achieving the precision of his words. The biography of this man’s work began with his professional study of ancient languages. And he managed to find echoes of rhymes in Russian poetics Latin language and ancient Greek!

Batyushkov became the inventor of that poetic Russian language that Alexander Sergeevich admired: “the syllable... trembles,” “the harmony is charming.” Batyushkov is a poet who found a treasure, but could not use it. At the age of thirty, his life was clearly divided into “before and after” by a black streak of paranoid schizophrenia, manifested in persecution mania. This disease was hereditary in his family on his mother’s side. The eldest of his four sisters, Alexandra, suffered from it.

Progressive paranoid schizophrenia

In 1817, Konstantin Batyushkov plunged into spiritual anguish. The biography says that there was a difficult relationship with his father (Nikolai Lvovich), which ended in complete discord. And in 1817 the parent dies. This was the impetus for the poet’s conversion to deep religiosity. Zhukovsky supported him morally during this period. Another friend, A.I. Turgenev, secured a diplomatic position for the poet in Italy, where Batyushkov stayed from 1819 to 1921.

The poet had a severe psychological breakdown in 1821. What caused him was a boorish attack (the libelous verses of “B..ov from Rome”) against him in the magazine “Son of the Fatherland.” It was after this that his health began to show signs of persistent signs paranoid schizophrenia.

Konstantin Nikolaevich Batyushkov spent the winter of 1821-1822 in Dresden, periodically falling into madness. The biography of his work will be interrupted here. Batyushkov’s swan song is the poem “Testament of Melchizedek.”

The meager life of a sick person

The poet's further life can be called the destruction of personality, progressive madness. At first, Muravyov’s widow tried to take care of him. However, this soon became impossible: the attacks of persecution mania were intensifying. IN next year Emperor Alexander I allocated his treatment in a Saxon psychiatric institution. However, four years of treatment had no effect. Upon arrival in Moscow, Konstantin, whom we are considering, feels better. Once Alexander Pushkin visited him. Shocked by the pathetic appearance of Konstantin Nikolaevich, a follower of his melodic rhymes writes the poem “God forbid I go crazy.”

The last 22 years of a mentally ill person’s existence were spent at the home of his guardian, Grevens’ nephew G.A. Here Batyushkov died during a typhus epidemic. The poet was buried at the Vologda Spaso-Prilutsky Monastery.

Conclusion

The work of Batyushkov in Russian literature occupies a significant place between Zhukovsky and the era of Pushkin. Later, Alexander Sergeevich would call K. Batyushkov his teacher.

Batyushkov developed the genres of “light poetry”. In his opinion, its flexibility and smoothness can decorate Russian speech. Among the poet's best elegies one should name "My Genius" and "Tavrida".

By the way, Batyushkov also left behind several articles, the most famous being “Evening at Cantemir’s”, “Walk to the Academy of Arts”.

The main lesson from Konstantin Nikolayevich, which the author of “Eugene Onegin” adopted, was the creative need to first “experience in your soul” the plot of the future work before putting pen to paper.

Konstantin Nikolaevich Batyushkov lived such a life. A short biography, unfortunately, cannot cover all the details of his difficult fate.

Konstantin Batyushkov- an outstanding Russian poet who gave the poetic language a special harmony and flexibility.

Batyushkov is one of the first to introduce many developments into Russian poetry that were recognized as classics during his lifetime.

During this period of biography, Batyushkov was especially interested in French and Russian (see). At the same time, he studied Latin and was also interested in the ancient Roman classics.

While in St. Petersburg, Batyushkov met an outstanding Russian poet.

An interesting fact is that Konstantin Batyushkov was a relative of the senator and public figure Mikhail Muravyov, who helped him get a job in the Ministry of Public Education.

After serving there for about 3 years, 18-year-old Batyushkov began working as a clerk at the Ministry of Education.

In 1807, Konstantin Batyushkov enlisted in the people's militia, after which he went on the Prussian campaign.

In one of the battles he was wounded and sent to Riga for treatment. After 2 months he was allowed to go home.

War with Napoleon

The significance of Batyushkov in the history of Russian literature and his main merit lies in the fact that he worked hard on processing his native poetic speech and gave the Russian poetic language such flexibility, elasticity and harmony that Russian poetry had never known before.

At this time it happens to him nervous breakdown, after which the poet begins to show pronounced signs of schizophrenia. At this time, he wrote the poem “The Testament of Melchizedek.”

Every month Konstantin Batyushkov became worse. Imaginary persecution made the life of the writer and the people around him unbearable. As a result, he was admitted to a psychiatric hospital.

After 4 years of treatment he was sent to.

One day, Alexander Pushkin came to visit Batyushkov, who was shocked by the terrible appearance of the poet. After some time, Pushkin will write the famous poem “God forbid I go crazy.”

Death

The patient spent the last 22 years of his life in the house of his nephew. Konstantin Nikolaevich Batyushkov died of typhus on July 7, 1855 at the age of 68. He was buried in the Spaso-Prilutsky Monastery.

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Key dates in the life and work of K. N. Batyushkov/ Comp. I. M. Semenko// Batyushkov K. N. Experiments in poetry and prose / USSR Academy of Sciences; Ed. prepared I. M. Semenko. - M.: Science, 1977 . - (Lit. monuments). - pp. 596-599.

KEY DATES
LIFE AND CREATIVITY
K. N. BATYUSHKOVA

1787 May 18 (29) in Vologda, in the family of Nikolai Lvovich Batyushkov and his wife Alexandra Grigorievna, born. Berdyaeva, born Konstantin Nikolaevich Batyushkov.

1787-1797. Lives in the Batyushkov family estate, the village of Danilovsky, Bezhetsk district, Tver province.

1795. Death of mother.

1797-1800. Stay at the French guesthouse Jaquino in St. Petersburg.

1801-1802. Stay at the Italian guesthouse Tripoli in St. Petersburg.

1802. First known poem "Dream".

1802-1806. Lives in the house of his cousin, writer M. N. Muravyov; serves in his office at the Ministry of Public Education as a “writer for Moscow University.” He gets close to the poet I. P. Pnin, N. A. Radishchev (son of A. N. Radishchev) and the family of an expert on antiquity, the future president of the Academy of Arts, A. N. Olenin.

1805. First appearance in print: “Message to My Poems” was published in the magazine “News of Literature.” Published in Severny Vestnik and in the Journal of Russian Literature. Accepted as a member of the “Free Society of Lovers of Literature, Sciences and Arts.”

1807. Enlists in the militia (militia), participates in a campaign in Prussia. Wounded (in the leg) near Heilsberg. He is being treated in Riga in the house of the merchant Mugel. Infatuation with his daughter. Transfer to the Guard. Life in St. Petersburg and in the village of Khantonovo, Novgorod province, inherited from my mother.

1808. Participation in the war with Sweden. During the campaign in Finland, the message “To Tassu” was written and an excerpt from T. Tasso’s poem “Jerusalem Liberated” was translated.

1809. In the first half of the year he is in Sweden, then he receives leave and lives in Khantonov. “Vision on the Shores of Lethe” and “Memoirs” were written.

1810. Resigns with the rank of second lieutenant. In Moscow he translates Guys and Petrarch. Meets N.M. Karamzin, makes friends with V.A. Zhukovsky, P.A. Vyazemsky, V.L. Pushkin. The second half of the year he lives in Khantonov.

1811. First half of the year in Moscow. “My penates” are written.

1812. Since the beginning of the year - in St. Petersburg. Service in the Public Library as assistant curator of manuscripts. A few days before the Battle of Borodino, he comes to Moscow and accompanies the widow of the writer E.F. Muravyova and her children to Nizhny Novgorod.

1813. Arrival in St. Petersburg. Passion for the Olenins' pupil Anna Furman. Poems “To Dashkov” and “Singer in the conversation of lovers of the Russian word.” Re-enrolled on military service. He goes to the active army, to Dresden (Saxony) as an adjutant to General N.N. Raevsky. Participates in the battle of Leipzig.

1814. Participates in battles in France and in the siege of Paris. Visits Ciret Castle, where Voltaire lived. Lives in Paris, visits theaters, the Louvre, and attends the Academy meeting. Receives leave and returns to Russia through England and Sweden. The essays “Walk to the Academy of Arts”, “Shadow of a Friend”, “On the Ruins of a Castle in Sweden” were written.

1815. Returns from vacation to Kamenets-Podolsky, where he is military unit. Admitted in absentia to the Karamzinist society "Arzamas". Elegies were written: “My Genius”, “Separation”, “Tavrida”, “Hope”, “To a Friend”, “Awakening”, “The Last Spring” and a number of prose works.

1816. Arrives in Moscow. Transferred to the Guard, but decides to retire. Accepted into the Moscow Society of Literature Lovers. “It’s about the influence of light poetry on language.” Preparing the first volume of “Experiments” (prose) for publication. “Evening at Cantemir’s” and the poems “Song of Harald the Bold”, “Hesiod and Omir, Rivals” were written. At the end of the year he moves to Khantonovo.

1817. Lives in Khantonov. He is preparing the second volume of “Experiments” (poems). In the summer he moves to St. Petersburg. Participates in meetings of Arzamas. Written “Crossing the Rhine”, “Dying Tass”, “Arbor of the Muses”, part of the poems of the cycle “From the Greek Anthology”; Two volumes of “Experiments” are published, favorably assessed by critics. A number of unrealized works were conceived (the fairy tale “Balladera”, the poems “Rusalka” and “Rurik”, a course on the history of Russian literature).

1818. At the beginning of the year he comes to St. Petersburg and is busy applying for admission to diplomatic service. He goes to Crimea for treatment, where he is interested in archeology. After a farewell in St. Petersburg and farewell to the “Arzamas” team, he leaves for Italy on November 19. In 1817-1818 he created a series of translations from the Greek anthology.

1819-1820. At the beginning of the year he lives in Rome, then in Naples, where he hosts the artist S. Shchedrin and patronizes a colony of Russian artists. He is interested in Byron, whom he reads in Italian translations. Translates an excerpt from Childe Harold, writes the poem “You Awaken, O Baya, from the Tomb.”

1820. Continues diplomatic service in Italy.

1821. Receives indefinite leave for health reasons. He is treated in the waters in Teplice. Writes “Imitations of the Ancients.” He is planning a new edition of his poems. A misunderstanding with the publication in CO of P. A. Pletnev’s elegy “B .... , to from Rome,” which he regards as a hostile attack. In September he moves to Dresden. Writes<«Изречение Мельхиседека»>and burns everything he wrote in Italy.

1822. Returns to St. Petersburg, then undergoes treatment in Caucasian mineral waters. Lives in Simferopol. Increasing mental distress.

1823. Burns his library. Attempts suicide three times.

1824. His sister takes him to a psychiatric hospital in Sonnenstein (Saxony).

1824-1827. Unsuccessful treatment in Sonnenstein.

1828-1832. Lives with relatives in Moscow.

1833-1855. Resigns with the appointment, at the request of V. A. Zhukovsky, of a pension. Lives with relatives in Vologda.

Konstantin Nikolaevich Batyushkov

Batyushkov Konstantin Nikolaevich (1787/1855) - Russian poet. In the early period of his creativity, Batyushkov was assigned the title of head of the anacreontic movement with his characteristic chanting of the joys of life (“Bacchante”, “Merry Hour”, “My Penates”). In later years, Batyushkov’s poetry acquired completely different - elegiac and tragic - motifs, which are a reflection of the spiritual crisis he suffered (“Hope”, “My Genius”, “Separation”, “Dying Tass”).

Guryeva T.N. New literary dictionary / T.N. Guryev. – Rostov n/d, Phoenix, 2009, p. 29-30.

Batyushkov Konstantin Nikolaevich (1787 - 1855), poet.

Born on May 18 (29 NS) in Vologda into a noble noble family. My childhood years were spent on the family estate - the village of Danilovskoye, Tver province. The home education was supervised by the grandfather, the leader of the nobility of the Ustyuzhensky district.

From the age of ten, Batyushkov studied in St. Petersburg in private foreign boarding schools and spoke many foreign languages.

From 1802 he lived in St. Petersburg in the house of his relative M. Muravyov, a writer and educator who played a decisive role in the formation of the poet’s personality and talent. He studies the philosophy and literature of the French Enlightenment, ancient poetry, and the literature of the Italian Renaissance. For five years he served as an official in the Ministry of Public Education.

In 1805 he made his debut in print with satirical poems “Message to My Poems.” During this period, he wrote poetry mainly of the satirical genre ("Message to Chloe", "To Phyllis", epigrams).

In 1807 he enlisted in the people's militia and, as the commander of a hundred-man militia battalion, went on the Prussian campaign. In the battle of Heilsberg he was seriously wounded, but remained in the army and in 1808 - 09 participated in the war with Sweden. After retiring, he devoted himself entirely to literary creativity.

The satire “Vision on the Shores of Lethe,” written in the summer of 1809, marks the beginning of the mature stage of Batyushkov’s work, although it was published only in 1841.

In 1810 - 12 he actively collaborated in the journal "Bulletin of Europe", became close to Karamzin, Zhukovsky, Vyazemsky and other writers. His poems “The Merry Hour”, “The Happy One”, “The Source”, “My Penates”, etc. appear.

During the War of 1812, Batyushkov, who did not join the active army due to illness, experienced “all the horrors of war,” “poverty, fires, hunger,” which was later reflected in the “Message to Dashkov” (1813). In 1813 - 14 he participated in the foreign campaign of the Russian army against Napoleon. The impressions of the war formed the content of many poems: “The Prisoner”, “The Fate of Odysseus”, “Crossing the Rhine”, etc.

In 1814 - 17 Batyushkov traveled a lot, rarely staying in one place for more than six months. He is going through a severe spiritual crisis: disappointment in the ideas of enlightenment philosophy. Religious sentiments are growing. His poetry is painted in sad and tragic tones: the elegy “Separation”, “Shadow of a Friend”, “Awakening”, “My Genius”, “Tavrida”, etc. In 1817 the collection “Experiments in Poems and Prose” was published, which included translations , articles, essays and poems.

In 1819 he left for Italy for a new service - he was appointed an official at the Neopolitan mission. In 1821 he was overcome by an incurable mental illness (persecution mania). Treatment in the best European clinics was not successful - Batyushkov never returned to normal life. His last years were spent with relatives in Vologda. Died of typhus

July 7 (19 n.s.) 1855. Buried in Spaso-Prilutsky Monastery .

Materials used from the book: Russian writers and poets. Brief biographical dictionary. Moscow, 2000.

Vologda. Monument to K. Batyushkov.
Photo A.N. Savelyeva .

BATYUSHKOV Konstantin Nikolaevich (05/18/1787-07/7/1855), Russian poet. Born into a family that belonged to the ancient Novgorod nobility. After the early death of his mother, he was brought up in private St. Petersburg boarding schools and in the family of the writer and public figure M. N. Muravyov.

From 1802 - in the service of the Ministry of Public Education (including clerk for Moscow University). He gets close to Radishchev's Free Society of Lovers of Literature, Science and the Arts, but quickly moves away from it. His creative connections with the circle are much closer A. N. Olenina (I. A. Krylov, Gnedich, Shakhovskoy), where the cult of antiquity flourished. Actively collaborates in the magazine “Flower Garden” (1809).

Joins the literary circle “Arzamas”, which actively opposes the “Conversation of Lovers of the Russian Word”, an association of patriotic writers and linguists (cm.: Shishkov A.S.). In the satire “Vision on the Shores of Lethe” (1809) he first used the word "Slavophile".

In the 1810s, Batyushkov became the head of the so-called. “light poetry”, dating back to the tradition of anacreoticism of the 18th century. (G. R. Derzhavin, V. V. Kapnist): the glorification of the joys of earthly life is combined with the affirmation of the poet’s inner freedom from the political system, the stepson of which the poet felt himself to be.

The patriotic inspiration that gripped Batyushkov in connection with Patriotic War of 1812, takes him beyond the limits of “chamber lyricism”. Under the influence of the hardships of war, the destruction of Moscow and personal upheavals, the poet experiences a spiritual crisis, disillusioned with educational ideas.

In 1822, Batyushkov fell ill with a hereditary mental illness, which forever stopped his literary activity.

BATYUSHKOV Konstantin Nikolaevich (05/18/1787 - 07/7/1855), poet. Born in Vologda. He belonged to an old noble family. He was brought up in St. Petersburg, in private foreign boarding schools. In addition to French, he was fluent in Italian and later Latin. He served in the military (he took part in three wars, including the foreign campaign of 1814) and minor bureaucratic service, and later in the Russian diplomatic mission in Italy. In 1822 he fell ill with a hereditary mental illness that had long been creeping up on him. From 1802 he settled in the house of the writer M. N. Muravyov, his relative; Then he began to write poetry. He became a member of the Free Society of Lovers of Literature, Science and the Arts. With his poetic satire “Vision on the Shores of Lethe” (1809), which was widely published in lists, Batyushkov took an active part in the controversy with “Conversation of Lovers of the Russian Word.” Batyushkov was the first to use the word “Slavophile,” which later became widely used. Batyushkov joined the Arzamas literary circle that opposed Beseda, which included representatives of new literary movements - from V. A. Zhukovsky and D. V. Davydov to the young Pushkin , whose powerful talent Batyushkov immediately highly appreciated. He became close to the circle of A.N. Olenin, where the cult of antiquity flourished. Batyushkov’s works, published in magazines, were published in a separate publication in 1817 - “Experiments in Poems and Prose” (in 2 parts).

Batyushkov became the head of the so-called. “light poetry”, dating back to the tradition of anacreontics of the 18th century, the most outstanding representatives of which were G. R. Derzhavin and V. V. Kapnist (“a model in a syllable,” as Batyushkov called it). The chanting of the joys of earthly life - friendship, love - was combined in Batyushkov’s intimate friendly messages with the affirmation of the poet’s inner freedom, his independence from the “slavery and chains” of the feudal-absolutist social system, whose stepson he acutely felt himself to be. The programmatic work of this kind was the message “My Penates” (1811-12, published 1814); according to Pushkin, it “...breathes with some kind of rapture of luxury, youth and pleasure - the syllable trembles and flows - the harmony is charming.” An example of “light poetry” is the poem “The Bacchante” (published in 1817). The patriotic inspiration that gripped Batyushkov in connection with the War of 1812 took him beyond the boundaries of “chamber” lyrics (the message “To Dashkov”, 1813, the historical elegy “Crossing the Rhine”, 1814, etc.). Under the influence of the painful impressions of the war, the destruction of Moscow and personal upheavals, Batyushkov is experiencing a spiritual crisis. His poetry is increasingly colored in sad tones (elegy “Separation”, 1812-13; “Shadow of a Friend”, 1814; “Awakening”, 1815; “To a Friend”, 1815, etc.), sometimes reaching extreme pessimism (“Material Melchizedek", 1821). Among Batyushkov’s best elegies are “My Genius” (1815) and “Tavrida” (1817). A significant contribution to the development of Russian poetry was Batyushkov’s deep lyricism, combined with a previously unprecedented artistry of form. Developing the tradition of Derzhavin, he demanded from the poet: “Live as you write, and write as you live.” Many poems are like pages of a poeticized autobiography of Batyushkov, whose personality already shows the traits of a disappointed, early aged, bored “hero of the time”, which later found artistic expression in the images of Onegin and Pechorin. In terms of poetic mastery, Batyushkov’s models were the works of ancient and Italian poets. He translated the elegies of Tibullus, poems by T. Tasso, E. Parni and others. One of Batyushkov’s most famous works, the elegy “The Dying Tass” (1817), is dedicated to the tragic fate of the poet - a topic that persistently attracted Batyushkov’s attention.

The genres of “light poetry,” according to Batyushkov, require “possible perfection, purity of expression, harmony in style, flexibility, smoothness” and therefore are the best means for “education” and “improvement” of the poetic language (“Speech on the influence of light poetry on the language ", 1816). Batyushkov also wrote in prose, believing that this is also an important school for the poet (mainly essays, articles on literature and art; the most significant of them are “Evening at Kantemir’s”, “Walk to the Academy of Arts”). Batyushkov's verse reached high artistic perfection. Contemporaries admired his “plasticity”, “sculpture”, Pushkin - his “Italian” melodiousness (“Italian sounds! What a miracle worker is this Batyushkov”). With his translations “From the Greek Anthology” (1817-18) and “Imitations of the Ancients” (1821), Batyushkov prepared anthological poems by Pushkin. Batyushkov was burdened by the narrowness of themes and motives, the monotony of the genres of his poetry. He conceived a number of monumental works filled with content “useful to society, worthy of himself and the people,” and was fond of the work of Byron (translation into Russian from “The Wanderings of Childe Harold”). All this was cut short by mental illness, which forever stopped Batyushkov’s literary activity. The poet noted bitterly: “What can I say about my poems! I look like a man who did not reach his goal, but he was carrying on his head a beautiful vessel filled with something. The vessel fell off the head, fell and broke into pieces, now go find out what was in it.” Pushkin, objecting to critics who attacked Batyushkov’s poetry, called on them to “respect his misfortunes and unripe hopes.” Batyushkov played a significant role in the development of Russian poetry: along with Zhukovsky, he was the immediate predecessor and literary teacher of Pushkin, who accomplished much of what Batyushkov started.

Materials used from the site Great Encyclopedia of the Russian People - http://www.rusinst.ru

Batyushkov and Pushkin

Batyushkov Konstantin Nikolaevich (1787-1853) - poet, participant in the Patriotic War of 1812. Pushkin met Batyushkov as a child, in his parents’ house. Their communication was especially frequent in 1817-1818, at meetings of the Arzamas society. Batyushkov’s poetry, saturated with motifs of careless love, friendship, and the joy of communicating with nature, had a strong influence on Pushkin’s early work. Unknown artist. 1810s

Book materials used: Pushkin A.S. Works in 5 volumes. M., Synergy Publishing House, 1999.

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Batyushkov Konstantin Nikolaevich (1787-1855). Pushkin was still a boy when he first saw Batyushkov in his parents' Moscow house. A few years later, Batyushkov, a brilliant military officer and famous poet, came to Tsarskoe Selo to visit a promising lyceum student (1815). By this time, young Pushkin was already reading Batyushkov’s poems, imitating them, and learning from them. Until the end of his days, he remained a supporter of the “school of harmonic precision”, the founders of which he considers Zhukovsky and Batyushkov - this “miracle worker” who brought “Italian sounds” to Russian poetry.

Pushkin’s personal communication with Batyushkov was not too close and long-lasting. They met in the Arzamas literary society, of which they were members, and saw each other on “Saturdays” at V. A. Zhukovsky’s, in the Olenins’ salon and in other St. Petersburg houses. Batyushkov entered the diplomatic service and was assigned to Italy. Pushkin was among those who came to see him off and say goodbye. It was November 19, 1818. Since then, he saw Batyushkov only once more, many years later, when he visited the mentally ill poet in Gruziny near Moscow on April 3, 1830. The impression from this last meeting was apparently reflected in the poem “God forbid I go crazy...”.

Batyushkov's fate is full of tragedy. Having outlived Pushkin by almost two decades, he nevertheless remained for his contemporaries and descendants his young predecessor, who did not have time to demonstrate his exceptional talent. He himself understood this and wrote with bitterness: “What can I say about my poems! I look like a man who did not reach his goal, but he was carrying on his head a beautiful vessel filled with something. The vessel fell off the head, fell and broke into pieces. Now go find out what was in it.”

And Pushkin called on Batyushkov’s critics to “respect his misfortune and unripe hopes.” Throughout his life, he carefully studied and highly appreciated what Batyushkov managed to do in Russian poetry. Melody, euphony, freedom of intonation, extraordinary harmony of all elements of Batyushkov’s verse, plasticity of the lyrics, the unconventional image of the author - a sage and an epicurean - all this made Batyushkov a direct teacher of the young Pushkin. You could even say that he was “Pushkin before Pushkin.”

Both poets were aware of this deep affinity of talents. That’s why Batyushkov was so delighted with the first songs of “Ruslan and Lyudmila”: “Wonderful, rare talent! taste, wit, invention, gaiety. At nineteen years old, Ariost could not have written better...” (1818, letter to D.N. Bludov). And two years later, regarding Pushkin’s poem “To Yuryev”: “Oh! how this villain began to write.”

During his lyceum years, Pushkin dedicated two messages to Batyushkov. In many poems of that time, he imitates the “Russian Guys” (“Gorodok”, “Shadow of Fonvizin”, “Memories in Tsarskoe Selo” and others). In conversations and sketches of critical articles of 1824-1828, Pushkin constantly returns to assessing the work and historical significance of Batyushkov. The most detailed analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of Batyushkov’s lyrics is contained in Pushkin’s notes in the margins of his book “Experiments in Poems.” Researchers find traces of Batyushkov’s influence in Pushkin’s later works.

L.A. Chereisky. Contemporaries of Pushkin. Documentary essays. M., 1999, p. 55-57.

Read further:

Pushkin Alexander Sergeevich(1799-1837), poet.

Spaso-Prilutsky Monastery, Vologda diocese, in the vicinity of Vologda.

Essays:

Experiments in poetry and prose, parts 1-2. St. Petersburg, 1817;

Op., [Intro. Art. L. N. Maykova, note. him and V.I. Saitov], vol. 1-3, St. Petersburg, 1885-87.

Literature:

Grevenits I. Several notes about K. N. Batyushkov // VGV. 1855. N 42, 43;

Gura V.V. Russian writers in the Vologda region. Vologda, 1951. P. 18-42;

Lazarchuk R. M. New archival materials for the biography of the poet K. N. Batyushkov // Russian literature. 1988. N 6. P. 146-164;

Maykov L.N. Batyushkov, his life and works. St. Petersburg, 1896;

Sotnikov A. Batyushkov. Vologda, 1951;

Tuzov V.I. In memory of the Vologda poet K.N. Batyushkov. Vologda, 1892.