Father's works. Konstantin Nikolayevich Batyushkov: biography, interesting facts, poems

Konstantin Nikolayevich Batyushkov was born on May 18 (29), 1787, in Vologda. He came from an old noble family, was the fifth child in a large family.

Having lost his mother early, he soon enrolled in one of the St. Petersburg boarding schools.

Konstantin did a lot of self-education. Under the influence of his uncle, M. N. Muravyov, he learned Latin, became interested in the works of Horace, Tibullus.

In service

In 1802, the young man, under the patronage of his uncle, was appointed to serve in the Ministry of Public Education. In 1804-1805. served as a clerk in the office of M. N. Muravyov. During his service, he continued to be drawn to literature. He became close friends with I. P. Pnin and N. I. Gnedich, who founded the Free Society of Lovers of Literature.

In 1807, Konstantin Nikolaevich, contrary to the opinion of his father, became a member of the people's militia. In the spring of this year, he took part in hostilities, for courage he was awarded Anna III degree.

In 1809 he moved to Moscow, where he met with P.A. Vyazemsky, V.A. Zhukovsky and N. M. Karamzin.

At the very beginning of 1812, Batyushkov moved to St. Petersburg and entered the service of the public library. He regularly met and communicated with I. A. Krylov.

studying short biography Batyushkov, you should know that in July 1813 he became an adjutant to General N. N. Raevsky, a hero Patriotic War and reached Paris.

Literary activity

The first attempt at writing took place in 1805. Konstantin Nikolayevich's poem "Message to My Poems" was published in the journal "News of Russian Literature".

During the military campaign of 1807, Batyushkov undertook the translation of Tass' Jerusalem Liberated.

The main merit of Batyushkov is his deep work on Russian poetic speech. Thanks to him Russian poem filled with strength, began to sound harmoniously and at the same time passionately. V. G. Belinsky believed that it was the works of Batyushkov and Zhukovsky that paved the way for the disclosure of the mighty talent of A. S. Pushkin.

The creativity of Batyushkov himself was rather peculiar. From his youth, carried away by the works of ancient Greek thinkers, he involuntarily created images that were not entirely clear to the domestic reader. The first poems of the poet are permeated with Epicureanism. They surprisingly combine mythologism and the life of an ordinary Russian village.

Batyushkov wrote such prose articles as "Evening at Kantemir", "On the writings of Muravyov" and "On the character of Lomonosov".

In October 1817, his collected works "Experiments in verse and prose" were published.

last years of life

Batyushkov Konstantin Nikolaevich suffered from a severe nervous breakdown. This disease was passed on to him by inheritance. The first seizure occurred in 1815. After that, his condition only worsened.

In 1833, he was dismissed and placed in his hometown, in the house of his own nephew. There he lived for another 22 years.

Batyushkov passed away on July 7 (19), 1855. The cause of death was typhus. The poet was buried in the Spaso-Prilutsky Monastery, which is located 5 miles from Vologda.

Konstantin Nikolaevich Batyushkov

Batyushkov Konstantin Nikolayevich (1787/1855) - Russian poet. In the early period of creativity, Batyushkov was assigned the title of head of the Anacreonist movement with his characteristic singing of the joys of life (“Bacchae”, “Merry Hour”, “My Penates”). In later years, Batyushkov's poetry acquires completely different - elegiac and tragic - motives, which are a reflection of the spiritual crisis suffered ("Hope", "My Genius", "Separation", "Dying Tass").

Guryeva T.N. New literary dictionary / T.N. Guriev. - Rostov n / a, Phoenix, 2009, p. 29-30.

Batyushkov Konstantin Nikolaevich (1787 - 1855), poet.

Born on May 18 (29 n.s.) in Vologda in a well-born noble family. Childhood years were spent in the family estate - the village of Danilovsky, Tver province. Home education was led by the grandfather, marshal 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 shaping the personality and talent of the poet. 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 verses "Message to my verses". During this period, he writes poems of a predominantly satirical genre ("Message to Chloe", "To Filisa", epigrams).

In 1807 is recorded in civil uprising and as a hundredth head of a militia battalion, he goes on a 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 devotes himself entirely to literary creativity.

Satire "Vision on the shores of Leta", 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 actively collaborated in the journal "Bulletin of Europe", moving closer to Karamzin, Zhukovsky, Vyazemsky and other writers. His poems "Merry Hour", "Lucky Man", "Source", "My Penates" and others appear.

During the war of 1812, Batyushkov, who did not join the 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 Captive", "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. Experiencing a severe spiritual crisis: disappointment in the ideas of enlightenment philosophy. Religious sentiments are on the rise. His poetry is painted in sad and tragic tones: the elegy "Separation", "The Shadow of a Friend", "Awakening", "My Genius", "Tavrida", etc. In 1817, the collection "Experiments in Verse and Prose" was published, which included translations , articles, essays and poems.

In 1819 he left for Italy at the place of his new service - he was appointed an official at the Neopolitan mission. In 1821 he was seized by an incurable mental illness (mania of persecution). Treatment in the best European clinics was unsuccessful - Batyushkov no longer returned to normal life. His last years passed with relatives in Vologda. Died of typhoid

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

Used materials of 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 - 07/07/1855), Russian poet. Born into a family belonging to the ancient Novgorod nobility. After the early death of his mother, he was brought up in private St. Petersburg pensions and in the family of the writer and public figure M. N. Muravyov.

Since 1802 - in the service of the Ministry of Public Education (including the clerk for Moscow University). He approaches the Radishchev Free Society of Lovers of Literature, Sciences and Arts, but quickly moves away from it. His creative ties 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).

Enters the literary circle "Arzamas", actively opposing 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 banks 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 anacreotics of the 18th century. (G. R. Derzhavin, V. V. Kapnist): the chanting 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 enthusiasm that seized Batyushkov in connection with Patriotic War of 1812, takes him beyond the limits of “chamber lyrics”. Under the influence of the hardships of the war, the destruction of Moscow and personal upheavals, the poet is experiencing a spiritual crisis, disillusioned with educational ideas.

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

BATYUSHKOV Konstantin Nikolaevich (05/18/1787 - 07/07/1855), poet. Born in Vologda. He belonged to an old noble family. He was brought up in St. Petersburg, in private foreign boarding houses. Besides French He was fluent in Italian and later in Latin. He served in the military (he was a participant in three wars, including the foreign campaign of 1814) and petty bureaucratic service, and later in the Russian diplomatic mission in Italy. In 1822, he fell ill with a hereditary mental illness that had been creeping up on him for a long time. From 1802 he settled in the house of the writer M. N. Muravyov, his relative; Then he began to write poetry. He joined the Free Society of Lovers of Literature, Sciences and Arts. With the poetic satire "Vision on the Banks of the Leta" (1809), which became widespread in the lists, Batyushkov took an active part in the controversy with the "Conversation of the 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, which opposed the Conversation, which included representatives of new literary movements- from V. A. Zhukovsky and D. V. Davydov to the young Pushkin , whose mighty 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 1817 as a separate edition - "Experiments in Verse 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 prominent representatives of which were G. R. Derzhavin and V. V. Kapnist ("a model in syllable", as Batiushkov called it). The chanting of the joys of earthly life - friendship, love - was combined in Batyushkov's intimate friendly messages with the assertion 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 program work of this kind was the message "My Penates" (1811-12, publ. 1814); according to Pushkin, it "... breathes with some kind of intoxication of luxury, youth and pleasure - the style trembles and flows - the harmony is charming." An example of "light poetry" is the poem "Bacchae" (published in 1817). The patriotic enthusiasm that seized Batyushkov in connection with the war of 1812 led him beyond the limits 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 (the elegy "Separation", 1812-13; "Shadow of a Friend", 1814; "Awakening", 1815; "To a Friend", 1815, etc.), sometimes reaching extreme pessimism ("Saying Melchizedek, 1821). Batyushkov's best elegies include My Genius (1815) and Tauris (1817). A significant contribution to the development of Russian poetry was Batyushkov's deep lyricism, combined with an 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, as it were, pages of Batyushkov's poeticized autobiography, in whose personality the features of a disappointed, early aged, bored "hero of the time" are already visible, which later found artistic expression in the images of Onegin and Pechorin. With regard to poetic skill, Batyushkov's models were the works of ancient and Italian poets. He translated Tibull's elegies, poems by T. Tasso, E. Parny, 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", "Walk to the Academy of Arts"). Batyushkov's verse reached a high artistic perfection. Contemporaries admired his "plasticity", "sculpture", Pushkin - "Italian" melodiousness ("Italian sounds! What a miracle worker this Batyushkov"). With his translations of "From the Greek Anthology" (1817-18) and "Imitations of the Ancients" (1821), Batyushkov prepared Pushkin's anthological poems. Batiushkov was weary of 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”, was fond of Byron's work (translation into Russian from Childe Harold's Wanderings). All this was cut short by mental illness, which forever stopped Batyushkov's literary activity. The poet remarked bitterly: “What can I say about my poems! I look like a man who did not reach his goal, but he carried a beautiful vessel filled with something on his head. The vessel fell off his head, fell and shattered, go and find out now what was in it. Pushkin, objecting to critics who attacked Batyushkov's poetry, urged them to "respect the misfortunes and unripe hopes in him." 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 carried out much of what was started by Batyushkov.

Used materials from the site Great Encyclopedia of the Russian people - http://www.rusinst.ru

Batyushkov and Pushkin

Batyushkov Konstantin Nikolayevich (1787-1853) - poet, participant in the Patriotic War of 1812. Pushkin met Batyushkov as a child, at 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, the joy of communicating with nature, had a strong influence on Pushkin's early work. Unknown artist. 1810s

Used materials of the book: Pushkin A.S. Works in 5 vol. 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 home. A few years later, Batyushkov, a brilliant military officer and famous poet, came to Tsarskoye Selo to visit a promising lyceum student (1815). By this time, young Pushkin was already reading Batyushkov's poems, imitating them, learning from them. Until the end of his days, he remained a supporter of the "school of harmonic accuracy", the founders of which he considers Zhukovsky and Batyushkov - this "miracle worker" who brought "Italian sounds" to Russian poetry.

Personal communication between Pushkin and Batyushkov was not too close and prolonged. They met in the Arzamas literary society, of which they were members, 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 Georgians near Moscow on April 3, 1830. The impression of this last meeting was apparently reflected in the poem "God forbid I go crazy ...".

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

And Pushkin urged Batyushkov's critics to "respect in him misfortune and immature hopes." Throughout his life, he closely studied and highly appreciated what Batyushkov managed to do in Russian poetry. Melody, euphony, intonational freedom, the extraordinary harmony of all the elements of Batyushkov's verse, the plasticity of the lyrics, the unconventional image of the author - a sage and epicurean - all this made Batyushkov a direct teacher of the young Pushkin. You can even say that he was "Pushkin before Pushkin."

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

During his lyceum years, Pushkin dedicated two letters to Batyushkov. In many poems of that time, he imitates the "Russian Guys" ("Gorodok", "Shadow of Fonvizin", "Memories in Tsarskoye Selo" and others). In conversations and sketches of critical articles of 1824-1828, Pushkin constantly returns to the assessment of creativity and historical significance Batyushkov. The most detailed analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of Batyushkov's lyrics is contained in Pushkin's notes on the margins of his book "Experiments in Poetry". Researchers find traces of Batyushkov's influence in Pushkin's later works.

L.A. Chereisky. Pushkin's contemporaries. Documentary essays. M., 1999, p. 55-57.

Read further:

Pushkin, Alexander Sergeyevich(1799-1837), poet.

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

Compositions:

Experiments in verse and prose, part 1-2. St. Petersburg, 1817;

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

Literature:

Grevenits I. Several notes about K. N. Batyushkov // VGV. 1855. No. 42, 43;

Gura VV Russian writers in the Vologda region. Vologda, 1951, pp. 18-42;

Lazarchuk R. M. New archival materials to the biography of the poet K. N. Batyushkov // Russian Literature. 1988. N 6. S. 146-164;

Maikov LN Batyushkov, his life and works. SPb., 1896;

Sotnikov A. Batyushkov. Vologda, 1951;

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

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

MAIN 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, nee. Berdyaeva, born Konstantin Nikolaevich Batyushkov.

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

1795. Mother's death.

1797-1800. Stay at the French boarding house Zhakino in St. Petersburg.

1801-1802. Stay at the boarding house of the Italian Tripoli in St. Petersburg.

1802. First known poem "Dream".

1802-1806. Lives in the house of his cousin uncle, writer M. N. Muravyov; serves in his office at the Ministry of Public Education as "clerk at Moscow University." He becomes close to the poet I. P. Pnin, N. A. Radishchev (son of A. N. Radishchev) and the family of A. N. Olenin, a connoisseur of antiquity, the future president of the Academy of Arts.

1805. First appearance in the press: in the journal "News of Literature" "Message to my poems" was published. Published in Severny Vestnik and in the Journal of Russian Literature. He was accepted as a member of the Free Society of Lovers of Literature, Sciences and Arts.

1807. Enrolls 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 his mother.

1808. Participation in the war with Sweden. During a trip to 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 takes a vacation and lives in Hantonov. Written "Vision on the banks of Lethe", "Memories".

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

1811. First half of the year in Moscow. Written "My Penates".

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 arrives in Moscow and accompanies the writer's widow E. F. Muravyova with their children to Nizhny Novgorod.

1813. Arrival in St. Petersburg. Passion for the pupil of the Olenins Anna Furman. The poems "To Dashkov" and "The Singer in the Conversation of Lovers of the Russian Word". Re-enlisted for military service. Goes to the army in 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 the Sire castle, where Voltaire lived. Lives in Paris, visits theaters, the Louvre, is present at the meeting of the Academy. Receives leave and through England and Sweden returns to Russia. Essays "A walk to the Academy of Arts", "The shadow of a friend", "At the ruins of a castle in Sweden" were written.

1815. Returns from vacation to Kamenetz-Podolsky, where his military unit is located. Admitted in absentia to the Karamzinist society "Arzamas". Elegies were written: "My genius", "Separation", "Tavrida", "Hope", "To a friend", "Awakening", "Last Spring" and a number of prose works.

1816. Arrives in Moscow. Transferred to the Guard, but decides to retire. Admitted to the Moscow Society of Lovers of Literature. "A Speech on the Influence of Light Poetry on Language". Prepares the first volume of "Experiments" (prose) for publication. Written "Evening at Cantemir" and poems "Song of Harald the Bold", "Hesiod and Omir, rivals." At the end of the year he moves to Khantonovo.

1817. Lives in Khantonov. Prepares the second volume of "Experiments" (verses). 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 evaluated by critics. A number of unrealized works were conceived (the fairy tale "Balladere", the poems "Mermaid" and "Rurik", a course on the history of Russian literature).

1818. At the beginning of the year, he arrives in St. Petersburg and fusses about entering the diplomatic service. He leaves for treatment in the Crimea, where he is fond of archeology. After seeing off in St. Petersburg and saying goodbye to the "Arzamas", he departs on November 19 for Italy. In 1817-1818 he created a series of translations from a Greek anthology.

1819-1820. At the beginning of the year he lives in Rome, then in Naples, where he settles the artist S. Shchedrin and patronizes the colony of Russian artists. He is fond of Byron, whom he reads in Italian translations. Translates an excerpt from "Childe Harold", writes a poem "You are awakening, O Baya, from the tomb."

1820. Continues diplomatic service in Italy.

1821. Receives an indefinite leave for health reasons. He is being treated on the waters in Teplice. Writes "Imitations of the Ancients". Thinking of a new edition of his poems. Misunderstanding with the publication in SO of P. A. Pletnev’s elegy “B .... , in 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 treated with Caucasian mineral waters. Lives in Simferopol. Growing mental disorder.

1823. Burns his library. Attempts to commit suicide three times.

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

1824-1827. Ineffective treatment in Sonnenstein.

1828-1832. Lives with relatives in Moscow.

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

Batyushkov Konstantin Nikolaevich - one of the greatest Russian poets, b. 1787, mind. 1855. Belonged to one of the old noble families of the Novgorod and Vologda provinces. His father, Nikolai Lvovich Batyushkov, having failed in military service, had to retire and settle permanently in the countryside. This aroused in him dissatisfaction with life and a painfully developed suspicion. The poet's mother, Alexandra Grigorievna, nee Berdyaeva, soon after the birth of Konstantin lost her mind, she had to be removed from the family, and in 1795 she died when her son, who had no idea about her, was not yet 8 years old.

Konstantin Nikolaevich was born in Vologda on May 18, 1787, but spent his childhood in the village of Danilovsky, Bezhetsk district, Novgorod province. In the 10th year of his life, he was placed in the St. Petersburg boarding school of the Frenchman Zhakino, and after 4 years he was transferred to the boarding school of the teacher of the Tripoli naval corps, where Batyushkov stayed for 2 years. In both boarding schools the course of sciences was the most elementary. Batyushkov was obliged to study in boarding houses only by a thorough knowledge of French and Italian. In the 14th year, Batyushkov was seized by a passion for reading, while in the 16th he found a guide in his father's friend and comrade, Mikhail Nikitich Muravyov, with whom the young poet lived after leaving the boarding school. Muravyov was one of the most educated people of his time. Unfortunately, he died when Batyushkov was not yet 20 years old. Muravyov's wife, a woman of outstanding intelligence, who took care of him like a mother, also had a wonderful influence on Konstantin Nikolaevich. Under the influence of Muravyov, Batyushkov thoroughly studied Latin language and got acquainted in the original with the Roman classics. Most of all he liked Horace and Tibull. Muravyov, comrade of the Minister of Public Education, in 1802 appointed Batyushkov as an official in his office. In the service and at Muravyov's house, he became close to such people as Derzhavin, Lvov, Kapnist, Muravyov-Apostol, Nilova, Kvashnina-Samarina, Pnin (journalist), Yazykov, Radishchev, Gnedich.

Konstantin Nikolaevich Batyushkov. Portrait by an unknown artist, 1810s

Batyushkov took little interest in the service. Since 1803 he began his literary activity with the poem "Dreams". By this time, Batyushkov met Olenin, president of the Academy of Arts and director of the Public Library. All talented people of that time gathered at Olenin, especially those belonging to the new literary movement created by Karamzin. From the very first years of his literary activity, Batyushkov was one of the most zealous participants in the struggle of the "Free Society of Lovers of Literature, Sciences and Arts" against Shishkov and his followers. In 1805 Batyushkov became a contributor to many magazines. In 1807 (February 22) he enters military service as a hundred chief, and in the St. Petersburg militia on May 24, 25 and 29 of the same year he participates in battles in Prussia. On May 29, in the battle near Heidelberg, Batyushkov was dangerously wounded in the leg. He was taken to Yurburg, where sanitary conditions were very poor, and from there he was soon transferred to Riga and placed in the house of the wealthy merchant Mugel. Konstantin Nikolaevich became interested in his daughter. After recovering, he went to Danilovskoye to his father, but soon returned from there due to a strong disagreement with his parent because of his second marriage. In the same year, Batyushkov suffered another heavy blow - the loss of Muravyov, who died on July 22. All these losses, in connection with the impressions of the just experienced war, caused a severe illness, which almost prematurely carried away the young poet. Only the solicitude of Olenin supported him.

Having recovered, Batyushkov collaborates in the Dramatic Bulletin. There he placed his famous fable "The Shepherd and the Nightingale" and "works from the field of Italian literature." In the spring of 1808, in the ranks of the Life Guards of the Jaeger Regiment (the transfer took place back in September 1807), he takes part in Russian-Swedish war 1808-09 . Several of his best poems belong to this period. Here Batyushkov met the war hero, his classmate, Petin. In July 1809, the poet went to his sisters in Khantovo (Novgorod province). Since that time, he began to manifest a terrible hereditary disease. Batyushkov has hallucinations, and he writes to Gnedich: "If I live another 10 years, I will probably go crazy." Nevertheless, the heyday of his talent belongs to this time. After living for 5 months in the countryside, Batyushkov leaves for Moscow to enter the civil service. But almost all the time until 1812 he spent without any service, either in Moscow or in Khanty. Here the poet approached V. A. Pushkin, V. A. Zhukovsky, Vyazemsky, Karamzin. Many of his works belong to these years, among other things "Vision on the banks of Lethe" (jokingly satirical).

Konstantin Batyushkov. video film

In 1812, Batyushkov, who had just entered the service of the Imperial Public Library, was again in a hurry to go to the Patriotic War. First of all, he had to escort Mrs. Muravyova from Moscow to Nizhny Novgorod, where he was struck by the complete lack of self-consciousness and national pride: “I hear sighs everywhere,” he writes, “I see tears and stupidity everywhere. Everyone complains and scolds the French in French, and patriotism lies in the words "point de paix". 1813 Batyushkov serves as an adjutant to Bakhmetiev and General Raevsky. Together with him on March 19, 1814, he enters the conquered Paris. The poet attended battle of Leipzig, while Raevsky was wounded. In the same battle, Batyushkov lost his friend, the 26-year-old hero Petin. Together they made a Finnish campaign, together they spent the winter of 1810-11 in Moscow. Batyushkov's poem "The Shadow of a Friend" is dedicated to Petin.

Abroad, Konstantin Nikolayevich was interested in everything: nature, literature, politics. All this prompted him, like other officers, to new thoughts, which gave the first impetus to the development of the Decembrist movement. At that time, the young poet wrote a quatrain to Emperor Alexander, where he said that after the end of the war, having liberated Europe, the sovereign was called by providence to complete his glory and immortalize his reign by liberating the Russian people.

Upon returning to Russia, in June 1814, apathy took possession of the poet. He had to live in Kamenetz-Podolsk, as an adjutant to the commander of the Rylsky Infantry Regiment, General Bakhmetyev. By the same time, the poet’s unhappy love for Olenin’s relative, Anna Fedorovna Furman, dates back. All this had a harmful effect on the already upset health of the poet. The excited state during the war was mixed with a painful blues. In January 1816, Batyushkov retired for the second time and moved to Moscow, where he finally joined the Arzamas literary society. Despite poor health, in 1816-17. he writes a lot. Then articles were written in prose “Evening at Kantemir”, “Speech on Light Poetry” and the elegy “Dying Tass”, which appear in October 1817 in the first collection of poems and prose by Batyushkov. In 1817, Batyushkov traveled to the Crimea with Muravyov-Apostol to improve his health.

At the end of 1818, friends, mainly Karamzin and A. I. Turgenev, managed to attach Batyushkov to the Russian mission in Naples. At first, life in Italy, which he always longed to visit, had a wonderful effect on Batyushkov's health. His letters to his sister are even enthusiastic: “I am in that Italy where they speak the language in which the inspired Tass wrote his divine verses! What land! She is beyond all description, for someone who loves poetry, history and nature!” In Konstantin Nikolayevich again there was an interest in all the phenomena of life, but this excitement did not last long. On February 4, 1821, Turgenev writes: "Batyushkov, according to the latest news, is not recovering in Italy." In the spring of 1821, Batyushkov went to Dresden to treat his nerves. Partly the reason for the bad influence of Italy was the trouble in the service with Count Stackelberg, which even forced him to transfer from Naples to Rome. In Dresden, the last poem "The Testament of Melchisidek" was written. Here Batyushkov burned everything created in Naples, retired from people and clearly suffered from persecution mania.

In the spring of 1823, the patient was brought to St. Petersburg, and in 1824 the poet's sister A.N., using funds granted by Emperor Alexander, took her brother to Saxony, to the psychiatric institution Sonnenstein. He stayed there for 3 years, and finally it turned out that Batyushkov's disease was incurable. He was brought back to St. Petersburg, taken to the Crimea and the Caucasus, but in the Crimea Batyushkov attempted suicide three times. The unfortunate sister of the poet, a year after her return from Saxony, went mad herself. Convinced of the futility and even harm of new experiences for the patient, he was placed in Moscow in the hospital of Dr. Kiliani. Here the madness took on a calmer form.

In 1833, Batyushkov was finally dismissed from service with a lifelong pension of 2,000 rubles. In the same year, he was taken to Vologda to his nephew, the head of the specific office, Grenvis. In Vologda, violent seizures recurred only at first. In his illness, Batyushkov prayed a lot, wrote and drew. He often recited Tassa, Dante, Derzhavin, described the battles near Heidelberg and Leipzig, recalled General Raevsky, Denis Davydov, as well as Karamzin, Zhukovsky, Turgenev, and others. He was very fond of children and flowers, read newspapers and, in his own way, followed politics. He died on June 7, 1855 from a typhoid fever that lasted 2 days. Batyushkov was buried 5 versts from Vologda, in the Spaso-Prilutsky Monastery.

(18.05.1787 – 7.07.1855)

Konstantin Nikolaevich Batyushkov - prose writer, literary and art critic, translator, member of the Arzamas literary circle, honorary member of the Free Society of Russian Literature Lovers.

Konstantin Batyushkov was born in Vologda on May 18, 1787. The poet's father, Nikolai Lvovich (1752-1817), prosecutor of the 2nd department of the Vologda Upper Zemstvo Court, since 1790 - provincial prosecutor, belonged to the old nobility. Mother, Alexandra Grigorievna (? -1795), came from the Berdyaev family, the poet's maternal ancestors settled on the Vologda lands in early XVII century.

Judging by the fact that Konstantin and his younger sister Varvara, who was born in November 1791, were baptized in the Church of the Holy Great Martyr Catherine in Frolovka, Batyushkov’s first Vologda address should be sought in the parish of this church, located at the intersection of modern Herzen and Predtechenskaya streets. At the beginning of the summer of 1792, the family moved to Vyatka, to the place of N.L. Batyushkov. The two-year (from the beginning of the summer of 1792 to May 25, 1794) stay of Konstantin in Vyatka is recorded in the documents of the State Archive of the Kirov Region (F. 237. On. 71. Item 76. L. 89; Item 79. L. 97 ). Here, in Vyatka, not earlier than the summer of 1793, Alexandra Grigoryevna began to have a severe mental illness. Constantine lost his mother at the age of eight.

The knowledge he received in the St. Petersburg boarding houses Zhakino and Tripoli was replenished with extensive reading. The main event of 1802 - 1806, which left a deep mark on the life of a young man, was communication with his cousin uncle, the poet M.N. Muravyov (1757-1807), to whom Batyushkov "owed everything": a deep interest in antiquity and Italian literature, the need for constant spiritual work on himself. Under the influence of this noble mentor, Batyushkov’s literary tastes were formed and his “little” philosophy was formed: the meaning of life lies in love for her, in enjoying her joys and at the same time in the ability to self-sacrifice; happiness is inconceivable without a feeling of a pure conscience, and "the well-being of society", "the strength of citizenship" can only be based on "good".

The poems “Advice to Friends”, “Merry Hour”, “Answer to Gnedich”, “Elysius”, “My Penates” created Batyushkov’s reputation as a “Russian Guy”, “son of bliss and fun” (A.S. Pushkin), “singer of love and fun "(P.A. Vyazemsky). poetic world Batyushkov 1803-1812 was built in contrast to the real one. It was an escape into the dream of the beauty and fullness of being, of a strong, bright, whole personality, of harmony in the relationship between man and the world.

K.N. Batyushkov was a member of the campaign in Prussia (1807), the Swedish campaign (1808-1809), the foreign campaign of the Russian army (1813-1814). He is a holder of the orders of St. Anne III and II degrees for "excellent courage" in the battle of Heilsberg (1807) and near Leipzig (1813).

The Patriotic War of 1812 destroyed his "small" philosophy. The poet did not share the mood of enthusiasm, the rise in public activity and the expectation of changes that swept Russian society after the end of the campaign. The war plunged him into a severe crisis: after all, the “sea of ​​evil” (“poverty, despair, fires, famine”) was brought to Russia by the French; "the enlightened people of Europe" turned out to be a "barbarian". The bright epicureanism of the early poems was replaced by gloomy pessimism ("To Dashkov", "Elegy", "To a Friend", "Dying Tass"). Doomed to doubts, disappointments and the loss of loved ones, the poet did not find on earth that which is "eternally pure, immaculate." "The world is better" now existed for him "beyond the grave." Batyushkov's new philosophy was based on the "truths of the Gospel".

The fate of the poet was also tragic. Published in 1817, "Experiments in Verse and Prose" (in two parts) became Batyushkov's only book. His literary talent was not destined to be fully revealed. Convinced that "poetry requires the whole person," Batyushkov could not devote himself entirely to literature. Not having sufficient funds, he was forced to serve. Poetry interfered with a service career, service interfered with poetry ... This contradiction inevitably led to deep dissatisfaction with oneself, one's poetry, gave rise to doubts about one's talent and "spiritual emptiness". The state of internal discord was aggravated by the sensitivity of nature, heightened self-esteem, poor health and a premonition of an impending tragedy (“If I live another ten years, I will go crazy ...”). The first symptoms of mental illness appeared in 1822. Batyushkov spent four years (1824-1828) in a psychiatric hospital in Sonnsstein (Saxony), then for almost five years (since August 1828) he was treated in Moscow. But unsuccessfully...

In March 1833, the nephew of the poet G.A. Grevens moved him to Vologda. Batyushkov lived here for 22 years: first (from 1833 to 1844) separately from his relatives in the house of the priest P.V. Vasilevsky (the parish of the Church of John the Baptist in Roshenye, now Sovetsky Prospekt, 20), then (from 1845 to 1855) in the family nephew and guardian. The K.N. Batyushkov. The poet died on July 7, 1855, and the Spaso-Prilutsky Monastery became his resting place.

“... The cradle and grave of the famous Batyushkov will closely merge with the existence of Vologda,” the Vologda Gubernskie Vedomosti wrote on August 6, 1855. After the change of administrative boundaries on the territory of the Vologda Oblast, there were two family homesteads: in Batyushkovskoe Danilovskoe (near Ustyuzhna) Konstantin Nikolayevich came to visit his father, in Berdyaev Khantanovo (33 kilometers from Cherepovets) he visited in 1808, 1809, 1811, 1815, 1816-1817. Sometimes circumstances delayed him there for six months. Here "Vision on the banks of the Lethe", "My Penates", "Arbor of the Muses", "Dying Tass" were written and prepared for publication "Experiments in verse and prose". In the mind of the poet, the feeling of the “ancient Penates”, the “faithful shelter”, his home, which he dreamed of all his life, was always associated with the mother Khantanov in the mind of the poet.

"Small", "useless for society and for himself" seemed to Batyushkov his own talent. Time has refuted these harsh self-assessments. Batyushkov created a new type of lyrics, focused on solving new problems: “image modern man and modern world"," a lyrical expression of personality "(I.M. Semenko). This artistic discovery was the result of a deep rethinking of the role of "light poetry" (that is, small lyrical genres): in terms of its significance, it was equated with "high".

Batyushkov was not only the "forerunner of Pushkin" (V. G. Belinsky). As a living principle, as a constructive element that contributes to the renewal of literature, the Batyushkov tradition is present in the lyrics of E. Baratynsky, F. Tyutchev, A. Fet, A. Maikov, I. Annensky, A. Akhmatova, O. Mandelstam and other Russian poets.

Electronic resource about K.N. Batyushkov on the VOUNB website.