Balmont's biography briefly about the main thing. Balmont's biography

The Scottish surname, unusual for Russia, came to him thanks to a distant ancestor - a sailor who forever anchored off the coast of Pushkin and Lermontov. Creativity Balmont Konstantin Dmitrievich Soviet time was forgotten for obvious reasons. The country of the hammer and sickle did not need creators who worked outside socialist realism, whose lines did not broadcast about the struggle, about the heroes of war and labor ... Meanwhile, this poet, who has a really powerful talent, whose exceptionally melodic poems continued the tradition but for people.

“Create always, create everywhere…”

The legacy that Balmont left us is quite voluminous and impressive: 35 collections of poems and 20 books of prose. His verses aroused the admiration of compatriots for the lightness of the author's style. Konstantin Dmitrievich wrote a lot, but he never “forced lines out of himself” and did not optimize the text with numerous edits. His poems were always written on the first try, in one sitting. About how he created poems, Balmont told in a completely original way - in a poem.

The above is not an exaggeration. Mikhail Vasilyevich Sabashnikov, with whom the poet was visiting in 1901, recalled that dozens of lines formed in his head, and he wrote poetry on paper immediately, without a single edit. When asked about how he succeeds, Konstantin Dmitrievich answered with a disarming smile: “After all, I am a poet!”

Brief description of creativity

Literary critics, connoisseurs of his work, talk about the formation, flourishing and decline of the level of works that Balmont created. short biography and creativity point us, however, to an amazing capacity for work (he wrote daily and always on a whim).

The most popular works of Balmont are collections of poems by the mature poet "Only Love", "We'll Be Like the Sun", "Burning Buildings". Among the early works stands out the collection "Silence".

Creativity Balmont (briefly quoting the literary critics of the early XX century), with the subsequent general trend towards the fading of the author's talent (after the three above-mentioned collections) also has a number of "gaps". Noteworthy are "Fairy Tales" - cute children's songs written in a style later adopted by Korney Chukovsky. Also of interest are "foreign poems", created under the impression of what he saw on his travels in Egypt and Oceania.

Biography. Childhood

His father, Dmitry Konstantinovich, was a zemstvo doctor and also owned an estate. Mother, (nee Lebedeva), a creative nature, according to the future poet, “did more to foster a love of poetry and music” than all subsequent teachers. Konstantin became the third son in a family where there were seven children in total, and all of them were sons.

Konstantin Dmitrievich had his own special Tao (perception of life). It is no coincidence that the life and work of Balmont are closely related. From childhood, a powerful creative principle was laid in him, which manifested itself in the contemplation of the world outlook.

From childhood, he was sickened by schoolboyism and loyalty. Romanticism often prevailed over common sense. He never graduated from the school (Shuisky male heir to Tsesarevich Alexei), he was expelled from the 7th grade for participating in a revolutionary circle. He completed his last school course at the Vladimir Gymnasium under round-the-clock supervision of a teacher. He later recalled only two teachers with gratitude: a teacher of history and geography and a teacher of literature.

After studying for a year at Moscow University, he was also expelled for "organizing riots", then he was expelled from the Demidov Lyceum in Yaroslavl ...

As you can see, Konstantin did not easily start his poetic activity and his work is still the subject of controversy between literary critics.

Balmont's personality

The personality of Konstantin Dmitrievich Balmont is quite complex. He was not "like everyone else." Exclusivity... It can be identified even by the poet's portrait, by his gaze, by his posture. It immediately becomes clear: before us is not an apprentice, but a master of poetry. His personality was bright and charismatic. He was an amazingly organic person, the life and work of Balmont are like a single inspirational impulse.

He began writing poems at the age of 22 (for comparison, Lermontov's first compositions were written at the age of 15). Prior to this, as we already know, incomplete education, as well as an unsuccessful marriage with the daughter of a Shuisky manufacturer, which ended in a suicide attempt (the poet threw himself out of a window on the 3rd floor onto the pavement.) Balmont was pushed by the disorder of family life and the death of the first child from meningitis. His first wife Garelina Larisa Mikhailovna, a beauty of the Botticelli type, tortured him with jealousy, imbalance and disdain for dreams of great literature. He splashed out his emotions from discord (and later from divorce) with his wife in the verses “Your fragrant shoulders breathed ...”, “No, no one did me so much harm ...”, “Oh, woman, child, accustomed to play ..”.

self-education

How did the young Balmont, having become an outcast due to the allegiance of the education system, turned into an educated person, an ideologist of a new one? Self-education. It became for Konstantin Dmitrievich a springboard to the future ...

Being by nature a real worker of the pen, Konstantin Dmitrievich never followed any external system imposed on him from outside and alien to his nature. Balmont's work is entirely based on his passion for self-education and openness to impressions. He was attracted by literature, philology, history, philosophy, in which he was a real specialist. He loved to travel.

The beginning of the creative path

Inherent in Fet, Nadson and Pleshcheev, did not become an end in itself for Balmont (in the 70-80s of the XIX century, many poets created poems with motives of sadness, sadness, restlessness, orphanhood). It turned for Konstantin Dmitrievich into the path he paved to symbolism. He will write about this later.

Unconventional self-education

The unconventionality of self-education determines the features of Balmont's work. It was really a man who created with a word. Poet. And he perceived the world in the same way as a poet can see it: not with the help of analysis and reasoning, but relying only on impressions and sensations. “The first movement of the soul is the most correct”, - this rule, worked out by him, became immutable for his whole life. It raised him to the heights of creativity, it also ruined his talent.

The romantic hero of Balmont in the early period of his work is committed to Christian values. He, experimenting with combinations of different sounds and thoughts, erects a "cherished chapel".

However, it is obvious that under the influence of his travels in 1896-1897, as well as translations of foreign poetry, Balmont gradually comes to a different worldview.

It should be recognized that following the romantic style of Russian poets of the 80s. Balmont's work began, briefly evaluating which, we can say that he really became the founder of symbolism in Russian poetry. Significant for the period of the formation of the poet are considered poetry collections "Silence" and "In the boundlessness."

He outlined his views on symbolism in 1900 in the article "Elementary Words on Symbolic Poetry". Symbolists, unlike realists, according to Balmont, are not just observers, they are thinkers looking at the world through the window of their dreams. At the same time, Balmont considers “hidden abstraction” and “obvious beauty” to be the most important principles in symbolic poetry.

By its nature, Balmont was not a gray mouse, but a leader. A brief biography and creativity confirm this. Charisma and a natural desire for freedom... It was these qualities that allowed him, at the peak of his popularity, to "become a center of attraction" for numerous Russian Balmontist societies. According to Ehrenburg's memoirs (this was much later), Balmont's personality impressed even arrogant Parisians from the fashionable Passy district.

New wings of poetry

Balmont fell in love with his future second wife Ekaterina Alekseevna Andreeva at first sight. This stage in his life reflects the collection of poems "In the boundlessness." The verses dedicated to her are numerous and original: "Black-eyed doe", "Why does the moon always intoxicate us?", "Night flowers".

The lovers lived in Europe for a long time, and then, returning to Moscow, Balmont in 1898 published a collection of poems "Silence" in the Scorpio publishing house. The collection of poems was preceded by an epigraph chosen from Tyutchev's writings: "There is a certain hour of universal silence." The poems in it are grouped into 12 sections called "lyric poems". Konstantin Dmitrievich, inspired by the theosophical teaching of Blavatsky, already in this collection of poems noticeably departs from the Christian worldview.

The poet's understanding of his role in art

The collection "Silence" becomes the facet that distinguishes Balmont as a poet professing symbolism. Developing further the accepted vector of creativity, Konstantin Dmitrievich writes an article called "Calderon's personality drama", where he indirectly substantiated his departure from the classical Christian model. It was done, as always, figuratively. He considered earthly life "falling away from the bright Primary Source."

Innokenty Fedorovich Annensky talentedly presented the features of Balmont's work, his author's style. He believed that the "I", written by Balmont, does not in principle indicate belonging to the poet, it is initially socialized. Therefore, Konstantin Dmitrievich's verse is unique in its heartfelt lyricism, expressed in associating oneself with others, which the reader invariably feels. Reading his poems, it seems that Balmont is filled with light and energy, which he generously shares with others:

What Balmont presents as optimistic narcissism is in fact more altruistic than the phenomenon of public demonstration of poets' pride in their merits, as well as equally public hanging of laurels by them on themselves.

The work of Balmont, in short, in the words of Annensky, is saturated with the internal philosophical polemicism inherent in it, which determines the integrity of the worldview. The latter is expressed in the fact that Balmont wants to present the event to his reader comprehensively: both from the standpoint of the executioner and from the standpoint of the victim. He does not have an unambiguous assessment of anything, he is initially characterized by pluralism of opinions. He came to it thanks to his talent and diligence, a whole century ahead of the time when this became the norm of public consciousness for developed countries.

solar genius

The work of the poet Balmont is unique. In fact, Konstantin Dmitrievich purely formally joined various currents, so that it would be more convenient for him to promote his new poetic ideas, which he never lacked. In the last decade of the 19th century, a metamorphosis takes place with the poet's work: melancholy and transience give way to sunny optimism.

If in earlier poems the mood of Nietzscheanism was traced, then at the peak of the development of talent, the work of Konstantin Balmont began to be distinguished by specific authorial optimism and “sunshine”, “fiery”.

Alexander Blok, who is also a symbolist poet, presented a vivid description of Balmont's work of that period very succinctly, saying that it is as bright and life-affirming as spring.

The peak of creativity

Balmont's poetic gift sounded for the first time in full force in verses from the collection "Burning Buildings". It contains 131 poems written during the poet's stay in Polyakov's house.

All of them, according to the poet, were composed under the influence of “one mood” (Balmont did not think of creativity in a different way). “A poem should no longer be in a minor key!” Balmont decided. Starting with this collection, he finally moved away from decadence. The poet, boldly experimenting with combinations of sounds, colors and thoughts, created "lyrics of the modern soul", "torn soul", "wretched, ugly".

At this time, he was in close contact with the St. Petersburg bohemia. knew one weakness for her husband. He was not allowed to drink wine. Although Konstantin Dmitrievich was of a strong, wiry build, his nervous system(obviously, torn in childhood and youth) "worked" inadequately. After wine, he was "carried" to brothels. However, as a result, he found himself in a completely miserable state: lying on the floor and paralyzed by a deep hysteria. This happened more than once while working on Burning Buildings, when he was in company with Baltrushaitis and Polyakov.

We must pay tribute to Ekaterina Alekseevna, the earthly guardian angel of her husband. She understood the essence of her husband, whom she considered the most honest and sincere and who, to her chagrin, had affairs. For example, as with Dagny Christensen in Paris, the verses “The Sun Has Retired”, “From the Family of Kings” are dedicated to her. It is significant that the affair with the Norwegian, who worked as a St. Petersburg correspondent, ended on the part of Balmont as abruptly as it began. After all, his heart still belonged to one woman - Ekaterina Andreevna, Beatrice, as he called her.

In 1903, Konstantin Dmitrievich hardly published the collection “We Will Be Like the Sun”, written in 1901-1902. It feels like the hand of a master. Note that about 10 works did not pass through the censorship. The work of the poet Balmont, according to the censors, has become too sensual and erotic.

Literary critics, however, believe that this collection of works, presenting to readers a cosmogonic model of the world, is evidence of a new, the highest level poet's development. Being on the verge of a mental break, while working on the previous collection, Konstantin Dmitrievich seems to have realized that it is impossible to “live in rebellion”. The poet is looking for truth at the intersection of Hinduism, paganism and Christianity. He expresses his worship of elemental objects: fire ("Hymn to Fire"), wind ("Wind"), ocean ("Appeal to the Ocean"). In the same 1903, the Grif publishing house published the third collection, crowning the peak of Balmont's work, “Only Love. Semitsvetnik".

Instead of a conclusion

Inscrutable Even for such poets "by the grace of God" as Balmont. Life and work are briefly characterized for him after 1903 in one word - "recession". Therefore, Alexander Blok, who in fact became the next leader of Russian symbolism, in his own way appreciated the further (after the collection “Only Love”) Balmont’s work. He presented him with a deadly characterization, saying that there is a great Russian poet Balmont, but there is no “new Balmont”.

However, not being literary critics of the last century, we nevertheless got acquainted with the late work of Konstantin Dmitrievich. Our verdict: it's worth reading, there's a lot of interesting stuff in there... However, we have no motives to distrust Blok's words. Indeed, from the point of view of literary criticism, Balmont as a poet is the banner of symbolism, after the collection “Only Love. Semitsvetnik "has exhausted itself. Therefore, it is logical on our part to conclude this short story about the life and work of K. D. Balmont, the “solar genius” of Russian poetry.

Career: translator, essayist, symbolist poet

Age: 75 years old

Place of birth: Gumnishchi, Vladimir province, Russian Empire

Marital status: married

Biography

Konstantin Balmont is a Russian poet, translator, prose writer, critic, and essayist. Bright representative Silver Age. He published 35 collections of poetry, 20 books of prose. He translated a large number of works by foreign writers. Konstantin Dmitrievich is the author of literary studies, philological treatises, and critical essays. His poems "Snowflake", "Reeds", "Autumn", "By Winter", "Fairy" and many others are included in the school curriculum.

Childhood and youth

Konstantin Balmont was born and lived until the age of 10 in the village of Gumnishchi, Shuisky district, Vladimir province, in a poor but noble family. His father, Dmitry Konstantinovich, first worked as a judge, later took the post of head of the zemstvo council. Mother Vera Nikolaevna was from a family where they loved and were fond of literature. woman arranged literary evenings staged performances and published in the local newspaper.

Vera Nikolaevna knew several foreign languages, and she was characterized by a share of "free-thinking", "unwanted" people often visited their house. Later, he wrote that his mother not only instilled in him a love of literature, but from her he inherited his "mental system." In the family, in addition to Konstantin, there were seven sons. He was third. Watching his mother teach his older brothers to read and write, the boy taught himself to read at the age of 5.

The family lived in a house that stood on the banks of the river, surrounded by gardens. Therefore, when the time came to send the children to school, they moved to Shuya. Thus, they had to break away from nature. The boy wrote his first poems at the age of 10. But his mother did not approve of these undertakings, and he did not write anything for the next 6 years.

In 1876, Balmont was enrolled in the Shuya gymnasium. At first, Kostya proved himself to be a diligent student, but soon he got bored with all this. He became interested in reading, with some books in German and French he read in the original. He was expelled from the gymnasium for poor teaching and revolutionary sentiments. Even then, he was in an illegal circle that distributed leaflets from the People's Will party.

Konstantin moved to Vladimir and studied there until 1886. While still studying at the gymnasium, his poems were published in the capital's magazine "Picturesque Review", but this event went unnoticed. After he entered the Moscow University at the Faculty of Law. But even here he did not stay long.

He became close to Pyotr Nikolayev, who was a sixties revolutionary. Therefore, it is not surprising that after 2 years he was expelled for participating in student disorder. Immediately after this incident, he was expelled from Moscow to Shuya.

In 1889, Balmont decided to recover at the university, but due to a nervous breakdown, he again could not finish his studies. The same fate befell him at the Demidov Lyceum legal sciences where he entered later. After this attempt, he decided to leave the idea of ​​​​getting a "state" education.

Literature

Balmont wrote his first collection of poems when he was bedridden after an unsuccessful suicide. The book was published in Yaroslavl in 1890, but later the poet himself personally destroyed the main part of the circulation.

Nevertheless, the collection "Under the Northern Sky" is considered the starting point in the poet's work. He was greeted with admiration by the public, as were his subsequent works - "In the vastness of darkness" and "Silence". It was eagerly published in modern magazines, Balmont became popular, he was considered the most promising of the "decadents".

In the mid-1890s, he began to communicate closely with Bryusov, Merezhkovsky, Gippius. Soon Balmont became the most popular symbolist poet in Russia. In poetry, he admires the phenomena of the world, and in some collections he openly touches on “demonic” topics. This can be seen in "Evil Charms", the circulation of which was confiscated by the authorities for reasons of censorship.

Balmont travels a lot, so his work is permeated with images of exotic countries and multiculturalism. It attracts and delights readers. The poet adheres to spontaneous improvisation - he never made changes to the texts, he believed that the first creative impulse was the most correct.

Contemporaries highly appreciated "Fairy Tales", written by Balmont in 1905. The poet dedicated this collection of fairy-tale songs to his daughter Nina.

Konstantin Dmitrievich Balmont was a revolutionary in spirit and in life. Expulsion from the gymnasium and the university did not stop the poet. Once he publicly read the verse "Little Sultan", in which everyone saw a parallel with Nicholas II. For this, he was expelled from St. Petersburg and banned from living in university cities for 2 years.

He was an opponent of tsarism, so his participation in the First Russian Revolution was expected. At that time, he became friends with Maxim Gorky and wrote poems that looked more like rhymed leaflets.

During the December Moscow uprising of 1905, Balmont speaks to students. But, fearing arrest, he was forced to leave Russia. From 1906 to 1913 he lived in France as a political emigrant. Being in a kind of exile, he continues to write, but critics increasingly began to talk about the decline of Balmont's work. In his latest works they noticed a certain pattern and self-repetition.

The poet himself considered his best book"Burning buildings. Lyrics of the modern soul. If before this collection his lyrics were filled with longing and melancholy, then “Burning Buildings” opened Balmont from the other side - “sunny” and cheerful notes appeared in his work.

Returning to Russia in 1913, he published a 10-volume complete set of works. He works on translations and lectures around the country. February revolution Balmont took it enthusiastically, like the rest of the Russian intelligentsia. But soon he was horrified by the anarchy that was happening in the country.

When the October Revolution began, he was in St. Petersburg, according to him, it was a "hurricane of madness" and "chaos." In 1920, the poet moved to Moscow, but soon, due to the poor health of his wife and daughter, he moved with them to France. He never returned to Russia.

In 1923, Balmont published two autobiographies - "Under the New Sickle" and "Air Route". Until the first half of the 1930s, he traveled all over Europe, his performances were a success with the public. But he no longer enjoyed recognition among the Russian diaspora.

The sunset of his work came in 1937, when he published his last collection of poems, Light Service.

Personal life

In 1889, Konstantin Balmont married the daughter of an Ivanovo-Voznesensk merchant, Larisa Mikhailovna Garelina. Their mother introduced them, but when he announced his intention to marry, she spoke out against this marriage. Konstantin showed his inflexibility and even went to break with his family for the sake of his beloved.

Konstantin Balmont and his first wife Larisa Garelina

As it turned out, his young wife was prone to unjustified jealousy. They always quarreled, the woman did not support him either in literary or revolutionary endeavors. Some researchers note that it was she who addicted Balmont to wine.

On March 13, 1890, the poet decided to commit suicide - he threw himself onto the pavement from the third floor of his own apartment. But the attempt failed - he lay in bed for a year, and from his injuries he remained lame for the rest of his life.

In marriage with Larisa, they had two children. Their first child died in infancy, the second - son Nikolai - was ill with a nervous breakdown. As a result, Konstantin and Larisa separated, she married a journalist and writer Engelhardt.

In 1896 Balmont married a second time. His wife was Ekaterina Alekseevna Andreeva. The girl was from a wealthy family - smart, educated and beautiful. Immediately after the wedding, the lovers left for France. In 1901 their daughter Nina was born. In many ways, they were united by literary activity, together they worked on translations.

Konstantin Balmont and his third wife Elena Tsvetkovskaya

Ekaterina Alekseevna was not an imperious person, but she dictated the lifestyle of the spouses. And everything would have been fine if Balmont had not met Elena Konstantinovna Tsvetkovskaya in Paris. The girl was fascinated by the poet, looked at him as if at a god. From now on, he lived with his family, then for a couple of months he went on trips abroad with Catherine.

His family life finally confused when Tsvetkovskaya gave birth to a daughter, Mirra. This event finally tied Konstantin to Elena, but at the same time he did not want to part with Andreeva. Mental torment again led Balmont to suicide. He jumped out of the window, but, like last time, survived.

As a result, he began to live in St. Petersburg with Tsvetkovskaya and Mirra, and occasionally visited Moscow to Andreeva and his daughter Nina. They later immigrated to France. There Balmont began to meet with Dagmar Shakhovskaya. He did not leave the family, but met with the woman regularly, writing letters to her daily. As a result, she bore him two children - a son, Georges, and a daughter, Svetlana.

The greatest representative of the poetry of the early twentieth century, Konstantin Dmitrievich Balmont, was born on June 3, 1867 in the village of Gumnishchi, Vladimir province. His father was listed as a judge in the city zemstvo, and his mother was engaged in literature. She often held literary evenings, appeared in amateur performances.

It was the mother who introduced Balmont to literature, history, music and literature, influencing the boy's perception. As the poet wrote later, from his mother he learned the wildness and passion of nature, which became the basis of his entire subtle soul.

Childhood

Konstantin had 6 brothers. When the time came to teach the elders, the family settled in the city. In 1876, little Balmont went to the gymnasium. The boy soon got bored with his studies, and he spent all his days reading drunkenly. Moreover, German and French books were read in the original. Balmont was so inspired by what he read that at the age of 10 he wrote poetry for the first time.

But, like many boys of that time, little Kostya was subjected to rebellious revolutionary moods. He got acquainted with the revolutionary circle, where he actively participated, because of which he was expelled in 1884. He completed his studies in Vladimir, and somehow graduated from the gymnasium in 1886. Then the young man was sent to Moscow University to study as a lawyer. But the revolutionary spirit has not gone away, and a year later the student is expelled for holding student riots.

The beginning of the creative path

The first poetic experience of a 10-year-old boy was severely criticized by his mother. A hurt boy forgets about poetry for 6 years. The first published work dates back to 1885, and it appeared in the journal Picturesque Review. From 1887 to 1889 Konstantin came to grips with the translation of books from German and French. In 1890, due to poverty and a sad marriage, the newly-made translator is thrown out of the window. With severe injuries, he spends about a year in the hospital. As the poet himself wrote, the year spent in the ward entailed "an unprecedented flowering of mental excitement and cheerfulness." During this year, Balmont published his debut book of poems. Recognition did not follow, and, stung by indifference to his work, he destroys the whole circulation.

The heyday of the poet

After an unsuccessful experience with his own book, Balmont took up self-development. He reads books, improves languages, spends time on the road. From 1894 to 1897. translating The History of Scandinavian Literature and The History of Italian Literature. There are new, now successful, attempts to publish poetry: in 1894 the book "Under the Northern Sky" was published, 1895 - "In the Vastness", 1898 - "Silence". Balmont's works appear in the newspaper "Vesy". In 1896 the poet marries again and leaves for Europe with his wife. Travels continue: in 1897 he conducts lessons in Russian literature in England.

A new book of poems was published in 1903 with the title "Let's be like the sun." She had an unprecedented success. In 1905, Balmont again leaves Russia and goes to Mexico. Revolution of 1905-1907 the traveler met passionately, and took a direct part in it. The poet was regularly on the street, had a loaded revolver with him and read speeches to students. Fear of arrest makes the revolutionary leave in 1906 for France.

Having settled in the outback of Paris, the poet still spends all his time away from home. In 1914, having visited Georgia, he translated Rustaveli's poem "The Knight in the Panther's Skin". In 1915 he returned to Moscow, where he lectured students on literature.

Creative crisis

In 1920, Balmont again leaves for Paris with his third wife and daughter, and no longer leaves it. In France, 6 more collections of poems are published, in 1923 the autobiographies Under the New Sickle and The Air Way are published. Konstantin Dmitrievich missed his homeland very much, and often regretted that he had left it. Suffering poured into the poems of that period. It became more and more difficult for him, and soon he was diagnosed with a serious mental disorder. The poet stopped writing and devoted more and more time to reading. He spent the end of his life in the Russian House shelter in the French outback. The great poet died on December 23, 1942.

Biography

“A light, slightly limping gait definitely throws Balmont forward into space. Or rather, as if from the spaces Balmont gets to the ground - to the salon, to the street. And the impulse breaks in him, and he, realizing that he has hit the wrong place ... puts on his pince-nez and arrogantly (or rather, frightened) looks around, raises his dry lips, framed by a beard red as fire ... And that is why his whole appearance doubles. Arrogance and impotence, grandeur and lethargy, boldness, fear - all this alternates in him, and what a subtle whimsical scale passes on his emaciated face, pale, with widely flaring nostrils! ... the vengeful genius of a thunderstorm, the demon of burning passion ... the red-bearded Thor himself, but Thor, waddling drearily along the Arbat on an October day, when streams of rain are stretched over the city day and night. He stops ... and suddenly arrogantly stamps his foot on the wet asphalt: “I came to this world to see the sun!” ”- this is how Andrei Bely captured the face of the poet. The celebration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the literary activity of K. D. Balmont, organized on March 11, 1912 by the Neophilological Society at St. Petersburg University, M. A. Voloshin called the anniversary of “young” Russian literature: senile sleep, into which she gradually sank. Balmont was really the glow of the coming dawns.

Konstantin Dmitrievich Balmont was born into a noble family in the village of Gumnishchi, Vladimir province. The most vivid impressions of childhood are the nature of the Central Russian zone. “In our places there are forests and swamps, there are beautiful rivers and lakes, reeds and marsh lilies grow in the barrels, sweet lungwort breathes, night violets conjure,” the poet recalled in his autobiography of 1907. His literary tastes were formed under the influence of “folk songs, Nikitin, Koltsov, Nekrasov and Pushkin. In his youth, a penchant for foreign languages ​​appeared, which he mastered quickly and easily. This helped the poet get acquainted with Western European literature in the original and translate P. B. Shelley, E. Poe, P. Calderon, K. Marlo, O. Wilde. Later, a passion for travel woke up. “Balmont traveled all over the world. It seems that world poetry did not know the poet who spent so much time on the deck of a steamship or at the window of a carriage,” I. Ehrenburg noted. Indeed, the poet traveled all over Europe (Scandinavia, England, Spain, Italy), visited Mexico, traveled to Egypt, Greece, Oceania, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand , southern and northern India. The literary debut - the collection "Poems" (Yaroslavl, 1890) - did not bring the poet the expected success, he himself later considered the book weak. The fate of the next three collections of the 1890s turned out to be happier - “Under the northern sky”, “In the vastness”, “Silence”. The dull romantic tone of these books - the poetry of "sadness, oppression, twilight" - fit well into the color of the lyrics of the 90s. True, against the backdrop of the inexpressiveness of poetic forms that prevailed at that time and the predominance of Pushkin's iambic, they favorably differed in "brilliant finishing of the verse", an abundance of alliterations and internal rhymes, playing with caesura, abrupt lines and new unexpected rhythms. Balmont, called by Gorky "a brilliant virtuoso of form", showed "what a poet who loves music can do with Russian verse." Separate poems, such as "The languishing boat", "I dreamed of catching the departing shadows ...", "Reeds", were recognized as masterpieces and brought fame to Balmont. It was this way, using the musical possibilities of the verse, that numerous imitators of the poet, nicknamed "Balmontists", went. In the collections "Burning Buildings", "We'll Be Like the Sun", "Only Love", published in 1900 - 1903, an individual Balmont system of poetic images-symbols (sun, fire, elements) was formed, which influenced the poetics of symbolism as a whole . In them, the poet finally found "the path of ecstatic penetration into the soul of the world, into the essence of the universe, the final justification of the entire diversity of the universe, the great "Yes", which he painfully vainly sought all his life." At this time, Balmont is the idol of the public, he is on the crest of his creative abilities and "reigns over Russian literature." E. V. Anichkov regarded Balmont’s program collections as “moral, artistic and simply physical liberation from the former mournful school of Russian poetry, which binds poetry to the hardships of the native public.” Proud optimism, the life-affirming pathos of Balmont's lyrics, the desire for freedom from the shackles imposed by society, and a return to the fundamental principles of being - all this was perceived by readers not just as an aesthetic phenomenon, but as a new worldview. Balmont's poetic method is improvisation, "an impressionistic crystallization of creative moments." They, Bryusov believed, “imperiously take” the soul of the poet “and drag it into their swiftness, like a small pebble in a whirlpool. What is true now is true. What was before it no longer exists. The future may not exist at all. Only one present is truly, only this moment, only mine now ... And indeed, what are Balmont's poems, if not captured moments? "Balmont believed that the merit of the "new poetry" was in the ability to "speak with a full hint and omissions in the gentle voice of a siren or the muffled voice of a sibyl that evokes foreboding"; in a "symbolic" work, he saw "two contents": "latent abstraction and obvious beauty." Already from the collection "The Liturgy of Beauty" (1905), criticism states signs of an obvious "decline" in the poet's work. Although Russian poetry, as Blok noted, had not yet had time to get rid of the influence of Balmont by this time, the poet himself begins to repeat "his images, his methods, his thoughts." His glorification of life no longer sounds convincing, critics and readers now feel in them “something deliberate, some kind of effort, some kind of coercion of language and feeling” (V. Ya. Bryusov). For the revolution of 1905-1907. Balmont responded with political verses, for the most part included in the collection "Songs of the Avenger". In search of new material for poetic creativity, he turns to folklore sources: he writes poems on the themes of Slavic mythology, transcribes epics, artistically processes incantations and spells, Khlyst's "singers" (collections "Firebird", "Green Heliport"), introduces the reading public with the aesthetic impressions of his travels ("The White Architect", "The Glow of the Dawns"). These books are no longer successful with readers, and criticism points to their artistic imperfection. In 1920 Balmont left Russia and settled in France. He is still actively working, translating, publishing collections of poetry. Subtle nostalgic experiences become the leitmotif of his lyrics. The poet, who was previously inclined to light and cheerful "dressing up" - either he is a gloomy skald, or a passionate Mexican, or a Spanish grandee - for the first time writes about himself: "I am Russian, I am fair-haired, I am red-haired." The image of the lost homeland becomes central in the émigré collections "Maryevo", "Mine - to Her", "In the Parted Distance", " Northern Lights"and others. The poet writes about her with pain and curses, and at the same time does not lose hope for a possible reconciliation.

Konstantin Dmitrievich Balmont was born in the village of Gumnishchi, located in the Vladimir province, in the family of a nobleman. From childhood, he loved nature and the folklore of his homeland, was fond of the work of Pushkin, Nekrasov, Koltsov and Nikitin. Interested in youth foreign languages for which he has developed an aptitude. Thanks to this, the poet was able to read Western European literature in the original, and also engaged in translations.

Traveling became the next hobby. Balmont visited many countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, etc.

The first collection of essays under the simple title "Poems" was published in 1890 in Yaroslavl, but it was poorly received by the public. Then three more collections are published: “Under the northern sky”, “In the vastness”, “Silence” - and they already bring fame to the poet. 1900-1903 - the collections “Burning buildings”, “We will be like the Sun”, “Only love” are published with the already formed individual Balmont system of poetic images-symbols, which eventually influenced the entire poetics of symbolism. It was in them that Balmont finally decided on his literary style. It was the culmination of the poet's fame.

Since 1905, when the collection "Liturgy of Beauty" was published, the popularity of the poet's work began to decline. He began to repeat himself, in the verses he felt heaviness and compulsion. During the revolution of 1905-1907. K.D. Balmont tried his hand at political poetry, most of which was included in the collection Songs of the Avenger.

Feeling the fading of his muse, the poet turns to folklore (collections "Green Heliport" and "Firebird"), describes the impressions of his travels ("Glow of the Dawn", "White Architect"). However, these books are no longer interesting to readers and are criticized.

In 1920, Konstantin Dmitrievich moved to France. He continued to work actively as before, engaged in translations, published poetry collections. Subtle nostalgic experiences became the main theme of his poems in this period, and the image of the lost homeland was the central image in the émigré collections (“Glaze”, “Mine to Her”, “In the Parted Distance”, “Northern Lights”, etc.).

Konstantin Dmitrievich Balmont was born in 1867 on his father's estate not far from Ivanovo-Voznesensk. His family is rumored to have Scottish ancestry. In his youth, Balmont was expelled for political reasons from the gymnasium in the city of Shuya, and then (1887) from the law faculty of Moscow University. At the university, he recovered two years later, but soon left it again due to a nervous breakdown.

Konstantin Dmitrievich Balmont, photo, 1880s

In 1890, Balmont published the first book of poems in Yaroslavl - completely insignificant and not attracting any attention. Shortly before that, he married the daughter of a Shuya manufacturer, but the marriage turned out to be unhappy. Driven to despair by personal failures, Balmont in March 1890 threw himself onto the cobblestone pavement from the window of the third floor of the Moscow furnished house where he then lived. After this unsuccessful suicide attempt, he had to lie in bed for a whole year. From the resulting fractures, he remained with a slight limp until the end of his life.

However, his successful literary career soon began. The style of Balmont's poetry has changed a lot. Together with Valery Bryusov, he became the initiator of Russian symbolism. Three of his new poetry collections Under northern skies (1894), In the immensity of darkness(1895) and Silence(1898) were greeted with admiration by the public. Balmont was considered the most promising of the "decadents". Magazines that claimed to be "modern" willingly opened their pages to him. His best poems are included in new collections: burning buildings(1900) and Let's be like the sun(1903). Having remarried, Balmont traveled with his second wife all over the world, right up to Mexico and the USA. He even made trip around the world. His fame was then unusually noisy. Valentin Serov painted his portrait, Gorky, Chekhov, many famous poets corresponded with him Silver Age. He was surrounded by crowds of admirers and admirers. The main poetic method of Balmont was spontaneous improvisation. He never edited and did not correct his texts, believing that the first creative impulse is the most correct.

Poets of Russia of the XX century. Konstantin Balmont. Lecture by Vladimir Smirnov

But soon Balmont's talent began to decline. His poetry showed no development. They began to consider her too lightweight, paid attention to rehashing and self-repetitions. In the 1890s Balmont forgot about his gymnasium revolutionary moods and, like many other symbolists, was completely "non-civilian". But with the beginning revolutions of 1905 he joined the party social democrats and released a collection of tendentious party poems Songs of the Avenger. Balmont "spent all his days on the street, built barricades, made speeches, climbing on the pedestals." During the December Moscow uprising of 1905, Balmont made speeches to students with a loaded revolver in his pocket. Fearing arrest, he hastily left for France on the night of New Year 1906.

From there, Balmont returned to Russia only in May 1913 in connection with the amnesty given to political emigrants on the occasion of the 300th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty. The public arranged a solemn meeting for him, the following year a complete (10-volume) collection of his poems was published. The poet traveled around the country with lectures, did a lot of translations.

February revolution Balmont at first welcomed, but was soon horrified by the anarchy that swept the country. He welcomed General Kornilov's attempts to restore order, and considered the Bolshevik October Revolution "chaos" and "a hurricane of madness." He spent 1918-19 in Petrograd, and in 1920 he moved to Moscow, where he "sometimes had to spend the whole day in bed to keep warm." At first, he refused to cooperate with the communist authorities, but then, involuntarily, he got a job at the People's Commissariat for Education. Having achieved from Lunacharsky permission for a temporary business trip abroad, Balmont left Soviet Russia in May 1920 and never returned to it.

He settled again in Paris, but now, due to lack of funds, he lived in a bad apartment with a broken window. Part of the emigration suspected him of a "Soviet agent" - on the grounds that he did not flee from the Soviets "through the forests", but left with the official permission of the authorities. The Bolshevik press, for its part, stigmatized Balmont as a "crafty deceiver" who abused trust "at the cost of a lie". Soviet power, who generously let him go to the West "to study the revolutionary creativity of the masses." The poet lived his last years in poverty, yearning for his homeland. In 1923 he was promoted R. Rolland for the Nobel Prize in Literature, but did not receive it. In exile, Balmont published a number of poetry collections, published memoirs. Last years life, the poet stayed either in a charity house for Russians, which was maintained by M. Kuzmina-Karavaeva, or in a cheap furnished apartment. He died near German-occupied Paris in December 1942.