Life and creative path of K.D. Balmont. Brief description of creativity

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.

Konstantin Balmont

Konstantin Balmont was born on June 3 (15), 1867 in the village (village) of Gumnishchi, Shuisky district, Vladimir province. Father, Dmitry Konstantinovich, served in the Shuisky district court and zemstvo, having gone from a small employee in the rank of collegiate registrar to a justice of the peace, and then to the chairman of the district zemstvo council. Mother, Vera Nikolaevna, nee Lebedeva, was an educated woman, played a prominent role in the life of the city of Shuya - she staged amateur performances, wrote notes in the local press, and played the piano well. Vera Nikolaevna greatly influenced the poet's future outlook, introducing him to "the world of music, literature, history, linguistics."

The poet himself begins counting not only his life, but also his work from the Gumnishchi estate. “My first steps,” Balmont wrote in the essay “At the dawn”, “you were steps along garden paths among countless flowering herbs, bushes and trees. My first steps were surrounded by the first spring songs of birds, the first runs of the warm wind across the white realm of blossoming apple and cherry trees, the first magical lightning of comprehending that the dawns are like the unknown Sea and the high sun owns everything ... I began to write poetry at the age of ten ... It was in my homestead Gumnishchi ... in a forest corner, which until the last days of my life I will remember as a heavenly, undisturbed joy of life ":

In a clear sea of ​​sunlight
The clouds float in a slender chain,
Treat the soul with the caress of greetings,
She is mysteriously drawn into the distance.
And dreams woke up in my soul again,
Again the storm swept over her:
I laugh through joyful tears,
I sob, laughing happily.

("Awakening")

Mother - Vera Nikolaevna was the first person to whom he opened as a poet. And she also became for him the first severe critic, forcing him to think about the difference between ordinary poetry and poetry. Balmont writes: “... My first poems were coldly received by my mother, whom I believed more than anyone else in the world ... Again, the poems arose on a bright sunny day, during a rather long trip among dense forests. Poems danced in my soul like glass-winged dragonflies, and I immediately wrote a dozen poems in my mind and read them aloud to my mother, who rode a troika with me and who this time looked at me after each poem with admiring, so sweet eyes. ... Of all people, my mother, a highly educated, intelligent and rare woman, had the most profound influence on me in my poetic life.

And my father was there too. Paying tribute Dmitry Konstantinovich as the chairman of the county zemstvo council, who did a lot of good for fellow countrymen, Balmont nevertheless emphasizes the moral qualities of his father in his autobiographical prose, stating that they had a strong cherished influence on him. He was, according to the poet's definition, an unusually quiet, kind, silent man who did not value anything in the world except liberty, the countryside, nature and hunting. “With him, even in the very initial childhood,” Balmont admitted in the essay “At the Dawn”, “I deeply penetrated into the beauty of forests, fields, swamps and forest rivers, which are so many in my native land”:

Wherever I wander, everywhere I remember
My fragrant forests.
Swamps and fields, in the fields - from edge to edge -
Native porridge streak.

Wherever I wander, my heart dreams so tenderly
My native cornflowers.
And, in the past, opening a mysterious door,
I go to the river bank.

At the old mill tied boat -
I cling to the coolness of silver.
And so charming and so noisy-clearly
The soul sings: “Come back. It's time."

("Wherever I travel")

In 1876 - 1884 Konstantin Balmont studied at the Shuya gymnasium. Here it is impossible not to recall such an event in Balmontov's life as his participation as a sixteen-year-old schoolboy in an opposition circle that arose in Shuya in 1883. Led the circle Ivan Petrovich Predtechensky, to whom Balmont's mother treated with obvious sympathy. Members of the circle got acquainted with censored literature (in particular, they read the newspaper Narodnaya Volya), discussed issues related to the exploitation of workers, dreamed of a radical revolutionary upheaval of life. In 1884, for participating in an anti-government circle, Balmont was expelled from the gymnasium. He finished his studies in Vladimir under the vigilant supervision of the gymnasium authorities, which, however, did not prevent him not only from maintaining the spirit of freethinking, but also strengthening it. It is known that, as a student at Moscow University, in November 1887 he was one of the organizers of student riots. For this, he was sent to Butyrka prison for three days, expelled from the university, and then administratively sent to Shuya.

As a result, the poet never received a higher education, but thanks to his diligence and curiosity, he became one of the most erudite and cultured people of his time. Balmont annually read a huge number of books, studied, according to various sources, from 14 to 16 languages, in addition to literature and art, he was fond of history, ethnography, and chemistry. First book of poetry Collection of poems" was published in Yaroslavl at the expense of the author in 1890. The young poet, after the release of the book, burned almost the entire small print run.

Konstantin Balmont is a famous Russian symbolist poet, translator, member of the Society of Lovers of Russian Literature.

Childhood

Balmont's father, Dmitry Konstantinovich, served as both a collegiate registrar, a magistrate, and the chairman of the zemstvo council in his native district. Mother, Vera Nikolaevna (nee Lebedeva), was a white general's daughter, loved literature, published in the local press, was the organizer of literary evenings and amateur performances. It was she who influenced the worldview of little Konstantin, introducing him to early years with music, literature, history. 7 brothers grew up in the family, the third of whom was the future poet.

Education

In 1876, Balmont was sent to the Shuya gymnasium. In 1884, he was expelled from the 7th grade for participating in a dubious circle that supported the Narodnaya Volya. His mother transferred him to the Vladimir Gymnasium, from which he graduated in 1886. In the same year, Balmont became a student at the Faculty of Law of Moscow University, but a year later, for participating in revolutionary circles, he was not only expelled, but also exiled to Shuya. In 1889 he returned to the university, but could not study there due to nervous exhaustion. From the Yaroslavl Demidov Lyceum legal sciences he too was expelled in 1890.

creative way

Balmont's first literary debut as a poet took place in 1885, when he was graduating from high school. However, his poems, published in the well-known St. Petersburg magazine "Picturesque Review", were not noticed. In 1890 on own funds Balmont publishes his own collection of poems, which also did not have any success.

By that time, Balmont was already married, because of his marriage, he seriously quarreled with his parents and found himself without a means of subsistence. In March 1890, he tried to commit suicide by throwing himself out of a third-floor window. He survived, but received many bruises and injuries that bedridden him for a whole year.

After a long illness, the writer V. G. Korolenko and professor of Moscow University N. I. Storozhenko helped him get back on his feet. He started working as a translator. In 1894-1895, his translations of Gorn-Schweitzer's History of Scandinavian Literature and Gaspari's History of Italian Literature were published, on the fees from which he lives comfortably for several years.

In 1892, Balmont met Merezhkovsky and Gippius in St. Petersburg, and in 1894 - with Bryusov, who became his closest friend. In 1894, a collection of Balmont's poems was published, which became the starting point of his work - "Under the Northern Sky". Poetic searches continue in the next collection of the poet, "In the boundlessness", which was published in 1895.

In 1896, with his new wife, Balmont went on a trip to Western Europe.

He becomes popular. In 1899 he was elected a member of the Society of Lovers of Russian Literature.

Thanks to the 1900 collection Burning Buildings, Konstantin Dmitrievich gains all-Russian fame and becomes one of the leaders of symbolism. The collection of 1902 “Let's be like the Sun” strengthened the position of the poet.

In 1901, Balmont had a conflict with the authorities. On one evening he read a poem directed against Nicholas II and was expelled from the capital for this.

In 1905, Balmont resumed his revolutionary activities, which led to the first emigration to Paris from 1906 to 1913, where the collections "Poems" and "Songs of the Avenger" were published. Returning to his homeland in 1913 did not become a reassurance for the poet. He continues to travel abroad, actively participates in the revolutionary movement.

Oddly enough, Balmont does not accept the revolution because of its bloody methods. In 1920 he left with his family for Paris. Life in exile does not add up: meager fees, persecution by the Soviet authorities exhausted his mental strength. Since 1932, it has become known that the poet suffers from a serious mental illness.

Personal life

Balmont married in 1889 the daughter of a Shuya manufacturer, Larisa Garelina. The parents did not support the marriage and left their son without any financial support. This led him to attempt suicide, which became the turning point in Constantine's relationship with his wife. They parted ways.

In 1896, Balmont entered into a new marriage with the translator Ekaterina Alekseevna Andreeva, who bore him a daughter, Nina.

The third wife, civil, was Elena Konstantinovna Tsvetkovskaya, a fan of his poetry. They had a daughter Mirra. Balmont did not leave the first family and lived with one or the other, torn between two fires.

Death

On December 23, 1942, Balmont, exhausted by mental illness, died of pneumonia in the town of Noisy-le-Grand near Paris.

The main achievements of Balmont

Balmont was one of the most active symbolist poets of the Silver Age: he owns 35 published collections of poetry and 20 books of prose. He wrote in absolutely all genres: he wrote poetry, prose, autobiographies, memoirs, philological treatises, historical and literary studies, critical essays.

He was a unique translator: he translated Spanish songs; Yugoslav, Bulgarian, Lithuanian, Mexican, Japanese poetry; as well as Slovak, Georgian epic.

Important dates in Balmont's biography

1876–1884 - studying at the Shuya gymnasium.

1884 - expulsion from the Shuya gymnasium.

1884–1886 - studying at the Vladimir Gymnasium.

1885 - the first poems were printed.

1886 - admission to Moscow University.

1887 - expulsion from the university.

1889 - marriage to Garelina.

1890 - the first collection of poems, suicide attempt.

1892 - acquaintance with Merezhkovsky and Gippius.

1894 - acquaintance with Bryusov, collection "Under the northern sky".

1895 - collection "In the vastness".

1896 - marriage to Andreeva, travel abroad.

1900 - collection "Burning Buildings".

1901 - expelled from the capital for anti-government poetry.

1902 - collection "We will be like the Sun."

1906–1913 - first emigration to Paris.

1913–1920 - return to Russia.

1920 - the second emigration to Paris.

1932 - diagnosed with a serious mental illness.

1942 - death.

Many biographers of the poet consider the number 42 fateful for him: in 1942, his first wife, Liza Garelina, died; at 42, Balmont visited Egypt, which he had dreamed of since childhood; at 42, he experienced a creative crisis; he was born 42 years after the Decembrist uprising and all his life he regretted that he was not with them on Senate Square.

Dmitry Konstantinovich, the poet's father, served in the zemstvo (he was the chairman of the zemstvo council), lived in his house in the city of Shuya, and 10 miles from Shuya he had a small estate Gumnishchi, where all seven of his sons were born and raised: Nikolai, Arkady , Konstantin, Alexander, Vladimir, Mikhail and Dmitry.

The poet's father was a very pleasant man: smart, calm, "never raised his voice in his life," Balmont said about him. He loved nature, silence and family comfort. He was a passionate hunter. In the village he was engaged in farming, in the city he went only to work. In Gumnishchi, he built a small starch factory to make ends meet and educate his sons. They had no other means. He loved his boys very much and took care of them.

The poet's mother, Vera Nikolaevna, was from the Lebedev military family from the Volga, Yaroslavl province. Her father, Nikolai Semenovich, and his brothers were military engineers. All with higher education, enlightened and "humane" people, as it was then called. All of them held high positions. The elder brother of Nikolai Semenovich was known as the builder of the canal of the Mariinsky system, the other, a general, served in Poland, knew well Polish language and translated from it. He owns the first translation of Krasinsky's drama "Undivine Comedy".

D. K. Balmont

V. N. Balmont (nee Lebedev)

Balmont's grandfather, Nikolai Semenovich, was a gifted person, loved music, wrote poetry. His mother, the poet's great-grandmother, was nee Titova, the daughter of a famous composer in her time.

The Lebedev family came from the Tatar clan White Swan of the Golden Horde.

Vera Nikolaevna was a woman of great temperament, intelligent, lively, and domineering. She was educated at the Moscow Catherine Institute. From a young age she loved reading, music and poetry. She wrote novels and poetry herself. She told me that she never spent a single day of her life without reading. She knew languages, especially French. She did not devote much time to housekeeping and raising children. Lived for the most part in the town. In her youth, she staged amateur performances in which she herself took part: they said that she had outstanding stage talents. She did a lot of social work. She kept to the most advanced ideas. Politically unreliable, deported always found shelter in her house. The Balmont House was generally open, and especially for the politically affected. Vera Nikolaevna worked hard for them, arranged them.

She never sat still for a long time, rushed from the village to Shuya, Vladimir, Moscow ... on business, and if there were no cases, she invented them for herself. “You’re just wasting your money,” said her husband, who bore the brunt of raising funds for the life of their large family.

Temper Vera Nikolaevna was restless, noisy. In his old age, Dmitry Konstantinovich, who could hardly bear the character of his wife, moved from her from the city to the village. He lived there in a small wing with his housekeeper, a beautiful, sedate woman, Varvara Spiridonovna. She ran his household, oversaw everything and took care of her old master until his death. He died from general paralysis.

I knew this Varvara Spiridonovna well. Last years she lived out her life in Moscow, in the house in which I accidentally settled. We were friends with her, and she told me a lot about the Balmont family. She died in my arms.

Balmont loved his parents, especially his mother, with whom he never stopped communicating. Wherever he was, he wrote to her, sent his new poems, sent "gifts". But for a long time he was weary of her noisy company, her loud voice. He looked like his mother in face and blond-reddish hair color. On the father - facial features and meek character.

Konstantin Dmitrievich was born in 1867, on June 4, as the third son. He grew up with his brothers in the village without a break before entering the gymnasium. Balmont's childhood was a very happy time, which he loved to remember. He described it in detail in his book Under the New Sickle, published in Berlin in 1923. He was especially attached to his older brother Nikolai, a serious, self-absorbed young man who from a young age devoted himself to the study of philosophy and religion. Nikolai was handsome, like his father, dark-haired. His face in his youth had an extraordinary resemblance to the Titian portrait "L'homme aux gants", which is in the Louvre. The picture from this picture therefore always hung with us. Very young, Nikolai went crazy - he had a religious mania, as they said then. Soon he caught a cold and died.

Balmont House in Shuya

The madness and death of his beloved brother and friend shocked Balmont terribly. He never forgot it. Despite the friendship and closeness of the two brothers, they were still very different. In this respect, their letters, preserved by me, are of interest.

The other Balmont brothers were healthy, strong sportsmen and hunters. Most of them stayed in Shuya and in the village, all started families and lived to old age.

Balmont was a quiet, contemplative child. From early childhood, he adored - in the full sense of the word - nature. Ten years spent in the countryside, in the garden, among the fields and forests, left an indelible imprint on all his further thinking and feeling.

While still very young, he watched all the manifestations of nature in heaven and on earth. Stars, clouds, the whole world of animals, insects, plants captured him much more than the life of the people around him. And always this world seemed to him more diverse and richer. The laws of nature were the only ones he accepted unconditionally. The regularity and gradualness of all the changes taking place in nature, perhaps, instilled in him forever a hatred of arbitrariness and violence.