Blok years of life and short biography. Blok A.A

Blok's biography

Alexander Blok, the greatest Russian poet and playwright, one of the most prominent representatives of Russian Symbolism, a literary movement that had a profound influence on all subsequent Russian and world literature.

A. Blok born on November 28 (16), 1880 in the family of a law professor and the daughter of the rector of the University of St. Petersburg. Since his parents separated, from the age of three Blok lived and was raised by his father’s parents, who belonged to the “cream” of the St. Petersburg intelligentsia. Constant rotation in the bohemian environment formed Blok’s special worldview, which manifested itself in the future in his literature. Blok began composing at the age of five (!), so it is not surprising that poetic expression became the norm of his life.

In 1903, Blok married Lyubov Mendeleeva, the daughter of the great Russian chemist D.I. Mendeleev. In the same year, the poet’s first collection of poems was published, written under the impression of first love and the first months of a happy family life. The initial stage of Blok’s work was greatly influenced by Pushkin and Vl. Soloviev. Blok experimented with poetic rhythm at that time, inventing more and more new forms. For him, the sound and music of verse were paramount in poetry.

Blok's first collection of poems " Poems about a beautiful lady", 1904, represented the poet's Platonic idealism, the realization of divine wisdom in the image of the world soul in female guise.

In Blok's next poetry collections, " City", 1908, and " Snow mask", 1907, the author concentrated on a religious theme, and his muse of their mystical lady turned into an unfamiliar courtesan.

Blok's later poems represent a mixture of the author's hopes and despair regarding the future of Russia. In unfinished" Retribution", 1910-1921, the collapse of the author's illusions about the new Bolshevik regime manifested itself. It is worth noting that Blok was optimistic about the October Revolution of 1917, placing high hopes on the new government. However, the subsequent actions of the Bolsheviks were so contrary to what Blok had assumed and that they themselves promised that the poet could not help but despair of his own self-deception. Nevertheless, he continued to believe in the exceptional role of Russia in the history of mankind. His works confirmed this opinion. Homeland" And " Scythians". In "Scythians" Blok used gypsy folklore, jumping rhythms, sharp transitions from intense passions to quiet melancholy. He seems to warn the West that if it takes up arms against Rus', then in the future this will lead to a response from Rus', united with the militant East that this will lead to Chaos.

The last work Blok became his most controversial and mysterious poem "Twelve", 1920, in which the author used polyphony of rhythms, harsh, even rude language, so that the reader could imagine what was written on paper: a detachment of 12 Red soldiers The army is coming through the city, sweeping away everything in its path and carrying Christ ahead of itself.

Alexander Blok died on August 7, 1921 in St. Petersburg, abandoned by many friends of his youth and deprived of the last illusions regarding the new government.

Alexander Alexandrovich Blok (1880-1921) - an outstanding Russian symbolist poet, writer, playwright, publicist, translator, critic. A classic of Russian literature, one of the most prominent representatives of the poetry of the Silver Age, who influenced the work of many literary figures - contemporaries and descendants.

Childhood

The future poet was born into a noble noble family. Alexander Alexandrovich Blok’s father, Alexander Lvovich, was a professor at the University of Warsaw. My father's brother held a high government position at that time. Alexander Alexandrovich Blok’s mother, Alexandra Andreevna, was the daughter of the rector of St. Petersburg University.

The marriage of the poet's parents did not last long: after the birth of their son, Alexandra Andreevna left her husband and never returned to him. Leaving her father's surname to her son, she married a guards officer. Alexander Alexandrovich Blok spent his childhood on the outskirts of St. Petersburg in military barracks. He studied at the Vvedenskaya gymnasium.

First love

When Alexander was 16 years old, while on vacation with his mother in a German resort town, he met a woman who left an indelible mark on his life. An interesting fact about Alexander Alexandrovich Blok is that this woman was Ksenia Sadovskaya, a thirty-seven-year-old married lady, the same age as Blok’s mother. The ardent, enthusiastic love of a high school student found a response in the heart of an adult woman with difficult fate. And she responded to his feelings, to the great displeasure of Alexander’s mother. But the mother was unable to prevent the flared romance.

It's time to leave. The lovers said goodbye, agreeing to write to each other and certainly meet in St. Petersburg.

After some time they met and their relationship continued. But it was obvious that their relationship was temporary. Jealousy, quarrels, and showdowns quickly carried Blok and Sadovskaya to an inevitable breakup. In addition, Alexander began to become interested in Lyuba Mendeleeva, which his mother warmly supported. The meetings became less and less frequent, the letters became colder.

Ksenia Sadovskaya lived a difficult life full of trials and died poor and mentally ill in an Odessa hospital. After her death, 12 letters from Blok and a dried rose were found tied with a pink ribbon in the hem of Ksenia’s skirt.

In the works of Alexander Alexandrovich Blok, the image of Sadovskaya can be traced not only in the early period; many poems were written about her both after the breakup and after the news of her death. So the blue-eyed beauty with a misty train remained forever in the immortal poems of her lover.

The beginning of a creative journey

Alexander Blok wrote his first poems as a five-year-old child. Five years later, he wrote two issues of the Ship magazine, and subsequently 37 issues of the Vestnik magazine, which he wrote together with his brothers.

In 1898, Alexander became a student at the Faculty of Law of St. Petersburg University. But after three years he decided to transfer to the Faculty of History and Philology.

An interesting fact about Alexander Alexandrovich Blok is that he was fond of theater and even joined a theater club. But he had no stage roles. The future poet willingly took part in home productions.

"Beautiful Lady"

Since childhood, Blok vacationed every summer on his grandfather’s estate near Moscow. Nearby was the estate of my grandfather’s friend - famous chemist Dmitry Mendeleev. Mendeleev's daughter, Lyubochka, was carried away by the beautiful, dreamy Sasha and tried to draw his attention to herself. She did not succeed right away. The rapprochement between Lyuba and Alexander was greatly facilitated by the mother of the aspiring poet. But their romance was cut short more than once and could not come to a logical conclusion - a wedding. Finally, in 1903, Blok proposed to Lyuba, and she agreed. Thus began a marriage that brought both spouses only suffering and misfortune.

Lyuba is the heroine of the first book of poems by Alexander Alexandrovich Blok, “Poems about a Beautiful Lady.” He extolled his beloved; she remained the main woman in his life for the rest of his life. But the poet wanted to perceive his wife as a sublime, unearthly creature, a Beautiful Lady from dreams. Therefore, immediately after the wedding, he announced to her that marital relations for this reason were impossible between them. Lyuba was shocked. Trying to attract her husband’s attention, she flirted and dressed up, but instead of her husband, she lured his friend, the poet Andrei Bely, into her network. Excruciating love triangle soon fell apart, reflected in Blok’s work. The intimacy that arose later between the spouses only disappointed them.

Family of Alexander Alexandrovich Blok

Alexander Blok was not at all faithful husband. An endless number of women from brothels, affairs with famous actresses and singers, of course, were known to Lyuba. And she tried to keep up with her husband: her numerous fleeting novels were known to everyone. As a result of a riotous life - an addiction to wine.

Alexander Alexandrovich Blok could not have children due to syphilis suffered in his youth.

Lyuba played in the theater and often went on tour. Blok suffered from loneliness, greatly missing his wife, whom, despite everything, he called the main woman in his life.

When his wife became pregnant from yet another casual lover, Blok, oddly enough, was delighted and announced that he was ready to recognize the child as his own. But the unfortunate baby lived very little. Alexander was heartbroken. This is how Alexander Alexandrovich Blok’s poem “On the Death of a Baby” appeared.

During the same period (1909) the poet's father died.

Wanderings

Trying to find peace of mind, Blok and his wife go on vacation to Italy, and then to Germany. The wanderings are reflected in the poet’s work. For his Italian poems, Alexander Blok was accepted into a society called the “Academy,” which also included such famous poets as Bryusov and Annensky.

In the summer of 1911, the couple traveled to France, and then to Belgium and the Netherlands. Two years later, Alexander Blok again goes to France. It is noteworthy that the poet did not like it at all in this country; he was burdened by the local way of life and customs. But doctors advised him to stay there.

The drama “Rose and Cross”, written during these years, was highly appreciated by K. Stanislavsky and V. Nemerovich-Danchenko. But it was not staged in the theater.

In 1916, the poet was called up to serve in the engineering unit. Served in Belarus.

Creation

Symbolism fascinated Blok at the beginning of his creative path- no specifics, only symbols, hints, mystery, riddles. This direction was close to the poet’s worldview.

In Blok's poems there is a synthesis of the everyday and the mystical, the spiritual and the everyday. His pre-revolutionary poetry is characterized by smoothness and musicality. The works of Alexander Aleksandrovich Blok, written later, are characterized by the piercing intonations of gypsy folklore, as a result of the poet’s passion for the then popular singer Lyubov Delmas and frequent visits to cafe-chantants.

One of the main features of Blok's poetry is metaphor. According to him, a real poet must have a metaphorical worldview, so that in his poems the romantic vision of life is not a tribute to high poetic style, but the poet’s natural view of the world.

The innovation of Alexander Blok is that he began to use the dolnik as a unit of rhythm in a poetic line. He freed Russian versification from the canons introduced by Lomonosov and Trediakovsky, which required counting syllables in feet - a certain metrical ordered number and arrangement of unstressed syllables. Later, Blok was followed by almost all the poets of modern times.

Poet and revolution

If the February Revolution was accepted by many representatives of the creative intelligentsia with the hope of positive changes in the life of the state, then the October Revolution divided them into those who accepted the revolution and sided with the new authorities, and those who categorically did not accept the revolution and emigrated from the country.

Alexander Alexandrovich Blok decided that he should be in his homeland during this difficult time. In May 1917, he worked on the Extraordinary Commission of Inquiry. He published a report on his work in this commission in the magazine “Byloe” and the book “ Last days imperial power."

The poet accepted the October Revolution with delight, for which he was sharply condemned in St. Petersburg literary circles. A lot of derogatory words were said and written about Blok; his position aroused the anger and misunderstanding of Ivan Bunin, who wrote about this in his work “Cursed Days.”

The childish joy of the poet, who considered the revolution an element, a flame and did not notice (or did not want to notice) its cruelty and bloodshed, did not last long. The Bolsheviks were quick to take advantage of Blok’s misconception, hoping to attract representatives of the intelligentsia to their side with the famous name of Alexander Blok. He was appointed to various positions and included in numerous commissions, often without his knowledge.

Poem "Twelve"

In the work of the writer Alexander Alexandrovich Blok, the poem “The Twelve” stands apart. This is an absolutely exceptional work, atypical for the author, not fully understood by either Blok’s contemporaries or his descendants, causing an endless amount of controversy and disagreement. The block in this poem is almost unrecognizable.

Alexander Alexandrovich sought to comprehend the events October Revolution not only in journalistic works. And this was the impetus for the appearance of the work.

This is surprising, but the key to understanding this poem is the work of the poet-chansonnier Mikhail Savoyarov, famous in pre-revolutionary times in Petrograd. Blok highly appreciated Savoyarov’s rough creativity and attended his concerts with pleasure.

Of course, in literary circles Alexander Blok’s new poem was unanimously condemned. Everyone was accustomed to his sublime poetry, and the style that appeared in this poem was akin to street couplets.

Preparing his wife Lyubov Dmitrievna for reading the poem at concerts and evenings, the poet took her to Savoyarov’s concerts so that she would understand and feel the style, eccentric and even somewhat shocking manner of performance. Alexander Blok himself could not read poetry in this manner.

Perhaps the poet considered the language of a street tramp or a criminal to be the only possible language in the difficult post-revolutionary times.

After the revolution

Unexpectedly, in February 1919, Blok was arrested due to suspicion of participation in an anti-Soviet conspiracy. The poet spent a little more than a day in prison, thanks to the intercession of Anatoly Lunacharsky. But what happened greatly shocked him and influenced his reassessment of values, and also accelerated the insight of Blok, fascinated by the revolutionary element.

Intense social work, staying in cold, damp St. Petersburg, melancholy and accumulated fatigue undermined the poet’s already weak health. He developed several serious illnesses, both physical and mental. Alexander Blok did not engage in creativity for some time. His body was tormented by unbearable suffering. At the same time, the poet was in deep depression.

In 1920, Blok's stepfather died. Mother began to live with Alexander and Lyubov Dmitrievna. The situation in the house became extremely tense, as the women closest to the poet did not get along with each other at all.

Famous speech

At a meeting at the House of Writers on the occasion of the anniversary of the death of A. S. Pushkin, Alexander Aleksandrovich Blok gave a speech “On the appointment of a poet.” In it, he raised questions that concern every literary figure: who is the Poet and what is his role in history. Blok's discussions about Pushkin give an understanding of how highly he valued Pushkin's work, appreciating its enormous importance for Russian poetry. This distinguishes Alexander Alexandrovich Blok from the futurists, who consider Pushkin only a relic of the past. According to Blok, the assessment of the poet’s personality by the mob changes, characterizing only the mob, and not the poet. And when the poet’s right to create freely is taken away, he can no longer live.

Last year

In 1921, the poet asked for permission to travel to Finland for treatment. But this was denied to him. Thanks to the petition of Maxim Gorky and Anatoly Lunacharsky, Blok and his wife were finally given permission to leave. But it was already too late. Almost penniless, seriously ill, disappointed, offended and desperate, the poet died. He was only 41 years old.

Just before Blok’s death, rumors circulated throughout Petrograd about his insanity, because in his delirium he was obsessed with only one obsessive thought: destroy every single copy of the poem “The Twelve.” Having been refused a request to travel abroad for necessary treatment, Blok destroyed some records and also refused food and medicine. At the same time, he was fully conscious, which refutes rumors about his madness.

Only two hundred people came to see Alexander Blok off on his final journey. Among them were the poet’s friends and colleagues. The poet was buried at the Smolensk Orthodox cemetery in his native Petrograd. In 1944, his ashes were reburied on the Literary Stages of the Volkovsky Cemetery.

Alexander Blok's wife survived him by 18 years, suddenly dying with her husband's name on her lips.

With the death of Blok she left an entire era. A singer of sublime feelings, an intellectual, a knight - he was a stranger to the new time. It was not for nothing that he hated his poem “The Twelve” so much: the poet realized how deeply he was mistaken, how vilely he was used and abandoned, useless and dying.

Blok’s contemporaries also received unenviable fate: The Soviet government destroyed too many people either morally or physically.

Blok Alexander Alexandrovich was born in St. Petersburg on November 28, 1880. His father was Alexander Lvovich Blok, who worked as a professor at the University of Warsaw, and his mother was the translator Alexandra Andreevna Beketova, whose father was the rector of St. Petersburg University.

The mother of the future poet married her first husband at the age of eighteen, and soon after the birth of the boy, she decided to sever all ties with her unloved husband. Subsequently, the poet’s parents practically did not communicate with each other.

In those days, divorces were rare and condemned by society, but in 1889, the self-sufficient and purposeful Alexandra Blok ensured that the Holy Governing Synod officially dissolved her marriage to Alexander Lvovich. Soon after this, the daughter of the famous Russian botanist remarried true love: for the guard officer Kublitsky-Piottukh. Alexandra Andreevna did not change her son’s surname to her own or to her stepfather’s intricate surname, and the future poet remained Blok.

Sasha spent his childhood years in his grandfather's house. In the summer he went to Shakhmatovo for a long time and throughout his life he carried warm memories of the time spent there. Moreover, Alexander Blok lived with his mother and her new husband on the outskirts of St. Petersburg.

There has always been an incomprehensible spiritual connection between the future poet and his mother. It was she who revealed to Sasha the works of Baudelaire, Polonsky, Verlaine, Fet and other famous poets. Alexandra Andreevna and her young son studied new trends in philosophy and poetry together, had enthusiastic conversations regarding latest news politics and culture. Subsequently, it was Alexander Blok who primarily read his works to his mother and it was from her that he sought consolation, understanding and support.

In 1889, the boy began studying at the Vvedenskaya gymnasium. Some time later, when Sasha was already 16 years old, he went with his mother on a trip abroad and spent some time in the city of Bad Nauheim, a popular German resort of those times. Despite his young age, on vacation, he selflessly fell in love with Ksenia Sadovskaya, who was 37 years old at that time. Naturally, there was no talk of any relationship between a teenager and an adult woman. However, the charming Ksenia Sadovskaya, her image, imprinted in Blok’s memory, later became an inspiration for him when writing many works.

In 1898, Alexander completed his studies at the gymnasium and successfully passed entrance exams to St. Petersburg University, choosing jurisprudence for his career. Three years after this, he nevertheless transferred to the historical and philological department, choosing the Slavic-Russian direction for himself. The poet completed his studies at the university in 1906. While receiving higher education, he met Alexei Remizov, Sergei Gorodetsky, and also became friends with Sergei Solovyov, who was his second cousin.

The beginning of creativity

The Blok family, especially on the maternal side, continued a highly cultured family, which could not but affect Alexandra. From a young age, he avidly read numerous books, was fond of theater and even attended the corresponding circle in St. Petersburg, and also tried his hand at poetry. The boy wrote his first simple works at the age of five, and in adolescence, in the company of his brothers, he enthusiastically wrote a handwritten journal.

An important event in the early 1900s for Alexander Alexandrovich was his marriage to Lyubov Mendeleeva, who was the daughter of a famous Russian scientist. The relationship between the young spouses was complex and unique, but filled with love and passion. Lyubov Dmitrievna also became a source of inspiration and a prototype for a number of characters in the poet’s works.

Talk about complete creative career The block can be dated from 1900-1901. At that time, Alexander Alexandrovich became an even more devoted admirer of the work of Afanasy Fet, as well as the lyrics and even the teachings of Plato. In addition, fate brought him together with Dmitry Merezhkovsky and Zinaida Gippius, in whose magazine called “New Path” Blok took his first steps as a poet and critic.

At an early stage creative development Alexander Alexandrovich realized that a direction in literature close to his liking was symbolism. This movement, which pierced all varieties of culture, was distinguished by innovation, a desire for experimentation, and a love of mystery and understatement. In St. Petersburg, symbolists close to him in spirit were the above-mentioned Gippius and Merezhkovsky, and in Moscow - Valery Bryusov. It is noteworthy that around the time Blok began publishing in the St. Petersburg “New Way,” a Moscow almanac called “Northern Flowers” began publishing his works.

A special place in the heart of Alexander Blok was occupied by a circle of young admirers and followers of Vladimir Solovyov, organized in Moscow. The role of a kind of leader of this circle was taken on by Andrei Bely, at that time an aspiring prose writer and poet. Andrey became a close friend of Alexander Alexandrovich, and members of the literary circle became some of the most devoted and enthusiastic fans of his work.

In 1903, the almanac “Northern Flowers” published a series of works by Blok entitled “Poems about a Beautiful Lady.” At the same time, three poems by the young rhymer were included in a collection of works by students of the Imperial St. Petersburg University. In his first known cycle, Blok presents a woman as natural spring light and purity, and raises the question of how much a real love feeling brings an individual person closer to the world as a whole.

Revolution of 1905-1907

Revolutionary events became for Alexander Alexandrovich the personification of the spontaneous, disordered nature of existence and quite significantly influenced his creative views. The Beautiful Lady in his thoughts and poems was replaced by images of blizzards, blizzards and vagrancy, bold and ambiguous Faina, Snow Mask and Stranger. Poems about love faded into the background.

Drama and interaction with the theater at this time also fascinated the poet. The first play written by Alexander Alexandrovich was called “Balaganchik” and was composed by Vsevolod Meyerhold at the Vera Komissarzhevskaya Theater in 1906.

At the same time, Blok, who, idolizing his wife, did not refuse the opportunity to have tender feelings for other women, became inflamed with passion for N.N. Volokhova, theater actress Vera Komissarzhevskaya. The image of the beautiful Volokhova soon filled Blok’s philosophical poems: the poet dedicated the “Faina” cycle and the book “Snow Mask” to her; he copied the heroines of the plays “Song of Fate” and “The King in the Square” from her.

Late 1900s main theme Blok's work became the problem of the relationship between the common people and the intelligentsia in domestic society. In the poems of this period one can trace a vivid crisis of individualism and attempts to determine the place of the creator in the real world. At the same time, Alexander Alexandrovich associated the Motherland with the image of his beloved wife, which is why his patriotic poems acquired a special, deeply personal individuality.

Refusal of symbolism

1909 was a very difficult year for Alexander Blok: that year his father, with whom he still maintained fairly warm relations, died, as well as the newborn child of the poet and his wife Lyudmila. However, the impressive inheritance that Alexander Blok Sr. left to his son allowed him to forget about financial difficulties and focus on major creative projects.

In the same year, the poet visited Italy, and the foreign atmosphere further pushed him to reassess previously established values. The cycle “Italian Poems” tells about this internal struggle, as well as prose essays from the book “Lightning of Art”. In the end, Blok came to the conclusion that symbolism, as a school with strictly defined rules, had exhausted itself for him, and from now on he felt the need for self-deepening and a “spiritual diet.”

Concentrating on large literary works, Alexander Alexandrovich gradually began to devote less and less time to journalistic work and appearances at various events that were popular among the poetic bohemia of those times.

In 1910, the author began composing an epic poem called “Retribution,” which he was never destined to finish. Between 1912 and 1913 he wrote the famous play The Rose and the Cross. And in 1911, Blok, taking five of his books of poetry as a basis, compiled a collection of works in three volumes, which was reprinted several times.

October Revolution

Soviet power did not evoke such a negative attitude from Alexander Blok as it did from many other poets of the Silver Age. At a time when Julius Aikhenvald, Dmitry Merezhkovsky and many others were strongly criticizing the Bolsheviks who had come to power, Blok agreed to cooperate with the new government leadership.

The name of the poet, who by that time was quite well known to the public, was actively used by the authorities for their own purposes. Among other things, Alexander Alexandrovich was constantly appointed to positions of no interest to him in various commissions and institutions.

It was during that period that the poem “Scythians” and the famous poem “The Twelve” were written. The last image of “The Twelve”: Jesus Christ, who found himself at the head of a procession of twelve Red Army soldiers, caused a real resonance in the literary world. Although this work is now considered one of the best creations of the “Silver Age” of Russian poetry, most of Blok’s contemporaries spoke about the poem, especially about the image of Jesus, in an extremely negative way.

Personal life

Blok's first and only wife was Lyubov Mendeleeva, with whom he was madly in love and whom he considered his real destiny. The wife was a support and support for the writer, as well as a constant muse.

However, the poet’s ideas about marriage were quite unique: firstly, he was categorically against physical intimacy, praising spiritual love. Secondly, up to recent years In his life, Blok did not consider it shameful to fall in love with other representatives of the fair sex, although his women never had the same meaning for him as his wife. However, Lyubov Mendeleeva also allowed herself to be carried away by other men.

The Bloks couple, alas, did not have children: the child, born after one of the few nights together between Alexander and Lyubov, turned out to be too weak and did not survive. Nevertheless, Blok still has quite a lot of relatives both in Russia and in Europe.

Death of a Poet

After the October Revolution, not only interesting facts from the life of Alexander Alexandrovich. Loaded with an incredible amount of responsibilities, not his own, he began to get very sick. Blok developed asthma, cardiovascular disease, and mental disorders began to develop. In 1920, the author fell ill with scurvy.

At the same time, the poet was also going through a period of financial difficulties.

Exhausted by poverty and numerous illnesses, he passed away on August 7, 1921, while in his apartment in St. Petersburg. The cause of death was inflammation of the heart valves. The funeral and funeral service of the poet was performed by Archpriest Alexei Zapadlov; Blok’s grave is located at the Smolensk Orthodox Cemetery.

Shortly before his death, the writer tried to get permission to travel abroad for treatment, but he was refused. They say that after this Blok, being of sober mind and sound mind, destroyed his notes and, on principle, did not take any medicine or even food. For a long time There were also rumors that before his death, Alexander Alexandrovich went crazy and was delirious with the thought of whether all copies of his poem “The Twelve” had been destroyed. However, these rumors were not confirmed.

Alexander Blok is considered one of the most brilliant representatives of Russian poetry. His large works, as well as small poems (“Factory”, “Night Street Lantern Pharmacy”, “In a Restaurant”, “Dilapidated Hut” and others), became part of the cultural heritage of our people.

My mother's family is involved in literature and science. My grandfather, Andrei Nikolaevich Beketov, a botanist, was the rector of St. Petersburg University in its best years (I was born in the “rector’s house”). The St. Petersburg Higher Women's Courses, called "Bestuzhev's" (named after K. N. Bestuzhev-Ryumin), owe their existence mainly to my grandfather.

He belonged to those idealists clean water, which our time almost does not know. Actually, we no longer understand the peculiar and often anecdotal stories about such noblemen of the sixties as Saltykov-Shchedrin or my grandfather, about their attitude towards Emperor Alexander II, about the meetings of the Literary Fund, about Borel’s dinners, about good French and Russian language, about students youth of the late seventies. This entire era of Russian history has passed away irrevocably, its pathos has been lost, and the rhythm itself would seem to us extremely leisurely.

In his village Shakhmatovo (Klin district, Moscow province), my grandfather went out to the peasants on the porch, shaking his handkerchief; for exactly the same reason why I. S. Turgenev, talking with his serfs, embarrassedly picked off pieces of paint from the entrance, promising to give whatever they asked, if only they would get rid of it.

When meeting a guy he knew, my grandfather took him by the shoulder and began his speech with the words: “Eh bien, mon petit...” [“Well, dear...” (French).].

Sometimes the conversation ended there. My favorite interlocutors were notorious swindlers and rogues that I remember: old Jacob Fidele [Jacob Verny (French).], who plundered half of our household utensils, and the robber Fyodor Kuranov (nicknamed Kuran), who, they say, had murder in his soul; his face was always blue-purple - from vodka, and sometimes - in blood; he died in " fist fight"Both were really smart people and very nice; I, like my grandfather, loved them, and they both felt sympathy for me until their death.

One day my grandfather, seeing a man carrying a birch tree from the forest on his shoulder, said to him: “You’re tired, let me help you.” At the same time, it did not even occur to him that the obvious fact that the birch tree had been cut down in our forest. My own memories of my grandfather are very good; We wandered with him for hours through meadows, swamps and wilds; sometimes they walked dozens of miles, getting lost in the forest; they dug up herbs and cereals with their roots for a botanical collection; at the same time, he named the plants and, identifying them, taught me the rudiments of botany, so that I still remember many botanical names. I remember how happy we were when we found a special early pear flower, a species unknown to the Moscow flora, and a tiny, low-growing fern; I still look for this fern every year on that same mountain, but I never find it - obviously, it was sown by accident and then degenerated.

All this refers to the dark times that came after the events of March 1, 1881. My grandfather continued to teach a course in botany at St. Petersburg University until his illness; in the summer of 1897 he was struck by paralysis, he lived another five years without speaking, he was carried in a chair. He died on July 1, 1902 in Shakhmatovo. They brought him to St. Petersburg to bury him; Among those who met the body at the station was Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleev.

Dmitry Ivanovich played a very important role in the Beketov family. Both my grandfather and grandmother were friends with him. Mendeleev and my grandfather, soon after the liberation of the peasants, traveled together to the Moscow province and bought two estates in the Klin district - in the neighborhood: Mendeleev's Boblovo lies seven miles from Shakhmatovo, I was there as a child, and in my youth I began to visit there often. The eldest daughter of Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleev from his second marriage, Lyubov Dmitrievna, became my bride. In 1903, we got married in the church in the village of Tarakanova, which is located between Shakhmatovo and Boblov.

My grandfather’s wife, my grandmother, Elizaveta Grigorievna, is the daughter of the famous traveler and explorer of Central Asia, Grigory Silych Korelin. All her life she worked on compilations and translations of scientific and works of art; the list of her works is enormous; in recent years she has produced up to 200 printed sheets per year; she was very well read and spoke several languages; her worldview was surprisingly lively and original, her style was figurative, her language was precise and bold, exposing the Cossack breed. Some of her many translations remain the best to this day.

Her translated poems were published in Sovremennik, under the pseudonym “E.B.”, and in Gerbel’s “English Poets”, without a name. She translated many works by Buckle, Bram, Darwin, Huxley, Moore (the poem "Lalla Rook"), Beecher Stowe, Goldsmith, Stanley, Thackeray, Dickens, W. Scott, Brat Harte, Georges Sand, Balzac, V. Hugo, Flaubert, Maupassant, Rousseau, Lesage. This list of authors is far from complete. The wages were always negligible. Now these hundreds of thousands of volumes have been sold in cheap editions, and anyone familiar with antique prices knows how expensive even now are the so-called “144 volumes” (ed. G. Panteleev), which contain many translations of E. G. Beketova and her daughters. A characteristic page in the history of Russian enlightenment.

My grandmother was less successful in the abstract and “refined”; her language was too lapidary, there was a lot of everyday life in it. An unusually distinct character was combined in her with a clear thought, like the summer village mornings on which she sat down to work until light. For many years I remember vaguely, as I remember everything childish, her voice, the embroidery hoop on which bright colors grew with extraordinary speed. wool flowers, colorful patchwork quilts, sewn from unnecessary and carefully collected scraps - and in all this - some kind of irrevocable health and fun that left our family with her. She knew how to enjoy just the sun, just good weather, even in her very last years, when she was tormented by illnesses and doctors, known and unknown, who performed painful and meaningless experiments on her. All this did not kill her indomitable vitality.

This vitality and vitality penetrated into literary tastes; with all the subtlety of her artistic understanding, she said that “Goethe’s secret adviser wrote the second part of Faust to surprise the thoughtful Germans.” She also hated Tolstoy's moral sermons. All this was connected with fiery romance, sometimes turning into ancient sentimentality. She loved music and poetry, wrote me half-joking poems, which, however, sometimes sounded sad notes:

So, awake in the hours of the night
And loving my young grandson,
This is not the first time that the old woman
I composed stanzas for you.

She masterfully read aloud the scenes of Sleptsov and Ostrovsky, and the motley stories of Chekhov. One of her last works was the translation of two stories by Chekhov into French(for "Revue des deux Mondes"). Chekhov sent her a sweetheart thank you note.

Unfortunately, my grandmother never wrote her memoirs. I only have a short outline of her notes; she knew many of our writers personally, met Gogol, the Dostoevsky brothers, Ap. Grigoriev, Tolstoy, Polonsky, Maykov. I am saving the copy of the English novel that F. M. Dostoevsky personally gave her for translation. This translation was published in Vremya.

My grandmother died exactly three months after my grandfather - on October 1, 1902. From their grandfathers they inherited a love of literature and an untainted understanding of it. high value their daughters are my mother and her two sisters. All three were translated from foreign languages. The eldest, Ekaterina Andreevna (by her husband, Krasnova), enjoyed fame. She owns two independent books, “Stories” and “Poems,” published after her death (May 4, 1892) (the latter book was awarded an honorary review by the Academy of Sciences). Her original story “Not Fate” was published in “Bulletin of Europe”. She translated from French (Montesquieu, Bernardin de Saint-Pierre), Spanish (Espronceda, Baker, Perez Galdos, article about Pardo Basan), and reworked English stories for children (Stevenson, Haggart; published by Suvorin in the Cheap Library).

My mother, Alexandra Andreevna (Kublitskaya-Piottukh by her second husband), translated and is translating from French - poetry and prose (Balzac, V. Hugo, Flaubert, Zola, Musset, Erckman-Chatrian, Daudet, Baudeler, Verlaine, Richpin). In her youth, she wrote poetry, but published only children’s poetry.

Maria Andreevna Beketova translated and is translating from Polish (Sienkevich and many others), German (Hoffmann), French (Balzac, Musset). She owns popular adaptations (Jules Verne, Silvio Pellico), biographies (Andersen), monographs for the people (Holland, History of England, etc.). Musset's "Carmosine" was recently presented in her translation at the workers' theater.

In my father's family, literature played a small role. My grandfather is a Lutheran, a descendant of the doctor of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, a native of Mecklenburg (my ancestor, life surgeon Ivan Blok, was elevated to the Russian nobility under Paul I). My grandfather was married to the daughter of the Novgorod governor, Ariadna Aleksandrovna Cherkasova.

My father, Alexander Lvovich Blok, was a professor at the University of Warsaw in the department state law; he died on December 1, 1909. Special scholarship far from exhausts his activities, as well as his aspirations, which may be less scientific than artistic. His fate is full of complex contradictions, quite unusual and gloomy. During his entire life, he published only two small books (not counting lithographed lectures) and for the last twenty years he worked on an essay devoted to the classification of sciences. An outstanding musician, a connoisseur of fine literature and a subtle stylist, my father considered himself a student of Flaubert. The latter was the main reason that he wrote so little and did not complete the main work of his life: he was unable to fit his constantly developing ideas into the compressed forms that he was looking for; in this search for compressed forms there was something convulsive and terrible, as in his entire mental and physical appearance. I met him a little, but I remember him dearly.

My childhood was spent in my mother's family. It was here that the word was loved and understood; In general, ancient concepts of literary values and ideals dominated in the family. Speaking vulgarly, in Verlaine's style, eloquence [eloquence (French)] predominated here; Only my mother was characterized by constant rebellion and anxiety about new things, and my aspirations for musique [music - French] found support from her. However, no one in the family ever persecuted me, everyone only loved and spoiled me. To the dear old eloquence I owe it to my grave that literature began for me not with Verlaine and not with decadence in general. My first inspiration was Zhukovsky. WITH early childhood I remember the lyrical waves constantly rushing over me, barely associated with anyone else’s name. I only remember Polonsky’s name and the first impression of his stanzas:

I dream: I am fresh and young,
I'm in love. Dreams are boiling.
Luxurious cold from dawn
Infiltrates the garden.

There were no life experiences for a long time. I vaguely remember large St. Petersburg apartments with a lot of people, with a nanny, toys and Christmas trees - and the fragrant wilderness of our small estate. Only about 15 years old were the first definite dreams of love born, and next to them were attacks of despair and irony, which found their way out many years later - in my first dramatic experience, "Balaganchik", I began to "compose" lyrical scenes almost from the age of five. Much later, my cousins and I founded the magazine "Vestnik", in one copy. ; there I was an editor and an active employee for three years.

Serious writing began when I was about 18 years old. For three or four years I showed my writings only to my mother and aunt. All of these were lyrical poems, and by the time my first book, “Poems about a Beautiful Lady,” was published, up to 800 of them had accumulated, not counting the adolescent ones. Only about 100 of them were included in the book. Afterwards I printed and still print some of the old ones in magazines and newspapers.

Family traditions and my secluded life contributed to the fact that I did not know a single line of the so-called “new poetry” until my first years at university. Here, in connection with acute mystical and romantic experiences, the poetry of Vladimir Solovyov took possession of my entire being. Until now, the mysticism with which the air of the last years of the old and the first years of the new century was saturated was incomprehensible to me; I was alarmed by the signs that I saw in nature, but I considered all this “subjective” and carefully protected it from everyone. Externally I was then preparing to become an actor, enthusiastically recited Maykov, Fet, Polonsky, Apukhtin, played at amateur performances, in the house of my future bride, Hamlet, Chatsky, the Miserly Knight and... vaudeville. Sober and healthy people, which surrounded me then, it seems, saved me then from the infection of mystical quackery, which a few years later became fashionable in some literary circles. Fortunately and unfortunately together, such a “fashion” came, as always happens, precisely when everything was internally determined; when the elements that raged underground poured out, there was a crowd of lovers of easy mystical profit.

Subsequently, I paid tribute to this new blasphemous “trend”; but all this already goes beyond the scope of “autobiography”. I can refer those interested to my poems and to the article “About current state Russian symbolism" (Apollo magazine, 1910). Now I’ll go back.

Out of complete ignorance and inability to communicate with the world, an anecdote happened to me, which I remember with pleasure and gratitude: once on a rainy autumn day (if I’m not mistaken, 1900) I went with poems to an old friend of our family, Viktor Petrovich Ostrogorsky , now deceased. He was then editing God's World. Without saying who sent me to him, I excitedly gave him two small poems inspired by Sirin, Alkonost and Gamayun by V. Vasnetsov. After running through the poems, he said: “Shame on you, young man, to do this when God knows what’s going on at the university!” - and sent me out with ferocious good nature. It was offensive then, but now it is more pleasant to remember it than many later praises.

After this incident, I didn’t go anywhere for a long time, until in 1902 I was sent to V. Nikolsky, who was then editing a student collection together with Repin. A year after that, I began to publish “seriously.” The first who paid attention to my poems from the outside were Mikhail Sergeevich and Olga Mikhailovna Solovyov ( cousin my mother). My first things appeared in 1903 in the magazine “New Way” and, almost simultaneously, in the almanac “Northern Flowers”.

I lived seventeen years of my life in the barracks of the Life Guards. Grenadier Regiment (when I was nine years old, my mother married F.F. Kublitsky-Piottukh, who served in the regiment, for the second time). After completing the course in St. Petersburg. Vvedenskaya (now Emperor Peter the Great) gymnasium, I entered the law faculty of St. Petersburg University quite unconsciously, and only when I entered the third year did I realize that I was completely alien to legal science. In 1901, which was extremely important for me and decided my fate, I transferred to the Faculty of Philology, the course of which I completed, passing state exam in the spring of 1906 (for the Slavic-Russian department).

The university did not play a particularly important role in my life, but higher education gave me, in any case, some mental discipline and certain skills that greatly help me in historical and literary studies, and in my own critical experiments, and even in artistic work(materials for the drama "Rose and Cross"). Over the years, I appreciate more and more what the university gave me in the person of my respected professors - A. I. Sobolevsky, I. A. Shlyapkin, S. F. Platonov, A. I. Vvedensky and F. F. Zelinsky. If I manage to collect a book of my works and articles, which are scattered in considerable quantities in different publications, but need extensive revision, I will owe the share of scientific knowledge that is contained in them to the university.

In essence, only after finishing the “university” course did my “independent” life begin. Continuing to write lyrical poems, which all, since 1897, can be considered as a diary, it was in the year of finishing my course at the university that I wrote my first plays in dramatic form; the main topics of my articles (except for purely literary ones) were and remain topics about “the intelligentsia and the people”, about theater and about Russian symbolism (not in the sense of the literary school only).

Every year of my adult life is sharply colored for me with its own special color. Of the events, phenomena and trends that especially strongly influenced me in one way or another, I must mention: a meeting with Vl. Solovyov, whom I saw only from afar; acquaintance with M. S. and O. M. Solovyov, Z. N. and D. S. Merezhkovsky and A. Bely; events of 1904 – 1905; acquaintance with the theatrical environment, which began in the theater of the late V.F. Komissarzhevskaya; the extreme decline in literary morals and the beginning of “factory” literature associated with the events of 1905; acquaintance with the works of the late August Strindberg (initially through the poet Vl. Piast); three trips abroad: I was in Italy - northern (Venice, Ravenna, Milan) and middle (Florence, Pisa, Perugia and many other cities and towns of Umbria), in France (in the north of Brittany, in the Pyrenees - in the vicinity of Biarritz; several times lived in Paris), Belgium and Holland; In addition, for some reason I had to return to Bad Nauheim (Hessen-Nassau) every six years of my life, with which I have special memories.

This spring (1915) I would have to return there for the fourth time; but the general and higher mysticism of war interfered with the personal and lower mysticism of my trips to Bad Nauheim.

He amazed everyone with his irrepressible faith in the future of Russia and its people. Loving and suffering to embrace the immensity, a man with a wide soul and a tragic life. Blok's life and work deserve attention for their completeness and touchingness.

Biography of the poet

Blok Alexander Alexandrovich, born 1880, November 28. Place of birth - St. Petersburg. His parents: father - A.L. Blok, worked as a lawyer at the university in Warsaw, mother - A.A. Beketova, daughter of the famous botanist.

The boy's parents divorced before he was born, so he was unable to grow up in a complete family. However, maternal grandfather A.N. Beketov, in whose family Alexander grew up, surrounded the child with due care and attention. Gave it to him good education and a start in life. A.N. himself Beketov was the rector of the university in St. Petersburg. The highly moral and cultural atmosphere of the environment left its mark on the formation of Blok’s worldviews and upbringing.

Since childhood, he has had a love for the classics of Russian literature. Pushkin, Apukhtin, Zhukovsky, Fet, Grigoriev - these are the names on whose works little Blok grew up and became familiar with the world of literature and poetry.

Poet's training

The first stage of education for Blok was a gymnasium in St. Petersburg. After graduating in 1898, he entered St. Petersburg University to study law. He completed his legal studies in 1901 and changed his direction to historical and philological.

It was at the university that he finally decided to delve into the world of literature. This desire is also reinforced by the beautiful and picturesque nature, among which his grandfather’s estate is located. Having grown up in such an environment, Alexander forever absorbed the sensitivity and subtlety of his worldview, and reflected this in his poems. From then on, Blok’s creativity began.

Blok maintains a very warm relationship with his mother; his love and respect for her is limitless. Until his mother’s death, he constantly sent her his works.

Appearance

Their marriage took place in 1903. Family life was ambiguous and complex. Mendeleev was waiting great love, as in novels. The block offered moderation and tranquility of life. The result was his wife’s passion for his friend and like-minded person, Andrei Bely, a symbolist poet who played an important role in the work of Blok himself.

Lifetime work

Blok’s life and work developed in such a way that, in addition to literature, he took part in completely everyday affairs. So, for example:

was an active participant in dramatic productions in the theater and even saw himself as an actor, but the literary field attracted him more;

for two years in a row (1905-1906) the poet was a direct witness and participant in revolutionary rallies and demonstrations;

writes his own literature review column in the newspaper "Golden Fleece";

from 1916-1917 repays his debt to the Motherland, serving near Pinsk (engineering and construction squad);

is part of the leadership of the Bolshoi;

upon returning from the army, he gets a job in the Extraordinary Investigative Commission for the Affairs of Tsarist Ministers. He worked there as a shorthand report editor until 1921.

Blok's early work

Little Sasha wrote his first poem at the age of five. Even then, he had the makings of a talent that needed to be developed. This is what Blok did.

Love and Russia are two favorite themes of creativity. Blok wrote a lot about both. However, at the initial stage of development and realization of his talent, what attracted him most was love. The image of the beautiful lady, which he had been looking for everywhere, captured his entire being. And he found the earthly embodiment of his ideas in Lyubov Mendeleeva.

The theme of love in Blok’s work is revealed so fully, clearly and beautifully that it is difficult to dispute it. Therefore, it is not surprising that his first creation - a collection of poems - is called "Poems about a Beautiful Lady", and it is dedicated to his wife. When writing this collection of poems, Blok was greatly influenced by the poetry of Solovyov, whose student and follower he is considered.

In all poems there is a feeling of Eternal femininity, beauty, and naturalness. However, all expressions and phrases used in writing are allegorical and unrealistic. Blok is carried away in a creative impulse to “other worlds.”

Gradually, the theme of love in Blok’s work gives way to more real and pressing problems surrounding the poet.

The beginning of disappointment

Revolutionary events, discord in family relationships, miserably failing dreams of a clean and bright future for Russia force Blok’s work to undergo obvious changes. His next collection is called “Unexpected Joy” (1906).

More and more he ridicules the symbolists, to whom he no longer considers himself, and he is more and more cynical about hopes for the best ahead. He is a participant in revolutionary events, who is completely on the side of the Bolsheviks, considering their cause to be right.

During this period (1906) his trilogy of dramas was published. First, “Balaganchik”, after some time “King in the Square”, and this trio ends with bitter disappointment from the imperfection of the world, from their disappointed hopes. During the same period, he became interested in actress N.N. Volokhova. However, he does not receive reciprocity, which adds bitterness, irony and skepticism to his poems.

Andrei Bely and other previously like-minded people in poetry do not accept the changes in Blok and criticize his current work. Alexander Blok remains adamant. He is disappointed and deeply saddened.

"The Incarnation Trilogy"

In 1909, Blok’s father dies, to whom he does not have time to say goodbye. This leaves an even greater imprint on his state of mind, and he decides to combine his most striking works, in his opinion, into one poetic trilogy, which he gives the name “Trilogy of Incarnation.”

Thus, Blok’s work in 1911-1912 was marked by the appearance of three collections of poems, which bear poetic titles:

"Poems about a Beautiful Lady";
"Unexpected joy";
"Snowy Night"

A year later, he released a cycle of love poems “Carmen”, wrote the poem “The Nightingale Garden”, dedicated to his new hobby - singer L.A. Delmas.

Homeland in Blok's works

Since 1908, the poet has positioned himself no longer as a lyricist, but as a glorifier of his Motherland. During this period he writes poems such as:

"Autumn Wave";

"Autumn Love";

"On the Kulikovo field."

All these works are imbued with love for the Motherland, for one’s country. The poet simultaneously shows two sides of life in Russia: poverty and hunger, piety, but at the same time wildness, unbridledness and freedom.

The theme of Russia in Blok’s work, the theme of the homeland, is one of the most fundamental in all of his poetic life. For him, the Motherland is something living, breathing and feeling. Therefore, the ongoing events of the October Revolution are too difficult, disproportionately difficult for him.

The theme of Russia in Blok’s works

After revolutionary trends capture his entire spirit, the poet almost completely loses lyricism and love in his works. Now the whole meaning of his works is directed towards Russia, his homeland.

Blok personifies his country in poetry with a woman; he makes it almost tangible, real, as if he humanizes it. The homeland in Blok’s work takes on such a large-scale significance that he never writes about love again.

Believing in the Bolsheviks and their truth, he experiences severe, almost fatal disappointment for him when he sees the results of the revolution. Hunger, poverty, defeat, mass extermination of the intelligentsia - all this forms in Blok’s mind an acute hostility towards the symbolists, towards the lyrics and forces him from now on to create works only with a satiristic, poisonous mockery of faith in the future.

However, his love for Russia is so great that he continues to believe in the strength of his country. That she will rise up, dust herself off and be able to show her power and glory. The works of Blok, Mayakovsky, Yesenin are similar in this regard.

In 1918, Blok wrote the poem “The Twelve,” the most scandalous and loud of all his works, which caused a lot of rumors and conversations about it. But criticism leaves the poet indifferent; the emerging depression begins to consume his entire being.

Poem "Twelve"

The author began writing his work "The Twelve" in early January. On the first day of work, he didn't even take a break. His notes say: “Trembling inside.” Then the writing of the poem stopped, and the poet managed to finish it only on January 28.

After the publication of this work, Blok’s work changed dramatically. This can be briefly described as follows: the poet lost himself, stagnation set in.

The main idea of the poem was recognized differently by everyone. Some saw in it support for the revolution, a mockery of symbolist views. Some, on the contrary, have a satirical slant and mockery of the revolutionary order. However, Blok himself had both in mind when creating the poem. She is contradictory, just like his mood at that moment.

After the publication of “The Twelve,” all already weak ties with the Symbolists were severed. Almost all of Blok’s close friends turned away from him: Merezhkovsky, Vyach, Prishvin, Sologub, Piast, Akhmatova and others.

By that time, he himself was becoming disillusioned with Balmont. Thus, Blok is left practically alone.

Post-revolutionary creativity

“Retribution”, which he wrote like that.

The revolution passed, and the bitterness from the disappointment of the Bolshevik policies grew and intensified. Such a gap between what was promised and what was done as a result of the revolution became unbearable for Blok. We can briefly characterize Blok’s work during this period: nothing was written.

As they would later write about the poet’s death, “the Bolsheviks killed him.” And this is true. Blok was unable to overcome and accept such a discrepancy between the word and deed of the new government. He failed to forgive himself for supporting the Bolsheviks, for his blindness and short-sightedness.

Blok is experiencing severe discord within himself and is completely lost in his inner experiences and torment. The consequence of this is illness. From April 1921 to the beginning of August, the illness did not let go of the poet, tormenting him more and more. Only occasionally emerging from semi-oblivion, he tries to console his wife, Lyubov Mendeleeva (Blok). On August 7, Blok died.

Where did the poet live and work?

Today, Blok’s biography and work captivate and inspire many. And the place where he lived and wrote his poems and poems turned into a museum. From the photographs we can judge the environment in which the poet worked.

You can see the appearance of the estate where the poet spent time in the photo on the left.

The room in which the poet spent the last bitter and difficult moments of his life (photo below).

Today, the poet’s work is loved and studied, admired, his depth and integrity, unusualness and brightness are recognized. Russia in Blok’s works is studied in school classes, and essays are written on this topic. This gives every right to call the author a great poet. In the past, a symbolist, then a revolutionary, and in his twilight simply a deeply disillusioned person with life and power, an unhappy person with a bitter, difficult fate.

A monument has been erected in St. Petersburg to perpetuate the author’s name in history and pay due respect to his undeniable talent.