Konstantin Nikolaevich Batyushkov born May 18, 1787 in Vologda. At the age of seven he lost his mother. A ten-year-old boy is sent to St. Petersburg, where in the boarding houses of the Frenchman Jaquino and the Italian Tripoli he studies foreign languages, as well as history and statistics. At the age of 16, leaving the boarding school, Batyushkov, under the influence of ancient literature, became an ardent admirer of Tibullus and Horace. Joining a ministry department public education, Batyushkov became close to some of his colleagues, members of the Free Society of Lovers of Literature, Science and the Arts; Friendship with N.I. Gnedich, poet and translator, lasted for many years. From 1807 to 1816 (though with significant interruptions) Batyushkov in military service - participates in the war with Sweden and Napoleonic Wars, witnesses the capitulation of Paris. Returning to Russia, he joins the Arzamas literary society under the proud name of Achilles. Batyushkov himself, with bitter irony (but not greatly exaggerating), speaks about himself: “Ah! Heal!”
In 1816-1817 the poet is experiencing a great creative upsurge: in a year he writes 12 poetic and 8 prose works, and prepares his works in poetry and prose for publication.
In 1818, Batyushkov was assigned to serve in the Neapolitan Russian mission. A trip to Italy had always been Batyushkov’s favorite dream, but having gone there, he almost immediately felt unbearable boredom, melancholy, and melancholy. After 3 years, he was forced to leave the service and Italy - the mental illness from which his mother died and his older sister suffered, also defeated the poet himself. Batyushkov received an indefinite leave and returned to Russia, terminally ill. He burns his books and manuscripts. All attempts to cure the poet were unsuccessful. In 1833, he received a lifelong pension and was taken to his homeland - Vologda, where he died on July 7, 1855.
Batyushkov’s first poem in print: “Message to my poems” (1805, “News of Russian Literature”). In subsequent years, Batyushkov’s poems appeared in various literary magazines: “Northern Herald”, “Lyceum”, “Flower Garden” and many others. etc. In 1817 he published his “Experiments in Poems and Prose” (1st ed.). II and III editions were undertaken in 1834 and 1850s. relatives of the poet.
Usually Batyushkov’s poetry is usually divided into two periods: 1804-1812. (poems imbued with Epicureanism) and 1812-1821. (turn towards elegiac lyrics).
Read also other articles about the life and work of K.N. Batyushkova.
Biography
Born on May 18, 1787 in Vologda. He came from an ancient noble family, his father was Nikolai Lvovich Batyushkov (1753-1817). He spent the years of his childhood in the family estate - the village of Danilovskoye. At the age of seven he lost his mother, who suffered from mental illness, which was inherited by Batyushkov and his older sister Alexandra.
In 1797 he was sent to the St. Petersburg boarding house Jacquinot, from where in 1801 he moved to the Tripoli boarding house. In the sixteenth year of his life (1802), Batyushkov left the boarding school and began reading Russian and French literature. At the same time, he became close friends with his uncle, the famous Mikhail Nikitich Muravyov. Under his influence, he began to study the literature of the ancient classical world and became an admirer of Tibullus and Horace, whom he imitated in his first works. In addition, under the influence of Muravyov Batyushkov developed a literary taste and aesthetic sense.
In St. Petersburg, Batyushkov met representatives of the then literary world. He became especially close friends with N.A. Lvov, A.N. Olenin,. In 1805, the magazine “News of Literature” published his poem “Message to My Poems” - Batyushkov’s first appearance in print. Having entered the department of the Ministry of Public Education, Batyushkov became close to some of his colleagues who joined the Karamzin movement and founded the “Free Society of Literature Lovers.”
In 1805, the magazine “News of Literature” published his poem “Message to My Poems” - Batyushkov’s first appearance in print.
In 1807 Batyushkov signed up for civil uprising(militia) and took part in the Prussian campaign. In the battle of Heilsberg he was wounded and had to go to Riga for treatment. The following year, 1808, Batyushkov took part in the war with Sweden, at the end of which he retired and went to his relatives in the village of Khantonovo, Novgorod province. In the village, he soon began to get bored and was eager to go to the city: his impressionability became almost painful, more and more he was overcome by melancholy and a premonition of future madness.
At the very end of 1809, Batyushkov arrived in Moscow and soon, thanks to his talent, bright mind and kind heart, he found good friends in best areas of the then Moscow society. Of the writers there, he became closest to V.L. Pushkin, and. The years 1810 and 1811 passed for Batyushkov partly in Moscow, where he had a pleasant time, and partly in Khantonov, where he was moping. Finally, having received his resignation from military service, at the beginning of 1812 he went to St. Petersburg and, with the help of Olenin, entered the service of the Public Library; his life had settled down quite well, although he was constantly worried about the fate of his family and himself: a quick promotion could not be expected, and economic affairs were going worse and worse.
Meanwhile, Napoleon's army entered Russia and began to approach Moscow. Batyushkov enrolled again military service and as an adjutant to General Raevsky, together with the Russian army, he made the campaign of 1813-1814, which ended with the capture of Paris.
Staying abroad had a great influence on Batyushkov, who there first became acquainted with German literature and fell in love with it. Paris and its monuments, libraries and museums also did not pass without a trace on his impressionable nature; but soon he felt a strong homesickness and, after visiting England and Sweden, returned to St. Petersburg. A year later, he finally left military service, went to Moscow, then to St. Petersburg, where he entered Arzamas and took an active part in the activities of this society.
In 1816-1817, Batyushkov prepared for publication his book “Experiments in Poetry and Prose,” which was then published by Gnedich. The book was well received by critics and readers.
In 1818, Batyushkov achieved a long-desired goal: he was assigned to serve in the Neapolitan Russian mission. A trip to Italy was always Batyushkov’s favorite dream, but having gone there, he almost immediately felt unbearable boredom, melancholy and melancholy. By 1821, hypochondria had reached such proportions that he had to leave the service and Italy.
In 1822, the disorder of mental abilities was expressed quite definitely, and since then Batyushkov suffered for 34 years, almost never regaining consciousness, and finally died of typhus on July 7, 1855 in Vologda; buried in the Spaso-Prilutsky Monastery, five miles from Vologda. Back in 1815, Batyushkov wrote the following words about himself to Zhukovsky: “From birth, I had in my soul black spot, which grew and grew over the years and almost blackened my entire soul”; The poor poet did not foresee that the stain would not stop growing and would soon completely darken his soul.
Addresses in St. Petersburg
Summer 1812 - Balabin apartment building (Bolshaya Sadovaya St., 18);
spring 1813 - Batashov’s house (4 Vladimirskaya St.);
May - July 1813 - Sivers house (Pochtamtskaya street, 10);
end of 1814 - February 1815 - house of E.F. Muravyova (25 Fontanka River embankment);
August - November 1817 - house of E.F. Muravyova (25 Fontanka River embankment);
1818 - house of E.F. Muravyova (25 Fontanka River embankment);
spring 1822 - hotel “Demut” (Moika River embankment, 40);
May - June 1823 - house of E.F. Muravyova (25 Fontanka River embankment);
November 1823 - May 1824 - Imzen apartment building (Ekaterininsky Canal embankment, 15).
Creation
Batyushkov is considered the immediate predecessor, and it is no coincidence - combining the literary discoveries of classicism and sentimentalism, he was one of the founders of the new, “modern” Russian poetry.
The poems of the first period of the poet’s literary activity are imbued with Epicureanism: the man in his lyrics passionately loves earthly life; The main themes in Batyushkov's poetry are friendship and love. Having abandoned the moralism and mannerisms of sentimentalism, he finds new ways of expressing feelings and emotions in verse, extremely vivid and vital:
Slender figure, entwined around
A crown of yellow hops,
And flaming cheeks
Roses are bright crimson,
And the lips in which it melts
Purple grapes -
Everything in the frantic seduces!
Fire and poison pour into the heart!
In response to the events of the Patriotic War of 1811, Batyushkov created examples of civil poetry, the patriotic spirit of which is combined with a description of the deeply individual experiences of the author:
... while on the field of honor
For the ancient city of my fathers
I will not sacrifice myself for revenge
Both life and love for the homeland;
While with the wounded hero,
Who knows the path to glory,
I won't place my breasts three times
In front of the enemies in close formation -
My friend, until then I will
All are alien to muses and harites,
Wreaths, with the hand of love retinue,
And noisy joy in wine!
In the post-war period, Batyushkov's poetry gravitated towards romanticism. The theme of one of his most famous poems, "The Dying Tasso" (1817), is the tragic fate of the Italian poet Torquato Tasso
Do you remember how many tears I shed as a baby!
Alas! since then the prey of evil fate,
I learned all the sorrows, all the poverty of existence.
The abysses dug by fortune
They opened up beneath me, and the thunder did not stop!
From one place to another, persecuted from country to country,
I searched in vain for refuge on earth:
Her irresistible finger is everywhere!
The place of K. N. Batyushkov (1787–1855) in the history of Russian literature was determined by Belinsky. In his articles, the name of Batyushkov as a “remarkable talent”, “great talent”, an artist primarily constantly stands after Karamzin, next to Zhukovsky, before Pushkin and is considered as a necessary link in the development of Russian poetic culture. Batyushkov’s services to Russian poetry are especially great in the enrichment of lyrical genres and poetic language. He was the immediate predecessor of Pushkin, in many ways close to him in spirit and in his poetic worldview. “Batyushkov,” wrote Belinsky, “contributed a lot to the fact that Pushkin appeared as he really appeared. This merit alone on Batyushkov’s part is enough for his name to be pronounced in the history of Russian literature with love and respect” (7, 228).
There was and is no consensus on Batyushkov’s literary position or his affiliation with one direction or another. Contemporary criticism of the poet called him either a representative of the “newest school,” which meant emerging romanticism, or a “neoclassicist,” while others saw the predominance of sentimentalism in his work.
In Soviet historical and literary science, it is more common to call Batyushkov a “pre-romanticist,” although there are other concepts. This point of view was introduced into scientific circulation with appropriate argumentation by B.V. Tomashevsky: “This word (i.e., “pre-romanticism” - K.G.) is usually used to call those phenomena in the literature of classicism in which there are some signs of a new direction, received full expression in romanticism. Thus, pre-romanticism is a transitional phenomenon.”
What are these “some signs”? - “This is, first of all, a clear expression of a personal (subjective) attitude towards what is being described, the presence of “sensitivity” (among pre-romanticists - predominantly dreamy-melancholic, sometimes tearful); a sense of nature, often with a desire to depict unusual nature; The landscape depicted by the pre-romanticists was always in harmony with the poet’s mood.”
Further substantiation of the point of view of B.V. Tomashevsky is found in a detailed monograph by N.V. Friedman - with the difference that its author, calling Batyushkov a “pre-romanticist”, like Pushkin of the early period, denies any connections of “ideological foundations” Batyushkov's poetry with classicism.
Conflicting judgments about Batyushkov’s literary position are caused by the very nature of his work, which reflects one of the significant transitional stages in the development of Russian poetry.
The end of the 18th - the first years of the 19th century. were the heyday of Russian sentimentalism, the initial stage of the formation of the romantic movement. This era is characterized by transitional phenomena, reflecting both new trends and the influence of the still existing aesthetic norms of classicism. Batyushkov was a typical figure of this time, called “strange” by Belinsky, when “the new appeared without replacing the old, and the old and the new lived amicably next to each other, without interfering with one another” (7, 241). None of the Russian poets early XIX V. I did not feel as keenly as Batyushkov the need to update outdated norms and forms. At the same time, his connections with classicism, despite the predominance of the romantic element in his poetry, were quite strong, which Belinsky also noted. Having seen “renewed classicism” in a number of Pushkin’s early “plays,” Belinsky called their author “an improved, improved Batyushkov” (7, 367).
A literary movement is not formed in an empty space. Its initial stage is not necessarily marked by a manifesto, declaration, or program. It always has its own prehistory from the moment of its emergence in the depths of the previous direction, the gradual accumulation of certain characteristics in it and the further movement towards qualitative changes, from lower to higher forms, in which the aesthetic principles of the new direction are most fully expressed. In the emerging, in the new, to one degree or another, there are some features of the old, transformed, updated in accordance with the requirements of the time. This is the pattern of continuity and continuity of the literary process.
When studying the literary activity of such a typical figure of the transitional era as Batyushkov, it is important first of all to understand the relationship, the peculiar combination in his poetry of the new and the old, that which is the main thing that determines the poet’s worldview.
Batyushkov walked next to Zhukovsky. Their creativity constitutes a natural link in the process of updating poetry, enriching its internal content and forms. They both relied on the achievements of the Karamzin period and were representatives of the new generation. But although the general trend in the development of their creativity was the same, they followed different paths. Zhukovsky's lyrics grew directly in the depths of sentimentalism. Batyushkov also had organic connections with sentimentalism, although in his lyrics some features of classicism were preserved in a transformed form. On the one hand, he continued (this is the main, main road of his creative development) the elegiac line of sentimentalism; on the other hand, in his desire for clarity and rigor of form, he relied on the achievements of classicism, which gave modern critics a reason to call him a “neoclassicist.”
Batyushkov lived a troubled life. He was born in Vologda on May 29 (according to modern times) 1787 into an old noble family. He was brought up in St. Petersburg private boarding schools. Then he served in the Ministry of Public Education (as a clerk). At the same time (1803) his friendship with N. I. Gnedich began, acquaintances with I. P. Pnin, N. A. Radishchev, I. M. Born began. In April 1805, Batyushkov joined the “Free Society of Literature, Sciences and Arts.” In the same year, Batyushkov’s first printed work, “Message to My Poems,” appeared in the magazine “News of Russian Literature.” During the second war with Napoleonic France (1807), he takes part in the campaigns of the Russian army in Prussia; in 1808–1809 - in the war with Sweden. In the battle of Heilsberg, Batyushkov was seriously wounded in the leg. In 1813, he took part in the battles near Leipzig as an adjutant of General N.N. Raevsky.
Batyushkov’s personal drama dates back to 1815 - his infatuation with Anna Fedorovna Furman.
At the end of 1815, when the Karamzinists, as a counterweight to the conservative “Conversation of Lovers of the Russian Word,” created their own literary association “Arzamas,” Batyushkov became a member of it and defended N. M. Karamzin’s language reform program.
In 1817, a two-volume collection of Batyushkov’s works, “Experiments in Poetry and Prose,” was published, the only lifetime edition of the poet’s works. In 1818–1821 He is in Italy in the diplomatic service, where he becomes close to N.I. Turgenev (later one of the prominent figures in the “Union of Welfare”).
Batyushkov hated clerical work, although he was forced to serve. He dreamed of free creativity and put the vocation of a poet above all else.
Batyushkov’s literary fate was tragic. At thirty-four years of age, he leaves the field of “literature” forever. Then silence, long-term (inherited from the mother) mental illness and death from typhus on July 7 (19), 1855.
The poet's madness is the result not only of heredity, but also of increased vulnerability and poor security. In a letter to N.I. Gnedich in May 1809, Batyushkov wrote: “I am so tired of people, and everything is so boring, and my heart is empty, there is so little hope that I would like to be destroyed, diminished, become an atom.” In November of the same year, in a letter to him, “If I live another ten years, I will go crazy... I’m not bored, not sad, but I feel something extraordinary, some kind of spiritual emptiness.” So, long before the onset of the crisis, Batyushkov foresaw the sad outcome of the internal drama he was experiencing.
The process of formation of Batyushkov’s aesthetic views was beneficially influenced by his close acquaintance and friendship with many prominent literary figures of that time.
From Batyushkov’s inner circle, special mention should be made of Mikhail Nikitich Muravyov (1757–1807), the poet’s cousin, under whose strong influence he was, from whom he studied and whose advice he valued. Muravyov guided and encouraged his first steps in the field of literature.
Sensitivity, dreaminess, thoughtfulness, which determine the emotional tonality of Batyushkov’s lyrics, are present in their original expressions in Muravyov’s poems as their component as their characteristic feature.
Muravyov rejected rational “floridism”, cold rationalism in poetic creativity, called for naturalness and simplicity, the search for “treasures” in one’s own heart. Muravyov is the first Russian poet to substantiate the dignity of “light poetry” as poetry of small lyrical forms and informal, intimate themes. He wrote an entire treatise in verse, outlining the stylistic principles of “light poetry.”
In “An Essay on Poetry” he wrote:
Love common sense: be captivated by simplicity
……………….
Flee false art and mind
…………….
Remember your goal, be able to do it without regret
Ambitious discard decorations
…………….
The syllable should be like a transparent river:
Swift, but clean and full without spilling.
(“Essay on Poetry,” 1774–1780)
These “rules”, set out in the language of poetry, which have not lost their meaning even today, would not have such an attractive and effective force if they were not supported by the examples of simple and euphonious Russian poetic speech created by Muravyov:
Your evening is full of coolness -
The shore is moving in crowds,
Like a magical serenade
The voice comes in waves
Show favor to the goddess
He sees an enthusiastic drink.
Who spends the night sleepless,
Leaning on granite.
(“To the Goddess of the Neva”, 1794)
Not only in themes, in the development of lyrical genres, but also in work on language and poetry, Batyushkov relied on the experience and achievements of his talented predecessor and teacher. What is outlined as a program in Muravyov’s poetry finds development in Batyushkov’s lyrics, which was facilitated by a common aesthetic platform and a common view of poetry.
In his first poetic declaration (“Message to my poems,” 1804 or 1805), Batyushkov tries to determine his position, his attitude to the modern state of Russian poetry. On the one hand, he is repelled by description (who “messes up poetry”, “composes odes”), on the other hand, by the excesses of sentimentalism (tearfulness, games of sensitivity). Here he condemns “poets - boring liars” who “do not fly up, not to the sky,” but “to the ground.” In this fundamental question about the relationship between the ideal (“sky”) and the real (“earth”), Batyushkov shared the romantic point of view: “What is in loud songs for me? I am happy with my dreams..."; “...by dreaming we are closer to happiness”; “...we all love fairy tales, we are children, but big ones.” “Dream” is opposed to rationality and rationalism:
What is empty in truth? She just dries out the mind
A dream gilds everything in the world,
And angry from sadness
Dream is our shield.
Oh, should the heart be forbidden to forget itself,
Exchange poets for boring sages!
(“Message to N. I. Gnedich”, 1805)
Nothing characterizes the personality of Batyushkov the poet more than dreaminess. It runs like a running leitmotif through all of his lyrics, starting from his first poetic experiments:
And sorrow is sweet:
He dreams in sorrow.
A hundred times we are happy with fleeting dreams!
(“Dream”, 1802–1803; pp. 55–56)
Many years later, the poet returns to his early poem, devoting enthusiastic lines to a poetic dream:
Friend of tender muses, messenger of heaven,
A source of sweet thoughts and heart-loving tears,
Where are you hiding, Dream, my goddess?
Where is that happy land, that peaceful desert,
Which mysterious flight are you aiming for?
Nothing - neither wealth, “neither light, nor empty glory” - replaces dreams. It contains the highest happiness:
So the poet considers his hut a palace
And happy - he dreams.
(“Dream”, 1817; pp. 223–224, 229)
In the formation of the aesthetics of Russian romanticism, romantic ideas about poetry and the poet, Batyushkov’s role was exceptional, as great as Zhukovsky’s. Batyushkov was the first in the history of Russian poetry to give a heartfelt definition of inspiration as “an impulse of winged thoughts,” a state of internal clairvoyance when “excitement of passions” is silent and a “bright mind,” freed from “earthly bonds,” soars “in the heavens” (“My Penates” , 1811–1812). In the “Message to I.M. Muravyov-Apostol” (1814–1815), the same theme is developed, acquiring an increasingly romantic character:
I see in my mind how an inspired youth
Stands in silence above the furious abyss
Among dreams and first sweet thoughts,
Listening to the monotonous noise of the waves...
His face burns, his chest sighs painfully,
And a sweet tear wets the cheek...
(p. 186)
Poetry is born of the sun. She is the “heavenly flame”, her language is the “language of the gods” (“Message to N.I. Gnedich”, 1805). The poet is a “child of heaven,” he is bored on earth, he strives for “heaven.” Thus, Batyushkov’s romantic concept of “poetry” and “poet” gradually takes shape, not without the influence of traditional ideas.
Batyushkov’s personality was dominated by what Belinsky called “noble subjectivity” (5, 49). The predominant element of his work is lyricism. Not only the original works, but also Batyushkov’s translations are marked with the stamp of his unique personality. Batyushkov's translations are not translations in the strict sense, but rather alterations, free imitations, into which he introduces his own moods, themes and motives. In the Russified translation of “Boalo’s 1st satire” (1804–1805) there is a lyrical image of the inhabitant of Moscow himself, a poet, “unhappy,” “unsociable,” who runs from “fame and noise,” from the vices of “the world,” a poet who “I have never flattered people,” “I have not lied,” in whose songs there is “holy truth.” No less important for Batyushkov was the idea of independence and integrity of the singer. Let him be “poor,” “endure cold, heat,” “forgotten by people and the world,” but he cannot put up with evil, does not want to “crawl” before those in power, does not want to write odes, madrigals, or sing praises of “rich scoundrels”:
Rather, I am like a simple peasant,
who then sprinkles his daily bread,
Than this fool, big gentleman,
He crushes people on the pavement with contempt!
(pp. 62–63)
The translation of Boileau’s satire reflects Batyushkov’s life position, his contempt for “rich scoundrels” who are “disgusted by the world of truth”, for whom “there is nothing sacred in the whole world.” “Sacred” for the poet is “friendship”, “virtue”, “pure innocence”, “love, beauty of hearts and conscience”. Here is an assessment of reality:
Vice reigns here, vice is the ruler here,
He is wearing ribbons, wearing orders, and is clearly visible everywhere...
(p. 64)
Batyushkov twice refers to the “sacred shadow” of Torquato Tasso, tries to translate (excerpts have been preserved) his poem “Liberated Jerusalem”. The poem “To Tassu” (1808) selects those facts and situations from the Italian poet’s biography that allowed Batyushkov to express “many of his secret thoughts” about his own life path, about the personal tragedy he was experiencing. What reward awaits the poet “for harmonious songs”? - “Zoil’s sharp poison, feigned praise and caresses of the courtiers, poison for the soul and the poets themselves” (p. 84). In the elegy “The Dying Tass” (1817), Batyushkov creates the image of a “sufferer,” “exile,” “wanderer,” who has “no refuge on earth.” “Earthly”, “instant”, “perishable” in Batyushkov’s lyrics are opposed to the sublime, “heavenly”. Eternity, immortality - “in the works of the majestic” “arts and muses.”
The epicurean motifs of Batyushkov’s lyrics are permeated with contempt for wealth, nobility, and rank. More dear to the poet is freedom, the ideal of personal independence, “freedom and tranquility” that he glorifies. "carelessness and love":
"Happy! happy who flowers
Decorated the days of love,
Sang with carefree friends
And I dreamed about happiness!
He is happy, and three times as happy,
All nobles and kings!
So come on, in an unknown place,
Alien to slavery and chains,
Somehow we drag out our lives,
Often with grief in half,
Pour the cup fuller
And laugh at fools!”
(“To Petin”, 1810; pp. 121–122)
This conclusion is a conclusion to reflections on life. Before this “song” with a call for “carelessness” there are significant lines:
I'll come to my senses... yes joy
Will he get along with his mind?
(p. 122)
“Mind” here in the sense of rationality, opposed to feeling, destroying joy. Hence the cult of feeling, the desire to live “with the heart.”
In the poem “To Friends” (1815), Batyushkov calls himself a “carefree poet,” which gives rise to incorrect interpretations of the pathos of his work. His Epicureanism flowed from his life position, from his “philosophical life.” “Life is a moment! It won't take long to have fun." Merciless time takes away everything. And therefore
Oh, while youth is priceless
Didn't rush away like an arrow,
Drink from a cup full of joy...
(“Elysius”, 1810; p. 116)
All the best, significant things in Batyushkov’s work, which constitute the enduring aesthetic value of his lyrics, are to a certain extent connected with the concept of “light poetry,” the founder of which on Russian soil was M. N. Muravyov.
The term "light poetry" can be interpreted in different ways. It is important how Batyushkov himself understood him. First of all, this is not an easy genre of salon, cutesy lyricism, but one of the most difficult types of poetry, requiring “possible perfection, purity of expression, harmony in style, flexibility, smoothness; he demands truth in feelings and the preservation of the strictest decency in all respects... poetry, even in small forms, is a difficult art and requires all life and all spiritual efforts.”
In the field of “light poetry” Batyushkov included not only poems in the spirit of Anacreon, but also generally small forms of lyricism, intimate and personal themes, “graceful” subtle sensations and feelings. Batyushkov passionately defended the dignity of small lyrical forms, which was of fundamental importance to him. He sought support in the past achievements of Russian poetry, highlighting trends, the line of its development, in which he found reflection of Anacreon’s Muse. The same considerations dictated Batyushkov’s increased interest in French “light poetry,” in particular Parni.
This was the time when sensitivity - the banner of sentimentalism - became the defining feature of the new style. For Batyushkov, poetry is a “heavenly flame,” combining “in the human soul” “imagination, sensitivity, dreaminess.” He also perceived the poetry of ancient times in this aspect. In addition to personal passion, Batyushkov was also influenced by the trends and literary hobbies of his time, “a craving for the restoration of ancient forms... The most sensitive works were taken from antiquity, translated into lyric poetry and served as the subject of imitation of elegiacs: Tibullus, Catullus, Propertius...”.
Batyushkov had a rare gift for comprehending the uniqueness of Hellenistic and Roman culture, the ability to convey through the means of Russian poetic speech all the beauty and charm of the lyrics of antiquity. “Batyushkov,” wrote Belinsky, “introduced into Russian poetry a completely new element for it: ancient artistry” (6, 293).
The desire to “forget sadness”, “drown grief in a full cup” led to the search for “joy and happiness” in “carelessness and love”. But what is “joy” and “happiness” in a “fleeting life”? Batyushkov’s Epicureanism, called “ideal” by Belinsky (6, 293), - special properties, he is brightly colored with quiet dreaminess and an innate ability to seek and find beauty everywhere. When the poet calls for “golden carelessness”, advises “to mix wisdom with jokes”, “seek fun and amusement”, then one should not think that here we're talking about about raw passions. Earthly pleasures in themselves are worthless in the eyes of the poet if they are not warmed by a dream. The dream gives them grace and charm, sublimity and beauty:
...let's forget the sadness
Let's dream in sweet bliss:
Dream is a direct mother of happiness!
(“Advice to Friends”, 1806; p. 75)
The content of Batyushkov’s poetry is far from limited to poems in the anthological genre. She in many ways anticipated and predetermined the themes and main motives of Russian romantic poetry: the glorification of personal freedom, the independence of the artist, the hostility of “cold rationality,” the cult of feeling, the most subtle “feelings,” the movements of the “life of the heart,” admiration for “wonderful nature,” the feeling of “ the mysterious" connection of the human soul with nature, faith in poetic dream and inspiration.
Batyushkov contributed many significant new things to the development of lyrical genres. His role in the development of Russian elegy is especially important. In his lyrics, the process of further psychologizing the elegy continues. Traditional elegiac complaints about fate, the pangs of love, separation, infidelity of the beloved - all that is found in abundance in the elegies of the late 18th century, in the poetry of sentimentalists - are enriched in Batyushkov’s elegies by the expression of complex individual experiences, the “life” of feelings in their movement and transitions. For the first time in Russian lyrics, complex psychological states with such spontaneity and sincerity of tragically colored feelings and in such an elegant form:
There is an end to wanderings - never to sorrows!
In your presence there is suffering and torment
I learned new things with my heart.
They are worse than separation
The most terrible thing! I saw, I read
In your silence, in your intermittent conversation,
In your sad gaze,
In this secret sorrow of downcast eyes,
In your smile and in your very gaiety
Traces of heartache...
(“Elegy”, 1815; p. 200)
For the fate of Russian lyric poetry, the psychologization of the landscape and the strengthening of its emotional coloring were no less important. At the same time, in Batyushkov’s elegies, the passion for the night (lunar) landscape, characteristic of romantic poetry, is striking. Night is the time for dreams. “Dream is the daughter of the silent night” (“Dream”, 1802 or 1803):
...like a ray of sunshine goes out in the middle of the heavens,
Alone in exile, alone with my longing,
I talk in the night with the pensive moon!
(“Evening. Imitation of Petrarch”, 1810; p. 115)
Where Batyushkov turns to a contemplative and dreamy depiction of a night landscape in an attempt to convey the “picturesque beauty” of nature, to “paint” its pictures by means of poetic speech, his closeness to Zhukovsky is reflected, his kinship with him not only in common literary origins, but also in character perception, figurative system, even in vocabulary:
... In the valley where the spring gurgles and sparkles,
In the night, when the moon quietly sheds its ray on us,
And the clear stars shine from behind the clouds...
(“God”, 1801 or 1805; p. 69)
I'll touch the magic strings
I will touch... and the nymphs of the mountains in the monthly radiance,
Like light shadows, in a transparent robe
Timid naiads, floating above the water,
They will clasp their white hands,
And the May breeze, waking up on the flowers,
In cool groves and gardens,
Will blow quiet wings...
(“Message to Count Vielgorsky”, 1809; p. 104)
The Patriotic War of 1812 became an important milestone in spiritual development Batyushkova, caused certain changes in his public sentiments. The war brought a civil theme that had hitherto faintly sounded in the poet’s lyrics. During these years, Batyushkov wrote a number of patriotic poems, including the message “To Dashkov” (1813), in which the poet, in the days of national disaster, “among the ruins and graves,” when his “dear homeland” is in danger, refuses to “sing love and joy , carelessness, happiness and peace":
No no! my talent perish
And the lyre is precious to friendship,
When you are forgotten by me,
Moscow, the golden land of the fatherland!
(p. 154)
It is no coincidence that precisely in these years, after Patriotic War, in the atmosphere of a general rise in national self-awareness, Batyushkov has a persistent desire to expand the field of elegy. Her framework for the implementation of his new plans, the poetic development of historical, heroic themes seemed narrow to him. The search for the poet did not go in one direction. He experiments, turns to Russian ballads, even fables. Batyushkov gravitates toward multi-subject themes, complex plot structures, and a combination of intimate elegy motifs with historical meditation. An example of such a combination is the famous poem, noted by Belinsky as one of Batyushkov’s highest achievements, “On the ruins of a castle in Sweden” (1814). The introduction, a gloomy night landscape, written in the Ossian style, is fully consistent with the character of dreamy reflection and gives a romantic sound to the entire work:
I am here, on these rocks hanging above the water,
In the sacred twilight of the oak forest
I wander thoughtfully and see before me
Traces of past years and glory:
Debris, a formidable rampart, a moat overgrown with grass,
Pillars and a dilapidated bridge with cast iron chains,
Mossy strongholds with granite teeth
And a long row of coffins.
Everything is quiet: dead dream there is a deaf person in the monastery.
But here the memory lives:
And the traveler, leaning on the grave stone,
Tastes sweet dreams.
(p. 172)
Batyushkov possessed a rare gift: with the power of dreamy imagination, he could “revive” the past, the signs of which were inspired in his poems by a single feeling. Contemplation of the ruins in the silence of the night imperceptibly turns into a dreamy thought about people, brave warriors and freedom-loving skalds, and the frailty of everything earthly:
But everything is covered here in the gloomy darkness of the night,
All time has turned to dust!
Where before the skald thundered on a golden harp,
There the wind whistles only sadly!
………………
Where are you, brave crowds of heroes,
You, wild sons of both war and freedom,
Arose in the snow, among the horrors of nature,
Among the spears, among the swords?
The strong died!..……
(p. 174)
Such a perception of the distant historical past is not a tribute to fashion, as is often the case; it is internally inherent in Batyushkov the poet, which is confirmed by another similar description, where for the first time in Russian lyrics a poetic “formula” of the “secret” language of nature is given:
Nature's horrors, hostile elements battle,
Waterfalls roaring from gloomy rocks,
Snowy deserts, eternal masses of ice
Or the noisy sea, the vast view -
Everything, everything lifts the mind, everything speaks to the heart
With eloquent but secret words,
And the fire of poetry feeds between us.
(“Message to I.M. Muravyov-Apostol”, 1814–1815; p. 186)
The poem “On the ruins of a castle in Sweden”, despite the presence in it of elements of other genres (ballads, odes), is still an elegy, that variety of it that can be called a historical meditative elegy.
Contemplation, daydreaming, thoughtfulness, despondency, sadness, disappointment, doubt - too much general concepts, especially when it comes to lyric poetry; they are filled with different psychological content, which receives different colors depending on the individuality of the poet. Dreaminess, for example, among sentimentalists (or rather, among the epigones of this trend), was often feigned, a tribute to fashion, excessively tearful. In the lyrics of Zhukovsky and Batyushkov, dreaminess appears in a new quality, combined with elegiac sadness, imbued with philosophical reflection - a poetic state that is inherent in both of them. “In the works of these writers (Zhukovsky and Batyushkov - K.G.), - wrote Belinsky, - ... it is not only official delights that speak the language of poetry. but also such passions, feelings and aspirations, the source of which was not abstract ideals, but the human heart, the human soul” (10, 290–291).
Both Zhukovsky and Batyushkov owed a lot to Karamzin and sentimentalism, as well as to Arzamas. There were many similarities in their daydreaming, but there were also differences. For the first, it is predominantly contemplative in nature with a mystical overtones. For the second, daydreaming is not “replaced,” as Belinsky assumed (6, 293), but is combined with thoughtfulness, in the words of Batyushkov himself, “quiet and deep thoughtfulness.”
Batyushkov also wrote in prose. Batyushkov’s prose experiments reflect the general process of searching for new paths, the author’s desire for genre diversity (see Chapter 3).
Batyushkov viewed his prose experiments as “material for poetry.” He turned to prose mainly in order to “write well in poetry.”
Belinsky did not highly value Batyushkov’s prose works, although he noted them “ good language and syllable" and saw in them "an expression of the opinions and concepts of the people of his time" (1, 167). In this regard, Batyushkov’s prose “experiments” had an impact on the formation of the style of Pushkin’s prose.
Batyushkov’s merits are great in enriching the Russian poetic language and the culture of Russian verse. In the dispute about the “old” and “new syllable”, in this central issue of the social and literary struggle of the era, which has a broader significance than the problem of the language of literature, Batyushkov took the position of the Karamzinists. The poet considered the main advantages of the “poetic style” to be “movement, strength, clarity.” In his poetic work, he adhered to these aesthetic norms, especially the last one - “clarity”. According to Belinsky’s definition, he introduced into Russian poetry “correct and pure language”, “sonorous and light verse”, “plasticism of forms” (1, 165; 5, 551).
Belinsky recognized the “importance” of Batyushkov for the history of Russian literature, called Batyushkov “one of the smartest and most educated people of his time,” spoke of him as a “true poet,” gifted by nature with great talent. Nevertheless, in general judgments about the character and content of Batyushkov’s poetry, the critic was too harsh. Batyushkov’s poetry seemed to Belinsky “narrow”, overly personal, poor in content from the point of view of its social sound, expression of the national spirit in it: “Batiushkov’s muse, forever wandering under foreign skies, did not pick a single flower on Russian soil” (7, 432 ). Belinsky could not forgive Batyushkov for his passion for the “light poetry” of Parni (5, 551; 7, 128). The critic's judgments may have been influenced by the fact that he wrote about Batyushkov as Pushkin's predecessor, in connection with Pushkin - and in assessing Batyushkov's lyrics, the vast world of Pushkin's poetry could serve as a criterion.
The range of Batyushkov’s elegiac thoughts was determined early. He deeply believed in the power of the initial “first impressions”, “first fresh feelings” (“Message to I.M. Muravyov-Apostol”), which the poet did not betray throughout his entire creative life. Batyushkov’s poetry is closed primarily in the circle of personal experiences, and this is the source of its strength and weakness. Throughout his creative career, the poet remained faithful to “pure” lyrics, limiting its content to a personal theme. Only the Patriotic War of 1812 gave an explosion of patriotic sentiment, and then not for long. This time dates back to Batyushkov’s desire to get out of his closed world of favorite motifs, expand the boundaries of elegy, and enrich it thematically with the experience of other genres. The search went in different directions, but Batyushkov achieved tangible results where he did not betray his natural gift as an elegiac poet. He created new varieties of the genre, which were destined for a great future in Russian poetry. These are his message elegies and meditative, philosophical and historical elegies.
Thought, along with daydreaming, has always been characteristic of Batyushkov’s inner world. Over the years, in his lyrics, meditation “under the burden of sadness” increasingly acquires a gloomy shade, “heartfelt melancholy”, “spiritual sorrow” are heard, tragic notes sound more and more clearly, and as if a kind of result of the poet’s thoughts about life, one of his last poems sounds:
You know what you said
Saying goodbye to life, gray-haired Melchizedek?
A man will be born a slave,
He will go to his grave as a slave,
And death will hardly tell him
Why did he walk through the valley of wonderful tears,
He suffered, cried, endured, disappeared.
(1824; p. 240)
When reviewing Batyushkov’s literary heritage, one gets the impression of incompleteness. His poetry is deep in content and significance, but it, according to Belinsky’s definition, “is always indecisive, always wants to say something and seems to find no words” (5, 551).
Batyushkov did not manage to express much of what was inherent in his richly gifted nature. What prevented the poetry living in his soul from sounding in full voice? In Batyushkov’s poems one often encounters the bitterness of resentment that he is “unknown” and “forgotten.” But no less clearly sounds in them the bitter confession that inspiration is leaving him: “I feel that my gift in poetry has gone out...” (“Memories”, 1815). Batyushkov was experiencing a deep internal drama that accelerated the onset of the crisis, and he fell silent... But what he managed to accomplish gave him every right to identify the image of a true poet he created with himself:
Let the fierce rock play at their will,
Even if unknown, without gold and honor,
With his head drooping, he wanders among people;
………………
But he will never betray the muses or himself.
In the very silence he will drink everything.
(“Message to I.M. Muravyov-Apostol”, p. 187)
Batyushkov’s significance is not limited to the fact that he was Pushkin’s immediate predecessor. Elegies, messages and other poems by Batyushkov have independent and enduring aesthetic value. They entered the treasury of Russian literature, constituting one of the most important stages in the development of Russian lyric poetry.
Russian poet. The head of the anacreotic trend in Russian lyric poetry ("The Merry Hour", "My Penates", "Bacchae"). Later he experienced a spiritual crisis (“Hope”, “To a Friend”); in the genre of elegy motives of unrequited love ("Separation", "My Genius"), high tragedy ("The Dying Tass", "The Saying of Melchizedek").
Biography
Born on May 18 (29 NS) in Vologda into a noble noble family. His childhood years were spent on the family estate, the village of Danilovskoye, Tver province. Home education was supervised by his grandfather, the leader of the nobility of the Ustyuzhensky district.
From the age of ten, Batyushkov studied in St. Petersburg in private foreign boarding schools and spoke many foreign languages.
From 1802 he lived in St. Petersburg in the house of his uncle M. Muravyov, a writer and educator who played a decisive role in shaping the poet’s personality and talent. He studied philosophy and literature French Enlightenment, ancient poetry, literature of the Italian Renaissance. For five years he served as an official in the Ministry of Public Education.
In 1805 he made his debut in print with satirical poems “Message to My Poems.” During this period, he wrote poems mainly of the satirical genre ("Message to Chloe", "To Phyllis", epigrams).
In 1807 he joined the people's militia; his unit was sent to the site of military operations against Napoleon in Prussia. In the battle of Heilsberg he was seriously wounded and evacuated to Riga, where he was treated. Then he moved to St. Petersburg, where he transferred serious illness and upon recovery returned to the regiment. In the spring of 1808, having recovered, Batyushkov went to the troops operating in Finland. He reflected his impressions in the essay “From the Letters of a Russian Officer in Finland.” After retiring, he devoted himself entirely to literary creativity.
The satire “Vision on the Shores of Lethe,” written in the summer of 1809, marks the beginning of the mature stage of Batyushkov’s work, although it was published only in 1841.
In 1810 1812 he actively collaborated in the magazine "Dramatic Bulletin", became close to Karamzin, Zhukovsky, Vyazemsky and other writers. His poems “The Merry Hour”, “The Happy One”, “The Source”, “My Penates”, etc. appeared.
During the War of 1812, Batyushkov, who did not join the active army due to illness, experienced “all the horrors of war,” “poverty, fires, hunger,” which was later reflected in the “Message to Dashkov” (1813). In 1813 14 participated in the foreign campaign of the Russian army against Napoleon. The impressions of the war formed the content of many poems: “The Prisoner”, “The Fate of Odysseus”, “Crossing the Rhine”, etc.
In 1814 1817 Batyushkov traveled a lot, rarely staying in one place for more than six months. He experienced a severe spiritual crisis: disappointment in the ideas of Enlightenment philosophy. Religious sentiments grew. His poetry is painted in sad and tragic tones: the elegy “Separation”, “To a Friend”, “Awakening”, “My Genius”, “Tavrida”, etc. In 1817 the collection “Experiments in Poems and Prose” was published, which included translations , articles, essays and poems.
In 1819 he left for Italy at the place of his new service; he was appointed an official at the Neopolitan mission. In 1821 he was overcome by an incurable mental illness (persecution mania). Treatment in the best European clinics was not successful Batyushkov never returned to normal life. His last twenty years were spent with relatives in Vologda. Died of typhus on July 7 (19 n.s.) 1855. Buried in the Spaso-Prilutsky Monastery.
Poet, prose writer
1797-1802 - having received an excellent home education, Batyushkov studied in St. Petersburg boarding schools, mastered the French, Italian and Latin languages perfectly.
1802-1807 - serves as an official in the Ministry of Public Education.
1805 - debuts in print with the satire “Message to My Poems.”
1807 - Batyushkov enlists in the people's militia and goes on the Prussian campaign, during which he is seriously wounded (a bullet hit the spinal cord, which caused subsequent physical suffering).
1809 - resigns. Living on the estate, he spends six months in various literary pursuits, for the first time feeling like a poet, capable of creating completely independently. Poetically self-defining, he writes the literary satire “Vision on the Banks of Lethe”, in which he “drowns” many modern poets in the river of oblivion, leaving only the works of I.A. Krylov “immortal”. By spreading in lists, “Vision” makes the name of Batyushkov famous in the literary circles of both capitals. Arriving in Moscow, Batyushkov entered the circle of Moscow writers, especially becoming close to V.A. Zhukovsky, P.A. Vyazemsky, and met N.M. Karamzin.
Soon Batyushkov becomes the head of the so-called “light poetry,” which, in his opinion, required “possible perfection, purity of expression, harmony in style, flexibility, smoothness.” The chanting of the joys of earthly life, friendship, and love is combined in his friendly messages with the affirmation of the poet’s inner freedom and independence. The programmatic work of this kind becomes the message “My Penates” (1811-1812).
1812 - Batyushkov moves to St. Petersburg, where he receives a position as an assistant curator of manuscripts at the Public Library. Here I.A. Krylov and N.I. Gnedich became his colleagues.
Under the influence of the impressions of the Patriotic War of 1812, Batyushkov created works imbued with patriotic feeling (“To Dashkov,” 1813). However, the events of the war, the capture and destruction of Moscow and personal upheavals become the cause of Batyushkov’s spiritual crisis. He becomes disillusioned with the ideas of enlightenment philosophy. His poetry takes on increasingly sad tones (elegy “Separation”, 1812-13, “Shadow of a Friend”, 1814, etc.).
1813-1814 - Batyushkov participates in the foreign campaign of the Russian army against Napoleon. Batyushkov reflected his impressions of the war in the poems “Prisoner”, “On the ruins of a castle in Sweden”, “Crossing the Rhine” and in prose essays “Memories of places, battles and travels”, “Travel to Sirey Castle”.
1814-1817 - literary success and fame as the “first poet” of Russia comes to Batyushkov. He refuses satires and epigrams. Philosophical and religious reflections appear in his work (“To a Friend”, “Hope”, 1815), motives of tragic love (“Awakening”, “Elegy”, 1815) and the eternal discord of the artist-creator with reality (“Hesiod and Omir, rivals ", "Dying Tass", 1817).
1815 - the literary circle “Arzamas” is founded, the participants of which are V.A. Zhukovsky, P.A. Vyazemsky, A.S. Pushkin and others. Batyushkov is elected in absentia as a member of the circle, receiving his former nickname Achilles (given by friends) as his Arzamas name in contrast to short stature). The ritual of admission to Arzamas (a parody of admission to the French Academy) took place in the presence of Batyushkov at a meeting on August 27, 1817.
1817 - Batyushkov’s collection “Experiments in Poetry and Prose” is published, which had great success with the reader. The first, prose volume contains essays, translations, moral and philosophical articles, literary and theoretical discussions, research on writers of the past, and the first art history essay in Russian literature. The second volume contains poems grouped by genre.
1819 - Batyushkov leaves for Italy, where he participates in the Russian diplomatic mission.
1822 - Batyushkov begins to feel signs of persecution mania, which has become an incurable disease. Despite the care of friends and treatment in the best clinics, Batyushkov is unable to return to normal life. This disease lasts 33 years. Last years lives with relatives in Vologda.
Main works:
"Ghost. From Guys" (1810)
"Hope" (1815)
"My Genius" (1815)
"Tavrida" (1815)
"To a Friend" (1815)
"Elegy" (1815)
"Arbor of the Muses" (1817)
“There is pleasure in the wildness of the forests” (1819)
Messages:
“My Penates” (1811-12, publ. 1814)
"To Dashkov" (1813)
Anthological poem cycles:
"From the Greek Anthology" (1817-18)
"Imitations of the Ancients" (1821)
Philosophical lyrics:
“Do you know what you said”, 1821?
Poetic tale “The Wanderer and the Homebody” (1814–15)
"Vision on the Shores of Lethe" (1809, published 1841)
Essays and articles:
“Walk around Moscow” (1811-12, published 1869)