Annensky Innokenty Fedorovich was born in Omsk in 1855 in the family of an important government official. In 1860, my father received a new appointment, and the whole family moved to St. Petersburg.

Education

At first, Annensky studied at a private school (due to poor health), then at the 2nd St. Petersburg gymnasium, then again at a private school. He was helped to enter the university by his elder brother Nikolai Annensky, an outstanding encyclopedist, economist, populist.

In 1875 he entered the Faculty of History and Philology of St. Petersburg University, and in 1879 he graduated with honors and began teaching. Annensky worked in both public and private schools. Usually he either taught Russian literature, or history, or ancient languages. Even then, it was clear to everyone that this man was a big fan of classicism in its purest form.

Peak teaching career

Annensky managed to work as a teacher of the Russian language, literature, history, ancient languages ​​in St. Petersburg, Moscow, and Kyiv, but in 1896 he was appointed director of the gymnasium in Tsarskoye Selo. The students adored him, although they considered him a big eccentric, but in 1906 the authorities considered him too soft and fired him. Annensky was very upset by the dismissal, because he really loved his job very much.

Creative activity

After his dismissal from the gymnasium, Annensky worked as a district inspector, but at the same time he managed to make translations from ancient Greek and French (he translated Euripides, Baudelaire, Verlaine, Rimbaud), published several collections of poems, and wrote critical articles. Annensky's work was highly appreciated by his contemporaries, he was considered perhaps the best translator in St. Petersburg and a connoisseur of Russian literature. He was a recognized authority on classicism and classical education.

Death

Annensky died suddenly of a heart attack in 1909. He was buried in Tsarskoye Selo (now it is the city of Pushkin). His son, also a famous poet, did everything so that his father's poems and his dramatic works were published, he also published the first short biography of Annensky I.F. and a biography of his brother Annensky N.F.

Other biography options

• Annensky was a great admirer of ancient Greek playwrights. During his leadership of the gymnasium in Tsarskoye Selo, he did everything to ensure that the students had an excellent command of the ancient Greek language.
• It is interesting that for a long time Annensky's close friends did not know anything about his plays, designed in the spirit of Euripides, and about his poems. Annensky hid his poetic and dramatic talent. According to the memoirs of contemporaries, he was a rather modest person. Meanwhile, Annensky was considered a genius by many recognized classics of Russian literature. Anna Akhmatova loved him very much, Pasternak admired him.
• Annensky's poem "The Bells" is considered the first futuristic Russian poem. Annensky's poem "Among the Worlds" (considered one of the best poems in Russian literature) was set to music written by A. Vertinsky.
• In addition to ancient languages ​​and French, Annensky also knew German and English. He translated a lot of Goethe, Müller, Heine. From ancient Roman (Latin), he translated the works of Horace.

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Russian poet, playwright, translator, critic, researcher of literature and language, teacher and administrative figure in education, DSS, teacher and director 1

October 16 1896 year to the post of director, was appointed Innokenty Fedorovich Annensky, who replaced him in this post.

In many ways, only thanks to the ten-year directorate of this outstanding poet, philologist, Hellenist and teacher, the Nikolaev Gymnasium has taken a special place in the history of educational institutions in Russia. And if it is customary to talk about the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum as about the Pushkin Lyceum, then with the same right the Tsarskoye Selo gymnasium can be called the Annensky gymnasium.

Innokenty Fedorovich Annensky was born in Western Siberia, in the city of Omsk, on August 20 (old style) 1855 years in the family of the state official Fyodor Nikolaevich Annensky, "seconded" to Siberia. On September 4, the boy was baptized in the military temple of Omsk - the Omsk Fortress Cathedral-Resurrection Church, as the Omsk Military Cathedral was then called. The boy’s godparents were the DSS of the same department as his father, Alexander Stefanovich Voinov and the wife of the duty officer of the headquarters, Major Kolcheva Maria Vasilievna.37

Cathedral in which little Innocent of Annensky was baptized. Omsk, late XIX - early XX century 38

His father was the head of the department of the Main Directorate of Western Siberia. When Innokenty was about five years old, his father received a position as an official for special assignments in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the family from Siberia returned to St. Petersburg, which they had previously left in 1849 year.

Fedor Nikolaevich and Natalia Petrovna Annensky, the poet's parents. Natalia Petrovna, nee Karamolina (or Karmalina), presumably came from the Hannibal family. GLM Photo Archive

Innokenty fell seriously ill at the age of five, and the disease gave rise to a heart complication; he had a heart all his life, and then he died of paralysis of the heart.

The sickly boy changed several educational institutions, I. Annensky studied at a private school, then at the 2nd St. Petersburg progymnasium (1865-1868). This was followed by a break for several months for treatment, after which the father on October 8 1868 year transferred thirteen-year-old Innokenty to the 1st St. Petersburg gymnasium. 27 In an accompanying note to Innokenty's documents, the inspector writes to the director of the gymnasium that the boy was transferred to grade III with an award book and a commendation sheet. 28

Autograph of Fyodor Nikolaevich Annensky. Published for the first time 27

However, here he also stayed for a short time - his father took him from the gymnasium three months later, on January 7 1869 of the year. With excellent behavior, the boy's progress was satisfactory. 29 Then Innokenty studied for two and a half years at the private gymnasium of V.I. Berens. Innokenty Annensky completed his secondary education in 1875 year, having passed the exams for the "test of maturity" and received a certificate of completion of the gymnasium course at the Gymnasium of the Humanitarian Society, showing the following knowledge: the Law of God and the French language - excellent, Russian language and literature, mathematics - good, other subjects - satisfactory, 36

Finally, already a young man, he settled with his older brother, who undertook to prepare him for the university. The father of the brothers at that time almost went bankrupt, getting involved in some kind of financial adventure, the ruin was followed by an apoplexy, in the present - a stroke. Innokenty had to leave the gymnasium and prepare for the exams on his own, and his brother and his wife had to actually replace the father and mother of the young man.

Nikolai Fedorovich Annensky, the elder brother of the poet

The elder brother, Nikolai Fedorovich (1843-1912), an economist and statistician in the Ministry of Communications, publicist, scientist, head of the Russian Wealth, was the support and guardian angel of this family. He and his wife, Alexandra Nikitichna, an educator and children's writer, professed populist ideals. According to Innokenty Fedorovich, he was "entirely obliged to his intelligent life" to his brother and his wife.

N.F. Annensky with his family

However, he himself was an extremely bookish boy, from childhood in love with literature. In My Biography, Annensky admitted:

“... I grew up as a weak, sickly child and, in terms of physical development, remained far behind my peers. Quite early I began to study and, as far as I remember, I was never weary of teaching. Having learned to read under the guidance of my older sister, I took pleasure in reading books that were accessible to my age and development. The environment in which I grew up had a great influence on the development in me of an early desire to read: I grew up almost without comrades, among people who were older than me ... "

July 24 1875 year, he submits a petition to the Rector of St. Petersburg University to enroll him in the Faculty of History and Philology. At that time, he lived with his brother, in Myatlev's house at the corner of Pochtamskaya Street and St. Isaac's Square, No. 2/9, apt. 12. 35

AT 1876 year Annensky for the first time was registered in the City for military service and received a deferment from service until 1882 of the year. 40 This means that, despite his poor health and heart condition, he was not immediately released from military service.

The newly minted student immersed himself in what he loved most - in the study of languages. According to his father, he knew or had ever studied 13 languages: Russian, Latin, Greek, French, German, English, Italian, Polish, Sanskrit, Hebrew, Serbian, Bulgarian, and one of the African languages, Dina. In addition, Annensky knew well Western European poetry and, perhaps, in his poems he was guided not by Russian predecessors, but by French symbolists - Verlaine, Baudelaire, Rimbaud, whom he translated a lot. Annensky began writing poetry as a child, but his sisters discovered his pathetic poem Magali. Maria Fedorovna assured that it contained the following verse: "God sends her a sweet figure from heaven". You can imagine how many jokes this generated! Innokenty began to hide his poetic experiments. In his youth, as a student, he continued to write, but he never printed, he was sharply critical of them.

In the student years of Innokenty, the Annenskys lived on Golovinskaya Street, 13, and then - in the 2nd section of the Kolomna part of St. Petersburg on Ofitserskaya Street, 57, apt. 23. 31 For the summer holidays, he went to his mother's estate in the Belsk district of the Smolensk province. 32

Desperately in need of funds for education, Annensky turns to the Rector with a request for an "optional scholarship" for him. The student's marks are displayed on the application: out of six subjects, only one is a four, the rest are excellent. 33 Attached to the petition was the Certificate of Poverty of the Annenskys, issued by the Office of the St. Petersburg mayor. It said: "Student of the Imperial St. Petersburg University Innokenty Fedorovich Annensky applied to me with a request to issue him a certificate of poverty for submission to the VP for assigning poverty to him. As a result, I have the honor to notify you, MG, that according to the information collected, Annensky, the son of the DSS, a native of the Tobolsk province, 22 years old, of the Orthodox faith, lives with his parents, his father is retired, is paralyzed, receives a pension of 1000 rubles a year and uses these funds to support a family consisting of a wife and six children, of which none of them are on public account not brought up, the petitioner, as well as his parents do not have real estate in St. Petersburg and are really in poverty. 34

By the decision of the University Council in the 3rd year he was assigned an Imperial scholarship (September 1, 1878).

Before every poet, sooner or later, the question arises of how to earn a living; Annensky made money by teaching, although he would probably have retired with his poems and translations with great pleasure. He taught mainly ancient languages ​​- he was generally a "classic", but also ancient literature, and Russian, and even the theory of literature; I thought a lot about how to teach children language and literature correctly.

AT 1879 year he received a certificate of attending the full course of science at St. Petersburg University. Another year was spent defending the candidate's work, and on November 13 1880 year he was awarded the Diploma of Candidate of Philology. thirty

Candidate diploma of I.F. Annensky, published for the first time 30

After that, the young philologist for a long time served as a teacher of ancient languages ​​and Russian literature in various educational institutions in St. Petersburg. The first place of his service was the private Gymnasium F.F. Bychkov (later - the Gymnasium and the Real School of Y. Gurevich). On August 23, Innokenty Fedorovich applied to the private Bychkov Gymnasium for admission as a teacher of ancient languages ​​while still a candidate of the university. 1879 of the year. 39 In the case of Annensky in the Bychkov Gymnasium, a curious document was deposited, signed by Innokenty Fedorovich upon taking office, "The Oath Promise" of honest and blameless service to the Autocrat of All Russia. Annensky signed the oath on December 4 1879 of the year. 41 The text of the oath is standard; it was given by many teachers of that time when they entered the service.

I.F. Annensky, 1870s. Passe-partout photographs by G.M. Perla (H.Perl), St. Petersburg, archive MNG 10

For 17 years of teaching activity (before taking the post of director of the Nikolaev gymnasium), he went from a teacher of Latin and Greek at the Gurevich gymnasium in St. Petersburg to the director of the 8th St. Petersburg gymnasium.

When the Minister of Education I. D. Delyanov offered him a new appointment to post of director of the Nikolaev Tsarskoye Selo gymnasium, Annensky did not want to part with the 8th gymnasium, but he could not refuse the proposal of the minister, who frankly told him that “refusing to be appointed here would put him in an extremely difficult position. That he has no other person that he could safely send to the Tsarskoye Selo gymnasium, ”hinting the proximity of the gymnasium to the Court and the ability, if necessary, to observe etiquette when communicating with persons of the imperial family.

Innokenty Fedorovich accepted the offer and on October 16, 1896 officially assumed the position of director. Together with his family, he moved to Tsarskoye Selo, where he received a service job.

"Very tall and slender, his appearance resembled those gentlemen who came across in the French illustrations of the 60s. The similarity with them was enhanced by the cut of his smart dress with an accentuated bias towards the fashion of the 60s. Ties, wide from black satin, such as his ", I saw only in portraits of the Duke of Morny. In the manner of the French nobles of the times of the III Empire, he cut his beard, which always smelled strongly of fine perfumes and fixative. His long legs, with a very high rise above the foot, did not bend well, and the gait was also somehow sometimes tense and done. Among philologists and teachers, such a figure was quite unusual. He was famous among the members of the Society for his poetic translations of the tragedies of Euripides, published in the Journal of the Ministry of Public Education.

Difficulties in official relations began for Annensky in 1905 year, when the unrest of young students, caused by the first Russian revolution, did not bypass the Nikolaev gymnasium.

However, the gymnasium was in bad standing with the educational leadership; many were annoyed by the director's independent position, his hesitation in establishing strict order, and his attempts to defend the "seditious youth". All these circumstances led to the "voluntary" resignation (January 1, 1906) of I. F. Annensky from the post of director of the gymnasium, although no official charges were brought against him.

January 2 1906 year, on the basis of an order from the manager of the St. Petersburg educational district, appointed in his place.

Family of Innokenty Fedorovich

AT 1877 In the year I. Annensky falls passionately in love with her and two years after graduating from the university he marries her.

The image of Annensky's wife in memoirs and biographical literature is somewhat mythologized and endowed with very contradictory features; ambiguous assessments are also inherent in evidence about the nature of their family relations.

Annenskaya (nee Slivitskaya, in her first marriage Borshchevskaya, who during the life of her husband began to call herself first Khmara-Borshchevskaya, and later Khmara-Barshchevskaya

Nadezhda (Dina) Valentinovna (1841 - 1917) - the daughter of a retired major general, a poor landowner, Annensky's wife since September 23, 1879. Dina Valentinovna was widowed on December 1, 1867, when she was 26 years old, and her sons: Platon - 4 years, Emmanuel - 2 years. The death of Pyotr Petrovich Borshchevsky, her first husband, whom she dearly loved, was a heavy blow of fate for Dina Valentinovna. She had to be a widow for a long 12 years, raising her children.

To the sons of Dina Valentinovna - Plato and Emmanuel, who studied with 1874 years in the St. Petersburg 6th gymnasium, was coming in the fall 187 7 years to go to class III, and they were "triples". Their weak success in mastering the subjects of the gymnasium course was known to their mother and she was very concerned, and therefore she decided to hire a tutor for her sons during the summer holidays. It was this circumstance that led her to meet a second-year student, Innokenty Annenkiy, who then needed a part-time job.

From the memoir narrative of Annensky's niece T. A. Bogdanovich, saturated with a large number of inaccuracies, largely based on the family "tradition" about him, it is clear that “At the age of 23, he passionately fell in love with the mother of two of his students, who were a little younger than his teacher. Although the bride was 46 years old at that time, she was an exceptional beauty, and the young man completely lost his head. He immediately married her, taking care of a large family, accustomed to a prosperous, almost rich life, and considered the object of his ambition that his wife and her children would not feel any difference from their former life.

23 September 1879 year (old style) Innokenty Fedorovich married "dear Dinush". The wedding took place in one of the house churches of St. Petersburg, at the address: 26 Ligovsky Prospect. - com. state.).

In an effort to provide for his family, the young teacher leads up to 56 lessons a week at the gymnasium, which is beyond the power of a completely healthy person ... Material problems haunt the young specialist - in the summer of 1880 he managed to lose the binder of the journal Readings in the Imperial Society of Russian History and Antiquities at Moscow University "for 1870 from the institute's library, for the restoration of which they took 10 rubles from him - not a small amount, given his cramped circumstances. (D.18333. L.1) Another 6 rubles were spent on making a diploma, which was presented to Innokenty Fedorovich exactly one week before the birth of their son, who was born on November 20 (old style) of the same year. The Annenskys at that time lived in the Kolomna part of St. Petersburg, on Officerskaya (now Dekabristov) street, 57, apt. 23. (D.18333. L.4 Vnzh)

Despite all the discordance of opinions about Dina Valentinovna, there is no doubt that the relationship of the spouses, who experienced different times during their thirty years of “inseparable”, according to the son, life, remained warm and close in their own way until the last days of Annensky.

Almost all memoirists noted that Innokenty Annensky was a bizarre combination of several guises that contradicted one another. Few of his contemporaries could have imagined that His Excellency the Acting State Councilor, the director of gymnasiums, and the poet who wrote modernist poetry and critical articles on the poetry of Russian Symbolists, were one and the same person. And in the eyes of most of those who knew about it, he looked like an eccentric director.

“Annensky seemed to us an eccentric director. In Gostiny Dvor, in Mitrofanov's bookshop, for that winter already, behind the glass in the window, infested with flies, there was a copy of the book of poems: Nick - something "Quiet Songs", and we knew that this was a collection of Annensky's poems. None of us read this book at that time, but even if I had read it, it’s a fact: the director writes poetry in no way corresponded to the Tsarskoe Selo ideas about the director and his pastime and did not fit into our heads.- recalled a graduate of the gymnasium in 1907, art critic Nikolai Punin.

Contemporaries assessed the appearance of Annensky, the director and teacher, in different ways: from enthusiastic to sharply critical.

Gymnasium teacher L. L. Mukhin wrote that "he was the idol of his students", noting his extraordinary gift of words and brilliant knowledge of European and Russian literature.

Another teacher P.P. Mitrofanov said that students and teachers loved him because “he knew how to inspire” us with love for our work and gave us full scope in the manifestation of our strengths and abilities” and was honored as an “experienced teacher, humane humanist.”

"Golden" high school graduate 1900 year, the poet and prose writer noted that when “the official uniform was slightly unbuttoned”, then “ the hard, "purpose" peel exfoliated", and students “with all the wealth of joy in youthful, wandering minds, with all the overflowing thirst for a sincere word, they heard, saw, were drawn to that real thing that was hidden in this person.”

Nikolai Gumilyov, the most famous student of Annensky, who considered him a teacher not only in gymnasium classes, but also in literary work, wrote about him: "AND. Annensky ... mighty power not so much masculine as human. For him, it is not a feeling that gives rise to a thought, as is generally the case with poets, but the thought itself becomes so strong that it becomes a feeling, even painfully alive.

In the anniversary report of the gymnasium 1911 of the year, a biographical article about I. F. Annensky, written by the clerk L. A. Kozmin, is given. Everything that was said about Annensky's poetry fit in one sentence: “I.F. was no stranger to pure lyricism: doing a lot, especially in recent years, with questions of art, he published two collections of poems and a number of translations of Western European poets.”

But perhaps the warmest of all about Annensky, the teacher, is said in the prospectus in the creation and development of programs in which Annensky took a great part: “The poet himself, he saw beauty in the heart of a person, and understood the high joy of pedagogical work, invisible to the masses” .

These statements are contradicted by the negative view on the pedagogical activity of Annensky, already mentioned by us, who valued Annensky as a philologist-translator, playwright and highly educated person, but did not perceive him either as a director or as a poet. "But his directorship was even worse administratively."

About the inability of Annensky the director to maintain order within the walls of the gymnasium entrusted to him, the graduate of the gymnasium in 1913 wrote: “... under Annensky, rallies were held in the classrooms, high school students drank vodka under their desks, mocked teachers, and the smartest Russian lyricist had to, lisping a little and causing the ridicule of students, to ask and convince them, without any success, of course» .

But, is it really important whether the poet, scientist, critic and teacher Innokenty Annensky was a good or bad official and business executive? Pushkin and Tyutchev were officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, few people remember this when reading the poems of great poets. The main business of Annensky's life was his creative heritage: poems, translations, plays, critical articles. Innokenty Fedorovich did a lot as a teacher, who earned the love and respect of the majority of the students and teachers around him.

Posthumous book of poems by I. Annensky, published by his son Valentin Krivich

After leaving the post of director, Annensky took up the position of inspector of the educational district. Despite the need for frequent and tedious travel, this position freed him from the daily work of director and gave him more opportunities for creative work.

FROM 1906 year lived Innokenty Fedorovich Annensky. Annensky had to vacate the state-owned apartment at the gymnasium, but he remained in Tsarskoye Selo and lived for almost two years in a house on Moscow Highway.

And then he moved to Sofia, on Zakharzhevskaya street, in.

An interesting note was placed on its pages by the newspaper "Evening" in September 1908 of the year. 26 She wrote:

"Detention of writers
Today critic K. Chukovsky and N. Benshtein, publisher of the New Journal for All, were detained and searched at the Beloostrov station.
At the stop of the train going from Kuokalla to the car in which the writer N.F. Annensky, the writer T. Bogdanovich, the owner of the Publishing Bureau, Belopolsky, were. Chukovsky and Benshtein, several gendarmes entered and asked the last two to follow them to the gendarmerie department. There, without explanation, they were subjected to a thorough search. Mr. Benstein had all his papers in perfect order. Mr. Chukovsky did not have his passport with him. It took a certificate of his identity by one of the passengers, which was done by N.F. Annensky and Mr. Belopolsky. After that, those arrested were released peacefully."

Annensky filed an application for dismissal from the post of inspector of the St. Petersburg educational district on October 26 1909 d. 17 The Trustee of the Educational District in relation to the name of the Minister writes that " Acting State Councilor Annensky I.F. petitions for his resignation from his position from November 1, 1909 ... with the uniform of the designated position.." 18

At the same time, Annensky asks for an enhanced pension. 19 The resignation was granted on November 20 1909 year, but the inspector's widow, Dina Valentinovna, had to clap about the enhanced pension, 20 10 days after the resignation, Innokenty Fedorovich Annensky died of a heart attack on the steps, at the end of a tiring day on November 30 1909 of the year. The newspaper "New time" in the section "Incidents" published a note: "November 30, at 7:35 p.m., the district inspector of the St. Petersburg educational district, D.S.S. I.F. died. According to the doctor, death followed from a rupture of the heart. "

Tatyana Bogdanovich wrote:

“Innokenty Fedorovich, who was driving by the station in a cab, suddenly made a sign to the cab driver to turn towards the station. Descending from it, he took a step and immediately fell from his entire height onto the steps of the stairs. The doctor who was passing by the station approached him, listened to him and stated that he had died instantly from a broken heart. Later I remembered how Innokenty Fyodorovich said jokingly: "I would not want to die suddenly. It's like leaving a restaurant without paying."

The day after Annensky's death, a message was published: "Dismissed from service: according to the petition of the district inspector of the St. Petersburg educational district, the actual state councilor Annensky, from November 1, with the uniform assigned to the designated position<...>" 22

Funeral service for Annensky on December 4 1909 year in, the very one where he attended services as a director for 10 years. The rite was performed by the high school priest and deacon 23

Many people attended the funeral services in Annensky's house and his funeral, and Innokenty Fedorovich helped many of them or their children to receive or continue their education. For the majority of those who saw Annensky on his last journey, he was a prominent figure in public education and a humane director, for the initiated minority, a significant classical philologist and translator of the tragedies of Euripides.

Grave of I.F. Anensky and members of his family

And only the members of the editorial board of the Apollo magazine (M. Kuzmin, M. Voloshin, A. Tolstoy and) who were present at the funeral, said goodbye to him, as with a great poet.

“We buried him at the Kazan cemetery of Tsarskoye Selo; the funeral turned out to be unexpectedly crowded, the young students loved it, the cathedral was packed with pupils and pupils of all ages. It felt like an unforgettable person had left.<.„>He lay in a solemn, official coffin, in a general's frock coat of the Ministry of Public Education. And this seemed to be the last mockery of him - the Poet.- recalled

Prepared by specialists of the Museum of the Nikolaev Gymnasium

Sources:

1. TsGIA SPb. F.139, Op.1-1, D.15903. Annesky Innokenty Fedorovich - director of the Tsarskoye Selo gymnasium
2. Finkelstein K. Imperial Nikolaev Tsarskoye Selo Gymnasium. St. Petersburg: Silver Age Publishing House, 2008. 150 p., ill.
3. Finkelstein K. Imperial Nikolaev Tsarskoye Selo Gymnasium. Pupils. St. Petersburg: Silver Age Publishing House, 2009. 310 p., ill.
Given the fact that Annensky left the post of director of the gymnasium on January 1, 1906, this photograph could have been taken not with the graduating class, but a year earlier, with the 7th grade gymnasium students.
4. TsGIA SPb. F.139. Op. 1, D.9431. 1902. Correspondence of the director of the INCG with the Trustee of the educational district. L.1
5. there. L.83
6. there. L.85
7. TsGIA SPb, F.139, Op.1, D.9143. L. 85 Schedule for 1901-1902
8. TsGIA SPb. F.139, Op.1. D.15904. L.1. Petition
9. there. L.2. Attitude of the School District Trustee
10. there. L.4. Annensky's petition for an enhanced pension
11. there. L.3. Petition D.V. Annenskaya dated December 19, 1909
12. Bogdanovich
13. Government Bulletin, 1909, December 1, No. 256, p. one.
14. TsGIA SPb. F.19. Op.127. L.122
15. D.15904. LL.14, 15. Notification of the appointment of N.V. Annenskaya pension for the deceased husband
16. TsGIA SPb, F.139, Op.1, D.10284. 1905. L.9
17. "Evening" dated September 28 (15), 1908
18. TsGIA SPb. F.11. Op.1. D.3236. L.1. Father's petition for admission to the son's gymnasium
19. there. L.3
20. there. 6
21. TsGIA SPb. F.171. Op.1. D.16. L.68. Diploma
22. TsGIA SPb. F.14. Op.3. D.18333. 1875-1879. L.4. Resident card
23. there. L.10. Request for a ticket
24. there. L.6
25. there. LL.7, 7 about
26. there. L.20. Petition
27. there. L.21. Copy of the Certificate of passing tests
28. there. L.22. Copy of the metric statement
29. Winter view in the fortress. Omsk. [Card]. B.m.: Ed. A. Shevelina, B.g. (Joint stock company Granberg to Stockholm). Postcards from the collection of Oleg Nesterov, publ. at temples.ru.
30. TsGIA SPb.F.171. op.1. D. 16. L. 1
31. there. L.4
32. there. L.6

Innokenty Annensky is a famous poet and playwright of the Silver Age. At the turn of the XIX-XX centuries, he became famous as a translator and critic. Innokenty Fedorovich stood at the origins of the emergence of symbolism in Russian poetry.

Childhood

The famous symbolist poet Innokenty Annensky was born in early September 1855 in the city of Omsk, which is rich in cultural values ​​and sights. It is known that Omsk is also called a theater city. And this significantly affected the upbringing and formation of the future poet.

The family in which the future symbolist poet was born was considered exemplary. The parents of the famous poet of the Silver Age did not have any special merits. Parents had nothing to do with poetry either. So, the poet's mother, Natalia Petrovna, was engaged only in raising children and housekeeping. Father, Fedor Nikolaevich, held a responsible and high government post.

When the father of the future symbolist poet received a new position in Tomsk, the whole family moved there for permanent residence. Fedor Nikolaevich was offered the post of chairman of the Provincial Administration. He couldn't refuse such a promotion. But even in the city of scientists and universities, the Annensky family did not stay long.

It so happened that in 1860 the Annensky family moved to St. Petersburg. It is known that the father of the future poet was a gambler and, carried away by some regular scam, he went bankrupt, leaving his son no fortune.

Education

In childhood, Innokenty Annensky, whose biography is eventful, was a boy with poor health. He was often sick, but his parents still decided not to leave him homeschooled, but sent him to a private comprehensive school. After moving to St. Petersburg, he immediately entered the Second St. Petersburg Progymnasium.

But already in 1869, Innokenty Annensky studied at the private gymnasium of V. I. Berens. At the same time, he is preparing for the exams for entering the university. In 1875 he settled with his older brother, who was a journalist and economist. He had a great influence on the views of the future symbolist poet. Brother helped Innocent to prepare for the exams.

Therefore, Innokenty Fedorovich easily and successfully passed the entrance exams to the St. Petersburg University at the Faculty of History and Philology. In 1879, he already graduated from it, having only “five” in almost all subjects. Were and "four", but only in two subjects: theology and philosophy.

Teaching activity

Innokenty Annensky immediately after a successful graduation from the university begins to work. He chooses a career as a teacher and gets a job at the Gurevich Gymnasium, where he gives excellent lectures on Russian literature and ancient languages. His knowledge and erudition surprised both students and teachers. Innokenty Fedorovich was considered by all students to be the strongest teacher.

But the symbolist poet not only lectured at the gymnasium. So, he soon took the post of director of the Galagan College, and then also became the director of the eighth gymnasium in St. Petersburg. The young and successful teacher Annensky was soon invited to take the post of director of the famous gymnasium in Tsarskoe Selo, where the famous Russian poet Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin once studied.

Poetic activity

Annensky Innokenty Fedorovich began to write his poetic works at an early age. He believed that all his poems are mystical. But he did not know that in literature and art there is such a direction as symbolism. And yet, his literary works belong to symbolism, since everything in them is surrounded by mystery and mystery, many lines contain metaphors or even hints that should be unraveled and understood.

But still, literary critics are inclined to believe that Annensky's work goes beyond symbolism. They argue that this is most likely pre-symbolism.

Innokenty Annensky in some of his works also tried to follow the religious genre, choosing as his idols the Spanish artist of the Golden Age, Bartolome Esteban Murillo. In his works, the symbolist poet tried to convey virgin purity and meekness, tenderness and peace. But he did not use brushes and paints for this, like his idol, but words.

Following the advice of his older brother, Innokenty Annensky, whose brief biography helps to understand his work, did not seek to print his works. He did not even seek to show his poems to famous writers in order to hear their opinion. Nikolai Fedorovich, the poet's brother, advised him to first establish himself a little in life, and only then, when he understands what his vocation is, it will be possible to engage in poetry and print his poems.

That is why the first book of the poet Annensky was published only in 1904, when he was already a brilliant teacher and he was respected in society. But his collection "Quiet Songs" was received enthusiastically.

The main motives of all the works of the famous symbolist poet are loneliness, melancholy, sadness and melancholy. That is why in many of his poetic and dramatic works one can find a description of either twilight, or cold, or sunset.

The poet talks about this in such poems as "Two Loves", "Bow and Strings" and others. Innokenty Annensky described reality mysteriously and sadly. "Snow" is one of the works of the symbolist poet, which is unusual and interesting in its plot, where the poet's favorite season is adjacent to death. A clean and beautiful winter helps to see poverty and poverty.

The famous poet and translator made a huge contribution to the development of literature. So, the poem by Innokenty Annensky "The Bells" can be attributed to the first futuristic works. The fame and popularity of the talented poet was brought by his collection of poetry "Cypress Casket", which was published after his death.

Annensky - playwright

The symbolist poet wrote not only poems, but also engaged in dramaturgy. In his plays, he tried to imitate the writers of Ancient Egypt, whom he studied well and fell in love with. The works of Sophocles, Euripides and Aeschylus caused him a special thrill.

The first play was written by Innokenty Fedorovich in 1901. The following year, Melanippa the Philosopher was followed by the play King Ixion. In 1906, the symbolist poet wrote the play "Laodamia", but the work "Famira-kafared" was published after the death of the poet, in 1913.

In all his works, Innokenty Annensky, whose work is diverse and interesting, tried to adhere to impressionism. Everything that he saw around, the poet tried to describe the real, the way he saw and remembered everything.

Translation activities

Innokenty Annensky, whose poems are mysterious and enigmatic, was also engaged in translation. So, he translated the famous tragedies of Euripides, as well as poems by such foreign poets as Johann Goethe, Christian Gein, Horace, Hans Müller, and others.

Personal life

Little is known about the personal life of the famous poet. Contemporaries described him as a gentle and kind person. But these character traits did not help him, but only hindered him. Out of his kindness, he lost the excellent position of director of the gymnasium in Tsarskoye Selo. The poet never talked about his personal life in his works.

But it is known that in the second year of university he met Nadezhda Valentinovna. She was already a widow, and even older than the poet. But this did not prevent the lovers from getting married soon. It is known that at that time Nadezhda was already full 36 years old, she came from a well-born class. In this marriage, a son, Valentine, was born.

Poets death

From early childhood, the poet's health was poor. But he died unexpectedly. It happened in December 1909 when he was walking up the stairs. On one of the steps of the Tsarskoye Selo station, he became ill.

The poet died quickly. Doctors determined death from a heart attack. He was 54 years old at that time.

It is known that Annensky's wife loved to arrange dinners and often invited her friends to visit. Innokenty Fedorovich was usually always in a bad mood at such moments, since he loved loneliness and shunned people.

The symbolist poet began to print his works late. When his first poetry collection came out of print, Annensky was already 48 years old. But he did not strive for fame and popularity, so he published his works under the pseudonym "Nobody".

The first readers in the early childhood of the poet were his sisters, who found a notebook with his first poems and began to laugh and tease Innokenty. After that, the boy tried to hide his drafts in such a secluded place that no one would find them. After the jokes that his sisters generously bestowed, he was afraid to show anyone else his first poetic works.

It was this story with the sisters that led to the fact that the last collection of his poems, which was published after the death of the poet, is called "Cypress Casket". It is known that Innokenty Fedorovich had a beautiful box made of cypress wood. It was in it that he kept all his drafts and notebooks, where he wrote down his poems.

Annensky Innokenty Fedorovich (1855-1909) - Russian poet, writer, critic, translator, playwright. He did a lot of research on the Russian language and literature, worked as the director of the men's gymnasium in Tsarskoye Selo.

Childhood

Innokenty was born on September 1, 1855 in the west of Siberia in the city of Omsk. Six years earlier, the Annensky family moved here from St. Petersburg due to the appointment of the head of the family to a new position.

In 1856, the boy was baptized in the Omsk Fortress-Cathedral-Resurrection Church. The ceremony was conducted by Archpriest Stefan Znamensky, who in the same year baptized Mikhail Vrubel, who later became a great Russian artist, in this church.

Pope Innokenty, Annensky Fyodor Nikolaevich, was in the service of the state as a high-ranking official. My father first worked in the Main Directorate of Western Siberia as an adviser to the Omsk branch of the guardianship society for prisons. He later took over as head of this department.

Mother, Annenskaya Natalya Petrovna (maiden name Karamolina), was engaged in raising six children. The future poet had four older sisters Natasha (1840), Alexandra (1842), Maria (1850), Lyubov (1852) and brother Nikolai (1843), who later became a well-known Russian public figure, journalist, translator, publicist, economist.

The maternal grandmother was the wife of one of the sons of Abram Petrovich Gannibal (Pushkin's great-grandfather A.S.)

In Omsk, the Annensky family occupied a large one-story wooden house with all the necessary office space, a garden and a plot of land. In those days, this was considered the norm for a large family and the position of state councilor in which the father served (this rank was equated to the rank of general). When, in the late 1850s, their father was transferred to the city of Tomsk, the Annenskys sold their house for seven and a half thousand silver rubles. Mother believed that this spacious and comfortable room could house the city hospital.

Innokenty's early childhood years were spent in Siberia under the supervision of a nanny and a French governess, who was involved in the education of his older sisters.

In 1860, the father of the family was again promoted, appointed to the Ministry of the Interior as an official for special assignments. In connection with this appointment, the Annenskys moved from Tomsk to St. Petersburg. In the same year, the five-year-old Innokenty suffered a long and severe heart disease, which left an indelible mark on his health for the rest of his life. Since then, the boy clearly remembered that, compared to his peers, he grew up sickly and weak, remaining far behind them in physical development.

Studies

The environment in which Innokenty grew up contributed to the fact that he had an early desire for reading and the sciences. He had practically no comrades; children's outdoor and noisy games that boys of his age were fond of were not interested in Innocent due to health reasons. He was brought up in a female environment, he began to study early and was never burdened by this. Studying was easy for him. Having learned to read under the guidance of his elder sister, Innokenty began to read everything that was allowed to him according to his age.

In St. Petersburg, the Annensky family lived on Sands. Not far from their house there was a school, to which the parents sent their ten-year-old son to prepare for entering the gymnasium. The boy studied at school for two years, and his elder brother Nikolai taught him the first lessons in Latin grammar.

In 1867, a new men's gymnasium No. 2 was opened on the 5th Rozhdestvenskaya Street in St. Petersburg, where Innokenty successfully passed the entrance exams and was enrolled as an incoming student of the second grade. He studied well, most of all he liked the Russian language and geography. However, in the spring, studies had to be interrupted due to illness. For the summer, the family went to the suburbs of St. Petersburg, where the young man managed to improve his health in the fresh air, and in the fall he returned to the gymnasium.

In 1869, Innokenty entered the private gymnasium of V. I. Berens, where he studied for two and a half years. But here, too, studies constantly had to be interrupted due to illness and trips for treatment to Staraya Russian mineral waters. The elder brother Nikolai, with whom Innokenty lived most of the time, helped to improve his knowledge. With his help, in 1875, the young Annensky passed the exams for the full gymnasium as an external student, received a certificate of maturity and became a student at the Faculty of History and Philology of St. Petersburg University.

He studied at the Department of Literature, specialized in ancient literature, learned fourteen languages, including such complex ones as Hebrew and Sanskrit. In 1879, Annensky graduated from his studies and received the title of candidate, he was awarded to graduates whose theses were of particular value to science.

Teaching activity

After graduating from the university, Innokenty Fedorovich took up pedagogical work. In the gymnasiums of St. Petersburg, he taught Greek and Latin, at the higher women's (Bestuzhev) courses he lectured on the theory of literature. He needed to provide for a young family, so Annensky took 56 gymnasium lessons a week, which undermined his already poor health.

In 1891, Innokenty Fedorovich became the director of the Kyiv Gymnasium College.

In 1893 he headed the 8th St. Petersburg Gymnasium.

In 1896 he was appointed head of the Nikolaev Gymnasium in Tsarskoye Selo. He remained in this position until 1906. Then his superiors decided that in the troubled times of 1905-1906, Annensky proved to be excessively soft, for this reason he was removed from the post of director of the Tsarskoye Selo gymnasium and appointed district inspector. In this position, he worked until 1909, resigning shortly before his death.

Literary activity

Innokenty Annensky never considered teaching the main business of his life. His heart was in literature. He translated into Russian nineteen plays of the great tragedian of Ancient Greece, Euripides, in addition to translation, he provided them with articles and commentaries. He also wrote translations of Horatio, Heine, Longfellow, famous French lyricists - Charles Baudelaire, Rimbaud, Leconte de Lisle, Verlaine, Mallarmé.

Annensky worked a lot as a literary critic. He wrote essays on the works of Gogol, Chekhov, Lermontov, Gorky, Maikov, Dostoevsky, Turgenev. He did not bypass foreign literature - Ibsen, Balmonte, Shakespeare.

A little imitating the manner of Euripides, Annensky wrote several plays:

• 1901 - "Melanippa the Philosopher";
• 1902 - "King Ixion";
• 1906 - "Laodamia";
• 1906 - "Famira-kifared".

Since 1881, he published his articles in which he considered pedagogical problems. Annensky argued that native speech should play a primary role in the education of students. His pedagogical work had a beneficial effect on a number of well-known Russian poets. Among them is Nikolai Gumilyov, who studied at the gymnasium in Tsarskoe Selo and took his first steps in the world of poetry under the impression of a personal acquaintance with Annensky.

Innokenty Fedorovich was most strict about his own poetry. He began to write from the school years, and only decades later he ventured to present his works to readers. It didn’t even fit in my head that this state councilor in an impeccable uniform and with the same manners could contrast so sharply with a wild, lonely, secretive human soul, which was killed by unbearable longing. This is how Innokenty revealed himself in his poems. As if two people lived in it, not intersecting with each other.

The only poetic collection “Quiet Songs” published during the life of Innokenty Fedorovich was published in 1904, but did not become an event in literary life. It was released under the pseudonym "Nick. That." Annensky came up with such a pseudonym for himself with double intent. Firstly, all these letters were taken from his name, and secondly, this is how Odysseus called himself when he got into the cave of Polyphemus.

A year after his death, the second book of poems "Cypress Casket" was published, which completely changed the opinion about Annensky. He began to be called a subtle critic and an exceptional erudite, an original, unlike any other, true poet.

This frivolous disregard for the living expresses the general Russian grief. How great people are not appreciated while they live. And only when they leave, the world begins, having realized it, to weave wreaths for them ... After many years, they will say about his poetry that "in Russian literature there are no poems quieter, more sober, more honest."

Personal life

In 1877, the poet fell passionately in love with Khmara-Barshchevskaya Nadezhda Valentinovna.

The widow had two teenage children and was fourteen years older than Annensky. Innokenty affectionately called her Dina and wrote to his sister Lyubov in a letter how unusually good his chosen one was, what beautiful light ash hair she had, a clear mind, attractive grace. Dina also loved Annensky very much and was jealous of him no less.

When Innokenty graduated from the university, they got married. In 1880, their boy Valentin was born. In the future, he also became a poet and philologist, it is Annensky's son who has the merit in publishing two collections of his father's poetry after his death.

In 1909, heart disease worsened from overwork at Innokenty Fedorovich. He died suddenly of a heart attack on December 11, 1909, right on the steps of the Tsarskoselsky railway station. Least of all, the poet wanted such an end, he even wrote lines on this subject, which later became an aphorism: “I would not want to die suddenly. It's like leaving a restaurant without paying."

He was buried in Tsarskoe Selo at the Kazan cemetery.

Innokenty Fedorovich Annensky (1855-1909) - Russian playwright, poet, translator, critic, researcher of literature and language, director of the male gymnasium in Tsarskoye Selo. Brother of N. F. Annensky.

Childhood and youth

Innokenty Fedorovich Annensky was born on August 20 (September 1), 1855 in Omsk, in the family of the state official Fyodor Nikolaevich Annensky (died March 27, 1880) and Natalia Petrovna Annenskaya (died October 25, 1889). His father was the head of the department of the Main Directorate of Western Siberia. When Innokenty was about five years old, his father received a position as an official for special assignments in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the family returned from Siberia to St. Petersburg, which they had previously left in 1849. As a child, Innokenty was a very weak and sickly boy.

Annensky studied at a private school, then at the 2nd St. Petersburg progymnasium (1865-1868). Since 1869, he studied for two and a half years at the private gymnasium of V. I. Berens. Before entering the university, in 1875, he lived with his older brother Nikolai, an encyclopedically educated person, an economist, a populist, who helped his younger brother in preparing for the exam and had a great influence on Innokenty.

Activity as director of the gymnasium

After graduating from the Faculty of History and Philology of St. Petersburg University in 1879, he served for a long time as a teacher of ancient languages ​​and Russian literature at the Gurevich Gymnasium. He served as director of the Galagan College in Kyiv (January 1891 - October 1893), then the 8th St. Petersburg Gymnasium (1893-1896) and the gymnasium in Tsarskoye Selo (October 16, 1896 - January 2, 1906). Excessive softness, shown by him, according to his superiors, in the troubled times of 1905-1906, was the reason for his dismissal from this position. He lectured on ancient Greek literature at the Higher Women's Courses.

The position of director of the gymnasium always weighed on I. F. Annensky. In a letter to A.V. Borodina in August 1900, he wrote: You ask me: “Why don’t you leave?” Oh, how much I thought about it... How much I dreamed about it... Maybe it wouldn't be so difficult... But you know what do you think seriously? Does a convinced defender of classicism have a moral right to throw down its banner at a moment when it is surrounded on all sides by evil enemies? ... - Innokenty Annensky. Favorites / Comp. I. Podolskaya. - M.: Pravda, 1987. - S. 469. - 592 p.

From 1906 to 1909 he held the position of district inspector in St. Petersburg, and shortly before his death he retired.

Literary and translation activities

The creative biography of Innokenty Annensky begins in the early 1880s, when Annensky appears in print with scientific reviews, critical articles, as well as articles on pedagogical issues.

From the beginning of the 1890s, he began to study Greek tragedians; over the course of a number of years, he performed a tremendous job of translating into Russian and commenting on the entire theater of Euripides. At the same time, he wrote several original tragedies based on Euripides' plots and the "Bacchic drama" Famira-kifared (played in the 1916-1917 season on the stage of the Chamber Theater). He translated French Symbolist poets (Baudelaire, Verlaine, Rimbaud, Mallarmé, Corbière, A. de Regnier, F. Jamm and others). The first book of poems Quiet Songs was released in 1904 under the pseudonym Nick. T-o”, imitating the abbreviated name and surname, but developing into the word “No one” (this name was presented to Polyphemus by Odysseus).

Annensky wrote four plays - "Melanippa the Philosopher" (1901), "King Ixion" (1902), "Laodamia" (1906) and "Famira-kifared" (1906, published posthumously in 1913) - in the ancient Greek spirit on the plots of the lost tragedies of Euripides and in imitation of his manner.

Innocent Annesky translated into Russian all 18 tragedies that have come down to us by the great ancient Greek playwright Euripides. He also performed verse translations of works by Horace, Goethe, Muller, Heine, Baudelaire, Verlaine, Rimbaud, Renier, Sully-Prudhomme, Longfellow.

On November 30 (December 13), 1909, Annensky died suddenly on the steps of the Tsarskoselsky railway station in St. Petersburg from a heart attack. He was buried at the Kazan cemetery in Tsarskoye Selo (now the city of Pushkin, Leningrad Region). Annensky's son, philologist and poet Valentin Annensky (Krivich), published his Cypress Casket (1910) and Posthumous Poems (1923).

Literary influence

Annensky's literary influence on the currents of Russian poetry that arose after symbolism (acmeism, futurism) is very great. Annensky's poem "The Bells" can rightly be called the first Russian futuristic poem in time. His poem "Among the Worlds" is one of the masterpieces of Russian poetry, it formed the basis of romances written by A. Vertinsky and A. Sukhanov. Annensky's influence strongly affects Pasternak and his school, Anna Akhmatova, Georgy Ivanov and many others. In his literary-critical articles, partly collected in two "Books of Reflections", Annensky gives brilliant examples of Russian impressionist criticism, striving to interpret a work of art by consciously continuing the author's work in himself. It should be noted that already in his critical and pedagogical articles of the 1880s, Annensky, long before the formalists, called for a systematic study of the form of works of art in schools.

Memories of Annensky

Professor B. E. Raikov, a former student of the 8th St. Petersburg Gymnasium, wrote in his memoirs about Innokenty Annensky:

... absolutely nothing was known about his poetic experiments at that time. He was known only as the author of articles and notes on philological topics, and he kept his poems to himself and did not print anything, although at that time he was already about forty years old. We schoolboys saw in him only a tall, thin figure in a uniform, who sometimes threatened us with a long white finger, but in general kept very far from us and our affairs.

Annensky was a zealous defender of ancient languages ​​and held high the banner of classicism in his gymnasium. Under him, our recreational hall was all painted with ancient Greek frescoes, and at the holidays the schoolchildren played the plays of Sophocles and Euripides in Greek, moreover, in antique costumes, strictly sustained in the style of the era.

In the city of Pushkin on Naberezhnaya Street at house number 12 in 2009, a memorial plaque was installed (sculptor V.V. Zaiko) with the text: “In this house from 1896 to 1905 the poet Innokenty Fedorovich Annensky lived and worked at the Imperial Tsarskoye Selo Gymnasium.”