Russian poet. The head of the anacreotic trend in Russian lyrics ("Merry Hour", "My penates", "Bacchante"). Later he experienced a spiritual crisis ("Hope", "To a friend"); in the genre of elegy motifs of unrequited love ("Separation", "My Genius"), high tragedy ("Dying Tass", "Melchizedek's Saying").
Biography
Born on May 18 (29 n.s.) in Vologda in a well-born noble family. Childhood years were spent in the family estate the village of Danilovsky, Tver province. Home education was led by the grandfather, marshal 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 personality and talent of the poet. He studied the philosophy and literature of the French Enlightenment, ancient poetry, and the 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 verses "Message to my verses". During this period, he wrote poems of a predominantly satirical genre ("Message to Chloe", "To Filisa", epigrams).
In 1807 he signed up for the people's militia; part of it was sent to the place of hostilities 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 suffered a 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 Letters of a Russian Officer in Finland". After retiring, he devotes himself entirely to literary creativity.
The satire "Vision on the banks of the 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 journal Dramatic Bulletin, became close friends with Karamzin, Zhukovsky, Vyazemsky and other writers. His poems "Merry Hour", "Lucky Man", "Source", "My Penates" and others 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 he took part in the foreign campaign of the Russian army against Napoleon. The impressions of the war formed the content of many poems: "The Captive", "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. Survived 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 Verse 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 seized by an incurable mental illness (persecution mania). Treatment in the best European clinics was unsuccessful Batiushkov never returned to normal life. His last twenty years were spent with relatives in Vologda. He died of typhus on July 7 (19 n.s.), 1855. He was buried in the Spaso-Prilutsky Monastery.
Russian empire
Konstantin Nikolaevich Batyushkov (May 18 (29) ( 17870529 ) , Vologda - June 7 (19), Vologda) - Russian poet, predecessor of Pushkin.
Biography
Born in the Batyushkov family, father - Nikolai Lvovich Batyushkov (1753-1817). He spent the years of his childhood in the family estate - the village of Danilovskoye. At the age of 7, he lost his mother, who suffered from mental illness, which was inherited by Batyushkov and his older sister Alexandra.
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. Rejecting moralism and mannerisms of sentimentalism, he finds new ways of expressing feelings and emotions in verse, extremely bright and vital:
Slender camp, entwined around
Hops yellow crown,
And flaming cheeks
Roses bright purple
And the mouth in which melts
purple grapes -
Everything in frantic seduces!
Fire and poison pours in the heart!
In response to the events of the Patriotic War, Batyushkov created samples of civil poetry, the patriotic mood of which is combined with a description of the author's deeply individual experiences:
... while on the field of honor
For the ancient city of my fathers
I will not bear the victim of revenge
And life and love for the motherland;
While with a wounded hero,
Who knows the way to glory
Three times I will not put my chest
Before enemies in close formation -
My friend, until then I will
All are alien to muses and charities,
Wreaths, with the hand of love retinue,
And noisy joy in wine!
In the post-war period, Batyushkov's poetry gravitates toward romanticism. The theme of one of his most famous poems, "The Dying Tass" (), 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 being.
Fortune pitted abysses
Opened under me, and the thunder did not stop!
Driven from country to country, driven from country to country,
I searched in vain for shelter on earth:
Everywhere her finger is irresistible!
Notes
Compositions
- Batyushkov K. N. Works / Introduction. Art. L. A. Ozerova; Preparation text and notes by N. V. Fridman. - M.: State. Publishing House of Artists. literature, 1955. - 452 p. Circulation 75,000 copies.
- Batyushkov K. N. Complete collection of poems / Enter. Art., preparation of the text and notes by N. V. Fridman. - M., L.: Sov. writer, 1964. - 353 p. Circulation 25,000 copies. (Library of the poet. Large series. Second edition.)
- Batyushkov K. N. Works / Introduction. Art. and comp. V. V. Gura. - Arkhangelsk: North-West. book. publishing house, 1979. - 400 p. Circulation 100,000 copies.
- Batyushkov K. N. Selected works / Comp. A. L. Zorin and A. M. Peskov; Intro. Art. A. L. Zorina; Comm. A. L. Zorina and O. A. Proskurina. - M.: Pravda, 1986. - 528 p. Circulation 500,000 copies.
- Batyushkov K. N. Poems / Comp., entry. Art. and note. I. O. Shaitanova. - M.: Artist. lit., 1987. - 320 p. Circulation 1,000,000 copies. (Classics and contemporaries. Poetry library)
- Batyushkov K. N. Works in two volumes. T.1: Experiences in poetry and prose. Works not included in the "Experiments ..." / Comp., prepared. text. intro. article and comment. V. A. Koshelev. - M.: Artist. lit., 1989. - 511 p. Circulation 102,000 copies.
- Batyushkov K. N. Works in two volumes. T.2: From notebooks; Letters. / Comp., prepared. text, comments A. L. Zorina. - M.: Artist. lit., 1989. - 719 p. Circulation 102,000 copies.
Literature
- Afanasiev V. Achilles, or the Life of Batyushkov. - M.: Children's literature, 1987.
- edit] Links
Konstantin Batyushkov at Wikiquote in Wikisource Konstantin Batyushkov at Wikimedia Commons - K. N. Batiushkov. Batyushkov: Eternal Dreams Collected works, general works, memoirs of contemporaries, poet's life, genealogy, creativity, bibliography, album
- K. N. Batyushkov on feb-web. Complete works, monographic studies
- K. N. Batyushkov Biography, widely represented criticism, monographic works
- Batyushkov in the library of poetry Collected works, translations, criticism
- Konstantin Batyushkov. Poems in the Anthology of Russian Poetry
- Batyushkov K. N. Collection of poems on stroki.net
Literary Society "Arzamas" Members D. V. Dashkov D. N. Bludov A. I. Turgenev S. S. Uvarov K. N. Batyushkov P. A. Vyazemsky A. A. Pleshcheev V. L. Pushkin A. S. Pushkin A. F. Voeikov D. P. Severin F. F. Vigel D. V. Davydov Honorary Members N. M. Karamzin I. I. Dmitriev G. I. Gagarin Yu. A. Neledinsky-Meletsky A. N. Saltykov M. A. Saltykov Addresses At Uvarov Malaya Morskaya, 21 At Bludov's Nevsky, 80 At Turgenev Fontanka embankment, 20 At Pleshcheeva Galernaya, 12
Batyushkov Konstantin Nikolaevich (1787-1855), poet.
Born May 29, 1787 in Vologda in an old noble family. The poet's childhood was overshadowed by mental illness and the early death of his mother. He was brought up in an Italian boarding school in St. Petersburg.
Batyushkov's first known poems ("God", "Dream") date back to approximately 1803-1804, and he began to print from 1805.
In 1807, Batyushkov began a grandiose work - the translation of a poem by an Italian poet of the 16th century. Torquato Tasso Jerusalem Liberated. In 1812 he went to war with Napoleon I, where he was seriously wounded. Subsequently, Batyushkov either again entered the military service (participated in the Finnish campaign of 1809, foreign campaigns of the Russian army in 1813-1814), then served in the St. Petersburg Public Library, then lived in retirement in the countryside.
In 1809, he became friends with V. A. Zhukovsky and P. A. Vyazemsky. In 1810-1812. the poems “Ghost”, “False Fear”, “Bacchae” and “My Penates. Message to Zhukovsky and Vyazemsky. To contemporaries they seemed filled with joy, glorifying the serene enjoyment of life.
The collision with the tragic reality of the Patriotic War of 1812 produced a complete revolution in the mind of the poet. “The terrible deeds ... of the French in Moscow and its environs ... completely upset my little philosophy and quarreled me with humanity,” he admitted in one of his letters.
The cycle of Batyushkov's elegies of 1815 opens with a bitter complaint: "I feel that my gift in poetry has gone out ..."; "No no! I'm burdened with life! What is in it without hope? .. ”(“ Memories ”). The poet now hopelessly mourns the loss of his beloved (“Awakening”), then calls to mind her appearance (“My genius”), then dreams of how he could take refuge with her in idyllic solitude (“Tauris”).
At the same time, he seeks consolation in faith, believing that a “better world” will certainly await him behind the grave (“Hope”, “To a Friend”). This confidence, however, did not relieve anxiety. Batyushkov now perceives the fate of every poet as tragic.
Batyushkov was tormented by illnesses (the consequences of old wounds), economic affairs were going badly. In 1819, after much trouble, the poet was appointed to the diplomatic service in Naples. He hoped that the climate of Italy would do him good, and the impressions of his beloved country from childhood would inspire inspiration. None of this came true. The climate turned out to be harmful for Batyushkov, the poet wrote little in Italy and destroyed almost everything written.
From the end of 1820, a severe nervous breakdown began to appear. Batyushkov was treated in Germany, then returned to Russia, but this did not help either: the nervous illness turned into a mental illness. Attempts at treatment yielded nothing. In 1824, the poet fell into complete unconsciousness and spent about 30 years in it. Towards the end of his life, his condition improved somewhat, but his sanity never returned.
1787 - 1855
Russian poet. The head of the anacreotic trend in Russian lyrics ("Merry Hour", "My penates", "Bacchante"). Later he experienced a spiritual crisis ("Hope", "To a friend"); in the genre of elegy - motifs of unrequited love ("Separation", "My Genius"), high tragedy ("Dying Tass", "Melchizedek's Saying").
Biography
Born on May 18 (29 n.s.) in Vologda in a well-born noble family. Childhood years were spent in the family estate - the village of Danilovsky, Tver province. Home education was led by the grandfather, marshal 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 personality and talent of the poet. He studied the philosophy and literature of the French Enlightenment, ancient poetry, and the 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 verses "Message to my verses". During this period, he wrote poems of a predominantly satirical genre ("Message to Chloe", "To Filisa", epigrams).
In 1807 he signed up for the people's militia; part of it was sent to the place of hostilities 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 suffered a 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 Letters of a Russian Officer in Finland". After retiring, he devotes himself entirely to literary creativity.
The satire "Vision on the banks of the 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 journal Dramatic Bulletin, became close friends with Karamzin, Zhukovsky, Vyazemsky and other writers. His poems "Merry Hour", "Lucky Man", "Source", "My Penates" and others 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 he participated in the foreign campaign of the Russian army against Napoleon. The impressions of the war formed the content of many poems: "The Captive", "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. Survived 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 Verse 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 seized by an incurable mental illness (persecution mania). Treatment in the best European clinics was not successful - Batyushkov no longer returned to normal life. His last twenty years were spent with relatives in Vologda. He died of typhus on July 7 (19 n.s.), 1855. He was buried in the Spaso-Prilutsky Monastery.
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, par excellence, 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 enriching lyrical genres and poetic language. He was the immediate predecessor of Pushkin, in many respects close to him in spirit, in poetic worldview. “Batyushkov,” Belinsky wrote, “contributed much and much to the fact that Pushkin was what he really was. This merit alone on the part of Batyushkov 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 the literary position of Batyushkov, his belonging to one or another direction. Contemporary poet criticism called him either a representative of the “latest school”, by which they meant the emerging romanticism, or a “neoclassicist”, while others saw the predominance of sentimentalism in his work.
In Soviet historical and literary science, it is more customary to call Batyushkov a "pre-romantic", although there are other concepts. This point of view was introduced into scientific circulation with appropriate argumentation by B. V. Tomashevsky: fully expressed in romanticism. Thus, pre-romanticism is a transitional phenomenon.
What are these "certain signs"? - “This is, first of all, a clear expression of a personal (subjective) attitude to what is being described, the presence of “sensitivity” (for pre-romantics, it is predominantly dreamy-melancholic, sometimes tearful); a sense of nature, while often striving to depict nature in an unusual way; the depicted landscape of the pre-romantics always harmonized with the mood of the poet.
We find further substantiation of the point of view of B. V. Tomashevsky in the detailed monograph by N. V. Fridman - with the difference that its author, calling Batyushkov a “pre-romantic”, like Pushkin of the early period, denies any connections of “ideological foundations” Batyushkov's poetry with classicism.
Contradictory judgments about Batyushkov's literary position are caused by the very nature of his work, which reflects one of the essential transitional stages in the development of Russian poetry.
Late 18th - early 19th century were the heyday of Russian sentimentalism, the initial stage of the formation of a romantic direction. This era is characterized by transitional phenomena, reflecting both new trends and the influence of the still valid aesthetic norms of classicism. Batyushkov was a typical figure of this time, called by Belinsky "strange", when "the new appeared without replacing the old, and the old and the new lived together side by side, without interfering with one another" (7, 241). None of the Russian poets of the early XIX century. did not feel as acutely as Batyushkov did the need to update outdated norms and forms. At the same time, his ties with classicism, despite the predominance of the romantic element in his poetry, were quite strong, which Belinsky also noted. Seeing a "renewed classicism" in a number of Pushkin's early "plays", Belinsky called their author "an improved, improved Batyushkov" (7, 367).
The literary direction is not formed in an empty space. Its initial stage is not necessarily marked by a manifesto, a declaration, a program. It always has its own history from the moment of its emergence in the depths of the former direction, the gradual accumulation of certain signs in it and the further movement towards qualitative changes, from lower forms to higher ones, 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, the 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 correlation, 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 beside Zhukovsky. Their work is a natural link in the process of updating poetry, enriching its inner content and forms. They both relied on the achievements of the Karamzin period and were representatives of a new generation. But although the general trend in the development of their work was the same, they went in different ways. Zhukovsky's lyrics grew directly in the depths of sentimentalism. Batyushkov also had organic connections with sentimentalism, although some features of classicism were preserved in his lyrics 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 striving for clarity, rigor of forms, he relied on the achievements of classicism, which gave rise to modern criticism of the poet to call him a “neoclassicist”.
Batyushkov lived an anxious life. He was born in Vologda on May 29 (according to New Style), 1787, in an old noble family. He was brought up in St. Petersburg private boarding schools. Then service in the Ministry of Public Education (clerk). At the same time (1803) his friendship with N. I. Gnedich began, acquaintances were made with I. P. Pnin, N. A. Radishchev, I. M. Born. 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 Novosti Russian Literature magazine. 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 participated in the battles near Leipzig as an adjutant to General N. N. Raevsky.
By 1815, Batyushkov's personal drama dates back to his passion for Anna Fedorovna Furman.
At the end of 1815, when Karamzinists, in opposition to the conservative Conversation of Lovers of the Russian Word, created their own literary association Arzamas, Batyushkov became a member of it, defending the language reform program of N. M. Karamzin.
In 1817, Batyushkov's two-volume collection of 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 above all put the vocation of the poet.
Batyushkov's literary fate was tragic. Thirty-four years old, he forever leaves the field of "literature". Then silence, prolonged (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, weak security. In a letter to N. I. Gnedich in May 1809, Batyushkov wrote: “People are so tired of me, and everything is so boring, but my heart is empty, there is so little hope that I would like to annihilate, decrease, 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 am not bored, not sad, but I feel something unusual, some spiritual emptiness.” So, long before the onset of the crisis, Batyushkov foresaw the sad outcome of the internal drama he was going through.
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.
Of Batyushkov's inner circle, one should especially single out Mikhail Nikitich Muravyov (1757–1807), the poet's cousin, under whose strong influence he was, from whom he studied and whose advice he valued. Muraviev guided and encouraged his first steps in the field of literature.
Sensitivity, dreaminess, thoughtfulness, which determine the emotional tone of Batyushkov's lyrics, are present in Muravyov's poems in their original expressions as their integral part, as their characteristic feature.
Muravyov rejected rational "orbitalism", 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 who substantiated the dignity of "light poetry" as the poetry of small lyrical forms and informal, intimate themes. He wrote a whole treatise in verse, which outlines the stylistic principles of "light poetry".
In An Essay on Poetry, he wrote:
Love common sense: be captivated by simplicity
……………….
Run from false art and mind
…………….
You remember your goal, know how without regret
Ambitious cast aside the ornaments
…………….
The syllable should be the most transparent river like:
Swift, but clean and full without a spill.
(“Experience about poetry”, 1774-1780)
These “rules”, set forth in the language of poetry, which have not lost their significance even today, would not have such an attractive effective force if they were not supported by the samples 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 is carried by the wave
Reveal the goddess of grace
Seeing enthusiastic piit.
That spends sleepless nights
Leaning on granite.
("Goddess of the Neva", 1794)
Not only in the subject, in the development of lyrical genres, but also in work on the language, verse, 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 the commonality of the aesthetic platform, the commonality of views on poetry.
In his first poetic declaration (“Message to My Poems”, 1804 or 1805), Batyushkov tries to define his position, his attitude to the current state of Russian poetry. On the one hand, he is repelled by description (who “soils poetry”, “composes odes”), on the other hand, from the excesses of sentimentalism (tearfulness, playing with sensitivity). Here he condemns "poets - boring liars" who "do not fly up, not to the sky," but "to the earth." In this fundamental question about the relationship between the ideal (“heaven”) and the real (“earth”), Batyushkov shared a romantic point of view: “What is in loud songs for me? I am satisfied with my dreams…”; “...we are closer to happiness with a dream”; "... we all love fairy tales, we are children, but big ones." "Dream" opposes rationality, rationalism:
What is empty in truth? She only dries the mind
The dream turns everything in the world into gold,
And from sadness evil
The dream is our shield.
Oh, should it be forbidden and the heart forget,
I will exchange poets for boring sages!
(“Message to N. I. Gnedich”, 1805)
Nothing characterizes the personality of Batyushkov the poet like daydreaming. She runs through all his lyrics as a leitmotif, starting with the 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, dedicating enthusiastic lines to a poetic dream:
Girlfriend of gentle muses, messenger of heaven,
Source of sweet thoughts and sweet tears to the heart,
Where are you hiding, Dream, my goddess?
Where is that happy land, that peaceful desert,
To which do you aspire mysterious flight?
Nothing - neither wealth, "neither light nor glory empty shine" - does not replace dreams. In it is 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 penetrating definition of inspiration as a “rush of winged thoughts”, a state of inner clairvoyance, when “passion excitement” is silent and a “bright mind”, freed from “earthly bonds”, soars “in the heavenly” (“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 over the enraged abyss
Among dreams and first sweet thoughts,
Listening to the monotonous noise of the waves ...
His face burns, his chest sighs heavily,
And a sweet tear irrigates the cheeks ...
(p. 186)
Poetry is born from the sun. She is the “flame of heaven”, 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 is eager for "heaven". This is how Batyushkov gradually develops, not without the influence of traditional ideas, the romantic concept of "poetry" and "poet".
Batyushkov's personality was dominated by what Belinsky called "noble subjectivity" (5, 49). The predominant element of his work is lyricism. Not only original works, but also Batyushkov's translations are marked by 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, the poet, "unfortunate", "unsociable", who runs from "fame and noise", from the vices of "light", a poet who “I never flattered people”, “I didn’t lie”, in whose songs there is “holy truth”. No less important for Batyushkov was the idea of independence and incorruptibility of the singer. Let him be “poor”, “tolerate 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, sing “rich scoundrels”:
Rather, I am the mail of a simple peasant,
Who then sprinkles his daily bread,
Than this fool, big master,
With contempt crushes that people on the pavement!
(p. 62–63)
The translation of Boileau's satire reflects Batyushkov's position in life, his contempt for "rich scoundrels" who are "disgusted by the light of truth", for whom "there is no sacred thing 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 rules here,
He is in ribbons, in orders, everywhere is clearly seen ...
(p. 64)
Batiushkov twice refers to the "sacred shadow" of Torquato Tasso, tries to translate (excerpts have been preserved) of his poem "Jerusalem Liberated". In the poem "To Tassu" (1808), those facts and situations of the biography of the Italian poet were selected, which allowed Batyushkov to express "many of his hidden 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", "instantaneous", "mortal" in Batyushkov's lyrics are opposed by the sublime, "heavenly". Eternity, immortality - "in the creations of the majestic" "arts and muses."
Epicurean motives of Batyushkov's lyrics are imbued with contempt for wealth, nobility, ranks. More dear to the poet is freedom, the ideal of personal independence, "liberty and tranquility" that he sings about, "carelessness and love":
"Happy! happy who flowers
Decorated the days of love
Sang with carefree friends
And about happiness ... dreamed!
He is happy, and three times more
All nobles and kings!
So come on, in the unknown share,
Aliens of bondage and chains,
Somehow pull our life,
Often with grief in half,
Pour a fuller cup
And laugh fools!
(“To Petin”, 1810; pp. 121–122)
This conclusion is the conclusion to reflections on life. Before this "song" with a call to "carelessness" are significant lines:
I'll take care of my mind ... yes joy
Will it get along with the 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 "careless poet", which gives rise to misinterpretations of the pathos of his work. His Epicureanism stemmed from his position in life, from his "philosophical life." “Life is a moment! Not long to have fun." Merciless time takes away everything. And therefore
Oh, while youth is priceless
Not sped away by an arrow,
Drink from a cup full of joy...
("Elysius", 1810; p. 116)
All the best, significant in the work of Batyushkov, which constitutes the enduring aesthetic value of his lyrics, is to a certain extent connected with the concept of “light poetry”, the initiator 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 lyrics, but one of the most difficult kinds of poetry, requiring “possible perfection, purity of expression, harmony in style, flexibility, smoothness; he requires truth in feelings and the preservation of the strictest decency in all respects ... poetry, even in small births, is a difficult art and requires all life and all the efforts of the soul.
In the field of "light poetry" Batyushkov included not only poems in the spirit of Anacreon, but also in general small forms of lyrics, intimate personal themes, "graceful" subtle sensations and feelings. Batyushkov passionately defended the dignity of small lyrical forms, which was of fundamental importance to him. He looked for support in the past achievements of Russian poetry, highlighting the trends, the line of its development, in which he reflected the "Anacreon Muse". The same considerations dictated Batyushkov's increased interest in French "light poetry", in particular Parni.
It was a time when sensitivity, the banner of sentimentalism, became the defining feature of the new style. For Batyushkov, poetry is "the flame of heaven", combining "in the composition of the human soul" "imagination, sensitivity, reverie." In this aspect, he also perceived the poetry of ancient antiquity. In addition to personal predilection, Batyushkov was also influenced by the trends, literary hobbies of his time, “the craving for the restoration of ancient forms ... The most sensitive works were taken from antiquity, elegiacs were translated into lyrics and served as the subject of imitation of elegiacs: Tibull, Catullus, Propertius ... ".
Batyushkov possessed a rare gift for comprehending the originality of Hellenistic and Roman culture, the ability to convey all the beauty and charm of the lyrics of antiquity by means of Russian poetic speech. “Batyushkov,” Belinsky wrote, “introduced an element that was completely new to Russian poetry: ancient artistry” (6, 293).
The desire to “forget sadness”, “to drown grief in a full bowl” led to the search for “joy and happiness” in “carelessness and love”. But what is “joy” and “happiness” in the “transitory life”? Batyushkov's Epicureanism, called by Belinsky "ideal" (6, 293), is of a special nature, it is brightly colored by quiet dreaminess and an innate ability to seek and find beauty everywhere. When the poet calls for “golden carelessness”, and advises “to interfere with wisdom with jokes”, “to look for fun and fun”, then one should not think that here we are talking about gross passions. Earthly pleasures in themselves are worth nothing in the eyes of the poet if they are not warmed by a dream. The dream gives them grace and charm, sublimity and beauty:
... forget sadness
We will dream in sweet bliss:
A dream is a direct mother of happiness!
(“Advice to friends”, 1806; p. 75)
The content of Batyushkov's poetry is far from being limited to poems of the anthological kind. She in many ways anticipated, predetermined the themes and main motives of Russian romantic poetry: the chanting of the freedom of the individual, the independence of the artist, the hostility of "cold rationality", the cult of feeling, the subtlest "feelings", the movement of "life of the heart", admiration for the "wonderful nature", feeling " mysterious "connection of the human soul with nature, faith in a poetic dream and inspiration.
Batyushkov contributed many essentially new things to the development of lyrical genres. His role in the formation of the Russian elegy is especially important. In his lyrics, the process of further psychologization of the elegy continues. Traditional elegiac complaints about fate, the torments of love, separation, the infidelity of a loved one - all that is found in abundance in the elegies of the late 18th century, in the poetry of sentimentalists - is 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 are expressed with such immediacy and sincerity of a tragically colored feeling and in such an elegant form:
There is an end to wanderings - never to sorrows!
In your presence suffering and anguish
I have known new things with my heart.
They are worse than separation
The worst of all! I have seen, I have read
In your silence, in interrupted conversation,
In your sad eyes
In this secret sorrow of downcast eyes,
In your smile and in your very cheerfulness
Traces of heartbreak...
("Elegy", 1815; p. 200)
For the fate of Russian lyrics, the psychologization of the landscape, the strengthening of its emotional coloring, was no less important. At the same time, in Batyushkov's elegies, the predilection 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):
... as the sun's ray will go out in the sky,
One in exile, one with my anguish,
I am talking in the night with a pensive moon!
(“Evening. Imitation of Petrarch”, 1810; p. 115)
Where Batyushkov turns to the contemplative-dreamy depiction of the night landscape in an attempt to convey the "picturesque beauty" of nature, to "paint" her pictures by means of poetic speech, his closeness to Zhukovsky, kinship with him not only in common literary sources, but also in character perception, figurative system, even vocabulary:
... In the valley where the source murmurs and sparkles,
In the night, when the moon quietly pours its beam to us,
And the bright stars shine from behind the clouds ...
("God", 1801 or 1805; p. 69)
Touch the magic string
I will touch ... and the nymphs of the mountains with a monthly radiance,
Like light shadows, in a transparent robe
Naiads are timid, floating above the water,
Clap with white hands
And the May breeze, waking up on the flowers,
In cool groves and gardens,
Quiet wings will blow ...
(“Message to Count Vielgorsky”, 1809; p. 104)
The Patriotic War of 1812 became an important milestone in Batyushkov's spiritual development and caused certain shifts in his public mood. The war brought the civil theme, hitherto weak in the poet's lyrics. During these years, Batyushkov wrote a number of patriotic poems, including their message “To Dashkov” (1813), in which the poet, in the days of national disaster, “among the ruins and graves”, when the “dear motherland” is in danger, refuses to “sing love and joy , carelessness, happiness and peace ":
No no! my talent perish
And the lyre of friendship is precious,
When you will be forgotten by me,
Moscow, homeland, golden land!
(p. 154)
It is no coincidence that it was during these years, after the Patriotic War, in the atmosphere of a general rise in national self-consciousness, that Batyushkov developed a persistent desire to expand the scope of elegy. Her framework for the implementation of his new ideas, the poetic development of historical, heroic themes seemed to him close. The search for the poet did not go in one direction. He experiments, turns to the Russian ballad, even the fable. Batyushkov gravitates toward multi-darkness, complex plot constructions, and a combination of intimate elegy motifs with historical meditation. An example of such a combination is the well-known poem, noted by Belinsky among the highest achievements of Batyushkov, - "On the ruins of a castle in Sweden" (1814). The introduction, a gloomy night landscape, written in the Ossian style, fully corresponds to the nature of dreamy meditation and gives a romantic sound to the whole work:
I am here on these rocks hanging over the water,
In the sacred dusk of the oak forest
I wander thoughtfully and see before me
Traces of past years and glory:
Fragments, a formidable rampart, a ditch overgrown with grass,
Pillars and a dilapidated bridge with iron chains,
Mossy strongholds with granite battlements
And a long row of coffins.
Everything is quiet: the dead sleep in the monastery is deaf.
But here is the memory:
And the traveler, leaning on the tombstone,
Eats sweet dreams.
(p. 172)
Batyushkov possessed a rare gift: the power of dreamy imagination to “revive” the past, the signs of which are spiritualized in his poems by a single feeling. Contemplation of the ruins in the silence of the night imperceptibly turns into a dreamy reflection about people, brave warriors and freedom-loving skalds, and the frailty of everything earthly:
But everything is covered here by a gloomy night with mist,
All time turned to dust!
Where before the skald rattled on a golden harp,
There the wind whistles only sadly!
………………
Where are you, brave crowds of heroes,
You wild sons of war and freedom,
Arising in the snows, among the horrors of nature,
Among the spears, among the swords?
The strong have perished!
(p. 174)
Such a perception of the distant historical past is not a tribute to fashion, as is often the case; it is 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:
Horrors of nature, hostile elements fight,
Falls roaring from gloomy rocks,
Snowy deserts, eternal masses of ice
Ile noisy sea boundless view -
Everything, everything elevates 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 nevertheless an elegy, that kind of it, which can be called a historical meditative elegy.
Contemplation, daydreaming, thoughtfulness, despondency, sadness, disappointment, doubt are too general concepts, especially when it comes to lyric poetry; they are filled with different psychological content, which takes on different colors depending on the individuality of the poet. Dreaminess, for example, among sentimentalists (or rather, among the epigones of this direction), 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 meditation - a poetic state that is inherent in both of them internally. “In the works of these writers (Zhukovsky and Batyushkov, - K. G.), - Belinsky wrote, - ... not only official enthusiasm has already begun to 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 much to Karamzin and sentimentalism, as well as to Arzamas. There was much in common in their daydreaming, but there was also a difference. In the first, it is predominantly contemplative in nature with a mystical coloring. In the second, daydreaming is not “replaced,” as Belinsky suggested (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 striving for genre diversity (see Chapter 3).
Batyushkov considered his prose experiments as "material for poetry." He turned to prose mainly in order to "write well in verse."
Belinsky did not highly appreciate Batyushkov's prose works, although he noted their "good language and style" and saw in them "an expression of the opinions and concepts of 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.
Great are the merits of Batyushkov in enriching the Russian poetic language, the culture of Russian verse. In the dispute about the "old" and "new style", in this central issue of the socio-literary struggle of the era, which has a wider meaning than the problem of the language of literature, Batyushkov stood on the positions of the Karamzinists. The main advantages of the "poetic syllable" the poet considered "movement, strength, clarity." In his poetic work, he adhered to these aesthetic norms, especially the latter - "clarity". According to Belinsky, 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 nature and content of Batyushkov's poetry, the critic was unnecessarily harsh. Batyushkov's poetry seemed to Belinsky "narrow", too personal, poor in content from the point of view of its social sound, the expression of the national spirit in it: "Batyushkov'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 "light poetry" Guys (5, 551; 7, 128). In the judgments of the critic, perhaps, the fact that he wrote about Batyushkov as a predecessor of Pushkin, in connection with Pushkin, also affected - and in assessing Batyushkov's lyrics, the boundless world of Pushkin's poetry could serve as a criterion.
The circle 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 change throughout his entire creative life. Batyushkov's poetry is closed mainly by the circle of personal experiences, and this is the source of its strength and weakness. Throughout his 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. By this time, Batyushkov's desire to get out of his closed world of favorite motives, to expand the boundaries of the elegy, to enrich it thematically with the experience of other genres, belongs. 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. Such are his elegies-messages and meditative, philosophical-historical elegies.
Meditation, along with daydreaming, has always been characteristic of Batyushkov's inner world. Over the years, in his lyrics, meditation “under the burden of sadness” becomes more and more gloomy, “heart longing”, “spiritual sorrow” are heard, tragic notes sound more and more clearly, and one of his last poems sounds like a peculiar result of the poet’s thoughts about life:
You know what you said
Saying goodbye to life, gray-haired Melchizedek?
Man is born a slave
Will lie down as a slave in the grave,
And death will hardly tell him
Why did he walk through the valley of wondrous tears,
Suffered, sobbed, endured, disappeared.
(1824; p. 240)
When reviewing the literary heritage of Batyushkov, one gets the impression of incompleteness. His poetry is deep in content and significance, but, according to Belinsky's definition, "always indecisive, always wants to say something and seems to be unable to find words" (5, 551).
Batiushkov managed to express not much of what was inherent in his richly gifted nature. What prevented the poetry that lives in his soul from resounding in full voice? In Batyushkov's poems, bitterness of resentment at the fact that he is "unknown" and "forgotten" is often found. But no less distinct is the bitter recognition in them that inspiration leaves him: “I feel that my gift in poetry has gone out ...” (“Recollection”, 1815). Batyushkov experienced a deep inner 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 ferocious fate play them at will,
Let the unknown, without gold and honors,
With his head drooping, he wanders among people;
………………
But the muses and themselves will not change anywhere.
In the very silence he will drink everything.
(“Message to I. M. Muravyov-Apostle”, p. 187)
The significance of Batyushkov is not limited to the fact that he was the immediate predecessor of Pushkin. Elegies, epistles and other poems by Batyushkov have an 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.
