P.A. Orlov
The question of the ownership of the work of K.N. Batyushkov to one of the literary movements of the early 19th century. has long been controversial. This, in particular, is indicated by N.V. Friedman: “Batiushkov’s work has not been studied enough. In fact, even the question of which literary movement this remarkable poet should belong to has not been resolved.” N.V. Friedman cites six definitions of Batyushkov’s creative position, proposed only in the last three decades: neoclassicist, pre-romanticist, romanticist, realist, representative of light poetry, Karamzinist. The most stable opinion was about Batyushkov as a romantic.
G.A. was the first to express this idea. Gukovsky in the monograph “Pushkin and the Russian Romantics” (1st edition - 1946; 2nd - 1965). In his opinion, Batyushkov’s worldview is deeply tragic. As little consolation, the poet erects “the light edifice of a dream about a normal, healthy person.” A.N. Sokolov supported the idea of G.A. Gukovsky about the romantic dual worlds of Batyushkov’s poetry, but these worlds look somewhat different in his view: what is interconnected here is not the tragic worldview and the epicurean dream, but the reactionary social reality and the poet’s romantic ideal opposing it.
The authors of numerous works about Batyushkov strive to give an unambiguous definition of the writer’s work, classifying it as romanticism or realism, classicism or sentimentalism. Meanwhile, the living literary process turns out to be immeasurably more complex, since the development of literature occurs not only from one direction to another, but also in the work of each individual writer. Sometimes the same method is deepened and improved, in other cases the writer moves from one creative method to another, as, for example, Pushkin, Gogol and other writers. There are also cases when one work bears the stamp of two artistic methods, merged in an indissoluble unity.
In Russian literature of the first decades of the 19th century. There were also intermediate phenomena caused by the peculiarities of the historical development of Russian society. Unlike a number of European countries (England, France), which had already experienced bourgeois revolutions, Russia was just on the eve of democratic transformations. Because of this, educational ideas and educational art with their anti-feudal, anti-absolutist pathos did not lose their significance here and successfully developed side by side, and sometimes in close unity with new literary phenomena - with romanticism and even critical realism. “Russian romanticism,” writes A.B. Botnikov, “was a short-term phenomenon and quite rarely appeared in a “pure” form... The picture of the literary development of Russia appears in an immeasurably more complex form than in the West.”
Light poetry cannot be considered one of the movements of romanticism, if only because it arose much earlier than this movement. It first appeared in France in the first half of the 18th century. and was represented here by the works of Cholier, Lafar, Hamilton, Jean-Baptiste Rousseau. The next stage of its development dates back to the middle of the 18th century. - lyrics by Dora, Colardo, Bernard, Leonard, Bernie, Bertin, Boufle. During this period, it reflects the thoughtlessly erotic, frivolous attitude of the French aristocracy on the eve of the French Revolution.
Subsequently, light poetry became one of the phenomena of educational literature. Enlightenment writers turned in their work to a wide variety of genres of previous literature. They used adventure, family and frivolous novels, fairy tales, classical tragedy, odes, heroic and burlesque poems for their purposes, but introduced new militant, anti-feudal content into all these genres.
“No matter how contradictory it may be at first glance,” wrote S.S. Mokulsky, “the unification of the great enlightener Voltaire with the aristocratic poetry of the Rococo, however, historically such a unification took place... But in his mind... this hedonism lost its thoughtless, decadent character and became a symbol of independence, an instrument of ideological self-determination.” At the end of the 18th - beginning of the 19th centuries. The most prominent representative of light poetry in France was Évariste Parni, in whose work anti-clerical and atheistic motives became especially strong.
In Russia, light poetry appeared in the second third of the 18th century. in the lyrics of classic poets: Kantemir, Trediakovsky, Lomonosov and Sumarokov. It was represented at that time by translations of the poems of Anacreon and his Greek imitators. In the last decades of the 18th century. in Russia there is a spread of educational ideas. Light poetry with its cult of sensual pleasures turned out to be consonant with the hedonistic ethics of the enlighteners and at the same time (a fertile form for expressing their oppositional sentiments towards representatives of secular power and the clergy. Batyushkov’s predecessors in light poetry were M.N. Muravyov and G.R. Derzhavin.
Light poetry at the educational stage of its development has a number of stable, typological features. These include, first of all, two-planeness, two-worldness, which should be distinguished from romantic two-worldness, since it is created in light poetry on the basis of purely educational ideas.
The heroes of light poetry are clearly divided into two camps sharply opposed to each other. Belonging to each of them is determined by the degree of intelligence and “enlightenment” of its representatives. Some of them “correctly” understand the nature of man, the purpose and meaning of his existence. Therefore, in light poetry they are called either “philosophers” (“lazy philosophers” - by Batyushkov), or “sages” (“The Sage of Tebs” - by Pushkin). They love pleasure and reject asceticism. In the hierarchy of pleasures, sensual love comes first for them, followed by friendship, village solitude, wine, poetry and idleness (“laziness” in the language of the poets of this circle).
The opposite camp is represented by heroes who mistakenly, incorrectly judge the meaning and purpose of human existence. This includes kings, courtiers, rich people, all kinds of service workers and careerists, churchmen, primarily monks. Their lives are in blatant contradiction with the laws of nature: they live in stuffy and cramped cities, they are burdened with tedious and boring official duties, their thoughts are subordinated to the struggle for power and wealth. They have no friends, they are unfamiliar with selfless, mutual love. They are possessed by envy and vanity. As for the clergy, they are condemned primarily for preaching asceticism, which is contrary to human nature itself.
The educational character of light poetry of the late 18th - early 19th centuries. also manifests itself in the preaching of “moderation.” We will not find this concept in romantic literature, the heroes of which do not tolerate any control over themselves, no limitation of their desires. The enlighteners had a completely different view. Recognizing and justifying man's desire for pleasure, they at the same time pointed to the need for reasonable limitation of their desires. “Pleasure,” wrote Paul Holbach, “is good only insofar as it serves to preserve health and maintain the good condition of a person, but pleasure becomes evil... when the consequences of pleasure are harmful to the happiness and well-being of the enjoyer.”
Associated with the preaching of “moderation” in light poetry is the glorification of a modest, unpretentious life, which gives true and at the same time harmless pleasures. The chambers and palaces are contrasted here with a modest “hut”; luxury is contrasted with the ingenuous gifts of nature.
The passion of love, glorified in light poetry, differs significantly from the feeling of love in the depiction of romantics. Romantic love is always ideal, sublime. It is either heroic, or tragic, or even mystical in nature, but only chosen ones endowed with exceptional, outstanding characters can be worthy of it. In light poetry, love is understood as a healthy, natural, sensual attraction.
Despite its seemingly harmless and not at all militant character, light poetry, like other phenomena of educational literature, did its destructive work. She debunked the idols of the feudal-absolutist world and thereby deprived it of the halo with which it had been surrounded for many centuries.
Study of light poetry of the late 18th - early 19th centuries. allows us to reconsider the originality of Batyushkov’s creativity. His light poetry does not belong to one of the movements of early Russian romanticism, as G.A. claimed. Gukovsky and his many followers belong entirely to the educational stage of Russian literature. Of course, Batyushkov is immeasurably more talented than his predecessors in light poetry, but their perception of reality and creative method are the same.
D.D. wrote about Batyushkov’s connection with the Enlightenment. Blagoy, B.S. Meilakh and a number of other researchers. But this fact was cited as one of the features of the writer’s worldview, as evidence of his belonging to the advanced part of society and was not connected with the peculiarities of the creative method. Meanwhile, the first period of Batyushkov’s literary activity is associated with enlightenment precisely thanks to light poetry, which he and young Pushkin brought to its highest flourishing and perfection.
Batyushkov’s works at this time are distinguished by the dual worlds discussed above and which characterizes light poetry at the educational stage of its development
The poet is equally indifferent to military glory (“Answer to Gnedich”):
Let those who are sick with ambition
Throws fire and thunder with Mars,
But I'm happy with obscurity
In my Sabinsky house.
In the message “To Petin” there is again the same contrast: the world of “nobles and kings”, in which “slavery and chains” await everyone, is contrasted with the poet’s “unknown lot”, decorated with love and wine.
An important place in Batyushkov’s lyrics is occupied by the glorification of “moderation.” This is expressed primarily in the description of the modest furnishings of the poet’s home, in the constant emphasis on the simplicity and unpretentiousness of tastes. The poet calls his house (“My Penates”) either a “wretched hut,” sometimes a “humble hut,” or a “simple” “hut.” The furnishings of the “hut” are modest: “the table is shabby and tripoded,” “the hard bed” - “all the utensils are simple, // Everything is a crumbling meager!” This description does not characterize the tastes of a Stoic, nor the habits of an ascetic. It reflects the views on life of an Epicurean philosopher who knows how to separate true values from false values. Against the background of the poet’s wretched home, far from “palaces”, “fortune” and official “happiness”, the true joys of life look more prominent: love, friendship and poetry.
The love sung by Batyushkov is distinguished by sensuality and eroticism, which is inherent in light poetry (the poems “False Fear”, “Merry Hour”, “Ghost”, “My Penates”, “Bacchante”). She knows neither fidelity nor jealousy and is quite content with the momentary pleasures received on the bed of “voluptuousness.” The earthly, educational nature of this love was severely condemned by Zhukovsky in his letter “To Batyushkov” and strongly supported by young Pushkin.
The poet’s friends can only be his like-minded people, just like him, “lazy philosophers, enemies of court bonds,” who calmly exchanged the vicissitudes of public service for the idleness of home life.
The materialistic worldview, coming from the ideas of the Enlightenment, was expressed in Batyushkov’s light poetry and in the denial of the afterlife. This thought is persistently repeated in the first period of his literary activity: “I will die, and everything will die with me!” (“Merry Hour”), “I will die, friends, and that’s all with me” (“Advice to Friends”), “The Most Blessed Hour! But ah!//The dead do not rise” (“Ghost”). The thought of death not only does not darken the joy of life in Batyushkov’s light poetry, but, on the contrary, makes it doubly valuable. Therefore, it is difficult to agree with the opinion of G.A. Gukovsky, who argued that “the individual soul, mortal, fleeting, tragically doomed, is empty and meaningless for Batyushkov.” This problem is revealed in Batyushkov’s poetry much more optimistically. Enlightenment materialists believed that disbelief in the afterlife does not reduce, but, on the contrary, increases the value and significance of earthly existence. Interesting in this regard is the interpretation of P.I. Shalikov, in the spirit of the educational ideas of the late 18th century, the philosophy of Epicurus. “Epicure,” he wrote, “especially tried to dispel the horror of death... If you are happy, if you have lived in all contentment, then... what do you expect? Leave life as one leaves a feast.” This idea was repeated almost verbatim by Batyushkov in the poem “Answer to Gnedich”:
Like a guest, satiated with fun,
The luxurious one leaves the feast,
So I, intoxicated with love,
I will leave the world indifferently.
Batyushkov’s attitude to the problem of death is as courageous and optimistic as that of the enlighteners. The theme of death and the theme of pleasures often appear side by side in his works (“Response to Gnedich”, “Ghost”, “My Penates”). The winner of a duel is always pleasure, as a result of which life does not depreciate, but acquires even greater significance (“My Penates”):
While he's running after us
God of time is gray
And the meadow with flowers is destroyed
With a merciless scythe,
My friend! hurry up for happiness
Let's fly on the journey of life;
Let's get drunk with voluptuousness
And we will get ahead of death...
“The very course of the historical process clearly demonstrated to the poet the inconsistency of his attempt to escape from... the painful contradictions of reality,” writes N.V. Friedman. This fundamentally correct idea requires some clarification. The fact is that the rejection of light poetry meant at the same time Batyushkov’s departure not only from Epicureanism, but also from Enlightenment.
The destroyers of Moscow and hedonistic philosophers turned out to be compatriots. This was enough for Batyushkov to declare war on both.
Of course, there was a historical causal relationship between the Enlightenment, the French Revolution, the reign of Napoleon and his campaign against Russia, otherwise history would have turned into a kaleidoscope of accidents. But the causal dependence between phenomena does not mean their identity. Therefore, Napoleon’s seizure of imperial power and the wars that followed, although they were conditioned by the entire course of previous events, were at the same time a clear betrayal of the basic principles of Enlightenment philosophy.
Then in the excitement of the people's storms
Anticipating my wonderful destiny,
In his noble hopes
You despised humanity, -
wrote Pushkin in 1821, summing up the short-term and stormy activities of Napoleon. Batyushkov did not comprehend the complex dialectics of history, superbly revealed by Pushkin in the ode “Napoleon”. He lined up enlightenment, revolution, Napoleon’s wars, the fire of Moscow and saw in them phenomena that were completely homogeneous in their internal nature and in their results: “The terrible actions of the vandals or the French in Moscow and in its environs... completely upset my little philosophy and they quarreled me with humanity... Barbarians, vandals! And this people of monsters dared to talk about freedom, about philosophy, about philanthropy! And we were so blinded that we imitated them like monkeys! Okay, so they paid us! All their books are worthy of a fire, ... their heads are worthy of a guillotine.”
Capturing in his mind's eye the ideological and political phenomena of the late 18th - early 19th centuries, Batyushkov establishes a too straightforward causal connection between them: “My heart does not belong to this country,” he writes to Gnedich, “the revolution, the world war, the fire of Moscow and the devastation of Russia.” I was forever at odds with the fatherland of Henry IV, the great Racine and Montagne.”
Batyushkov is now inclined to see the source, the beginning of all disasters in the preaching of hedonism, which lay at the basis of both educational philosophy and light poetry. He set out his new views especially fully in the article “Something about Morality Based on Philosophy and Religion,” written in 1815. In clear contradiction with his recent beliefs and cheerful light poetry, Batyushkov now furiously attacks hedonism. “...A crowd of epicurean philosophers from Montagne to the most stormy days of the revolution repeated to man: “Enjoy! All nature is yours, it offers you all its sweets... everything except hope for the future, everything is yours, momentary, but true! But this kind of preaching, Batyushkov claims, does not achieve the goal and does not give a person lasting happiness. Pleasure ends, according to the poet, every time with satiety and leaves behind boredom and dissatisfaction. “This is how,” writes Batyushkov, “the human heart was created: ... in the highest bliss, ... it acquires bitterness.” The consequence of dissatisfaction, on the one hand, and godlessness, on the other, were, in the poet’s opinion, the tragic events that took place on the verge of two centuries: “...We looked with horror at the fruits of wicked freethinking, at freedom that had hoisted its banner among the bloody corpses , ... to the successes of the wicked legions, to Moscow, smoking in its ruins.” The recent atheist and epicurean now defends the afterlife, the immortal soul, and ethics based on Christian dogmas. “Unbelief destroys itself,” he declares. “Faith alone creates unshakable morality.”
Batyushkov’s “little philosophy” really could not withstand the collision with major historical events. The reason for this is that the poet perceived enlightenment itself too narrowly, limiting it exclusively to a hedonistic worldview. The political ideas of the Enlightenment - hatred of absolutism, serfdom, denial of class inequality, etc. - were not reflected in the poet’s worldview. As a result, the collapse of the hedonistic worldview led Batyushkov in 1812 to reject the entire educational ideology as a whole.
Let us remember that Pushkin and the future Decembrists also witnessed the invasion of Napoleonic army into Russia, and later the fire of Moscow. However, these dramatic events were perceived by them not as a consequence of the ideas of enlightenment, but as a gross and unceremonious violation of them. Pushkin, glorifying in the ode “Liberty” one of the cherished ideas of the philosophers of the 18th century. - equality of all before the law - at the same time stigmatizes not only Louis XVI and Paul I, but also Napoleon. Moreover, in the lyrics of 1818-1819. Pushkin managed to combine both the hedonistic and political principles of the Enlightenment (messages to “V. Engelhardt,” “Vsevolozhsky,” “Mansurov”), but Batyushkov was unable to achieve such a broad approach to Enlightenment ideology. The consequence of this was an ideological crisis, which ended with concessions to religious sentiments, which brought his poetry closer to the protective camp.
If earlier Batyushkov’s light poetry opposed Zhukovsky’s romanticism, now their creative positions are becoming extremely close, since the worldview of both poets is based on the same idea about the fragility of earthly values and the eternity of afterlife bliss.
These new moods were especially clearly reflected in the poems “Hope”, “To a Friend” (both written in 1815) and in the extensive elegy “Dying Tass”.
In the first of these works there is even a verbal coincidence with Zhukovsky’s poems:
Zhukovsky. "Singer in the camp of Russian warriors" ...
Power of attorney to the Creator!
Whatever it is - Invisible
Leads us to a better end
A path incomprehensible.
Batyushkov. "Hope"
My spirit! power of attorney to the creator!
Take heart; Be a patient stone.
Isn't he for a better end?
He led me through the flames of war (195).
In Batyushkov’s poetic dictionary the same symbolic words “here” and “there” appear as in Zhukovsky, denoting earthly and afterlife existence in both authors: “So everything here is vanity in the monastery of vanities!” (“To a friend”), “There, there... oh happiness! ...among immaculate wives,//Among angels...” (“Dying Tass”).
The new moods were especially fully and vividly expressed in the elegy “Dying Tass”. The tragic fate of the great Italian poet - poverty, unjust persecution, imprisonment in prison, in a mental hospital - becomes in Batyushkov’s work a kind of symbol of the imperfection of the earthly vale, and the death of Tassa on the day of his belated triumph is an even more striking example of the “treachery” of envious fortune (see . author's notes to the poem "Dying Tass".)
Everything earthly perishes... both glory and crown...
The creations of the arts and muses are majestic,
But everything there is eternal, just as the creator himself is eternal,
Give us the crown of eternal glory!
An analysis of Batyushkov’s work convinces us that the question of whether writers belong to one or another literary movement does not always imply an unambiguous solution. In some cases, a writer may move from one direction to another. A striking example of such evolution can be the creative path of Batyushkov. He started with light poetry, which was one of the phenomena of educational literature at that time, and only after a complex ideological crisis moved to romanticism
However, this sequence is characteristic not only of Batyushkov. Many poets of the first quarter of the 19th century paid tribute to light poetry: Vyazemsky, Delvig, Yazykov, Baratynsky, Ryleev and Pushkin. Their interest in light poetry testified to their belonging to the camp of freethinkers, but of an educational kind. The next stages of their work were romanticism.
L-ra: Philological sciences. – 1983. - No. 6. – P. 10-16.Keywords: Konstantin Batyushkov, criticism of Batyushkov’s work, Batyushkov’s work, download criticism, download for free, Batyushkov and antiquity, Russian literature of the 19th century, download abstract, Batyushkov’s poetry
In Soviet historical and literary scholarship, it is more common to call Batyushkov a “pre-romanticist,” although there are other concepts. This point of view was introduced into scientific circulation with appropriate argumentation by B.V. Tomashevsky: “This word (i.e., “pre-romanticism” - K.G.) is usually used to call those phenomena in the literature of classicism in which there are some signs of a new direction, received full expression in romanticism. Thus, pre-romanticism is a transitional phenomenon.”
What are these “some signs”? - “This is, first of all, a clear expression of a personal (subjective) attitude towards what is being described, the presence of “sensitivity” (among pre-romanticists - predominantly dreamy-melancholic, sometimes tearful); a sense of nature, often with a desire to depict unusual nature; The landscape depicted by the pre-romanticists was always in harmony with the poet’s mood.”
Further substantiation of the point of view of B.V. Tomashevsky is found in a detailed monograph by N.V. Friedman - with the difference that its author, calling Batyushkov a “pre-romanticist”, like Pushkin of the early period, denies any connections of “ideological foundations” Batyushkov's poetry with classicism.
Conflicting judgments about Batyushkov’s literary position are caused by the very nature of his work, which reflects one of the significant transitional stages in the development of Russian poetry.
The end of the 18th - the first years of the 19th century. were the heyday of Russian sentimentalism, the initial stage of the formation of the romantic movement. This era is characterized by transitional phenomena, reflecting both new trends and the influence of the still existing aesthetic norms of classicism. Batyushkov was a typical figure of this time, called “strange” by Belinsky, when “the new appeared without replacing the old, and the old and the new lived amicably next to each other, without interfering with one another” (7, 241). None of the Russian poets of the early 19th century. I did not feel as keenly as Batyushkov the need to update outdated norms and forms. At the same time, his connections with classicism, despite the predominance of the romantic element in his poetry, were quite strong, which Belinsky also noted. Having seen “renewed classicism” in a number of Pushkin’s early “plays,” Belinsky called their author “an improved, improved Batyushkov” (7, 367).
A literary movement is not formed in an empty space. Its initial stage is not necessarily marked by a manifesto, declaration, or program. It always has its own prehistory from the moment of its emergence in the depths of the previous direction, the gradual accumulation of certain characteristics in it and the further movement towards qualitative changes, from lower to higher forms, in which the aesthetic principles of the new direction are most fully expressed. In the emerging, in the new, to one degree or another, there are some features of the old, transformed, updated in accordance with the requirements of the time. This is the pattern of continuity and continuity of the literary process.
When studying the literary activity of such a typical figure of the transitional era as Batyushkov, it is important first of all to understand the relationship, the peculiar combination in his poetry of the new and the old, that which is the main thing that determines the poet’s worldview.
Batyushkov walked next to Zhukovsky. Their creativity constitutes a natural link in the process of updating poetry, enriching its internal content and forms. They both relied on the achievements of the Karamzin period and were representatives of the new generation. But although the general trend in the development of their creativity was the same, they followed different paths. Zhukovsky's lyrics grew directly in the depths of sentimentalism. Batyushkov also had organic connections with sentimentalism, although in his lyrics some features of classicism were preserved in a transformed form. On the one hand, he continued (this is the main, main road of his creative development) the elegiac line of sentimentalism; on the other hand, in his desire for clarity and rigor of form, he relied on the achievements of classicism, which gave modern critics a reason to call him a “neoclassicist.”
Batyushkov lived a troubled life. He was born in Vologda on May 29 (according to modern times) 1787 into an old noble family. He was brought up in St. Petersburg private boarding schools. Then he served in the Ministry of Public Education (as a clerk). At the same time (1803) his friendship with N. I. Gnedich began, acquaintances with I. P. Pnin, N. A. Radishchev, I. M. Born began. In April 1805, Batyushkov joined the “Free Society of Literature, Sciences and Arts.” In the same year, Batyushkov’s first printed work, “Message to My Poems,” appeared in the magazine “News of Russian Literature.” During the second war with Napoleonic France (1807), he takes part in the campaigns of the Russian army in Prussia; in 1808–1809 - in the war with Sweden. In the battle of Heilsberg, Batyushkov was seriously wounded in the leg. In 1813, he took part in the battles near Leipzig as an adjutant of General N.N. Raevsky.
Batyushkov’s personal drama dates back to 1815 - his infatuation with Anna Fedorovna Furman.
At the end of 1815, when the Karamzinists, as a counterweight to the conservative “Conversation of Lovers of the Russian Word,” created their own literary association “Arzamas,” Batyushkov became a member of it and defended N. M. Karamzin’s language reform program.
In 1817, a two-volume collection of Batyushkov’s works, “Experiments in Poetry and Prose,” was published, the only lifetime edition of the poet’s works. In 1818–1821 He is in Italy in the diplomatic service, where he becomes close to N.I. Turgenev (later one of the prominent figures in the “Union of Welfare”).
Batyushkov hated clerical work, although he was forced to serve. He dreamed of free creativity and put the vocation of a poet above all else.
Batyushkov’s literary fate was tragic. At thirty-four years of age, he leaves the field of “literature” forever. Then silence, long-term (inherited from the mother) mental illness and death from typhus on July 7 (19), 1855.
The poet's madness is the result not only of heredity, but also of increased vulnerability and poor security. In a letter to N.I. Gnedich in May 1809, Batyushkov wrote: “I am so tired of people, and everything is so boring, and my heart is empty, there is so little hope that I would like to be destroyed, diminished, become an atom.” In November of the same year, in a letter to him, “If I live another ten years, I will go crazy... I’m not bored, not sad, but I feel something extraordinary, some kind of spiritual emptiness.” So, long before the onset of the crisis, Batyushkov foresaw the sad outcome of the internal drama he was experiencing.
The process of formation of Batyushkov’s aesthetic views was beneficially influenced by his close acquaintance and friendship with many prominent literary figures of that time.
From Batyushkov’s inner circle, special mention should be made of Mikhail Nikitich Muravyov (1757–1807), the poet’s cousin, under whose strong influence he was, from whom he studied and whose advice he valued. Muravyov guided and encouraged his first steps in the field of literature.
Sensitivity, dreaminess, thoughtfulness, which determine the emotional tonality of Batyushkov’s lyrics, in their original expressions are present in Muravyov’s poems as their integral part, as their characteristic feature.
Muravyov rejected rational “floridism”, cold rationalism in poetic creativity, called for naturalness and simplicity, the search for “treasures” in one’s own heart. Muravyov is the first Russian poet to substantiate the dignity of “light poetry” as poetry of small lyrical forms and informal, intimate themes. He wrote an entire treatise in verse, outlining the stylistic principles of “light poetry.”
In “An Essay on Poetry” he wrote:
Love common sense: be captivated by simplicity(("Essay on Poetry", 1774–1780))
……………….
Flee false art and mind
…………….
Remember your goal, be able to do it without regret
Ambitious discard decorations
…………….
The syllable should be like a transparent river:
Swift, but clean and full without spilling.
These “rules”, set out in the language of poetry, which have not lost their meaning even today, would not have such an attractive and effective force if they were not supported by the examples of simple and euphonious Russian poetic speech created by Muravyov:
Your evening is full of coolness -
The shore is moving in crowds,
Like a magical serenade
The voice comes in wavesShow favor to the goddess(("To the Goddess of the Neva", 1794))
He sees an enthusiastic drink.
Who spends the night sleepless,
Leaning on granite.
Not only in themes, in the development of lyrical genres, but also in work on language and poetry, Batyushkov relied on the experience and achievements of his talented predecessor and teacher. What is outlined as a program in Muravyov’s poetry finds development in Batyushkov’s lyrics, which was facilitated by a common aesthetic platform and a common view of poetry.
In his first poetic declaration (“Message to my poems,” 1804 or 1805), Batyushkov tries to determine his position, his attitude to the modern state of Russian poetry. On the one hand, he is repelled by description (who “messes up poetry”, “composes odes”), on the other hand, by the excesses of sentimentalism (tearfulness, games of sensitivity). Here he condemns “poets - boring liars” who “do not fly up, not to the sky,” but “to the ground.” In this fundamental question about the relationship between the ideal (“sky”) and the real (“earth”), Batyushkov shared the romantic point of view: “What is in loud songs for me? I am happy with my dreams..."; “...by dreaming we are closer to happiness”; “...we all love fairy tales, we are children, but big ones.” “Dream” is opposed to rationality and rationalism:
What is empty in truth? She just dries out the mind(("Message to N. I. Gnedich", 1805))
A dream gilds everything in the world,
And angry from sadness
Dream is our shield.
Oh, should the heart be forbidden to forget itself,
Exchange poets for boring sages!
Nothing characterizes the personality of Batyushkov the poet more than dreaminess. It runs like a running leitmotif through all his lyrics, starting from his first poetic experiments:
And sorrow is sweet:(("Dream", 1802–1803; pp. 55–56))
He dreams in sorrow.
………..
A hundred times we are happy with fleeting dreams!
Many years later, the poet returns to his early poem, devoting enthusiastic lines to a poetic dream:
Friend of tender muses, messenger of heaven,
A source of sweet thoughts and heart-loving tears,
Where are you hiding, Dream, my goddess?
Where is that happy land, that peaceful desert,
Which mysterious flight are you aiming for?
Nothing - neither wealth, “neither light, nor empty glory” - replaces dreams. It contains the highest happiness:
So the poet considers his hut a palace(("Dream", 1817; pp. 223–224, 229))
And happy - he dreams.
In the formation of the aesthetics of Russian romanticism, romantic ideas about poetry and the poet, Batyushkov’s role was exceptional, as great as Zhukovsky’s. Batyushkov was the first in the history of Russian poetry to give a heartfelt definition of inspiration as “an impulse of winged thoughts,” a state of internal clairvoyance when “excitement of passions” is silent and a “bright mind,” freed from “earthly bonds,” soars “in the heavens” (“My Penates” , 1811–1812). In the “Message to I.M. Muravyov-Apostol” (1814–1815), the same theme is developed, acquiring an increasingly romantic character:
I see in my mind how an inspired youth((p. 186))
Stands in silence above the furious abyss
Among dreams and first sweet thoughts,
Listening to the monotonous noise of the waves...
His face burns, his chest sighs painfully,
And a sweet tear wets the cheek...
Poetry is born of the sun. She is a “heavenly flame”, her language is the “language of the gods” (“Message to N.I. Gnedich”, 1805). The poet is a “child of heaven,” he is bored on earth, he strives for “heaven.” Thus, Batyushkov’s romantic concept of “poetry” and “poet” gradually takes shape, not without the influence of traditional ideas.
Batyushkov’s personality was dominated by what Belinsky called “noble subjectivity” (5, 49). The predominant element of his work is lyricism. Not only the original works, but also Batyushkov’s translations are marked with the stamp of his unique personality. Batyushkov's translations are not translations in the strict sense, but rather alterations, free imitations, into which he introduces his own moods, themes and motives. In the Russified translation of “Boalo’s 1st satire” (1804–1805) there is a lyrical image of the inhabitant of Moscow himself, a poet, “unhappy,” “unsociable,” who runs from “fame and noise,” from the vices of “the world,” a poet who “I have never flattered people,” “I have not lied,” in whose songs there is “holy truth.” No less important for Batyushkov was the idea of independence and integrity of the singer. Let him be “poor,” “endure cold, heat,” “forgotten by people and the world,” but he cannot put up with evil, does not want to “crawl” before those in power, does not want to write odes, madrigals, or sing praises of “rich scoundrels”:
Rather, I am like a simple peasant,((pp. 62–63))
Who then sprinkles his daily bread,
Than this fool, big gentleman,
With contempt he crushes people on the pavement!
The translation of Boileau’s satire reflects Batyushkov’s life position, his contempt for “rich scoundrels” who are “disgusted by the world of truth”, for whom “there is nothing sacred in the whole world.” “Sacred” for the poet is “friendship”, “virtue”, “pure innocence”, “love, beauty of hearts and conscience”. Here is an assessment of reality:
Vice reigns here, vice is the ruler here,((p. 64))
He is wearing ribbons, wearing orders, and is clearly visible everywhere...
Batyushkov twice refers to the “sacred shadow” of Torquato Tasso, tries to translate (excerpts have been preserved) his poem “Liberated Jerusalem”. The poem “To Tassu” (1808) selects those facts and situations from the Italian poet’s biography that allowed Batyushkov to express “many of his secret thoughts” about his own life path, about the personal tragedy he was experiencing. What reward awaits the poet “for harmonious songs”? - “Zoil’s sharp poison, feigned praise and caresses of the courtiers, poison for the soul and the poets themselves” (p. 84). In the elegy “The Dying Tass” (1817), Batyushkov creates the image of a “sufferer,” “exile,” “wanderer,” who has “no refuge on earth.” “Earthly”, “instant”, “perishable” in Batyushkov’s lyrics are opposed to the sublime, “heavenly”. Eternity, immortality - “in the works of the majestic” “arts and muses.”
The epicurean motifs of Batyushkov’s lyrics are permeated with contempt for wealth, nobility, and rank. More dear to the poet is freedom, the ideal of personal independence, “freedom and tranquility”, “carelessness and love” that he glorifies:
"Happy! happy who flowers(("To Petin", 1810; pp. 121–122))
Decorated the days of love,
Sang with carefree friends
And I dreamed about happiness!
He is happy, and three times as happy,
All nobles and kings!
So come on, in an unknown place,
Alien to slavery and chains,
Somehow we drag out our lives,
Often with grief in half,
Pour the cup fuller
And laugh at fools!”
This conclusion is a conclusion to reflections on life. Before this “song” with a call for “carelessness” there are significant lines:
I'll come to my senses... yes joy((p. 122))
Will he get along with his mind?
“Mind” here in the sense of rationality, opposed to feeling, destroying joy. Hence the cult of feeling, the desire to live “with the heart.”
In the poem “To Friends” (1815), Batyushkov calls himself a “carefree poet,” which gives rise to incorrect interpretations of the pathos of his work. His Epicureanism flowed from his life position, from his “philosophical life.” “Life is a moment! It won't take long to have fun." Merciless time takes away everything. And therefore
Oh, while youth is priceless(("Elysius", 1810; p. 116))
Didn't rush away like an arrow,
Drink from a cup full of joy...
All the best, significant things in Batyushkov’s work, which constitute the enduring aesthetic value of his lyrics, are to a certain extent connected with the concept of “light poetry,” the founder of which on Russian soil was M. N. Muravyov.
The term "light poetry" can be interpreted in different ways. It is important how Batyushkov himself understood him. First of all, this is not an easy genre of salon, cutesy lyricism, but one of the most difficult types of poetry, requiring “possible perfection, purity of expression, harmony in style, flexibility, smoothness; he demands truth in feelings and the preservation of the strictest decency in all respects... poetry, even in small forms, is a difficult art and requires all life and all spiritual efforts.”
In the field of “light poetry” Batyushkov included not only poems in the spirit of Anacreon, but also generally small forms of lyricism, intimate and personal themes, “graceful” subtle sensations and feelings. Batyushkov passionately defended the dignity of small lyrical forms, which was of fundamental importance to him. He sought support in the past achievements of Russian poetry, highlighting trends, the line of its development, in which he found reflection of Anacreon’s Muse. The same considerations dictated Batyushkov’s increased interest in French “light poetry,” in particular Parni.
This was the time when sensitivity - the banner of sentimentalism - became the defining feature of the new style. For Batyushkov, poetry is a “heavenly flame,” combining “in the human soul” “imagination, sensitivity, dreaminess.” He also perceived the poetry of ancient times in this aspect. In addition to personal predilection, Batyushkov was also influenced by the trends, literary hobbies of his time, “a craving for the restoration of ancient forms... The most sensitive works were taken from antiquity, elegiacs were translated into lyrics and served as an object of imitation: Tibullus, Catullus, Propertius...”.
Batyushkov had a rare gift for comprehending the uniqueness of Hellenistic and Roman culture, the ability to convey through the means of Russian poetic speech all the beauty and charm of the lyrics of antiquity. “Batyushkov,” wrote Belinsky, “introduced into Russian poetry a completely new element for it: ancient artistry” (6, 293).
The desire to “forget sadness”, “drown grief in a full cup” led to the search for “joy and happiness” in “carelessness and love”. But what is “joy” and “happiness” in a “fleeting life”? Batyushkov’s epicureanism, called “ideal” by Belinsky (6, 293), 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 mix wisdom with jokes”, “to seek fun and amusement”, then one should not think that we are talking about rough passions here. Earthly pleasures in themselves are worthless in the eyes of the poet if they are not warmed by a dream. The dream gives them grace and charm, sublimity and beauty:
...let's forget the sadness(("Advice to Friends", 1806; p. 75))
Let's dream in sweet bliss:
Dream is a direct mother of happiness!
The content of Batyushkov’s poetry is far from limited to poems in the anthological genre. She in many ways anticipated and predetermined the themes and main motives of Russian romantic poetry: the glorification of personal freedom, the independence of the artist, the hostility of “cold rationality,” the cult of feeling, the subtlest “feelings,” the movements of the “life of the heart,” admiration for “wonderful nature,” the feeling of “ the mysterious" connection of the human soul with nature, faith in poetic dream and inspiration.
Batyushkov contributed many significant new things to the development of lyrical genres. His role in the development of Russian elegy is especially important. In his lyrics, the process of further psychologizing the elegy continues. Traditional elegiac complaints about fate, the pangs of love, separation, infidelity of the beloved - all that is found in abundance in the elegies of the late 18th century, in the poetry of sentimentalists - are enriched in Batyushkov’s elegies by the expression of complex individual experiences, the “life” of feelings in their movement and transitions. For the first time in Russian lyrics, complex psychological states are expressed with such spontaneity and sincerity of tragically colored feelings and in such an elegant form:
There is an end to wanderings - never to sorrows!(("Elegy", 1815; p. 200))
In your presence there is suffering and torment
I learned new things with my heart.
They are worse than separation
The most terrible thing! I saw, I read
In your silence, in your intermittent conversation,
In your sad gaze,
In this secret sorrow of downcast eyes,
In your smile and in your very gaiety
Traces of heartache...
For the fate of Russian lyric poetry, the psychologization of the landscape and the strengthening of its emotional coloring were no less important. At the same time, in Batyushkov’s elegies, the passion for the night (lunar) landscape, characteristic of romantic poetry, is striking. Night is the time for dreams. “Dream is the daughter of the silent night” (“Dream”, 1802 or 1803):
...like a ray of sunshine goes out in the middle of the heavens,(("Evening. Imitation of Petrarch", 1810; p. 115))
Alone in exile, alone with my longing,
I talk in the night with the pensive moon!
Where Batyushkov turns to a contemplative and dreamy depiction of a night landscape in an attempt to convey the “picturesque beauty” of nature, to “paint” its pictures by means of poetic speech, his closeness to Zhukovsky is reflected, his kinship with him not only in common literary origins, but also in character perception, figurative system, even vocabulary:
... In the valley where the spring gurgles and sparkles,(("God", 1801 or 1805; p. 69))
In the night, when the moon quietly sheds its ray on us,
And the clear stars shine from behind the clouds...
I'll touch the magic strings
I will touch... and the nymphs of the mountains in the monthly radiance,
Like light shadows, in a transparent robe
They will come down with the sylvans to hear my voice.
Timid naiads, floating above the water,They will clasp their white hands,(("Message to Count Vielgorsky", 1809; p. 104))
And the May breeze, waking up on the flowers,
In cool groves and gardens,
Will blow quiet wings...
The Patriotic War of 1812 became an important milestone in Batyushkov’s spiritual development and caused certain changes in his public sentiments. The war brought a civil theme that had hitherto faintly sounded in the poet’s lyrics. During these years, Batyushkov wrote a number of patriotic poems, including the message “To Dashkov” (1813), in which the poet, in the days of national disaster, “among the ruins and graves,” when his “dear homeland” is in danger, refuses to “sing love and joy , carelessness, happiness and peace":
No no! my talent perish((p. 154))
And the lyre is precious to friendship,
When you are forgotten by me,
Moscow, the golden land of the fatherland!
It is no coincidence that it was precisely in these years, after the Patriotic War, in the atmosphere of a general rise in national self-awareness that Batyushkov developed a persistent desire to expand the field of elegy. Her framework for the implementation of his new plans, the poetic development of historical, heroic themes seemed narrow to him. The search for the poet did not go in one direction. He experiments, turns to Russian ballads, even fables. Batyushkov gravitates toward multi-subject themes, complex plot structures, and a combination of intimate elegy motifs with historical meditation. An example of such a combination is the famous poem, noted by Belinsky as one of Batyushkov’s highest achievements, “On the ruins of a castle in Sweden” (1814). The introduction, a gloomy night landscape, written in the Ossian style, is fully consistent with the character of dreamy reflection and gives a romantic sound to the entire work:
I am here, on these rocks hanging above the water,((p. 172))
In the sacred twilight of the oak forest
I wander thoughtfully and see before me
Traces of past years and glory:
Debris, a formidable rampart, a moat overgrown with grass,
Pillars and a dilapidated bridge with cast iron chains,
Mossy strongholds with granite teeth
And a long row of coffins.
Everything is quiet: a dead sleep in the monastery.
But here the memory lives:
And the traveler, leaning on the grave stone,
Tastes sweet dreams.
Batyushkov possessed a rare gift: with the power of dreamy imagination, he could “revive” the past, the signs of which were inspired in his poems by a single feeling. Contemplation of the ruins in the silence of the night imperceptibly turns into a dreamy thought about people, brave warriors and freedom-loving skalds, and the frailty of everything earthly:
But everything is covered here in the gloomy darkness of the night,((p. 174))
All time has turned to dust!
Where before the skald thundered on a golden harp,
There the wind whistles only sadly!
………………
Where are you, brave crowds of heroes,
You, wild sons of both war and freedom,
Arose in the snow, among the horrors of nature,
Among the spears, among the swords?
The strong died!..……
Such a perception of the distant historical past is not a tribute to fashion, as is often the case; it is internally inherent in Batyushkov the poet, which is confirmed by another similar description, where for the first time in Russian lyrics a poetic “formula” of the “secret” language of nature is given:
Nature's horrors, hostile elements battle,(("Message to I.M. Muravyov-Apostol", 1814–1815; p. 186))
Waterfalls roaring from gloomy rocks,
Snowy deserts, eternal masses of ice
Or the noisy sea, the vast view -
Everything, everything lifts the mind, everything speaks to the heart
With eloquent but secret words,
And the fire of poetry feeds between us.
The poem “On the ruins of a castle in Sweden,” despite the presence in it of elements of other genres (ballads, odes), is still an elegy, the kind of it that can be called a historical meditative elegy.
Contemplation, dreaminess, thoughtfulness, despondency, sadness, disappointment, doubt are too general concepts, especially when it comes to lyric poetry; they are filled with different psychological content, which receives different colors depending on the individuality of the poet. Dreaminess, for example, among sentimentalists (or rather, among the epigones of this trend), was often feigned, a tribute to fashion, excessively tearful. In the lyrics of Zhukovsky and Batyushkov, dreaminess appears in a new quality, combined with elegiac sadness, imbued with philosophical reflection - a poetic state that is inherent in both of them. “In the works of these writers (Zhukovsky and Batyushkov - K.G.), - wrote Belinsky, - ... it is not only official delights that speak the language of poetry. but also such passions, feelings and aspirations, the source of which was not abstract ideals, but the human heart, the human soul” (10, 290–291).
Both Zhukovsky and Batyushkov owed a lot to Karamzin and sentimentalism, as well as to Arzamas. There were many similarities in their daydreaming, but there were also differences. For the first, it is predominantly contemplative in nature with a mystical overtones. For the second, daydreaming is not “replaced,” as Belinsky assumed (6, 293), but is combined with thoughtfulness, in the words of Batyushkov himself, “quiet and deep thoughtfulness.”
Batyushkov also wrote in prose. Batyushkov’s prose experiments reflect the general process of searching for new paths, the author’s desire for genre diversity (see Chapter 3).
Batyushkov viewed his prose experiments as “material for poetry.” He turned to prose mainly in order to “write well in poetry.”
Belinsky did not highly value Batyushkov’s prose works, although he noted their “good language and style” and saw in them “an expression of the opinions and concepts of the people of his time” (1, 167). In this regard, Batyushkov’s prose “experiments” had an impact on the formation of the style of Pushkin’s prose.
Batyushkov’s merits are great in enriching the Russian poetic language and the culture of Russian verse. In the dispute about the “old” and “new syllable”, in this central issue of the social and literary struggle of the era, which has a broader significance than the problem of the language of literature, Batyushkov took the position of the Karamzinists. The poet considered the main advantages of the “poetic style” to be “movement, strength, clarity.” In his poetic work, he adhered to these aesthetic norms, especially the last one - “clarity”. According to Belinsky’s definition, he introduced into Russian poetry “correct and pure language”, “sonorous and light verse”, “plasticism of forms” (1, 165; 5, 551).
Belinsky recognized the “importance” of Batyushkov for the history of Russian literature, called Batyushkov “one of the smartest and most educated people of his time,” spoke of him as a “true poet,” gifted by nature with great talent. Nevertheless, in general judgments about the character and content of Batyushkov’s poetry, the critic was too harsh. Batyushkov’s poetry seemed to Belinsky “narrow”, overly personal, poor in content from the point of view of its social sound, expression of the national spirit in it: “Batiushkov’s muse, forever wandering under foreign skies, did not pick a single flower on Russian soil” (7, 432 ). Belinsky could not forgive Batyushkov for his passion for the “light poetry” of Parni (5, 551; 7, 128). The critic's judgments may have been influenced by the fact that he wrote about Batyushkov as Pushkin's predecessor, in connection with Pushkin - and in assessing Batyushkov's lyrics, the vast world of Pushkin's poetry could serve as a criterion.
The range of Batyushkov’s elegiac thoughts was determined early. He deeply believed in the power of the initial “first impressions”, “first fresh feelings” (“Message to I.M. Muravyov-Apostol”), which the poet did not betray throughout his entire creative life. Batyushkov’s poetry is closed primarily in the circle of personal experiences, and this is the source of its strength and weakness. Throughout his creative career, the poet remained faithful to “pure” lyrics, limiting its content to a personal theme. Only the Patriotic War of 1812 gave an explosion of patriotic sentiment, and then not for long. This time dates back to Batyushkov’s desire to get out of his closed world of favorite motifs, expand the boundaries of elegy, and enrich it thematically with the experience of other genres. The search went in different directions, but Batyushkov achieved tangible results where he did not betray his natural gift as an elegiac poet. He created new varieties of the genre, which were destined for a great future in Russian poetry. These are his message elegies and meditative, philosophical and historical elegies.
Thought, along with daydreaming, has always been characteristic of Batyushkov’s inner world. Over the years, in his lyrics, meditation “under the burden of sadness” increasingly acquires a gloomy shade, “heartfelt melancholy”, “spiritual sorrow” are heard, tragic notes sound more and more clearly, and as if a kind of result of the poet’s thoughts about life, one of his last poems sounds:
You know what you said((1824; p. 240))
Saying goodbye to life, gray-haired Melchizedek?
A man will be born a slave,
He will go to his grave as a slave,
And death will hardly tell him
Why did he walk through the valley of wonderful tears,
He suffered, cried, endured, disappeared.
When reviewing Batyushkov’s literary heritage, one gets the impression of incompleteness. His poetry is deep in content and significance, but it, according to Belinsky’s definition, “is always indecisive, always wants to say something and seems to find no words” (5, 551).
Batyushkov did not manage to express much of what was inherent in his richly gifted nature. What prevented the poetry living in his soul from sounding in full voice? In Batyushkov’s poems one often encounters the bitterness of resentment that he is “unknown” and “forgotten.” But no less clearly sounds in them the bitter confession that inspiration is leaving him: “I feel that my gift in poetry has gone out...” (“Memories”, 1815). Batyushkov was experiencing a deep internal drama that accelerated the onset of the crisis, and he fell silent... But what he managed to accomplish gave him every right to identify the image of a true poet he created with himself:
Let the fierce rock play at their will,(("Message to I.M. Muravyov-Apostol", p. 187))
Even if unknown, without gold and honor,
With his head drooping, he wanders among people;
………………
But he will never betray the muses or himself.
In the very silence he will drink everything.
V. V. Tomashevsky wrote about the “odic nature” of the elegy “On the ruins of a castle in Sweden” and immediately added: “These poems turn into elegiac reflections, in which the breadth of the theme remains from the ode” (Tomashevsky B. K. N. Batyushkov, p. XXXVIII).
“Evening at Kantemir’s”, 1816 (see: Batyushkov K.N. Soch. M., 1955, p. 367).
See: Fridman N.V. Prose Batyushkova. M., 1965.
“Speech on the influence of light poetry on the language,” 1816 (Batyushkov K.N. Experiments in poetry and prose, p. 11).
Melchizedek is a person mentioned in the Bible (Genesis, chapter 14, v. 18–19). Symbol of highest wisdom.
Everyone knows the Vologda poet Konstantin Nikolaevich Batyushkov. His biography is bright and tragic. The poet, whose creative discoveries were brought to perfection by Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin, was a pioneer in the development of the melodiousness of the Russian language. He was the first to notice in him, “somewhat stern and stubborn,” remarkable “strength and expressiveness.” Batyushkov’s creative achievements were recognized as classics even during his lifetime by the entire Russian poetic world of his time, and primarily by Karamzin and Zhukovsky.
Childhood
The dates of the poet's life are 05/18/1787 - 07/07/1855. He belonged to the old noble family of the Batyushkovs, which included generals, public figures, and scientists.
What can Batyushkov’s biography tell about the poet’s childhood? Interesting facts will come later, but for now it is worth noting that the child suffered from the death of his beloved mother. Alexandra Grigorievna Batyushkova (nee Berdyaeva) died eight years after the birth of Kostya. Were the years spent on the family estate in the village of Danilovskoye (modern Vologda region) happy? Hardly. Konstantin's father, Nikolai Lvovich Batyushkov, a bilious and nervous man, did not pay due attention to his children. He had an excellent education and was tormented by the fact that he was unclaimed for his job because of a disgraced relative involved in a palace conspiracy.
Study, self-education
However, at the behest of his father, Konstantin Batyushkov studied in expensive but unspecialized St. Petersburg boarding schools. The biography of his youth is marked by a strong-willed and far-sighted act. He, despite his father’s protests, quit school in boarding schools and zealously began self-education.
This period (from 16 to 19 years) is marked by the transformation of a young man into a person of humanitarian competence. Konstantin’s benefactor and beacon turned out to be his influential uncle Mikhail Nikitich Muravyov, senator and poet, trustee of Moscow University. It was he who managed to instill in his nephew respect for ancient poetry. Thanks to him, Batyushkov, having studied Latin, became an admirer of Horace and Tibullus, which became the basis for his further work. He began to achieve, through endless edits, the classical melodiousness of the Russian language.
Also, thanks to the patronage of his uncle, eighteen-year-old Konstantin began to serve as a clerk at the Ministry of Education. In 1805, his poem was published for the first time in the magazine “News of Russian Literature.” He meets St. Petersburg poets - Derzhavin, Kapnist, Lvov, Olenin.
First injury and recovery
In 1807, Constantine's benefactor and first adviser, his uncle, died. Perhaps, if he were alive, he alone would have persuaded his nephew not to expose his fragile nervous system to the hardships and hardships of military service. But in March 1807, Konstantin Batyushkov volunteered for the Prussian campaign. He is wounded in the bloody battle of Heilsberg. He is sent for treatment first to Riga, and then released to the family estate. While in Riga, young Batyushkov falls in love with the merchant's daughter Emilia. This passion inspired the poet to write the poems “Memories of 1807” and “Recovery.”
War with Sweden. Mental trauma
Having recovered, Konstantin Batyushkov in 1808 again went as part of the Jaeger Guards Regiment to the war with Sweden. He was a courageous officer. Death, blood, loss of friends - all this was hard for Konstantin Nikolaevich. His soul was not hardened by the war. After the war, the officer came to rest on the estate with his sisters Alexandra and Varvara. They noted with alarm that the war had left a heavy mark on their brother’s unstable psyche. He became overly impressionable. He periodically experienced hallucinations. In letters to Gnedich, his friend from his service in the ministry, the poet writes directly that he is afraid that in ten years he will completely go crazy.
However, friends tried to distract the poet from painful thoughts. And they partially succeed in this. In 1809, Konstantin Nikolaevich Batyushkov plunged into the St. Petersburg salon and literary life. A short biography will not describe all the events that happened in the poet’s life. This time is marked by personal acquaintances with Karamzin, Zhukovsky, Vyazemsky. Ekaterina Fedorovna Muravyova (the widow of a senator who once helped Batyushkov) brought her cousin to them.
In 1810, Batyushkov retired from military service. In 1812, with the help of friends Gnedich and Olenin, he got a job as an assistant curator of manuscripts at the St. Petersburg Public Library.
War with Napoleonic France
At the beginning of the Patriotic War with France, retired officer Konstantin Nikolaevich Batyushkov sought to join the active army. He performs a noble deed: the poet accompanies the widow of his benefactor E.F. Muravyova to Nizhny Novgorod. Only since March 29, 1813, he serves as an adjutant in the Rylsky infantry regiment. For courage in the battle of Leipzig, the officer is awarded 2nd degree. Impressed by this battle, Batyushkov writes the poem “Shadow of a Friend” in honor of his deceased comrade I. A. Petin.
His work reflects the evolution of the poet's personality, from romanticism to match the Age of Enlightenment to the greatness of the spirit of a Christian thinker. His poetry about the war (the poems “On the Ruins of a Castle in Sweden”, “Shadow of a Friend”, “Crossing the Rhine”) is close in spirit to a simple Russian soldier, it is realistic. Batyushkov writes sincerely, without embellishing reality. The biography and work of the poet described in the article are becoming more and more interesting. K. Batyushkov begins to write a lot.
Non-reciprocal love
In 1814, after a military campaign, Batyushkov returned to St. Petersburg. Here he will be disappointed: his feelings are not reciprocated by the beautiful Anna Furman, a pupil of the Olenins’ house. Or rather, she says “yes” only at the request of her guardians. But the scrupulous Konstantin Nikolaevich cannot accept such ersatz love and, offended, refuses such a marriage.
He is awaiting transfer to the Guard, but the bureaucratic delays are endless. Without waiting for an answer, in 1816 Batyushkov resigned. However, the years 1816-1817 turned out to be extremely fruitful for the poet in terms of creativity. He actively participates in the life of the Arzamas literary society.
The period of revelation in creativity
In 1817, his collected works “Experiments in Poetry and Prose” were published.
Batyushkov endlessly corrected his rhymes, achieving the precision of his words. The biography of this man’s work began with his professional study of ancient languages. And he managed to find echoes of rhymes in Latin and ancient Greek in Russian poetics!
Batyushkov became the inventor of that poetic Russian language that Alexander Sergeevich admired: “the syllable... trembles,” “the harmony is charming.” Batyushkov is a poet who found a treasure, but could not use it. At the age of thirty, his life was clearly divided into “before and after” by a black streak of paranoid schizophrenia, manifested in persecution mania. This disease was hereditary in his family on his mother’s side. The eldest of his four sisters, Alexandra, suffered from it.
Progressive paranoid schizophrenia
In 1817, Konstantin Batyushkov plunged into spiritual anguish. The biography says that there was a difficult relationship with his father (Nikolai Lvovich), which ended in complete discord. And in 1817 the parent dies. This was the impetus for the poet’s conversion to deep religiosity. Zhukovsky supported him morally during this period. Another friend, A.I. Turgenev, secured a diplomatic position for the poet in Italy, where Batyushkov stayed from 1819 to 1921.
The poet had a severe psychological breakdown in 1821. What caused him was a boorish attack (the libelous verses of “B..ov from Rome”) against him in the magazine “Son of the Fatherland.” It was after this that persistent signs of paranoid schizophrenia began to appear in his health.
Konstantin Nikolaevich Batyushkov spent the winter of 1821-1822 in Dresden, periodically falling into madness. The biography of his work will be interrupted here. Batyushkov’s swan song is the poem “Testament of Melchizedek.”
The meager life of a sick person
The poet's further life can be called the destruction of personality, progressive madness. At first, Muravyov’s widow tried to take care of him. However, this soon became impossible: the attacks of persecution mania were intensifying. The following year, Emperor Alexander I allocated for his treatment in a Saxon psychiatric institution. However, four years of treatment had no effect. Upon arrival in Moscow, Konstantin, whom we are considering, feels better. Once Alexander Pushkin visited him. Shocked by the pathetic appearance of Konstantin Nikolaevich, a follower of his melodic rhymes writes the poem “God forbid I go crazy.”
The last 22 years of a mentally ill person’s existence were spent at the home of his guardian, Grevens’ nephew G.A. Here Batyushkov died during a typhus epidemic. The poet was buried at the Vologda Spaso-Prilutsky Monastery.
Conclusion
The work of Batyushkov in Russian literature occupies a significant place between Zhukovsky and the era of Pushkin. Later, Alexander Sergeevich would call K. Batyushkov his teacher.
Batyushkov developed the genres of “light poetry”. In his opinion, its flexibility and smoothness can decorate Russian speech. Among the poet's best elegies one should name "My Genius" and "Tavrida".
By the way, Batyushkov also left behind several articles, the most famous being “Evening at Cantemir’s”, “Walk to the Academy of Arts”.
The main lesson from Konstantin Nikolayevich, which the author of “Eugene Onegin” adopted, was the creative need to first “experience in your soul” the plot of the future work before putting pen to paper.
Konstantin Nikolaevich Batyushkov lived such a life. A short biography, unfortunately, cannot cover all the details of his difficult fate.
This year, like the previous one, 2012, turned out to be very productive for members of the Cherepovets city public organization "Batyushkov Society", which over the past 10 years has been headed by Anatoly Nikolaevich Volkov, a member of the Public Council at the UDC of the City Hall of Cherepovets. Installation of the bust of K.N. Batyushkova on the street of the same name in Cherepovets in the year of the 200th anniversary of the Patriotic War of 1812, it seems, inspired a team of like-minded people to new achievements, and already in the spring of this year the society’s application for a grant from the Government of the Vologda Region was crowned with success - “Program of spiritual and patriotic education of student youth “No wonder they remember all Russia!" (using the example of the life and work of K.N. Batyushkov) As part of the program, the next literary and theatrical holiday “Fatherly Penates” was held, during which in the village of Myaksa a memorial sign was opened for the funds raised by the organization to the poet’s sister, Varvara Nikolaevna Sokolova (Batyushkova ), and currently, a creative competition for students of the city and the Cherepovets municipal district, dedicated to the 200th anniversary of the poet’s participation in the foreign liberation campaigns of the Russian army in Europe against Napoleon’s troops and the conquest of Paris, is nearing completion.
This was discussed today at an evening dedicated to the work of Konstantin Nikolaevich Batyushkov at the Inspiration club. Spectators admitted after the event that they had made a discovery for themselves. Anatoly Volkov read several of Batyushkov’s poems and seemed to highlight his work, which became very understandable, unlike what you read yourself. The audience listened with great interest. They had a desire to look into the book “Experiments in Poetry and Prose” by Konstantin Nikolaevich and find those works that had previously passed by unnoticed.
During the poetry evening, its participants shared their memories that every significant event associated with perpetuating the memory of our great poet is accompanied by some special natural phenomena. Either Batyushkov “tests” us for “resilience” by sending thunderstorms and sleet in the midst of celebrations, then, on the contrary, he illuminates the road to his former family estate in Khantanovo with a ray of sunshine, then he “draws” a quill feather and an Orthodox cross in the sky...
And again a sign: on this rainy November evening after the event, A. Volkov received the usual telephone call from Vologda, announcing that next year, the year of Culture, the “Batyushkov Society” was entrusted with organizing and holding the “Batyushkov Festival of the Vologda Region”! Here it is planned to combine his three small homelands in celebrating the birthday of the poet Batyushkov: Vologda, Danilovskoye in Ustyuzhna and Khantanovo. A truly significant event, summing up the unique result of the organization’s 14-year activities!
May 18 marks the 230th anniversary of the birth of the dreamer and epicurean, romantic, “passionate and temperamental lyricist of Russian poetry” Konstantin Nikolaevich Batyushkov.
Each of the city libraries of Vologda will mark this date with book exhibitions and literary conversations. We present an overview of several of them.
WRITER CENTER V.I. BELOVA / Shchetinina, 5 /
At the exhibition at the Writer’s Center V.I. Belov, you can familiarize yourself with rare editions of works by Konstantin Batyushkov of the late 19th - early 20th centuries. The biography and work of the poet are presented in the books by Vyacheslav Koshelev “Konstantin Batyushkov. Wanderings and Passions”, Leonid Maykov “Batyushkov, his life and works”, Victor Afanasyev “Achilles, or the Life of Batyushkov” and many other works. You can read these books, as well as collections of poetic and prose works by Konstantin Batyushkov at the Belov Center.
By the way, do you know why his friends jokingly called Batyushkov Achilles? If you don’t know, come to the Belov Center, and we will tell you these and other facts from the life of the great poet.
THE RARE BOOKS SECTOR OF THE BELOV CENTER cites an article about the poet in the old encyclopedia:
Batyushkov, Konstantin Nikolaevich, Russian poet, contemporary, and friend of Zhukovsky, predecessor of Pushkin, b. May 18, 1878 in Vologda, came from an old but impoverished noble family, received his education in the French boarding houses of Jaquino and Tripoli in St. Petersburg, participated twice in the war against Napoleon, in 1806 and 1813, served in the Imperial. Pub. Library, then in the diplomatic department, in 1818-1821 he was in Italy to improve his health, in 1824 he was placed in a hospital for mental illness. in Sonnenstein, died in 1855 in Vologda.
B. began his poetic career as a follower of Guys, singing love, wine, and fun. Under the influence of mental abnormality inherited from his mother, an unsuccessful novel (“Tavrida”, “Separation”, “Awakening”, “Memories”), the death of his best friend, Petin (“Shadow of a Friend”), and finally, the rapidly growing fame of Pushkin, which threatened to overshadow him name, - in poetry B. beginning. Notes of melancholy and melancholy prevail, and he seeks reassurance in religion (“Hope”). His best elegy, “The Dying Tass,” is the confession of B., who experienced poverty and persecution, was deceived in his hopes for love and glory, and turned his gaze to heaven. His last poem, “The Saying of Melchizedek,” was written down. Zhukovsky, sounded like a curse of life. B. also translated the Romans (Tibullus), the Greeks (excerpts from the Anthology), and imitated the Italians (Petrarch, Ariosto, the idea of translating Tasso’s “Jerusalem Liberated”).
The first edition of the poems (“Experiments in verse and prose”) appeared in 1817 (ed. Gnedich). About B. see L.N. Maikov: “K.N. Batyushkov, his life and works.”
Source: Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Russian Bibliographic Institute Granat / up to the 33rd volume, ed. Yu.S. Gambarova [and others]. - Moscow: Ed. and the expedition of the “Russian Bibliographic Institute Garnet”.
T. 5, column. 102-103, incl. with a portrait.
Portrait: K.N. Batyushkov (1787-1855). Written by I.E. Repin from a portrait drawn by Kiprensky in 1815 (Dashkovsky collection of the Rumyantsev Museum).
CITY LIBRARY No. 7 / Avksentievskogo, 30 /
Konstantin Nikolaevich Batyushkov was an eyewitness and participant in the greatest historical events of the early 19th century, participated in several military campaigns and the war with Napoleon. He is called the predecessor and literary teacher of Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin. Batyushkov was one of the most educated people of his time and made an invaluable contribution to the development of Russian literature.
Among the works of Konstantin Nikolaevich there are essays, translations, moral and philosophical articles, literary and theoretical discussions, studies on writers of the past, the first art history essay in Russian literature, but above all we know Batyushkov as the greatest poet.
We invite everyone to visit the exhibition “The Bright Lyre”, which opened on the subscription of our library.
CITY LIBRARY OF FAMILY READING No. 8 / Tractorists, 5 /
The book exhibition “Batyushkov’s Vologda Region” will tell you which corners of our native land are connected with the name of Konstantin Nikolaevich Batyushkov. In one of his poems, he describes the appearance of his Motherland as follows:
What are the joys in a foreign land?
They are in their native lands:
They bloom in my desert
And in the wilds and in the snow.
Give me my freedom!
Give up the land of your fathers,
Motherland blizzards, bad weather,
My home is my home,
Covered in bright snow in winter!
The better we know the poet’s homeland, the more understandable his poems, his thoughts, his feelings will become, and therefore the personality of Batyushkov himself will appear more clearly.
On the territory of the Vologda region there are several places of Batyushkov: memorial houses in Vologda, the Danilovskoye and Khantonovo estates, the Spaso-Prilutsky Monastery, a monument in Vologda, the unknown Avdotino. Certain stages of the poet’s life can be associated with Danilovsky, Khantonov and Vologda: Batyushkov spent his childhood in Danilovsky, the most fruitful period of his work is associated with Khantonovo, and in Vologda he was born and, as if completing the circle of his life, spent his last years here.
Vologda residents can honor the memory of the great poet at the Spaso-Prilutsky Monastery, where Batyushkov is buried, and at the monument to the poet in the city center on Cathedral Hill. Batyushkov spent his summers in Avdotyin in the last years of his life.
CITY LIBRARY No. 13 / Teplichny microdistrict, 4, building 2
The exhibition “He is our fellow countryman, he is our glory” presents the main publications of Konstantin Nikolaevich, literature about his life, and memoirs of his contemporaries.
The literary quiz “The Vologda resident with whom Pushkin studied” helps young readers learn more about the work of our outstanding fellow countryman, introduce them to the world of his poetry, and trace the main milestones of the poet’s life.
Alena Tavrina, Lyudmila Zhiltsova, Tatyana Sorokina
