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Konstantin Batyushkov: biography, creativity and interesting facts. Russian poet Batyushkov Konstantin Nikolaevich: a brief biography

Batyushkov Konstantin Nikolaevich (1787 - 1855), poet.

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 relative M. Muravyov, a writer and educator, who played a decisive role in shaping the personality and talent of the poet. He studies 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 writes poems of a predominantly satirical genre ("Message to Chloe", "To Filisa", epigrams).

In 1807 is recorded in civil uprising and as a hundredth head of a militia battalion, he goes on a Prussian campaign. In the battle of Heilsberg he was seriously wounded, but remained in the army and in 1808-09 participated in the war with Sweden. After retiring, he devotes himself entirely to literary creativity.

The satire "Vision on the Banks of Leta", 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 - 12 actively collaborated in the journal "Bulletin of Europe", moving closer to Karamzin, Zhukovsky, Vyazemsky and other writers. His poems "Merry Hour", "Lucky Man", "Source", "My Penates" and others appear.

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 1814-17 Batyushkov traveled a lot, rarely staying in one place for more than six months. Experiencing a severe spiritual crisis: disappointment in the ideas of enlightenment philosophy. Religious sentiments are on the rise. His poetry is painted in sad and tragic tones: the elegy "Separation", "The Shadow of 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.

Konstantin Batyushkov is an outstanding Russian poet who gave the poetic language a special harmony and flexibility.

Batyushkov is one of the first who introduced into Russian poetry many developments that were recognized as classic during his lifetime.

During this period of biography, Batyushkov was especially interested in French and Russian. At the same time, he studied Latin, and was also fond of the ancient Roman classics.

While in St. Petersburg, Batyushkov met an outstanding Russian poet.

An interesting fact is that Konstantin Batyushkov was a relative of the senator and public figure Mikhail Muravyov, who helped him get a job at the Ministry of Public Education.

After serving there for about 3 years, the 18-year-old Batyushkov began working as a clerk at the Ministry of Education.

In 1807, Konstantin Batyushkov signed up for the people's militia, after which he went on the Prussian campaign.

In one of the battles he was wounded and sent to Riga for treatment. After 2 months he was allowed to go home.

While in Riga, Konstantin met a girl, Emilia, whom he immediately fell in love with.

And although their relationship did not continue, the feelings that flared up allowed Batyushkov to compose the first poems in his biography - “Memoirs of 1807” and “Recovery”.

War and mental trauma

In 1808 Batyushkov decides to go to war with Sweden as a volunteer. This patriotic impulse will greatly influence the subsequent fate of the poet.

Having lost many comrades-in-arms on the battlefield and seeing what the true face of death is, he took a vacation and went to visit his sisters in the village of Khantanovo.

During this period of his biography, Batyushkov became a completely different person. He was extremely emotional and impressionable. Sometimes he had hallucinations.

An interesting fact is that during a correspondence with Gnedich, Batyushkov once admitted that if he lived another 10 years, he would probably go crazy.

However, to help the young man who received psychological trauma on the battlefields, friends and relatives always came, doing everything possible to somehow calm and encourage him.

In 1809, Konstantin Nikolayevich managed to get acquainted with and, who made a tremendous impression on him.

Soon he was helped to get a job in the Public Library as an assistant curator of manuscripts. An interesting fact is that one of his colleagues was famous.

War with Napoleon

The significance of Batyushkov in the history of Russian literature and his main merit lies in the fact that he worked hard on processing his native poetic speech and gave the Russian poetic language such flexibility, elasticity and harmony that Russian poetry had not yet known.

According to Belinsky, the perfection of Pushkin's verse and the richness of poetic expressions and turns were largely prepared by the works of Zhukovsky and Batyushkov.

Batyushkov's works

Batyushkov constantly improved his style. Over each word he worked long, hard and painfully. Once he wrote: “I ship too much. Is this my vice or virtue?.

Here is a short list of the most famous works of Konstantin Batyushkov.

1. Elegies

"Ghost. From the Guys”, “Hope”, “My Genius”, “Tavrida”, “To a Friend”, “Elegy”, “Arbor of the Muses”, “There is pleasure even in the wildness of the forests”,

2. Messages

"My Penates" and "To Dashkov".

3. Cycles of anthological poems

"From the Greek Anthology", "Imitations of the Ancients".

4. Essays and articles

“Walk in Moscow”, “Walk in the Academy of Arts”, “Something about a Poet and Poetry”, “Ariost and Tass”, “Petrarch”, “On best properties hearts”, “Something about morality based on philosophy and religion”, “Speech about the influence of light poetry on the language”.

Batyushkov's disease

Soon in the biography of Batyushkov began hard days. He developed a persecution mania. It seemed to the poet that he was pursued everywhere by secret enemies.

An interesting fact is that one of his sisters, Alexandra, had a similar disease.

When Batyushkov was 30 years old, his father passed away. This led to the fact that he began to think for a long time about the meaning of life and reflect on religious issues.

During the biography of 1819-1821. Batyushkov was a member of the diplomatic mission in Naples. Italy made an indelible impression on him, but he constantly yearned for.

At this time it happens to him nervous breakdown, after which the poet begins to appear brightly pronounced signs schizophrenia. At this time, he wrote the poem "The Testament of Melchizedek."

Every month Konstantin Batyushkov was getting worse. Imaginary persecution made the life of the writer and the people around him unbearable. As a result, he was admitted to a psychiatric hospital.

After 4 years of treatment, he was sent to.

Once Alexander Pushkin came to visit Batyushkov, who was shocked by the terrible appearance of the poet. Some time later, Pushkin wrote the famous poem "God forbid I go crazy."

Death

The patient spent the last 22 years of his life in the house of his nephew. Konstantin Nikolayevich Batyushkov died of typhus on July 7, 1855 at the age of 68. He was buried in the Spaso-Prilutsky Monastery.

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Konstantin Nikolaevich Batyushkov was born on May 18, 1787 in Vologda. At the age of seven he lost his mother. A ten-year-old boy is sent to St. Petersburg, where he studies in the boarding houses of the French Jacquinot and the Italian Tripoli. foreign languages, as well as history and statistics. At the age of 16, leaving the boarding school, Batyushkov, under the influence of ancient literature, became an ardent admirer of Tibull and Horace. Having entered the department of the Ministry of Public Education, Batyushkov became close to some of his colleagues, members of the Free Society of Lovers of Literature, Sciences and Arts; friendship with N.I Gnedich, a poet and translator, lasted for many years. From 1807 to 1816 (albeit with significant interruptions) Batyushkov in military service - participates in the war with Sweden and the Napoleonic wars, becomes a witness to the surrender of Paris. Returning to Russia, he joins the Arzamas literary society under the proud name of Achilles. Batyushkov himself, with bitter irony (but not greatly exaggerating), says this about himself: “Ah! Hill!

In 1816-1817. the poet is experiencing a great creative upsurge: in a year he writes 12 poetic and 8 prose works, prepares his works in verse and prose for publication.

In 1818, Batyushkov was appointed to serve in the Neapolitan Russian Mission. A trip to Italy has always been Batyushkov's favorite dream, but, having gone there, he almost immediately felt unbearable boredom, melancholy, melancholy. After 3 years, he was forced to leave the service and Italy - a mental illness from which his mother died and his older sister suffered, defeated the poet himself. Batyushkov received an indefinite leave and returned to Russia terminally ill. He burns his books and manuscripts. All attempts to cure the poet were unsuccessful. In 1833 he was granted a life pension and taken to his homeland - to Vologda, where on July 7, 1855 he died.

Batyushkov's first poem in print: "Message to My Poems" (1805, "News of Russian Literature"). In subsequent years, Batyushkov's poems appear in various literary magazines: Severny Vestnik, Lyceum, Flower Garden, and many others. etc. In 1817 he publishes his "Experiments in verse and prose" (I ed.). II and III editions were undertaken in 1834 and the 1850s. the poet's relatives.

Usually Batyushkov's poetry is usually divided into two periods: 1804-1812. (poems imbued with epicureanism) and 1812-1821. (turn towards elegiac lyrics).

Read also other articles about the life and work of K.N. Batyushkov.

Citizenship:

Russian empire

Occupation: Works on the site Lib.ru in Wikisource.

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 subject of one of his most famous poems, "Dying Tass" (), is tragic fate 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 life.
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
    • K. N. Batiushkov. Batyushkov: Eternal Dreams Collected Works, general work, 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

Categories:

  • Personalities in alphabetical order
  • Writers alphabetically
  • May 29
  • Born in 1787
  • Born in Vologda
  • Deceased June 19
  • Deceased in 1855
  • The dead in Vologda
  • Poets of Russia
  • Russian poets
  • RNB employees
  • Writers of Vologda
  • Free Society of Lovers of Literature, Sciences and Arts
  • Members of the Napoleonic and Revolutionary Wars
  • Buried in the Vologda region

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Konstantin Nikolaevich Batyushkov descended from the old noble family of Batyushkovs. He was the fifth child and the first son. His father, Nikolai Lvovich Batyushkov, is an enlightened, but unbalanced man, from his youth stung by the undeserved disgrace that befell him in connection with the case of his uncle, Ilya Andreevich, who was convicted of conspiring against Catherine II. Mother, Alexandra Grigorievna (nee Berdyaeva), fell ill when her son was 6 years old; soon, in 1795, she died and was buried at the Lazarevsky cemetery of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra. Her mental illness was inherited by Batyushkov and his older sister Alexandra.

He spent the years of his childhood in the family estate - the village of Danilovskoye. His education, after the death of his mother, took place in the St. Petersburg pensions of O. P. Zhakino (since 1797) and I. A. Tripoli (since 1801). In the sixteenth year of his life (1802), Batyushkov left the boarding school and began reading Russian and French literature. At this time, under the influence of his cousin uncle, Mikhail Nikitich Muravyov, he perfectly studied Latin language and took up the study of the literature of the ancient classical world; became an admirer of Tibullus and Horace, whom he imitated in his first works. In Petersburg, Batyushkov met representatives of the then literary world: G. R. Derzhavin, N. A. Lvov, V. V. Kapnist, A. N. Olenin.

M. N. Muravyov helped his nephew at the beginning of his independent life: in 1802 Batyushkov was assigned to serve in the Ministry of Public Education, in late 1804 - early 1805 he served as a clerk in Muravyov's office at Moscow University. At this time, Batyushkov became close to some of his colleagues, who adjoined the Karamzin direction and founded the "Free Society of Lovers of Literature, Sciences and Arts." He became especially close friends with I.P. Pnin and N.I. Gnedich. Rotating in their circle, Batyushkov himself began to try his hand at literature and write poetry. In 1805, the poem “Message to My Poems” appeared in the journal “News of Russian Literature” - the first appearance of K. N. Batyushkov in print.

In 1807, Batyushkov, despite his father's ban, enlisted in the people's militia, was appointed, on February 22, the head of the hundreds of officers in the St. Petersburg police battalion, and in early March went to Prussia. From May, he participated in hostilities; On May 29, he was wounded in the battle of Heilsberg (for which he was awarded the Order of St. Anna, 3rd degree) and sent for treatment to Riga, and then to his native village of Danilovskoye. During the campaign, he wrote several poems and began translating Tassa's poem "Jerusalem Liberated". During a two-month treatment in Riga, he fell in love with the daughter of a local merchant Mugel, Emilia; The novel had no continuation, only two poems by Batyushkov remained - “Recovery” and “Memories of 1807”.

In 1808, Batyushkov returned to active service and, as part of the Guards Jaeger Regiment, took part in the war with Sweden, after which he took a long vacation and went to his unmarried sisters, Varvara and Alexandra, in the village of Khantanovo, Novgorod province. At this time, the maternal inheritance was already beginning to appear: his impressionability began to reach hallucinations of extraordinary brightness, in one of his letters to Gnedich he wrote: "If I live another ten years, I will probably go crazy."

At the end of 1809, on December 25, Batyushkov, at the invitation of E. F. Muravyova, arrived in Moscow. Batyushkov met here with A.F. Voeikov, V.L. Pushkin, P.A. Vyazemsky - he became closest to the last two. Then he met V. A. Zhukovsky. At the same time, Batyushkov met N. M. Karamzin, who often visited the family of E. F. Muravyova. Karamzin quickly appreciated the merits of K. N. Batyushkov, who soon became a regular visitor to his house. In the summer of 1810, at the invitation of the Karamzins, Batyushkov spent three weeks at Ostafyevo, the Vyazemsky estate near Moscow.

In May 1810, Batyushkov received his resignation from the regiment. In 1810-1811, the years passed for him partly in Moscow, where he had a pleasant time, partly in Khantanov. In the countryside, he was bored and rushed to the city: his susceptibility became almost painful, more and more he was possessed by melancholy and a premonition of future madness.

At the beginning of 1812, Batyushkov, heeding Gnedich's exhortations, went to St. Petersburg and, with the help of A. N. Olenin, entered the service of the Public Library as an assistant curator of manuscripts. Batyushkov's colleagues in the Public Library were N. I. Gnedich and I. A. Krylov, S. S. Uvarov, A. I. Ermolaev. At this time, he met M. V. Milonov, P. A. Nikolsky, M. E. Lobanov, P. S. Yakovlev and N. I. Grech; became close friends with I. I. Dmitriev, A. I. Turgenev, D. N. Bludov and D. V. Dashkov.

Started Patriotic War 1812 strengthened the patriotic feeling in the soul of the poet. He wants to go to war, but illness and the need to accompany E. F. Muravyova with her children to Nizhny Novgorod delayed the implementation of this intention. From Nizhny Novgorod Batyushkov returned to Moscow after the French left it. During his arrival in St. Petersburg at the end of 1812, his heart was touched for the second time by love. He fell in love with a young girl, Anna Fyodorovna Furman (1791-1850), who was brought up in the Olenin family.

On March 29, 1813, Batyushkov was enrolled in the rank of staff captain in the Rylsk Infantry Regiment as an adjutant under General A.N. Bakhmetev; but because of the injury, Bakhmetev was not allowed to return to the active army, and Batyushkov only left for Dresden at the end of July, to the main apartment of the active army. As an adjutant to General Raevsky, he went all the way to Paris. In the battle of Leipzig, Batyushkov's friend I. A. Petin was killed, to whom he dedicated several poems, of which "The Shadow of a Friend" is considered perhaps the most the best work poet. For participation in this battle, Batyushkov received the Order of St. Anna, 2nd degree. At the end of the campaign, K. N. Batyushkov, as a reward for his service, was transferred to the staff captain in the Izmailovsky regiment, but left in his former rank of adjutant Bakhmetev. In 1814, through England, Sweden and Finland, he returned to St. Petersburg.

Having not met a full and ardent response to his love, Batyushkov fell ill, at the beginning of 1815, with a severe nervous breakdown lasting several months. A year later, he explained to E. F. Muravyova the reason for his refusal to marry: “Not to have disgust and love is a big difference. Whoever loves is proud, ”and A.F. Furman was ready to marry not by mutual feeling, but by the will of her guardians.

The failed attempt to marry was joined by a protracted transfer to the guard, which he had been waiting for some time in Kamenets-Podolsky, at the headquarters of A. N. Bakhmetev. In 1817, the breakdown of personal relations with his father was supplemented by the death of the latter. Now a religious mood began to gradually awaken in Batyushkovo; only in religion did he see help in the fight against the ardent passion that had taken possession of his whole being; he began to say that "man is a wanderer on earth", that "the tomb is his dwelling for a century", that "one holy faith" can remind a person of his high appointment. In difficult moments of doubt, Batyushkov turned to Zhukovsky, seeking his advice on how to fill his spiritual emptiness and how to benefit society. And Zhukovsky constantly encouraged him in his letters, persuaded and persistently urged him to work, spoke to him about the moral significance of poetic creativity, raising the fallen spirit of his friend. At the end of 1815, he already notified Zhukovsky about his new works, saying that only in creativity did he find some solace from spiritual anguish; he was inexpressibly attracted to friends and, having resigned before the new year 1816, which he received in April, Batyushkov went to Moscow. At this time, he wrote relatively much: in a year he wrote twelve works of poetry and eight works of prose, and even began to prepare an edition of his collected works, published in October 1817 under the title "Experiments in Verse and Prose."

Back in 1815, Batyushkov was elected in absentia a member of the literary society "Arzamas" and received the name "Achilles", but only on August 27, 1817, he first came to its meeting.

In the spring of 1818 Batyushkov went south to Odessa to improve his health. In Odessa, Batyushkov settled with Count K. F. Saint-Prix, the governor of Kherson, whom he knew. Here he was overtaken by a letter from A. I. Turgenev, who secured a place for Batyushkov at the diplomatic mission in Naples. However, now that the cherished dream of visiting Italy was being fulfilled, Batyushkov reacted coldly to Turgenev's notice; a feeling of disappointment with life woke up in his soul again: “I know Italy without having been to it ... I won’t find happiness there: it’s nowhere to be found; I am even sure that I will be sad about the snows of my homeland and about precious people to me.

At the end of November 1818 he left St. Petersburg and at the beginning of 1819 was already in Venice. Italy made a strong impression on Batyushkov. Important for him was a meeting with Russian artists, among whom were Sylvester Shchedrin and Orest Kiprensky, who lived at that time in Rome. However, longing for Russia soon came, the depressed mood of the spirit returned; This was joined by more service troubles. Having received leave for treatment in the spring of 1821, Batyushkov went to the waters in Germany. In 1821, his mental illness, which had a hereditary character, did not yet manifest itself sharply, but was already affecting the behavior of the poet. The tactless publication in the journal Son of the Fatherland by P. A. Pletnev of the anonymous poem “B ... ov from Rome” contributed to the deterioration of his mental state - Batyushkov had suspicions that he was being pursued by some secret enemies. He spent the winter of 1821-1822 in Dresden; here was written the last, considered by the researchers of his work one of the best poems - "The Testament of Melchizedek." In 1822, the disease worsened; in the spring, Batyushkov appeared for a short time in St. Petersburg, then left for the Caucasus and the Crimea, where his madness manifested itself in the most tragic forms: in Simferopol, he repeatedly attempted suicide. In 1823, Batyushkov was brought to St. Petersburg, where E. F. Muravyova took him into her care, and in the next 1824, with funds granted by Emperor Alexander I, he was taken to the Sonnenstein private psychiatric institution in Saxony. There he spent four years, however, without any benefit to himself; and it was decided to return him to Russia. In Moscow, the acute attacks almost stopped, and his madness took a quiet, calm course. Back in 1815, Batyushkov wrote the following words about himself to Zhukovsky: “From birth, I had in my soul black spot, which grew with the years and almost blackened the whole soul. God and reason saved. For how long, I don't know!

He spent five years in Moscow. In 1830 he was visited by A. S. Pushkin, whose poem "God forbid I go crazy", presumably inspired by the impression of this visit. In 1833, Batyushkov was dismissed and placed in Vologda in the house of his nephew G. A. Grevens, where he existed until his death for another 22 years, dying of typhus on July 7, 1855. He was buried in the Spaso-Prilutsky Monastery, five versts from Vologda.

A monument was erected in Vologda (architect V. Snegirev, sculptor V. Klykov).

Creation

The significance of Batyushkov in the history of Russian literature and his main merit lies in the fact that he worked hard on processing his native poetic speech and gave the Russian poetic language such flexibility, elasticity and harmony that Russian poetry had not yet known. According to Belinsky, the perfection of Pushkin's verse and the richness of poetic expressions and turns were largely prepared by the works of Zhukovsky and Batyushkov. In the hands of Batyushkov, the Russian language is indeed an obedient tool, and the art of mastering it was not available to any of his contemporaries, except for Krylov, to the same extent as him. The beauty and perfection of form, the correctness and purity of language, the artistry of style are the main merit of Batyushkov's poems. The impeccability of finishing each poem was Batyushkov's constant concern; he worked hard and painfully on every word: “I ship too much. Is this my vice or virtue?

Batiushkov, above all, tried to be sincere and to avoid everything strained, far-fetched, artificial. He understood that the more sincere his work is, the more surely the high, ennobling meaning of poetry will be achieved - "live as you write, and write as you live." In a letter to Zhukovsky, Batyushkov wrote: “I agree with you in everything about poetry. We're looking at it from a proper vantage point that the crowd has no idea about. Most people mistake rhymes, not feelings, words, not images, for poetry. G. A. Gukovsky noted that Batyushkov’s word works not with its direct dictionary meanings, but with semantic associations.

About the poem "My Penates", which summed up the first, pre-war stage of Batyushkov's work, Pushkin wrote: "... breathes with some kind of intoxication of luxury, youth and pleasure - the syllable trembles and flows, the harmony is charming", but pointed to " a clear mixture of ancient mythological customs with the customs of a village near Moscow. The poems of the first period of Batyushkov's work were imbued with epicureanism. In general, arrangements by Greek authors occupied a significant place in all of Batyushkov's work; this work attracted him with the opportunity to enter into a competition in the beauty of the syllable with the original author of the plot. But the cheerful, artistic epicureanism of classical antiquity was incomprehensible to the Russian soul.

Batyushkov pointed out that “the Russian language, loud, strong and expressive, still retained some severity and stubbornness,” however, after reading his lines “The temper of a quiet angel, the gift of words, delicate taste / Love and eyes and cheeks”, Pushkin admires: “Italian sounds ! What a wonderworker this Batyushkov is.” But by this time Batyushkov was already almost finishing his literary activity. Too serious things happened before his eyes in 1812-1814, which became the years of a turning point in Batyushkov's spiritual mood. In the destructiveness of the Napoleonic invasion, he saw the fruits of the French Enlightenment, and in the trials and triumph of Russia - its providential mission. Carefree Epicureanism changed to a diametrically opposite state - this turn is sometimes referred to as the path from the humanist-skeptic M. Montaigne to the Christian thinker B. Pascal. “Crossing the Rhine”, “Shadow of a Friend”, “At the ruins of a castle in Sweden” no longer had anything in common with the cheerful tunes of previous years. Contemporaries were amazed at the accuracy of his depiction of the war, the ability to reveal its national character, the spirit of the era, the attitude of the Russian soldier; "Crossing the Rhine" Pushkin called "the best poem of the poet - the strongest, and most thoughtful." The elegy "Memories" gives an idea of ​​the picture of sad sensations, until recently, an infinitely cheerful poet.

In addition to poetry, Batyushkov's creative legacy is made up of prose articles. His prose occupies in Russian literature just as high place like the poems. The main advantage of Batyushkov's prose is a bright, pure, euphonious and figurative language. “Something about morality based on philosophy and religion” (where it was argued that not philosophy is “earthly wisdom”, but “faith alone creates unshakable morality”) shows deep piety and truly Christian feelings in it. “On the best properties of the heart”, “On the character of Lomonosov”, “On the works of Muravyov” and “Evening at Kantemir”, testify to the kindness of the heart and the solidity of the mind of the author, and “Speech about the influence of light poetry on the language” and “Something about the poet and poetry" prove the elegance of his taste.

The same virtues that make up distinctive features Batyushkov's prose, that is, the purity, brilliance and imagery of the language, are also observed in Batyushkov's letters to his friends, and some of these letters are completely finished literary works.

V. G. Belinsky, speaking about the importance of Batyushkov in the development of Russian lyrics, pointed out: “Batyushkov contributed much and much to the fact that Pushkin was what he really was.”

Addresses

Addresses in St. Petersburg

  • Summer of 1812 - Balabin's tenement house (Bolshaya Sadovaya st., 18);
  • spring 1813 - Batashov's house (Vladimirskaya st., 4);
  • May - July 1813 - the house of Sievers (Pochtamtskaya st., 10);
  • the end of 1814 - February 1815 - the house of E. F. Muravyova (emb. River Fontanka, 25);
  • 1818 - the house of E. F. Muravyova (25 Fontanka River Embankment);
  • spring 1822 - the Demut Hotel (40 Moika River Embankment);
  • May - June 1823 - the house of E. F. Muravyova (25 Fontanka River Embankment);
  • November 1823 - May 1824 - Imzen apartment building (Ekaterininsky Canal Embankment, 15).

Addresses in Vologda

  • 1833-1844 - Sovetsky pr., 20 - Sokovikov House;
  • st. Batyushkova, 2 - House (built in 1810) G. A. Grevens, nephew and guardian of K. N. Batyushkov. Here Batyushkov lived in a corner room on the top (second) floor for the last 22 years of his life.
  • Manor Batyushkovs

Bibliography

  • 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.