Works of Balmont. "The first poets I read." "The Godfather" Vladimir Korolenko
B almont Konstantin Dmitrievich (1867, June 15, village of Gumnishchi, Vladimir province - 1942, December 23) - Russian poet, translator, essayist.
Born in the village of Gumnishchi, near the city of Vladimir. Father, Balmont Dmitry, was a judge. Mother - Lebedeva Vera, comes from a general’s family, where it was considered the main thing cultural development person. She had a strong influence on Constantine's passion for music and literature.
At the age of five he already knew how to read, which he taught himself. The first poets whose work I became acquainted with were: , . In 1876, the family moved to Shuya, where Balmont studied at the gymnasium. At the age of ten he began writing his own poetry. By that time he had read many books in German and French. In 1884 he was expelled due to his participation in a “revolutionary” circle.
That same year, Balmont moved to the city of Vladimir, where he continued his studies at the gymnasium for two years. In 1886 he entered Moscow University at the Faculty of Law. Konstantin had a rebellious character, and the free atmosphere at the university only strengthened it. He took part in a student revolt against innovations at the university and was soon expelled and spent several days in Butyrka prison. He soon returned to study, but never received a law degree due to loss of interest. He wrote that all the knowledge in the field of literature, history, philosophy, and philology that he received was acquired as a result of self-education. He followed the example of his older brother, who was very interested in philosophy.
1890 Balmont attempts suicide by jumping from a third-floor window. After this, he remained lame for the rest of his life. Apparently, Balmont had a genetic tendency to mental illness. This began to appear in early years the writer's life and had an influence throughout his life. Many historians and biographers believe that Balmont’s creative abilities were positively influenced by his mental disorders.
Balmont's debut as a poet was plagued by many failures. For several years, none of the newspapers agreed to publish his poems. In the end, he decided to do everything himself and published a book of poems in 1890. But the book was not a success; even friends and family did not approve of it. This reaction to his book hurt Konstantin so much that he burned all the copies.
Instead of writing poetry, Balmont focuses on translating the works of foreign poets and writers. He had amazing linguistic abilities, speaking more than ten languages. This gave him the opportunity to read European literature and translate it into Russian. He worked with English and Spanish poetry and translated the works of Calderon, Ibsen, Whitman, Allan Poe and many Armenian and Georgian poets. In 1893 he published translations of all of Percy Shelley's works in Russian. Balmont dealt with works in many other languages: Baltic and Slavic, Indian and Sanskrit.
Working as a translator brought much more fruit than writing poetry. Translations of Edgar Allan Poe's works were published in almost every magazine that was published at the time. This fact gave Balmont the courage to once again try his hand at being a poet. The collections “Under the Northern Sky” in 1894 and “Silence” in 1898 finally brought him the recognition and fame that he had been looking for for so long. In addition to the obvious content, Balmont's symbolist poetry carried a hidden message, expressed through veiled allusions and melodic rhythms of language.
At the beginning of the century, Balmont reached the pinnacle of poetic activity. The books “Let's Be Like the Sun” and “Only Love” are considered the best works of the author. He brought moral and almost physical liberation from the traditional gloomy and sad poetry that complained about life in Russia. His proud optimism and life-affirming enthusiasm encourage freedom from the restrictions that society imposes. Balmont's poetry became a new philosophy, marking the beginning of the Silver Age of Russian poetry.
In subsequent works, Balmont changed his writing style to a more aggressive one. Many of his contemporaries took this as a call for revolution. Balmont protested in his works mainly against injustice, but his lifelong rebellion ended with the writing of the controversial poem “The Little Sultan,” in which he criticized Nicholas II, thereby earning discontent with the authorities. Konstantin was expelled from St. Petersburg and received a ban on living in university cities in Russia.
Balmont left the country and became a political emigrant. He enjoyed traveling and used this time to curb his thirst for adventure. It seems that the world has not yet known a poet who spent a lot of time there on the deck of a ship or looking out of a train window. He traveled through Europe, Mexico, Egypt, Greece, South Africa, Australia, Oceania, New Zealand, Japan, India. His contemporaries said that he saw more countries than all other Russian writers combined.
In 1905, Balmont published another book of poems entitled “Liturgy of Beauty.” Critics noticed a deterioration in Balmont's poetic works - he began to repeat his old ideas, images and techniques. His praise of life was no longer perceived convincingly, as if it had been feigned and the author himself did not believe his words.
In 1913, in honor of the three hundredth anniversary of the House of Romanov, all political immigrants were awarded an amnesty and Balmont was able to come to Russia. He was a supporter of the February Revolution in 1917, but was soon horrified by the chaos and subsequent civil war. To a greater extent, he could not agree with the new policy aimed at suppressing the individual. He received a temporary visa and left Russia forever in 1920.
Balmont and his family settled in Paris. Here he wrote most of his works - about 50 books. Despite this, he best years, as a writer, are long gone, the poems indicated a weakening of creative forces. He did not maintain contact with the Russian emigrant society and lived in isolation from it. Despite this, he was very homesick and the only way to alleviate his suffering was poetry, which he dedicated to her.
After 1930, signs of mental instability began to become more pronounced and his condition began to deteriorate due to poverty, nostalgia and loss of poetry writing skills. Balmont, in fact, went crazy.
Balmont died in Nazi-occupied France at the age of 79 from pneumonia. He was buried in the city of Noisy-le-Grand.
Konstantin Balmont had a huge influence on Russian literature and poetry, freed it from old ideas and introduced new ways of expressing thoughts and ideas.
Konstantin Dmitrievich Balmont was born on June 3 (15), 1867 in the village of Gumnishchi, Shuisky district, Vladimir province. Father, Dmitry Konstantinovich, served in the Shuisky district court and zemstvo, rising from a minor employee with the rank of collegiate registrar to a justice of the peace, and then to the chairman of the district zemstvo council. Mother, Vera Nikolaevna, nee Lebedeva, was an educated woman, and greatly influenced the poet’s future worldview, introducing him to the world of music, literature, and history.
In 1876-1883, Balmont studied at the Shuya gymnasium, from where he was expelled for participating in an anti-government circle. He continued his education at the Vladimir gymnasium, then in Moscow at the university, and the Demidov Lyceum in Yaroslavl. In 1887 for participation in student unrest was expelled from Moscow University and exiled to Shuya. Higher education never received it, but thanks to his hard work and curiosity he became one of the most erudite and cultured people of his time. Balmont read a huge number of books every year, studied, according to various sources, from 14 to 16 languages, in addition to literature and art, he was interested in history, ethnography, and chemistry.
He began writing poetry in childhood. The first book of poems, “Collection of Poems,” was published in Yaroslavl at the expense of the author in 1890. After the book was published, the young poet burned almost the entire small edition.
The decisive time in the formation of Balmont's poetic worldview was the mid-1890s. Until now, his poems have not stood out as anything special among late populist poetry. Publication of the collections “Under the Northern Sky” (1894) and “In the Boundless” (1895), translation of two scientific works “History of Scandinavian Literature” by Horn-Schweitzer and “History of Italian Literature” by Gaspari, acquaintance with V. Bryusov and other representatives of the new direction in art, strengthened the poet’s faith in himself and his special purpose. In 1898, Balmont published the collection “Silence,” which finally marked the author’s place in modern literature.
Balmont was destined to become one of the founders of a new direction in literature - symbolism. However, among the “senior symbolists” (D. Merezhkovsky, Z. Gippius, F. Sologub, V. Bryusov) and among the “younger” (A. Blok, Andrei Bely, Vyach. Ivanov) he had his own position associated with a broader understanding symbolism as poetry, which, in addition to the specific meaning, has hidden content, expressed through hints, mood, musical sound. Of all the symbolists, Balmont most consistently developed the impressionistic branch. His poetic world is a world of the most subtle fleeting observations, fragile feelings.
Balmont's predecessors in poetry, in his opinion, were Zhukovsky, Lermontov, Fet, Shelley and E. Poe.
Balmont's wide popularity came quite late, and in the late 1890s he was rather known as a talented translator from Norwegian, Spanish, English and other languages.
In 1903, one of the poet’s best collections, “Let’s Be Like the Sun,” and the collection “Only Love” were published. And before that, for the anti-government poem “Little Sultan”, read at a literary evening in the city duma, the authorities expelled Balmont from St. Petersburg, banning him from living in other university cities. And in 1902, Balmont went abroad, finding himself a political emigrant.
In addition to almost all European countries, Balmont visited the United States of America and Mexico and in the summer of 1905 returned to Moscow, where his two collections “Liturgy of Beauty” and “Fairy Tales” were published.
Balmont responded to the events of the first Russian revolution with the collections “Poems” (1906) and “Songs of the Avenger” (1907). Fearing persecution, the poet again leaves Russia and goes to France, where he lives until 1913. From here he travels to Spain, Egypt, South America, Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Ceylon, India.
The book “Firebird” published in 1907. The Slav’s Pipe,” in which Balmont developed a national theme, did not bring him success and from that time on the gradual decline of the poet’s fame began. However, Balmont himself was not aware of his creative decline. He remains aloof from the fierce polemics between the symbolists, waged on the pages of “Libra” and “The Golden Fleece”, and disagrees with Bryusov in understanding the tasks facing contemporary art, still writes a lot, easily, selflessly. The collections “Birds in the Air” (1908), “Round Dance of the Times” (1908), and “Green Vertograd” (1909) were published one after another. A. Blok speaks about them with unusual harshness.
In May 1913, after an amnesty was declared in connection with the tercentenary of the Romanov dynasty, Balmont returned to Russia and for some time found himself in the center of attention of the literary community. By this time he is not only famous poet, but also the author of three books containing literary critical and aesthetic articles: “Mountain Peaks” (1904), “White Lightning” (1908), “Sea Glow” (1910).
Before the October Revolution, Balmont created two more truly interesting collections, “Ash” (1916) and “Sonnets of the Sun, Honey and Moon” (1917).
Balmont welcomed the overthrow of the autocracy, but the events that followed the revolution scared him away, and thanks to the support of A. Lunacharsky, Balmont received permission to temporarily travel abroad in June 1920. The temporary departure turned into long years of emigration for the poet.
In exile, Balmont published several collections of poetry: “Gift to the Earth” (1921), “Haze” (1922), “Mine to Her” (1923), “Spreading Distances” (1929), “Northern Lights” (1931), “Blue Horseshoe" (1935), "Light Service" (1936-1937).
He died on December 23, 1942 from pneumonia. He was buried in the town of Noisy-le-Grand near Paris, where he lived in recent years.
Composition
Konstantin Dmitrievich Balmont was born in 1867 in the Vladimir province, the village of Gumnishchi. His father was a landowner and chairman of the zemstvo government. Mother devoted a lot of time to disseminating cultural ideas in the provinces and organizing amateur performances.
Ancestors famous poet on the father's side they were Scottish sailors, since the surname Balmont is very common in Scotland. His grandfather was naval officer, participant in the Russian-Turkish War. The poet's ancestors on his mother's side were Tatars, from whom Balmont may have inherited the passion inherent in his nature. His arrival in literature was accompanied by a number of failures. For a long time, namely, for four to five years, not a single magazine agreed to publish his works. The first collection of poems was published in Yaroslavl, but was not successful, as it was very weak in content. At the same time, Balmont was engaged in translations. His first translated book was the book by G. Neirao Heinrich Ibsen, which could not be approved by the censorship of that time and was destroyed. The poet's benefits also did not contribute to his promotion into the literary environment. Later, translations of poems by Percy Bysshe Shelley and stories by Edgar Poe brought popularity to Ba/* montu.
Balmont's life was full of events and experiences. This is what he himself wrote about “It is therefore difficult for me to note as more “significant” any events from my personal life. However, I will try to list them. For the first time, the thought of the possibility and inevitability of universal happiness sparkled, to the point of mystical conviction (I was seventeen years old, when one day in Vladimir, on a bright winter day, from the mountain I saw in the distance a long black train of peasants). Reading “Crime and Punishment” (16 years old) and especially “The Brothers Karamazov” (17 years old). This last book gave mm more than any book in the world. First marriage (21 years old, divorced 5 years later). Second marriage (28 years old). The suicide of several of my friends during my youth. My attempt to kill Sev (22 years old) by throwing myself through a window onto stones from a height of the third floor (various fractures, years of lying in bed and then an unprecedented flowering of mental excitement and cheerfulness). Writing poetry (first at age 9, then 17.21). Numerous trips to Europe (England, Spain and Italy will be especially impressive).”
Having gained fame, Balmont became one of the most popular poets of his time and one of the most read. He gains a countless number of fans and admirers. The peak of popularity was in the 1890s. Balmont's talent is being revealed more and more widely, and he already occupies a prominent place among the so-called senior symbolists. He has collected the following collections: “Under the Northern Sky”, “In the Vast”, “Silence”. Critics began to note that the poet had opened up new possibilities for Russian verse. The work of Balmont the symbolist can be divided into two stages. The first stage of his work is full of “transcendental”, “otherworldly” motifs. There is a lot of the unreal and unearthly in his works.
When the moon sparkles in the darkness of the night with its sickle, brilliant and tender. My soul strives for another world, Captivated by everything distant, everything boundless.
To the forests, to the mountains, to the snow-white peaks I rush in my dreams; As if the spirit were sick, I am awake over the serene world, And I cry sweetly, and I breathe the moon.
I drink in this pale radiance, Like an elf, I swing in a grid of rays, I listen to how the silence speaks. The suffering of my dear people is far away, The whole earth with its struggle is alien to me, I am a cloud, I am the breath of the breeze. Later, in the collections “Let’s Be Like the Sun”, “So Much Love”, “Seven Flowers”, motifs of fire, light, and striving forward appear. -
I came into this world to see the Sun and the blue horizon.
I came to this world to see the Sun and the heights of the mountains.
By 1905, a turning point was planned in Balmont's work. The collections “Liturgy of Beauty: Elemental Hymns”, “Round Dance of the Times” are published. Omniglasnost”, etc. In addition, the poet publishes several theoretical works.
Balmont's poetry is unlike anything else. Valery Bryusov called it the poetry of “captured moments.” The moment, fleetingness determine the philosophical principle of Balmont’s poems. A moment is a symbol of eternity, that’s what the poet tells us. And he, having snatched this moment from eternity, forever captures it in words:
In my dreams I caught the passing shadows, The passing shadows of the extinct day. I climbed the tower, and the steps trembled, And the steps trembled under my feet. And the higher I walked, the clearer the outlines in the distance were drawn, and some sounds were heard in the distance, all around me were heard from Heaven and Earth.
And below me, night had already come, Night had already come for the sleeping Earth, But for me the light of day was shining, The light of fire was burning out in the distance...
The poem sounds the delight of the lyrical hero. The work is filled with symbolic images: dreams and shadows. But, perhaps, the main symbol in Balmont’s poetry is the image of the Sun. He glorifies him in his poems, writes hymns to him, offers a prayer: Giver of life, Light creator, Sun, I sing to you! Let me at least make my soul unhappy, but passionate, hot and powerful!
For the poet, the sun is a symbol of life, its source, its essence. The poet is powerless before the sun and admits it. He also admits that he is unable to convey all the beauty of the daylight. I sing your praises, oh bright, hot Sun, But even though I know that I sing beautifully and tenderly, And even though the poet’s strings are as ringing as a golden piece of gold, I am unable to exhaust all your power, all your charm.
Balmont's poems are distinguished by their melodiousness, slowness and musicality.
And the poet himself, according to V. Bryusov, “experiences life as... only poets can experience it, as it was given to them alone: finding in every minute the fullness of life. Therefore, it cannot be measured by a common yardstick.” The poet died in 1926, but his sun will always shine for us, because he came into this world “to see the Sun”:
I came into this world to see the Sun, And if the day goes out, I will sing... I will sing about the sun In the dying hour!
Born on June 15, 1867 in the village of Gumnishchi, Vladimir province, where he lived until he was 10 years old. Balmont's father worked as a judge, then as head of the zemstvo government. The love of literature and music was instilled in the future poet by his mother. The family moved to Shuya when the older children went to school. In 1876, Balmont studied at the Shuya gymnasium, but he soon got tired of studying, and he began to pay more and more attention to reading. After being expelled from the gymnasium for revolutionary sentiments, Balmont transferred to the city of Vladimir, where he studied until 1886. In the same year he entered the university in Moscow, the legal department. His studies there did not last long; a year later he was expelled for participating in student riots.
The beginning of a creative journey
The poet wrote his first poems as a ten-year-old boy, but his mother criticized his endeavors, and Balmont no longer attempted to write anything for the next six years.
The poet's poems were first published in 1885 in the magazine “Picturesque Review” in St. Petersburg.
In the late 1880s, Balmont was engaged in translation activities. In 1890, due to the disastrous financial situation and an unsuccessful first marriage, Balmont tried to commit suicide - he jumped out of the window, but remained alive. Having received serious injuries, he spent a year in bed. This year in Balmont’s biography can hardly be called successful, but it is worth noting that it turned out to be creatively productive.
The poet's debut collection of poems (1890) did not arouse public interest, and the poet destroyed the entire circulation.
Rise to Fame
The greatest flowering of Balmont's work occurred in the 1890s. He reads a lot, studies languages and travels.
Balmont is often engaged in translations; in 1894 he translated Horn’s “History of Scandinavian Literature”, and in 1895-1897 “The History of Italian Literature” by Gaspari.
Balmont published the collection “Under the Northern Sky” (1894), and began publishing his works in the Scorpio publishing house and the Libra magazine. Soon new books appeared - “In the Vast” (1895), “Silence” (1898).
Having married for the second time in 1896, Balmont left for Europe. He has been traveling for several years. In 1897, in England, he gave lectures on Russian poetry.
Balmont’s fourth collection of poetry, “Let’s Be Like the Sun,” was published in 1903. The collection became especially popular and brought great success to the author. At the beginning of 1905, Konstantin Dmitrievich left Russia again, he traveled around Mexico, then went to California.
Balmont took an active part in the revolution of 1905-1907, mainly making speeches to students and building barricades. Fearing being arrested, the poet left for Paris in 1906.
Having visited Georgia in 1914, he translated into Russian the poem “The Knight in the Skin of a Tiger” by Sh. Rustaveli, as well as many others. In 1915, having returned to Moscow, Balmont traveled around the country giving lectures.
Last emigration
In 1920, due to the poor health of his third wife and daughter, he left with them for France. He never returned to Russia. In Paris, Balmont published 6 more collections of his poems, and in 1923 - autobiographical books: “Under the New Sickle”, “Air Route”.
The poet missed Russia and more than once regretted leaving. These feelings were reflected in his poetry of that time. Life in a foreign land became more and more difficult, the poet’s health deteriorated, and there were problems with money. Balmont was diagnosed with a serious mental illness. Living in poverty on the outskirts of Paris, he no longer wrote, but only occasionally read old books.
On December 23, 1942, in Noisy-le-Grand, near Paris, in the Russian House shelter, Balmont died of pneumonia.
August (“How clear is August, gentle and calm...”) SonnetWithout a smile, without words (“On the diamond cover of snow...”)Swamp (“Oh, a miserable life, without storms, without sensations...”)“The first sparks of dawn scattered...” (Dawn)“In the dead of night, by an obscure crowd...” (Picture) Sonnet“In a sad moment, in a sad hour of the night...” (Nightmare) Sonnet“The dew sparkled in the field...” In the capital (“The fresh smell of fragrant hay reminded me of distant days...”)“Inhaling the refreshing sea air...” (Separation)"Evening. Seaside. Sighs of the wind..." (The boat of languor)“Hearing the wind, the poplar bends...” (Sadness)“Wherever I am, everywhere, like a shadow, is with me...” (Ghost)Mountain King ("Mountain King on a long journey...") Scandinavian song“Lord God, bow your eyes...” (Prayer)“Lord, Lord, listen, I’m crying, I’m sad...” (Why?)Sadness (“Hearing the wind, the poplar bends...”)Two voices (“Swifts glide in the clear azure of the sky...”)“The granite rocks are dormant, the Viking shelter is empty...” (Near the Scandinavian rocks)Spirits of the Plague ("We hasten, we sail...")“Your fragrant shoulders breathed...” “There is beauty in the constancy of suffering...” “The last snow in the misty valley...” (Emerging life) Sonnet“Life has tired me...” (Death, lull me to sleep)Zarnitsa (“Like in the skies, enveloped in a heavy sleep...”)Nascent life (“The last snow in the misty valley...”) SonnetZarya (“The first sparks of dawn splashed...")For what? (“Lord, Lord, listen, I’m crying, I’m sad...”)“The earth is covered in darkness. The day of worries is over...” (Swallows) Sonnet“Like in heaven, enveloped in a heavy sleep...” (Zarnitsa)“Like living statues, in the sparkles of the moonlight...” (Fantasy)“How clear is August, gentle and calm...” (August) SonnetPicture (“In the dead of night, by an obscure crowd...”) Sonnet“When the Moon sparkles in the darkness of the night...” (Moonlight) Sonnet“When between the foggy clouds...” Lullaby (“Scented linden flowers are blooming...”)Nightmare (“In a sad moment, in a sad hour of the night...”) Sonnet“Lilies of the valley, buttercups. Love caresses..." (Song without words)Swallows (“The earth is covered in darkness. The day of worries is over...”) Sonnet“The fragrant linden flowers are blooming...” (Lullaby)Moonlight (“When the Moon sparkles in the darkness of the night...”) SonnetM*** (“You are the rustle of a tender leaf...”)“There is a thread between the past and the future...” (Ariadne’s thread)Dream (“The glass of the Baltic waters shook slightly in the wind...”)“I hate the roar of giant cities...” Prayer (“Lord God, bow your eyes...”)“We are in a hurry, we are sailing...” (Plague Spirits)“On the diamond cover of snow...” (Without a smile, without words)“Don’t believe anyone who tells you...” (Death)“No, no one did so much harm to me...” Ariadne's thread ("Between the past and the future, a thread...")Norwegian girl (“Your eyes, blue and pure...”)“Oh, if only I had a cold heart...” “Oh, woman, child, accustomed to play...” “Oh, a miserable life, without storms, without sensations...” (Swamp)“Oh, gentle bird, you won’t understand me...” “There is only one beauty in the world...” “Your eyes, blue and pure...” (Norwegian girl)In memory of I. S. Turgenev (“The days are passing. And now ten years ...”)Song of Judith (“Let the cymbals sing...”) From the BibleSong without words (“Lilies of the valley, buttercups. Love caresses...”)Under the northern sky Elegies, stanzas, sonnetsGhost (“Wherever I am, everywhere, like a shadow, with me...”)“Let the cymbals sing...” (Song of Judith) From the BibleSlavery (“You cling to me like a flexible vine...") SonnetSeparation (“Inhaling the refreshing sea air...”)Native painting (“Flocks of birds. Ribbon roads...”)“The fresh smell of fragrant hay reminded me of distant days...” (In the capital)“Swifts glide in the clear azure of the sky...” (Two voices)Death (“Don’t believe anyone who tells you...”)Death (“Severe ghost, demon, omnipotent spirit...”) SonnetDeath, lull me to sleep ("Life has tired me...")“Flocks of birds. Roads ribbon..." (Native painting)“The glass of the Baltic waters trembled slightly in the wind...” (Dream)“A stern ghost, a demon, an omnipotent spirit...” (Death) Sonnet“You are the rustle of a tender leaf...” (M***)“You cling to me like a flexible vine...” (Slavery) SonnetNear the Scandinavian rocks (“Granite rocks are slumbering, the Viking shelter is empty...”)By the fjord (“Gloomy northern sky...”)“The poor flower on your chest has died...” (Flower)“Bright May is leaving. My sky is darkening..." “The days are passing. And now ten years..." (In memory of I. S. Turgenev)Fantasy (“Like living statues, in the sparkles of the moonlight...”)“The northern sky is gloomy...” (Near the fjord)Flower (“The poor flower on your chest has died...”)Seagull (“Seagull, a gray seagull rushes with sad cries...”)The boat of languor (“Evening. Seaside. Sighs of the wind...”)“I know what it means to cry madly...” “I parted with the sad Moon...”
