Who became the first connoisseur of feta's literary experiments. When was Fet born and died? Afanasy Afanasyevich Fet: short biography. Military career and writing

Afanasy Afanasyevich Fet is a recognized genius of literature, whose work is cited both in Russia and in foreign countries. His poems, such as “I won’t tell you anything”, “Whisper, timid breathing”, “Evening”, “This morning, this joy”, “Don’t wake her up at dawn”, “I came”, “The Nightingale and the Rose” "and others are now mandatory for study in schools and higher educational institutions.

The biography of Afanasy Fet contains many mysteries and secrets that still excite the minds of scientists and historians. For example, the circumstances of the birth of a great genius who glorified the beauty of nature and human feelings are like the riddle of the Sphinx.

When Shenshin (the poet’s surname, which he bore for the first 14 and last 19 years of his life) was born is not known for certain. They call it November 10 or December 11, 1820, but Afanasy Afanasyevich himself celebrated his birthday on the 5th of the twelfth month.

His mother Charlotte-Elisabeth Becker was the daughter of a German burgher and for some time was the wife of a certain Johann Fet, assessor of the local court in Darmstadt. Soon Charlotte met Afanasy Neofitovich Shenshin, an Oryol landowner and part-time retired captain.

The fact is that Shenshin, having arrived in Germany, was unable to book a place in a hotel, because there were simply none there. Therefore, the Russian settles in the house of Ober-Krieg Commissioner Karl Becker, a widower who lived with his 22-year-old daughter, pregnant with her second child, son-in-law and granddaughter.

Why the young girl fell in love with 45-year-old Afanasy, who, moreover, according to the recollections of his contemporaries, was unpretentious in appearance - history is silent. But, according to rumors, before meeting the Russian landowner, the relationship between Charlotte and Fet gradually reached a dead end: despite the birth of their daughter Caroline, husband and wife often clashed, and Johann got into numerous debts, poisoning the existence of his young wife.

What is known is that from the “City of Sciences” (as Darmstadt is called), the girl fled with Shenshin to a snowy country, the severe frosts of which the Germans had never even dreamed of.

Karl Becker could not explain such an eccentric and unprecedented act of his daughter at that time. After all, she, being a married woman, abandoned her husband and beloved child to the mercy of fate and went in search of adventure in an unfamiliar country. Grandfather Afanasy used to say that “means of seduction” (most likely, Karl meant alcohol) deprived her of her mind. But in fact, Charlotte was later diagnosed with a mental disorder.

Already on the territory of Russia, two months after the move, a boy was born. The baby was baptized according to Orthodox custom and named Athanasius. Thus, the parents predetermined the future of the child, because Athanasius translated from Greek means “immortal.” In fact, Fet became a famous writer, whose memory has not died for many years.

Charlotte, who converted to Orthodoxy and became Elizaveta Petrovna, recalled that Shenshin treated his adopted son as a blood relative and showered the boy with care and attention.

Later, the Shenshins had three more children, but two died in at a young age, which is not surprising, because due to progressive diseases in those troubled times infant mortality was considered far from uncommon. Afanasy Afanasyevich recalled in his autobiography “ early years my life,” as his sister Anyuta, who was a year younger, went to bed. Relatives and friends stood by the girl’s bed day and night, and doctors visited her room in the morning. Fet remembered how he approached the girl and saw her ruddy face and blue eyes, motionless looking at the ceiling. When Anyuta died, Afanasy Shenshin, initially guessing such a tragic outcome, fainted.

In 1824, Johann proposed marriage to the governess who raised his daughter Caroline. The woman agreed, and Fet, either out of resentment at life, or to annoy his ex-wife, crossed Afanasy out of the will. “I am very surprised that Fet forgot and did not recognize his son in his will. A person can make mistakes, but denying the laws of nature is a very big mistake,” Elizaveta Petrovna recalled in letters to her brother.

When the young man turned 14 years old, the spiritual consistory canceled the baptismal registration of Athanasius as the legitimate son of Shenshin, so the boy was given his last name - Fet, since he was born out of wedlock. Because of this, Afanasy lost all privileges, so in the eyes of the public he did not appear as a descendant noble family, but as a “Hessendarmstadt subject”, a foreigner of dubious origin. Such changes became a blow to the heart for the future poet, who considered himself originally Russian. For many years, the writer tried to return the surname of the man who raised him as his own son, but his attempts were in vain. And only in 1873 Afanasy won and became Shenshin.

Afanasy spent his childhood in the village of Novoselki, in the Oryol province, on his father’s estate, in a house with a mezzanine and two outbuildings. The boy's gaze revealed picturesque meadows covered with green grass, crowns of mighty trees illuminated by the sun, houses with smoking chimneys and a church with ringing bells. Also, young Fet got up at five in the morning and ran to the maids in his pajamas so that they could tell him a fairy tale. Although the spinning maids tried to ignore the annoying Afanasy, the boy eventually got his way.

All these childhood memories that inspired Fet were reflected in his subsequent work.

From 1835 to 1837, Afanasy attended the German private boarding school Krummer, where he showed himself to be a diligent student. The young man pored over literature textbooks and even then tried to come up with poetic lines.

Literature

At the end of 1837, the young man set out to conquer the heart of Russia. Afanasy studied diligently for six months under the supervision of the famous journalist, writer and publisher Mikhail Petrovich Pogodin. After preparation, Fet easily entered Moscow University at the Faculty of Law. But the poet soon realized that the subject patronized by Saint Ivo of Brittany was not his path.

Therefore, the young man, without any hesitation, switched to Russian literature. As a first-year student, Afanasy Fet took up poetry seriously and showed his attempt at writing to Pogodin. Having familiarized himself with the student’s works, Mikhail Petrovich gave the manuscripts, who stated: “Fet is an undoubted talent.” Encouraged by the praise of the author of the book "Viy", Afanasy Afanasyevich releases his debut collection "Lyrical Pantheon" (1840) and begins to be published in literary magazines“Domestic Notes”, “Moskvityanin”, etc. "Lyrical Pantheon" did not bring recognition to the author. Unfortunately, Fet's talent was not appreciated by his contemporaries.

But at one point Afanasy Afanasyevich had to give up literary activity and forget about the pen and inkwell. A dark streak came in the life of the gifted poet. At the end of 1844, his beloved mother died, as well as his uncle, with whom Fet had developed a warm and friendly relationship. Afanasy Afanasyevich was counting on a relative's inheritance, but his uncle's money unexpectedly disappeared. Therefore, the young poet was left literally without a livelihood and, in the hope of acquiring a fortune, entered military service and became a cavalryman. He achieved the rank of officer.

In 1850, the writer returned to poetry and published a second collection, which received rave reviews from Russian critics. After a fairly long period of time, the third collection of the gifted poet was published under the editorship, and in 1863 a two-volume collection of Fet’s works was published.

If we consider the work of the author of “May Night” and “Spring Rain,” he was a sophisticated lyricist and seemed to identify nature and human feelings. In addition to lyrical poems, his track record includes elegies, thoughts, ballads, and messages. Also, many literary scholars agree that Afanasy Afanasyevich came up with his own, original and multifaceted genre of “melodies”; responses to musical works are often found in his works.

Among other things, Afanasy Afanasyevich is familiar to modern readers as a translator. He translated a number of poems by Latin poets into Russian, and also introduced readers to the mystical Faust.

Personal life

During his lifetime, Afanasy Afanasyevich Fet was a paradoxical figure: before his contemporaries he appeared as a brooding and gloomy man, whose biography was surrounded by mystical halos. Therefore, dissonance arose in the minds of poetry lovers; some could not understand how this person, burdened with everyday worries, could sing so exaltedly of nature, love, feelings and human relationships.

In the summer of 1848, Afanasy Fet, serving in the cuirassier regiment, was invited to a ball at the hospitable home of the former officer of the Order Regiment M.I. Petkovich.

Among the young ladies fluttering around the hall, Afanasy Afanasyevich saw a black-haired beauty, the daughter of a retired cavalry general of Serbian origin, Maria Lazich. From that very meeting, Fet began to perceive this girl as or as -. It is noteworthy that Maria knew Fet for a long time, although she became acquainted with him through his poems, which she read in her youth. Lazic was educated beyond her years, knew how to play music and was well versed in literature. It is not surprising that Fet recognized a kindred spirit in this girl. They exchanged numerous fiery letters and often leafed through albums. Maria became the lyrical heroine of many Fetov’s poems.

But the acquaintance of Fet and Lazic was not happy. The lovers could have become spouses and raised children in the future, but the prudent and practical Fet refused an alliance with Maria, because she was as poor as he was. In his last letter, Lazich Afanasy Afanasyevich initiated the separation.

Soon Maria died: due to a carelessly thrown match, her dress caught fire. The girl could not be saved from numerous burns. It is possible that this death was a suicide. The tragic event struck Fet to the depths of his soul, and Afanasy Afanasyevich found consolation from the sudden loss of a loved one in his creativity. His subsequent poems were received with a bang by the reading public, so Fet managed to acquire a fortune; the poet’s fees allowed him to travel around Europe.

While abroad, the master of trochee and iambic became involved with a rich woman from a famous Russian dynasty, Maria Botkina. Fet's second wife was not pretty, but she was distinguished by her good nature and easy disposition. Although Afanasy Afanasyevich proposed not out of love, but out of convenience, the couple lived happily. After a modest wedding, the couple left for Moscow, Fet resigned and devoted his life to creativity.

Death

On November 21, 1892, Afanasy Afanasyevich Fet died of a heart attack. Many biographers suggest that before his death the poet attempted suicide. But this version has no reliable evidence this moment No.

The grave of the creator is located in the village of Kleymenovo.

Bibliography

Collections:

• 2010 – “Poems”
• 1970 – “Poems”
• 2006 – “Afanasy Fet. Lyrics"
• 2005 – “Poems. Poems"
• 1988 – “Poems. Prose. Letters"
• 2001 – “The Poet’s Prose”
• 2007 – “Spiritual Poetry”

• 1856 – “Two stickies”
• 1859 – “Sabina”
• 1856 – “Dream”
• 1884 – “Student”
• 1842 – “Talisman”

Fet Afanasy Afanasyevich (1820 -1892). Fet holds one of the most honorable places among writers who glorified Russian nature. His poems convey subtle images, the melodious lyricism of the Fatherland's expanses and the piercing romance of feelings.

Fet was born into the family of a poor landowner with German roots, on the Novoselki estate. By the age of fifteen he was sent to a private boarding house and three years later he entered Moscow University. While studying at the Faculty of Literature, he began to try himself in the literary field. In 1840, his collection “The Lyrical Pantheon” was published, delighting readers with its sincerity and purity.

The poet’s second book was published only ten years later, and was overshadowed by the death of his beloved, Maria Lazic. At this time Afanasy Afanasievich was on military service. He needed to regain his nobility, which he had been deprived of due to the peculiarities of Russian jurisprudence. Having been transferred to the Life Guards, the poet has the opportunity to communicate with Turgenev, Nekrasov, Goncharov.

Ivan Turgenev edits Fet's third collection of poetry, published in 1856. It included about a hundred works; both old and new. This publication was highly appreciated by both readers and critics.

In 1856, Afanasy Fet married and retired the following year. He acquires a vast estate, where he becomes a successful landowner. His poems, previously published in separate books and published in leading domestic magazines, are published in a two-volume edition of 1863.

After his resignation, Fet successfully runs a landowner's farm, zealously protecting the old way of life. His noble surname, Shenshin, and privileges are returned to him. Issues of his collection “Evening Lights” and a book of memoirs are published. But health is sharpened by a fatal illness.

During one of the attacks, the poet decides to commit suicide, but falls dead as soon as he opens the cabinet with table knives.

Childhood

Afanasy Afanasyevich Fet (1820–1892) was born in the very center of Russia - in the Oryol region. The names of I.S. are associated with this region. Turgeneva, L.A. Andreeva, I.A. Bunina, N.S. Leskova. Researchers are still arguing whether Fet was the son of the landowner Afanasy Neofitovich Shenshin, on whose estate he was born, or whether his mother Charlotte Fet gave birth to a child from her German ex-husband. Fet Shenshin fell passionately in love with Charlotte while being treated in Germany, and secretly took her to Russia, where a few months later a boy was born, who became a wonderful Russian poet...

At the end of his life, Fet wrote his memoirs “The Early Years of My Life” (they were published after his death, in 1893). He speaks dryly and reservedly about his childhood. This is not surprising. He remembered his father as stern, stingy with affection. Namely, his character and his rules determined the home atmosphere. The poet's mother was a timid, submissive woman. Deprived of parental warmth, little Afanasy spent entire hours communicating with the servants.

The boy first learned to read and write German under the guidance of his mother. And when I began to read Russian, I became passionately interested in Pushkin’s poetry.

Boyhood

School life began for Afanasy at the age of thirteen. He was sent to the boarding house of the German Krümmer in the small town of Verrlo (currently Võru), located in what is now Estonia. Among the school fraternity, the boy was distinguished by his gift of poetry. Poetic talent grew in Fet’s soul with difficulty, but steadily. There was no one to perceive and nurture this talent away from home. And then an event happened that changed my whole life. From birth, he bore his father’s family noble surname – Shenshin. But a year after the start of his studies at the boarding school, the boy received a letter from his father, which said that from now on Afanasy should bear his mother’s surname - Fet. (He became a fet later and by accident: in the printing house where the magazine with his poems was printed, the typesetter forgot to put two dots on the “e”.) For a teenager who loved his father, this was a blow and, in addition, meant that he was deprived of his noble title title and right to be an heir.

But the fact was that the boy was born before his father’s marriage to Charlotte Föt was consecrated by the church. Shenshin managed to record it in the metric documents, but in 1834 the forgery somehow surfaced. Leaving the boarding school as a seventeen-year-old youth, Afanasy Fet left behind annoying witnesses to his unexpected disaster.

Youth

In the winter of 1837, Afanasy Neofitovich unexpectedly arrived at the boarding school and took his son to Moscow to prepare for entering the university. When the time came for the exams, Fet passed them brilliantly. He was accepted into law school. Soon the young man transferred to the verbal department of the Faculty of Philosophy. But he did not become a diligent student. Instead of sitting in a crowded audience, he sought solitude, and poems multiplied in his treasured notebook.

By the second year, the notebook had been thoroughly replenished. The time has come to present it to an experienced connoisseur. Fet handed over the notebook to the historian M.P. Pogodin, with whom N.V. lived at that time. Gogol. A week later, Pogodin returned the poems with the words: “Gogol said that this is an undoubted talent.” Fet decided to use the borrowed three hundred rubles to publish a collection of poetry and call it “Lyrical Pantheon.” On title page were the first letters of the author’s first and last name – A.F.

First publications

At the end of 1840, Fet was already holding his first thin book. It was dominated by imitative poems, which the author subsequently did not dare to reprint. However, soon after the release of “The Lyrical Pantheon” he became different in many ways - an original, original poet.

Magazines eagerly published his poems. Fet gained many fans among poetry connoisseurs. But they could not return to him the title of nobility and the surname Shenshin. But he could not come to terms with this loss. And Afanasy Afanasyevich made a firm decision - to go into military service. According to the law of that time, the rank of officer should have returned him to the nobility, but due to changing rules in this regard, he managed to become Shenshin again only in old age. And not thanks to military merit, but by the “highest command” of the emperor.

First love

After graduating from the university (1844), Fet a year later entered the Cuirassier regiment, stationed in the Kherson province.

While in military service, Fet met an intelligent, charming girl, Maria Lazich. In Maria, Fet found a connoisseur of poetry, a connoisseur of his own poems. Love came... But Lazic was poor. Dreaming of restoring his noble title and material wealth, Fet did not dare to marry a dowryless woman. The lovers separated. Soon Maria Lazic died tragically. Her image captivated Fet’s poetic feeling all his life. Words of love, repentance and longing came from his pen.

Petersburg. Collaboration with Sovremennik

In 1850, Fet's second collection was published. It published the poem “Whisper, Timid Breathing...”, which for many became almost a symbol of all of Fet’s poetry. In 1853, Fet began serving in the guard and moved from south to north, to the location of his new regiment. Camp exercises now took place near St. Petersburg, and the poet had the opportunity to visit the capital.

He renews old literary acquaintances and makes new ones. In particular, with the editors of the Sovremennik magazine, which was headed by N.A. Nekrasov, who rallied many talented writers around himself.

In Sovremennik, Fet came to court. The poet felt sincere attention to himself and perked up. Paper and pencil beckoned to him again. 50s became the poet’s “finest hour”, the time of the most complete recognition of his talent. Fetov's third collection was preparing for release. St. Petersburg fellow writers vigorously discussed each poem of the future book. At that time Fet especially trusted the taste of I.S. Turgenev.

Fet's poems were unusual and unusual. Much of what today seems like innovative achievements seemed linguistic errors to the readers of that time. Turgenev corrected some of Fet's lines, and it has not yet been decided how to publish these poems: with Turgenev's amendments (Fet accepted many of them) or in their original form. For Fet, the word is designed to convey smells, sounds, musical tones, light and floral impressions.

"Escape" to Stepanovka. Break with Sovremennik

In 1860, in his native Oryol province, and even in the same Mtsensk district where Fet was born, he bought the Stepanovka farm and built a house. This is how, in his words, the “flight” to Stepanovka happened. What reasons pushed the poet to this flight?

At the end of the 50s, the passion for poetry gave way to a cooling towards it - “ finest hour» Feta has come to an end. The day before peasant reform In 1861, the demarcation of literary and social forces began. The voices that rejected “pure art” in the name of “practical benefit” sounded louder and louder. The position of Nekrasov's Sovremennik was increasingly determined by the articles of Chernyshevsky and Dobrolyubov. As a sign of protest, Fet, together with I.S. Turgenev and L.N. Tolstoy left the magazine.

In 1859 in the magazine " Russian word» Fet published an article “On the poems of F. Tyutchev”, where he deliberately challenged public opinion. Art, the poet wrote, should not adhere to any “directions”; it should serve “ pure beauty" Thus, Afanasy Afanasyevich ruined his reputation in the eyes of the democratic public; now he was considered a reactionary, and his lyrics were considered a “departure from life.” Fet isolates himself in the estate, as if in a fortress, not accepting hostile modernity.

And yet, Fet’s village housewarming was caused not only by these reasons. All his poetry shows that the poet loved the earth, rural nature, and knew a lot about plants, birds, and animals. Having entered, as it were, a double retirement (both in service and in literature), Fet devoted himself entirely to economic concerns. Over seventeen years of life and hard work, he turned Stepanovka into an exemplary profitable estate. But Fet does not stop writing. At this time, he translated the ancient poet Anacreot, oriental (Saadi, Hafiz), German (Heine, Goethe), French (Musset, Beranger) authors. It was Fet who first translated into Russian the treatise of the German philosopher Schopenhauer “The World as Will and Representation.”

Beginning in 1883, Fet began to publish one after another collections of poems under the general title “Evening Lights.” The title is frankly symbolic: we're talking about about the evening of life. However, perhaps the word “lights” is more important here. Late lyrics The poet not only retained the intensity of the heartfelt feeling inherent in youth, but also acquired the ability to radiate the light of wisdom. In 1890, as a seventy-year-old man, Fet proclaimed:

While on the earthly chest
Although I will have difficulty breathing,
All the thrill of life is young
I will be able to hear it from everywhere.

Poems for analysis and recitation by heart

Philosophical lyrics: “Only when I meet your smile...”, “On a haystack at night in the south...”;
“Dream of feelings” (Ap. Grigoriev) in poetry: “I’m waiting... Nightingale echo...”; “The cat is singing, his eyes are squinting...”, “There are patterns on the double glass...”, “I’m falling off the chair, looking at the ceiling...”, “No, don’t expect a passionate song...”;
Lyrics of nature: “How fresh it is here under the thick linden tree...”, “Still fragrant spring bliss...”, “Above the lake a swan pulled into the reeds...”
Lyrics of love: “Don’t leave me...,” “The smile of languid boredom...”, “By the fireplace,” “In the darkness above the bright tripod...”, “The night was shining, the moon was full of the garden...”

Literature

Nina Sukhova. Afanasy Afanasyevich Fet // Encyclopedia for children “Avanta+”. Volume 9. Russian literature. Part one. M., 1999
L.M. Lotman. A.A. Fet. // History of Russian literature. Volume three. Leningrad: Nauka, 1982. pp. 427 – 446

The great Russian poet A.A. had a rather long and at the same time difficult life. Feta. It was his works that became the starting point for poetry of the 20th century. Fet captivated his contemporaries with his excellent lyrics and intriguing prose. This man not only created works, but also wrote memoirs, and also did translations.

1. For the first 14 and last 19 years of his life, Afanasy Afanasyevich Fet officially had the last name Shenshin.

2. In 1820, Afanasy was adopted by a famous nobleman.

3. Afanasy Afanasyevich Fet is a lyricist poet, translator, and memoirist of German origin.

4. Fet was a corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences.

5.In 1834, errors were discovered in the birth records of A.A. Fet, which led to his being stripped of his title.

6. Facts from Fet’s biography indicate that in 1844 he graduated from the Faculty of Philosophy of Moscow University.

7. In 1835-1837, Fet studied at the private German boarding school of Krummer.

8. Afanasy Afanasyevich Fet wrote his first poems at a young age.

9. At the end of the 19th century, Fet’s poetry began to be published in the collection “Lyrical Pantheon”.

10. Fet carried out his military service in the Baltic port.

11. In order to regain his title, Afanasy Afanasyevich Fet was forced to serve as a non-commissioned officer.

12. In 1857, Fet married Maria Botkina.

13. The poet was afraid of mental illness.

14. Afanasy Afanasyevich Fet’s closest relatives were patients in a psychiatric hospital.

15. Fet suffered from severe depressive disorders.

16. Fet died in splendid isolation from a heart attack.

17. Some of this poet’s works formed the basis of many romances. This is evidenced by Fet's biography. Interesting facts about this person provide a lot of new knowledge.

18. The poet was faced with a tragic love for Maria Lazic, who died without becoming his wife.

19. Some believe that before the heart attack the poet tried to commit suicide.

20. Fet owns the most famous phrase from “The Adventures of Pinocchio” - “and the rose fell on Azor’s paw.”

21. Fet’s works are understandable even to small children.

22. In addition to the fact that Afanasy Afanasyevich Fet created works, he also translated texts.

23. Afanasy Afanasyevich Fet opened a stud farm, as well as a hospital for poor peasants.

24. Fet’s legal wife had family ties with the famous doctor Botkin.

25. With age, Fet lost his sight, and also accumulated many diseases that were not treated at that time.

26. Interesting facts from Fet’s biography indicate that he combined a sensual poet and a prudent landowner.

27. After a marriage of convenience, Afanasy Afanasyevich Fet discovered the quality of a businessman in himself and became a little rich.

28. Fet’s works had nothing to do with real events.

29. In the works of Afanasy Afanasyevich Fet there was only a bright and positive side.

30. Afanasy Afanasyevich Fet was a close friend of Leo Tolstoy, so they were family friends and saw each other often.

31. Fet managed to translate Faust in its entirety.

32. Throughout his life, Fet adhered to conservative sentiments.

33. In his old age, Afanasy Afanasyevich Fet convinced his wife that she would never see him die. This is how Afanasy Fet took care of his wife. Interesting facts from the biography confirmed this.

34. On his 50th literary anniversary, the poet was awarded the court title of chamberlain.

35.V last days life Afanasy Fet ordered to serve him champagne.

36. The poet did not live 2 days before his 72nd birthday.

37. 3 days after the poet’s death, the funeral ceremony was held.

38. Fet was a soldier for 8 years.

39. Representative " pure art“It was Fet. Short biography, Interesting Facts- all this confirms the information that this person has always touched upon pressing social issues in his works.

40. Fet’s most important desire was to receive a noble title.

41. Afanasy Fet wrote a farewell note, after which he wanted to cut his throat with a knife.

42. Fet left a huge creative legacy to his contemporaries.

43. Fet married for convenience.

44. There were crazy people in Fet’s family.

45.The poet had no children.

46. ​​Interesting facts from the life of A.A. Fet confirm that love, art and nature were the main themes for his works.

47. Fet was called the singer of Russian nature.

48. All his life Fet argued with Nekrasov about poetry.

49. In the poem “Whisper, timid breathing...” Fet did not use a single verb.

50.Facts from Fet’s life say that he was a sophisticated lyricist.

The work of Afanasy Afanasyevich Fet

The work of Afanasy Afanasyevich Fet (1820 - 1892) is one of the pinnacles of Russian poetry. Fet is a great poet, a genius poet. Now there is not a person in Russia who does not know Fet’s poems. Well, at least “I came to you with greetings” or “Don’t wake her up at dawn...” At the same time, many people have no real idea of ​​the scale of this poet. The idea of ​​Fet is distorted, even starting with his appearance. Someone maliciously constantly replicates those portraits of Fet that were made during his dying illness, where his face is terribly distorted, his eyes are swollen - an old man in a state of agony. Meanwhile, Fet, as can be seen from the portraits made during his heyday, both human and poetic, was the most beautiful of the Russian poets.

The drama is connected with the mystery of Fet's birth. In the fall of 1820, his father Afanasy Neofitovich Shenshin took the wife of the official Karl Feth from Germany to his family estate. A month later the child was born and was registered as the son of A.N. Shenshina. The illegality of this recording was discovered when the boy was 14 years old. He received the surname Fet and in documents began to be called the son of a foreign subject. A. A. Fet spent a lot of effort trying to return the name of Shenshin and the rights of a hereditary nobleman. The mystery of his birth has not yet been fully solved. If he is the son of Fet, then his father I. Fet was the great-uncle of the last Russian empress.

Fet's life is also mysterious. They say about him that in life he was much more prosaic than in poetry. But this is due to the fact that he was a wonderful owner. Wrote a small volume of articles on economics. From a ruined estate he managed to create a model farm with a magnificent stud farm. And even in Moscow on Plyushchikha, in his house there was a vegetable garden and a greenhouse; in January, vegetables and fruits ripened, which the poet loved to treat his guests to.

In this regard, they like to talk about Fet as a prosaic person. But in fact, his origin is mysterious and romantic, and his death is mysterious: this death was and was not suicide. Fet, tormented by illness, finally decided to commit suicide. He sent his wife away, left a suicide note, and grabbed a knife. The secretary prevented him from using it. And the poet died—died from shock.

The biography of a poet is, first of all, his poems. Fet's poetry is multifaceted, its main genre is lyric poem. Classical genres include elegies, thoughts, ballads, and epistles. “Melodies” - poems that represent a response to musical impressions - can be considered as the “original Fetov genre”.

One of Fet’s early and most popular poems is “I came to you with greetings”:

I came to you with greetings,

Tell me that the sun has risen, that it is a hot light

The sheets began to flutter;

Tell me that the forest has woken up,

All woke up, every branch,

Every bird was startled

And full of thirst in spring...

The poem is written on the theme of love. The theme is old, eternal, and Fet’s poems exude freshness and novelty. It doesn't look like anything we know. This is generally characteristic of Fet and corresponds to his conscious poetic attitudes. Fet wrote: “Poetry certainly requires novelty, and for it there is nothing more deadly than repetition, and especially oneself... By novelty I do not mean new objects, but their new illumination by the magic lantern of art.”

The very beginning of the poem is unusual - unusual in comparison with the then accepted norm in poetry. In particular, the Pushkin norm, which required extreme precision in words and in combinations of words. Meanwhile, the initial phrase of Fetov’s poem is not at all accurate and not even entirely “correct”: “I came to you with greetings, to tell you...”. Would Pushkin or any of the poets of Pushkin’s time allow himself to say so? At that time, these lines were seen as poetic audacity. Fet was aware of the inaccuracy of his poetic word, its closeness to living, sometimes seeming not entirely correct, but that made it especially bright and expressive speech. He called his poems jokingly (but not without pride) poems “of a disheveled kind.” But what is the artistic meaning in poetry of the “disheveled kind”?

Inaccurate words and seemingly sloppy, “disheveled” expressions in Fet’s poems create not only unexpected, but also bright, exciting images. One gets the impression that the poet doesn’t seem to deliberately think about the words; they came to him on their own. He speaks with the very first, unintentional words. The poem is distinguished by its amazing integrity. This is an important virtue in poetry. Fet wrote: “The task of a lyricist is not in the harmony of the reproduction of objects, but in the harmony of tone.” In this poem there is both harmony of objects and harmony of tone. Everything in the poem is internally connected to each other, everything is unidirectional, it is said in a single impulse of feeling, as if in one breath.

Another early poem is the lyrical play “Whisper, Timid Breath...”:

Whisper, timid breathing,

The trill of a nightingale,

Silver and sway

Sleepy stream,

Night light, night shadows,

Endless shadows

A series of magical changes

Sweet face...

The poem was written in the late 40s. It is built on nominative sentences alone. Not a single verb. Only objects and phenomena that are named one after another: whispers - timid breathing - trills of a nightingale, etc.

But despite all this, the poem cannot be called objective and material. This is the most amazing and unexpected thing. Fet's objects are non-objective. They do not exist on their own, but as signs of feelings and states. They glow a little, flicker. By naming this or that thing, the poet evokes in the reader not a direct idea of ​​the thing itself, but those associations that can usually be associated with it. The main semantic field of a poem is between the words, behind the words.

“Behind the words” the main theme of the poem develops: feelings of love. The most subtle feeling, inexpressible in words, inexpressibly strong, No one had ever written about love like this before Fet.

Fet liked the reality of life, and this was reflected in his poems. Nevertheless, it is difficult to call Fet simply a realist, noticing how in poetry he gravitates toward dreams, dreams, and intuitive movements of the soul. Fet wrote about the beauty diffused in all the diversity of reality. Aesthetic realism in Fet's poems in the 40s and 50s was really aimed at the everyday and the most ordinary.

The character and tension of Fet's lyrical experience depend on the state of nature. The change of seasons occurs in a circle - from spring to spring. Fet’s feelings move in the same kind of circle: not from the past to the future, but from spring to spring, with its necessary, inevitable return. In the collection (1850), the “Snow” cycle is given first place. Fet’s winter cycle is multi-motive: he sings about a sad birch tree in winter clothing, about how “the night is bright, the frost shines,” and “the frost has drawn patterns on the double glass.” Snowy plains attract the poet:

Wonderful picture

How dear you are to me:

White plain,

Full moon,

The light of the high heavens,

And shining snow

And distant sleighs

Lonely running.

Fet confesses his love for the winter landscape. In Fet's poems, shining winter prevails, in the brilliance of the prickly sun, in the diamonds of snowflakes and snow sparks, in the crystal of icicles, in the silvery fluff of frosty eyelashes. The associative series in this lyric does not go beyond the boundaries of nature itself; here is its own beauty, which does not need human spirituality. Rather, it itself spiritualizes and enlightens the personality. It was Fet, following Pushkin, who sang the Russian winter, only he managed to reveal its aesthetic meaning in such a multifaceted way. Fet introduced rural landscapes and scenes of folk life into his poems; he appeared in his poems as “a bearded grandfather,” he “groans and crosses himself,” or a daring coachman in a troika.

Fet was always attracted to the poetic theme of evening and night. The poet early developed a special aesthetic attitude towards night, the onset of darkness. At the new stage of his creativity, he already began to call entire collections “Evening Lights”, in them, as it were, a special, Fetov philosophy of the night.

In Fet’s “night poetry” a complex of associations is revealed: night - abyss - shadows - sleep - visions - secret, intimate - love - the unity of the “night soul” of a person with the night element. This image receives philosophical deepening and a new second meaning in his poems; in the content of the poem a symbolic second plane appears. His association “night-abyss” takes on a philosophical and poetic perspective. She begins to get closer to human life. The abyss is an airy road - the path of human life.

MAY NIGHT

Lagging clouds fly over us

The last crowd.

Their transparent segment softly melts

At the crescent moon

A mysterious power reigns in spring

With stars on the forehead. -

You, tender! You promised me happiness

On a vain land.

Where is the happiness? Not here, in a wretched environment,

And there it is - like smoke

Follow him! follow him! by air -

And we'll fly away into eternity.

The May night promises happiness, a person flies through life in pursuit of happiness, the night is an abyss, a person flies into the abyss, into eternity.

Further development of this association: night - human existence - the essence of being.

Fet imagines the night hours as revealing the secrets of the universe. The poet's nocturnal insight allows him to look “from time to eternity,” he sees “the living altar of the universe.”

Tolstoy wrote to Fet: “The poem is one of those rare ones in which not a word can be added, subtracted or changed; it is alive and lovely. It is so good that it seems to me that this is not a random poem, but that this is the first stream of a long-delayed stream.”

The association night - abyss - human existence, developing in Fet's poetry, absorbs the ideas of Schopenhauer. However, the closeness of the poet Fet to the philosopher is very conditional and relative. The ideas of the world as a representation, man as a contemplator of existence, thoughts about intuitive insights, apparently, were close to Fet.

The idea of ​​death is woven into the figurative association of Fet’s poems about the night and human existence (the poem “Sleep and Death,” written in 1858). Sleep is full of the bustle of the day, death is full of majestic peace. Fet gives preference to death, draws its image as the embodiment of a peculiar beauty.

In general, Fet’s “night poetry” is deeply unique. His night is as beautiful as the day, maybe even more beautiful. Fetov’s night is full of life, the poet feels “the breath of the immaculate night.” Fetov's night gives a person happiness:

What a night! The transparent air is constrained;

The aroma swirls above the ground.

Oh now I'm happy, I'm excited

Oh, now I'm glad to speak! ...

Man merges with night life, he is by no means alienated from it. He hopes and expects something from him. The association repeated in Fet’s poems is night and expectation and trembling, trembling:

The birches are waiting. Their leaves are translucent

Shyly beckons and pleases the eye.

They are shaking. So to the newlywed virgin

And her attire is joyful and alien...

Fet's nocturnal nature and man are full of expectation of the innermost, which turns out to be accessible to all living things only at night. Night, love, communication with the elemental life of the universe, knowledge of happiness and higher truths in his poems, as a rule, are combined.

Fet's work represents the apotheosis of the night. For Feta the philosopher, night represents the basis of world existence, it is the source of life and the keeper of the secret of “double existence”, the kinship of man with the universe, for him it is the knot of all living and spiritual connections.

Now Fet can no longer be called just a poet of sensations. His contemplation of nature is full of philosophical profundity, his poetic insights are aimed at discovering the secrets of existence.

Poetry was the main work of Fet’s life, a calling to which he gave everything: soul, vigilance, sophistication of hearing, wealth of imagination, depth of mind, skill of hard work and inspiration.

In 1889, Strakhov wrote in the article “Anniversary of Fet’s Poetry”: “He is the only poet of his kind, incomparable, giving us the purest and truest poetic delight, true diamonds of poetry... Fet is a true touchstone for the ability to understand poetry...”

Bibliography

Maimin E. A. “A. A. Fet”, Moscow, 1989

Fet A. A. “Favorites”, Moscow, 1985.

Magazine “Russian Literature”, No. 4, 1996.