Dmitry Merezhkovsky: biography. Poems, quotes

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Merezhkovsky Dmitry Sergeevich was born in 1866 in St. Petersburg. His father served as a petty palace official. Dmitry Merezhkovsky began writing poetry at the age of 13. Two years later, as a high school student, he visited F. M. Dostoevsky with his father. The great writer found poetry weak, told the novice author that in order to write well, one must suffer. At the same time, Dmitry Sergeevich Merezhkovsky met Nadson. At first, he imitated him in his poems, and it was through him that he first entered the literary environment.

The appearance of the first collection of poems

In 1888, the first collection of Merezhkovsky was published, simply called "Poems". The poet here acts as a student of Nadson. However, as Vyacheslav Bryusov notes, Dmitry Merezhkovsky was immediately able to take on an independent tone, starting to talk about joy and strength, unlike other poets who considered themselves Nadson's students, who "wailed" at their weakness andtimelessness.

Studying at universities, passion for the philosophy of positivism

Dmitry from 1884 studied at St. Petersburg and Moscow universities, at the Faculty of History and Philology. At this time, Merezhkovsky became interested in the philosophy of positivism, and also became close to such employees of the Severny Vestnik as G. Uspensky, V. Korolenko, V. Garshin, thanks to which he began to understand the problems that society faced from populist positions. This hobby, however, was short-lived. Acquaintance with the poetry of V. Solovyov and European symbolists significantly changed the poet's worldview. Dmitry Sergeevich abandons "extreme materialism" and moves on to symbolism.

Marriage to Z. Gippius

Dmitry Merezhkovsky, as contemporaries noted, was a very reserved person, reluctant to let other people into his world. The year 1889 became all the more significant for him. It was then that Merezhkovsky got married. His chosen one is the poetess Zinaida Gippius. The poet lived with her for 52 years and did not part for a day. This creative and spiritual union was described by his wife in an unfinished book called Dmitry Merezhkovsky. Zinaida was the "generator" of ideas, and Dmitry designed and developed them in his work.

Travels, translations and the rationale for symbolism

In the late 1880s and into the 1890s. they traveled extensively throughout Europe. Dmitry Sergeevich translated ancient tragedies from Latin and Greek, and also acted as a critic, published in suchpublications such as "Trud", "Russian Review", "Severny Vestnik".

Merezhkovsky in 1892 gave a lecture in which he gave the first justification for symbolism. The poet argued that impressionism, the language of the symbol and "mystical content" can expand the "artistic impressionability" of Russian literature. The collection "Symbols" appeared shortly before this performance. He gave a name to a new direction in poetry.

New Poems

In 1896 the third collection was published - "New Poems". Since 1899, Merezhkovsky's worldview has changed. He begins to be interested in questions of Christianity related to the cathedral church. In the article "Merezhkovsky" G. Adamovich recalls that when the conversation with Dmitry was lively, he sooner or later switched to one topic - the meaning and meaning of the Gospel.

Religious-philosophical meetings

The wife of Dmitry Merezhkovsky in the autumn of 1901 proposed the idea of creating a special society of people of philosophy and religion to discuss issues of culture and the church. This is how religious-philosophical meetings appeared, famous at the beginning of the last century. Their main theme was the assertion that only on a religious basis can the revival of Russia be accomplished. Until 1903, these meetings were held, with the permission of K. P. Pobedonostsev, chief prosecutor of the Synod. The clergy also took part in them. Although Christianity of the "Third Testament" was not accepted, the desire to create a new religious society at a critical stage in the development of our country was understandable andclose to contemporaries.

Work on historical prose

Dmitry Merezhkovsky, whose biography interests us, worked a lot on historical prose. He created, for example, the trilogy "Christ and Antichrist", the main idea of which was the struggle between two principles - Christian and pagan, as well as a call for a new Christianity, in which "heaven is earthly" and "earth is heavenly".

In 1896, the work "Death of the Gods. Julian the Apostate" appeared - the first novel of the trilogy. The second part was published in 1901 ("The Resurrected Gods. Leonardo da Vinci"). The final novel en titled "The Antichrist. Peter and Alexei" was born in 1905.

Collected Poems

The fourth collection "Collected Poems" was published in 1909. There were few new poems in it, so this book was rather an anthology. However, a certain selection of works made by Merezhkovsky gave the collection modernity and novelty. It included only works that corresponded to the changed views of the author. Old poems have taken on a new meaning.

Merezhkovsky was sharply isolated among contemporary poets. He was distinguished by the fact that he expressed general moods in his work, while A. Blok, Andrei Bely, K. Balmont, even touching on "topical" social topics, spoke primarily about themselves, about their own attitude towards them. And Dmitry Sergeevich, even in the mostintimate confessions expressed a general feeling, hope or suffering.

New works

The Merezhkovskys moved to Paris in March 1906 and lived here until the middle of 1908. In collaboration with D. Filosofov and Z. Gippius Merezhkovsky in 1907 published the book "Le Tsar et la Revolution". He also set about creating the trilogy "The Kingdom of the Beast" based on materials from the history of Russia in the late 18th - early 19th centuries. Dmitry Sergeevich after the release of the first part of this trilogy (in 1908) was prosecuted. In 1913, the second part of it ("Alexander I") appeared. The last novel - "December 14" - was published by Dmitry Merezhkovsky in 1918.

"Sick Russia" is a book that appeared in 1910. It included historical and religious articles that were published in 1908 and 1909. in the newspaper "Rech".

Wolf's Book Association published between 1911 and 1913. 17-volume collection of his works, and D. Sytin in 1914 released a four-volume edition. Merezhkovsky's prose was translated into many languages, it was very popular in Europe. In Russia, the works of Dmitry Sergeevich were subjected to severe censorship - the writer spoke out against the official church and autocracy.

Relations with Bolshevism

The Merezhkovskys were still living in Russia in 1917. Therefore, the country was seen on the eve of the revolution in the form of a "coming boor." A little later, having lived in Soviet Russia for two years, he confirmed his opinion thatBolshevism is a moral disease, which is a consequence of the crisis of European culture. The Merezhkovskys hoped that this regime would be overthrown, however, having learned about the defeat of Denikin in the south and Kolchak in Siberia, they decided to leave Petrograd.

Dmitry Sergeevich at the end of 1919 won the right to read his lectures in the Red Army. In January 1920, he and his wife moved to the territory that was occupied by Poland. The poet gave lectures in Minsk for Russian emigrants. The Merezhkovskys move to Warsaw in February. Here they are actively involved in political activities. When Poland signed a peace treaty with Russia, and the couple were convinced that the "Russian cause" in this country was put to an end, they left for Paris. The Merezhkovskys settled in an apartment that had belonged to them since pre-revolutionary times. Here they established old ties and made new acquaintances with Russian emigrants.

Emigration, founding of the Green Lamp

Dmitry Merezhkovsky was inclined to view emigration as a kind of messianism. He considered himself a spiritual "leader" of the intelligentsia who found themselves abroad. The Merezhkovskys in 1927 organized the religious-philosophical and literary society "Green Lamp". G. Ivanov became its president. The "Green Lamp" played a significant role in the intellectual life of the first wave of emigration, and also brought together the best representatives of the foreign Russian intelligentsia. When the Second World War broke out, the society ceased meetings (in1939).

The Merezhkovskys founded the New Course in 1927, a magazine that lasted only a year. They also participated in the first congress of emigrant writers from Russia, held in September 1928 in Belgrade (it was organized by the Yugoslav government). Merezhkovsky in 1931 was among the contenders for the Nobel Prize, but I. Bunin received it.

Supporting Hitler

The Merezhkovskys were not loved in the Russian environment. The hostility was largely due to their support of Hitler, whose regime seemed to them more acceptable than Stalin's regime. Merezhkovsky in the late 1930s became interested in fascism, even met with one of its leaders, Mussolini. He saw in Hitler the deliverer of Russia from communism, which he considered a "moral disease." After Germany attacked the USSR, Dmitry Sergeevich spoke on German radio. He gave a speech "Bolshevism and Humanity" in which he compared Hitler to Joan of Arc. Merezhkovsky said that this leader could save humanity from the communist evil. After this performance, everyone turned their backs on the spouses.

Merezhkovsky's death

10 days before the occupation of Paris by the Germans, in June 1940, Zinaida Gippius and D. Merezhkovsky moved to Biarritz, located in the south of France. December 9, 1941 Dmitry Sergeevich died in Paris.

Merezhkovsky's poetry collections

We briefly talked about the collections of poems created by Dmitry Merezhkovsky. These books, however, are worth it in more detail on them.stay. Each of the 4 collections of poems is very characteristic.

"Poems" (1888) is a book in which Dmitry Merezhkovsky still appears as a student of Nadson. Noteworthy quotes from it include the following:

Do not despise the crowd! ruthless and angry

Do not ridicule their sorrows and needs.

These are lines from one of the most characteristic poems in this book. Nevertheless, from the very beginning, Dmitry Sergeevich was able to take an independent tone. As we have noted, he spoke of strength and joy. His poems are pompous, rhetorical, but this is also characteristic, since Nadson's associates were most afraid of rhetoric, although they used it, in a slightly different guise, sometimes immoderately. Merezhkovsky, on the other hand, turned to rhetoric in order to break the soundless, colorless fog in which the life of Russian society was wrapped in the 1880s with its loudness and brightness.

"Symbols" is the second book of poems written in 1892. It is notable for its versatility. Here is the ancient tragedy and Pushkin, Baudelaire and Edgar Allan Poe, Francis of Assisi and ancient Rome, the poetry of the city and the tragedy of everyday life. Everything that will fill all books, will occupy all minds in 10-15 years, was outlined in this collection. "Symbols" is a book of forebodings. Dmitry Sergeevich foresaw the advent of a different, more lively era. He gave a titanic appearance to the events taking place around him ("Come, new prophets!").

"New Poems" is the third collection of poems written in 1896. Hemuch narrower in coverage of the phenomena of life than the previous one, but much sharper. Here the tranquility of the "Symbols" turned into constant anxiety, and the objectivity of the verses passed into intense lyricism. Merezhkovsky considered himself in "Symbols" as a servant of the "abandoned gods". But by the time the "New Poems" appeared, he himself had already renounced these gods, spoke about his associates and about himself: "Our speeches are bold…".

"Collection of Poems" - the last, fourth collection (1909). There are few new poems in it, so the book, as we have already noted, is more of an anthology. Merezhkovsky turned to Christianity in it. He recognized the blade of "daring" as too brittle and the altar of "world culture" devoid of a deity. However, in Christianity, he wanted to find not only consolation, but also weapons. All the poems in this book are imbued with the desire of faith.