Russian poet Apollon Grigoriev: biography, creativity

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

The 19th century is not without reason called the golden age of Russian poetry. At this time, many great word artists worked, among which was Apollon Grigoriev. His biography, set out in this article, will give you a general idea of this talented person. Apollon Alexandrovich Grigoriev (life years - 1822-1864) is known as a Russian poet, translator, theater and literary critic, memoirist.

The origin of A. A. Grigoriev

Apollon Aleksandrovich was born in Moscow on July 20, 1822. His grandfather was a peasant who came to Moscow to work from a remote province. For hard work in official positions, this man received the nobility. As for the father of Apollon Grigoriev, he disobeyed the will of his parents and connected his life with the daughter of a serf coachman. Only a year after the birth of their son, Apollo's parents got married, so the future poet was considered an illegitimate child. Apollon Grigoriev managed to receive personal nobility only in 1850, when he was in the rank of titular adviser. The noble title was thus restored.

Study period, office work

The future poet was educated at home. This allowed him to enter immediately at Moscow University, bypassing the gymnasium. Here, at the Faculty of Law, he listened to lectures by M. P. Pogodin, T. N. Granovsky, S. P. Shevyrev and others. Ya. P. Polonsky and A. A. Fet were fellow students of our hero. Together with them, he organized a literary circle in which young poets read their works to each other. In 1842, Apollon Alexandrovich graduated from the university. After that, he worked in the library, and then became the secretary of the Council. However, Grigoriev was not given clerical work - he kept the protocols inaccurately, when issuing books he forgot to register them.

First publications

From 1843, Apollon Grigoriev began to print. His poems appeared very actively in the period from 1843 to 1845. This was facilitated by an unrequited feeling for A. F. Korsh. Many themes of Grigoriev's lyrics are explained precisely by this love drama - spontaneity and unbridled feelings, fatal passion, love-struggle. The poem "Comet" belongs to this period, where the poet compares the chaos of love feelings with cosmic processes. The same sentiments are present in the first prose work of Apollon Alexandrovich, made in the form of a diary. The work is called "Leaves from the Wandering Sophist's Manuscript" (written 1844, published 1917).

Years of life in St. Petersburg

Weighed down by debts, devastated after disappointment in love, Grigoriev decided to startnew life. He secretly went to Petersburg, where he had no acquaintances. Grigoriev in the period from 1844 to 1845 served in the Senate and in the Council of the Deanery, but then decided to leave the service in order to devote all his time to literary work. Grigoriev wrote both dramas, and poetry, and prose, and theatrical and literary criticism. In 1844-1846. Apollon Alexandrovich collaborated with "Repertoire and Pantheon". In this journal, he became a writer. He published critical articles on the theatre, reviews of performances, as well as many poems and a drama in verse, The Two Egotisms (in 1845). At the same time, his trilogy appeared, the first part of which is "Man of the Future", the second - "My Acquaintance with Vitalin" and the final one - "Ophelia". Apollon Grigoriev was also engaged in translations (in 1846, "Antigone Sophocles", "School of the Husbands of Molière" and other works appeared).

Return to Moscow

Grigoriev had a broad nature, which made him change his beliefs, rush from one extreme to another, look for new ideals and attachments. In 1847, disillusioned with Petersburg, he returned to Moscow. Here he began to cooperate with the newspaper "Moscow city sheet". Among the works of this period, it is necessary to note 4 articles by Grigoriev "Gogol and his last book", created in 1847.

Marriage

In the same year, Apollon Alexandrovich tied the knot. The wife of Apollon Grigoriev was the sister of A. F. Korsh. However, soon because of her frivolous behavior, the marriage was annulled. Grigoriev again began a period of mental anguish and disappointment. Many works of this period of the poet's life probably would not have been created if not for the wife of Apollon Grigoriev and her frivolous behavior. At this time, Apollon Alexandrovich published a poetic cycle called "The Diary of Love and Prayer." In 1879, this cycle was published in its entirety, after the death of Apollon Grigoriev. The poems contained in it are dedicated to a beautiful stranger and unrequited love for her.

Teaching activity, Grigoriev-critic

In the period from 1848 to 1857, Apollon Alexandrovich was a teacher. He taught jurisprudence in several educational institutions. At the same time, he collaborated with magazines and created new compositions. In 1850, Grigoriev became close to the editors of the Moskvityanin. He organized a "young editorial board" together with A. N. Ostrovsky. In fact, it was the Moskvityanin criticism department.

As a critic, Apollon Grigoriev at this time becomes the main figure in theatrical circles. He preached naturalness and realism in acting and dramaturgy. Many productions and plays were appreciated by Apollon Grigoriev. He wrote about Ostrovsky's Thunderstorm primarily as a work of art. The critic considered the author's ability to poetically and reliably depict Russian national life as the main advantage of the play. Grigoriev noted the charm of provincial life and the beauty of Russian nature, and the tragedy of the events depicted in the work,hardly touched.

Apollon Grigoriev is known as the author of the phrase "Pushkin is our everything". The work of Alexander Sergeevich, of course, he put very highly. His reasoning is very interesting, in particular, what Apollon Grigoriev said about Eugene Onegin. The critic believed that Eugene's spleen is connected with his natural innate criticism, which is characteristic of Russian common sense. Apollo Alexandrovich said that society is not to blame for the disappointment and spleen that gripped Onegin. He noted that they stem not from skepticism and bitterness, as in Childe Harold, but from Yevgeny's talent.

In 1856 "Moskvityanin" was closed. After that, Apollon Alexandrovich was invited to other magazines, such as Sovremennik and Russkaya Beseda. However, he was ready to accept the offer only under the condition of personal leadership of the critical department. Therefore, negotiations ended only with the publication of Grigoriev's poems, articles and translations.

New love

In 1852-57 Grigoriev Apollon Alexandrovich again experienced unrequited love, this time for L. Ya. Vizard. In 1857, the poetic cycle "Struggle" appeared, which included Grigoriev's most famous poems "Gypsy Hungarian" and "Oh, speak at least with me …". A. A. Blok called these works the pearls of Russian lyrics.

Trip to Europe

Apollon Grigoriev, having become a home teacher and educator of Prince I. Yu. Trubetskoy, went to Europe (Italy, France). Between 1857 and 1858 he lived in Florence and Paris,visited museums. Returning to his homeland, Grigoriev continued to publish, since 1861 actively collaborating with the magazines Epoch and Vremya, headed by F. M. and M. M. Dostoevsky. M. Dostoevsky advised Apollon Alexandrovich to create memoirs about the development of the modern generation, which Apollon Grigoriev did. His work includes "My literary and moral wanderings" - the result of understanding the proposed topic.

Philosophical and aesthetic views of Grigoriev

Grigoriev's philosophical and aesthetic views were formed under the influence of Slavophilism (Khomyakov) and romanticism (Emerson, Schelling, Carlyle). He recognized the decisive importance of religious and national-patriarchal principles in the life of the people. However, in his work, this was combined with criticism of the absolutization of the communal principle, puritanical judgments about literature. Apollon Alexandrovich also defended the idea of national unity before and after Peter the Great. He believed that both Westernism and Slavophilism were characterized by the limitation of historical life to the framework of schemes, abstract theorizing. Nevertheless, according to Grigoriev, the communal ideal of the Slavophiles is incomparably better than the program of Westernism, which recognizes uniformity (uniform humanity, barracks) as its ideal.

Grigoriev's worldview is most fully reflected in the theory of organic criticism created by him. The very concept of organic criticism corresponds to the understanding of the organic nature of art, which synthetically embodies variousorganic beginnings of life. In his opinion, art is a part of life, its ideal expression, and not just a copy of reality.

Features of poetic creativity

Grigoriev's poetic work developed under the influence of Lermontov. Apollon Alexandrovich himself called himself the last romantic. The motives of disharmony of the world and hopeless suffering are the main ones in his work. They often splash out into the element of hysterical fun, revelry. Many of Grigoriev's poems (especially the cycle about the city) were difficult to publish due to their acute social orientation. This was possible only in the foreign Russian press. In general, the poetic heritage of the author of interest to us is very unequal, but his best works are distinguished by their brightness and extraordinary emotionality.

Last years of life

Apollo Grigoriev during his life was an atheist and a mystic, a Slavophile and a freemason, a controversial enemy and a good comrade, a drunkard and a moral person. In the end, all these extremes broke him. Apollon Grigoriev got entangled in debt. In 1861 he had to serve time in debtor's prison. After that, he tried for the last time to change his life, for which he went to Orenburg. Here Grigoriev was a teacher in the cadet corps. However, this trip only aggravated the poet's condition. In addition, once again there was a break with his wife M. F. Dubrovskaya. Apollo Alexandrovich increasingly sought oblivion in wine. Returning fromOrenburg, he worked, but intermittently. Grigoriev avoided rapprochement with literary parties, he wanted to serve only art.

Death of A. A. Grigoriev

In 1864, Apollon Alexandrovich had to serve two more times in a debtor's prison. Completely devastated by emotional experiences, Apollon Grigoriev died of apoplexy in St. Petersburg. His biography ends on September 25, 1864.