Poet Jan Rainis: biography, features of creativity, interesting facts

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

Jan Rainis is a famous Latvian poet, an outstanding writer, thinker and politician who had a huge impact on the formation of the culture and national identity of the people of his country during the formation of its independence.

Childhood

Janis Pliekshans (the name of the writer given to him at birth) was born on September 11, 1865 in the Tadenava estate - the most remote corner of Latvia, located in the Courland province.

The nearest cultural center to these lands was the city of shopkeepers, artisans, carpenters - Dinaburg (Daugavpils). The boy learned to observe nature; Of his first childhood impressions, he remembered best summer, beautiful green fields, blue ponds, winding forest paths and the sun, whose good power is still felt in the author's poetry. The future writer was introduced to the treasury of human creativity by his mother, Darta Plieksane, a smart and active woman. She sang a lot, and Jan Rainis managed to record a large number of folksongs.

Yan's father was a fairly we althy man - a peasant who managed to independently achieve a stable financial position and gave his child an excellent education. From an early age, the boy was fluent in Russian and German, and later learned Latin and French. With a more detailed acquaintance with the biography of Janis, it becomes clear that the poet was also fluent in Lithuanian, Belarusian, Polish and Italian.

Gymnasia years

Since 1880, Rainis Jan entered the Riga City Gymnasium, then "nibbled" the granite of science at St. Petersburg University at the Faculty of Law. According to Jan, he chose the profession of a lawyer because he wanted to personally be inside the life of his state, transforming it for the better. At this time he read a lot; these were the works of writers of ancient times (Aeschylus, Sophocles, Homer, Herodotus, Plutarch) and writers of modern times (Shakespeare, Byron, Lermontov, Shelley, Heine, Pushkin). At the same time, he was engaged in translations of the great works of world classics.

It was in St. Petersburg, the revolutionary cradle, that the poet swore allegiance to the proletariat and served its interests until the very last day.

Publicistic activity

After completing his studies, Jan Rainis, whose biography is a matter of special pride for his compatriots, got a job in his speci alty: first in Vilnius, then in Berlin, Panevezys, Jelgava. After defending his dissertation in 1891, he became a candidate of legal sciences, but quite easilysaid goodbye to a promising career as a lawyer.

At the same time, Jan Rainis was seriously interested in politics, was fond of literary activities, got a job at the editorial office of the newspaper Dienas Lapa, which was close to the social democratic spirit in its interests. It was the editorial years that became the most fruitful time of the journalistic activity of Jan Rainis. The poet wrote poems, reviews, political reviews and polemical articles, and became one of the best and most sought-after journalists in his country.

In exile

The poet Rainis Jan, whose biography is of sincere interest to a wide range of readers, actively fought for revolutionary ideas, for which he was repeatedly imprisoned. He first went to jail in 1897. In 1899, the poet was exiled for 5 years to the Vyatka province - one of the centers of political exile, known for its endless swampy swamps and impenetrable dense forests. It was there, in a provincial Russian town with seething spiritual activity, that Rainis published his first collection of poems, Distant Echoes on a Blue Evening (1903), which clearly reflected his artistic and spiritual path for almost 20 years.

After returning home, Rainis spent two extremely fruitful years of his life. By that time, the poet was married to the famous poetess Aspasia, he was 38 years old, and he was completely occupied with social work and creative activity. Jan spoke a lot at rallies and meetings, took an active part in the Congress of Latvian Teachers, collaborated withSocial Democrats, traveled to Moscow as a delegate. With jubilation and joy, the poet reacted to the revolution of 1905, in which he took a direct part.

The most significant achievement of this period was the great poetic drama "Fire and Night" - a great work of Latvian dramaturgy.

Biography and books of the author

Rainis Jan, together with his wife, after the defeat of the armed uprising, emigrated to Switzerland, where he lived for 15 years. It was this country that the poet called his second home. Here, such works of the author as “The End and the Beginning”, “The Quiet Book”, “New Power”, “Those Who Don’t Forget”, “Daugava”, “Wei, Breeze”, “Fire and Night”, “Joseph and his brothers”, “Golden Horse”.

The plays and poems of Rainis have become the best examples of Latvian poetry, which used to be secondary and imitated German literature.

Last years of life

On his return to already independent Latvia, where he and his wife were greeted by thousands of people as national heroes, Jan Rainis wrote the tragedy "Ilya Muromets", then published a book of poetry "Dagda's Five Sketch Notebooks". After spending the last 9 years of his life in Riga, the poet took an active part in political life, was elected to the constituent assembly of Latvia, was one of the authors of the country's constitution, and even participated in the presidential race, which he lost. From 1921 to 1925 he worked as director of the Art Theater. A large number of stage works were staged by the National Theater during the reign of Rainis. From 1926 to1928 Jan Rainis served as Minister of Education, and in 1925 he received the country's highest award - the Order of the Three Stars, 1st class.

The life of the Latvian poet ended in Jurmala on September 12, 1929. Jan Rainis left abruptly, leaving more than a hundred unfinished plays in the archive. The world famous writer was buried at the New Cemetery, which later received his name. In 1943, his wife Aspasia was buried near Jan.

The plays of Jan Rainis are staged not only in Latvian theaters, but all over the world, and his poetry, published in new translations, gains millions of readers.