Life and creative destiny of A. A
Afanasy Afanasyevich Fet - born in 1820, and died in 1892.
There lived a young poet in a small village. Later he studied abroad and then came to Moscow, skillfully maneuvering the acquired knowledge. Fet’s work is considered to be masterly and experimental. The author loved innovation and often used it in his works. His collections began to be published already in Shenshin’s twentieth year. (Russian surname Feta)
Afanasy Afanasyevich was recognized as one of the best landscape painters, because the descriptions of nature in his works are truly amazing in their beauty. It was typical for the poet to devote his poems to nature. Each landscape is symbolized: spring - youth, the time of unbridled love; autumn - old age, fading of life; night - trouble, the action of dark forces; morning is the dawn of everything new and good.
Another feature of Fet’s work is the use of various repetitions - anaphora, epiphora, refrain. This helped the poet to enhance the transfer of sensations. In terms of genre, Fet gravitates toward fragments, lyrical miniatures, and cyclization.
The poet “liberated” the word and increased the load on it - grammatical, emotional, semantic and phonetic load. This was Afanasy Afanasyevich’s innovation in relation to the artistic word.
More biography of Fet
Afanasy Fet - translator and lyric poet. His poems have been part of the school curriculum for several generations.
He was born in 1820 in the village of Novoselki, not far from Mtsensk, a county town in the Oryol province. In the village there was the estate of his father, retired military man Afanasy Neofitovich Shenshin. He married abroad in 1820 to his future mother, Charlotte Feth, who bore her ex-husband's surname. It was this surname that went to her son: when the boy turned 14 years old, it turned out that the Orthodox wedding took place after Afanasy was born. The spiritual consistory deprived the boy of his father's surname, and after this - of noble privileges.
Fet received a good education at home. At the age of 14 he was sent to a German boarding school in the city of Verro, which is now in Estonia.
At the age of 18, he entered Moscow University at the Faculty of Law, but soon transferred to the Faculty of Literature. Studied for 6 years: from 1838 to 1844.
It was while studying at the university that Fet published his first poems. His debut took place in 1840: the collection of poems “Lyrical Pantheon” appeared in print. He begins to collaborate with Otechestvennye zapiski and Moskvityanin.
After graduating from university, the poet decided to try to regain his nobility by enlisting in the army as a cavalryman in 1845. A year later he was awarded the rank of officer. But, unfortunately, he never received a letter of nobility; it was given only from the rank of major.
This was a difficult period in the life of Afanasy Fet. He was very worried about the death of his beloved, Maria Lazic. She died in a fire. At this time, he dedicated many poems to her.
In 1853 he was transferred to the Guards regiment, which was located in St. Petersburg. There he became close to the circle of the Sovremennik magazine. It included: Turgenev, Druzhinin, Nekrasov. Friendship with Turgenev, who helped compile and publish a new edition of Fet’s poems in 1856, played a special role.
In 1857 Fet got married. His chosen one was Maria Botkina, the sister of the literary critic Vasily Botkin. Maria was not particularly beautiful, but she had a large dowry behind her. It was these funds that allowed the poet to buy the Stepanovka estate. He decided to retire and start developing the estate, which was quite large: 200 acres of land. His friends regarded this act as a betrayal of literature. Indeed, only notes on agriculture and small literary essays began to appear from his pen. Fet explained this by saying that no one was interested in his work.
The writer returned to creativity only 17 years later, when he sold his improved estate and bought a house in Moscow. Now he was not a poor man, but a famous Oryol landowner. The writer again joins his friends. He is intensely involved in translating classical German literature.
By 1892, the poet’s condition began to deteriorate sharply: he began to choke, experiencing terrible pain, and his vision almost disappeared. In the last months of his life, he often thought about suicide. Died November 21, 1892.
Option 3
Afanasy Afanasyevich Fet was born in 1820 and left this world almost a century later, having lived an incredibly eventful life until 1892. For the most part, Fet's lyrics related to the theme of nature or love. These themes are quite common, but the poet was not banal and was able to create a number of truly outstanding works.
Fet was often called a poet-musician, because he created poems that became the basis for romances. By the way, romances based on Fet’s poems are still popular and are performed on stage.
First, Fet studied at a boarding school in Estonia, and after that he entered the Faculty of Literature at Moscow University. In the city, the poet begins to communicate with various representatives of the creative elite and gains some popularity; Fet’s works were praised by Gogol and many other figures of that time.
Fet's works are for the most part filled with a certain lightness and, as it were, detachment from this world, but the fate of the poet himself can hardly be called cloudless. He was left without a title and in order to regain his status, he entered the army in 1844, where he served until 1858. It was there that he wrote many magnificent works, including those dedicated to Maria Lazic, whom he loved completely and completely and rather tragically lost.
In fact, Fet’s work should in many ways be assessed precisely through his relationship with Lazic. The poet had mutual feelings with this girl, but the young and ambitious Fet then could not take a wife from a poor family, being himself not fully accomplished. The marriage did not take place, and Lazich tragically died from a fire, and as a result, Afanasy Afanasyevich constantly blamed himself for this situation and remained faithful to Maria throughout his life, although he later started a family.
Retired Fet works as a justice of the peace and is engaged in creative work, writing not only poetry, but also translations, he is also creating a book of memoirs. The poet spends most of these days on the estate he acquired for himself, which was of great importance in his fate. Fet died of a heart attack in Moscow.
Creation
Special and complicated in many ways, fate with its dramatic events is characteristic of Fet’s work.
Afanasy Afanasyevich had a long and hectic life. He appeared and grew up in the family of landowner Afanasy Neofitovich Shenshin and his wife Charlotte Becker. At the age of 14, the boy learned that he was born out of wedlock. When he was studying at a German boarding school located in one of the Baltic cities, Afanasy received a letter saying that the young man would now live under the name Feta. And then the poet felt all the difficult consequences that were associated with his new surname. It was here that Fet felt the first impulses towards poetic creativity.
Afanasy Afanasyevich continued to compose his creations with special zeal in the boarding house of Professor Pogodin, where he was preparing for exams at Moscow University. Gogol was the first to give his blessing to his creative pursuits. Joyful Fet decides to publish his poems as a separate collection, borrowing some money from the servants. The book “The Lyrical Pantheon” was nevertheless published in 1840 and received an approving review from Belinsky. The approval of this literary critic helped Fet realize his potential in the literary field and beyond. The poet began intensively publishing his works in Moskvityanin and Otechestvennye zapiski.
In 1845, Fet dramatically changed his fate, leaving Moscow and entering service in one of the regiments in the Kherson province. Now he could rise to the rank of hereditary nobility and thereby regain at least a little of what he had lost. However, his creative activity weakened. He never managed to rise to the nobility, and in 1853 he was transferred to a regiment located not far from St. Petersburg. In 1856, a revised collection of poems was published, which received high praise from Nekrasov. And Fet begins to develop very active literary activity. He tries himself in fiction. Translates the works of Heine and Goethe. In 1857, he was legally married to the daughter of the richest Moscow tea merchant, Maria Botkina, and retired. Subsequently, having bought a small estate, he becomes a Mtsensk landowner and continues to write. In 1863, he published a new collection of his works in two parts, which remained completely unsold. Then he buys another estate, Vorobyovka, and is elected magistrate in the district. But Fet did not leave literature. In 1883 he published the book “Evening Lights”. Further collections were published under the same name in 1885, 1888 and 1891.
Friends organized a solemn anniversary dedicated to the 50th anniversary of Afanasy Afanasyevich’s poetic activity. However, the limited readership caused him bitterness and sadness. For some time now, Fet began to be tormented by old ailments. And on November 21, 1892, the poet committed suicide. And in our time it has become likely that Fet’s lyrics provide readers with enormous aesthetic significance.
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Fet's poems amazed his contemporaries and amaze us with the brightness and consistency of colors, great emotional intensity.
The poet believed that one must create according to intuition and inspiration. The subject of art can be nature, love, beauty - and he followed this in his poetic practice. He entered the history of Russian poetry as an original lyric poet, a master of lyrical miniature.
Nature occupies a significant place in his lyrics; it seems to respond to the poet’s feelings. Man is a particle of living nature, a creature equal to it. The poet loved to depict the transitional states of nature, different seasons: autumn, spring, summer and winter - all equally beautiful.
His love lyrics are very significant, glorifying the joys and misfortunes of great human feeling. A whole series of poems about love for a woman is dedicated to Maria Lazic, most of them are of a dramatic nature.
The prevailing mood in his works is intoxication with nature, beauty, art, memories, and delight. These are the features of Fet's lyrics. The poet often encounters the motif of flying away from the earth following the moonlight or enchanting music.
For Fet, poetry is pure essence, something like rarefied air on mountain peaks: not a human home, but a sanctuary.
Like any poet, Afanasy Afanasyevich writes about the eternal theme of life and death. Neither death nor life frightens him equally. The poet experiences only cold indifference to physical death, and earthly existence is justified only by creative fire, commensurate in his view with the “entire universe.” Both ancient and Christian motifs are heard in the poems.
In this section you will also find all the best poems by Fet, which are taken by students of 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th grades according to the school curriculum. Patriotic poems about the Motherland and Russia, about war and freedom. Sad poems about the cemetery and religion, about loneliness, about freedom. Dedications to mother and women. Philosophical reflections about good and evil, about friendship, about the abyss.
Adult readers will enjoy short poems about sleep, satirical poems with obscenities. As well as lyrical, romantic and historical works. And also read dedications, epigrams, romances - and enjoy the pearls of world poetry.
Square
Many schoolchildren have difficulty distinguishing Fet’s poetry from Tyutchev’s creations - this is undoubtedly the fault of the teacher, who failed to correctly present the masterpieces of two meters of Russian literature. I assure you, after this article about interesting facts from the life of Fet, you will immediately learn to distinguish the poetics of Afanasy Afanasyevich from the work of Fyodor Ivanovich Tyutchev, I will try to be very brief!
In Tyutchev’s poetry, the world is presented as cosmic, even the forces of nature come to life and become natural spirits surrounding man. The motifs in Fet's work are closer to reality (down to earth). Before us is a description of real landscapes, images of real people, Fet’s love - the same complex feeling, but earthly and accessible.
The secret of the poet's surname
As a child, A. Fet experienced a shock - he was deprived of his noble title and his father's surname. The writer's real name is Shenshin, his father is a retired Russian captain, and his mother is the German beauty Charlotte Feth. The parents met in Germany, where they immediately began a whirlwind romance. Charlotte was married, but completely unhappy in her marriage; her husband loved to drink and often raised his hand to her. Having met a noble Russian military man, she fell desperately in love with him, and even maternal feelings did not prevent the reunification of two hearts - Charlotte had a daughter. Already in the seventh month of pregnancy, Charlotte escapes to Russia to Afanasy Shenshin. Later, Shenshin will write a letter to Charlotte’s husband, but in response he will receive an obscene telegram. After all, the lovers committed an unchristian act.
The future poet was born in the Oryol province, and was recorded in the registry register by Afanasy Shenshin. Charlotte and Shenshin got married only two years after the birth of their son. At the age of 14, Afanasy was declared illegitimate, his surname Fet was returned to him and he was called a “foreigner.” As a result, the boy loses his noble origin and the inheritance of the landowner's father. Later he will regain his rights, but after many, many years.
Fet and Tolstoy
In Lotman's works there is a mention of one unusual incident from the lives of two great writers. In those days, everyone played card games, especially loved to gamble (but not about that now). So, the process of the games was quite emotional; in a rush, the players tore and threw the cards on the floor, and the money fell with them. But picking up this money was considered indecent; it remained on the floor until the end of the game, and then the lackeys took it away in the form of tips.
One day, socialites (including Fet and Tolstoy) were playing a card game, and Fet bent down to pick up a fallen banknote. Everyone felt a little strange, but not Tolstoy; the writer bent over to his friend to illuminate it with a candle. There is nothing shameful in this act, because Fet played with his last money, unlike his rivals.
Fet also wrote prose
In the 60s of the 19th century, Fet began working on prose; as a result, two prose collections were published, consisting of essays and short stories-sketches.
“We must not be separated” - a story of unhappy love
The poet met Maria Lazich at a ball in the house of the famous officer Petkovich (this happened in 1848, when the sun was mercilessly scorching on the border of the Kyiv and Kherson provinces). Maria Lazic was charming - tall, slender, dark, with a mop of dark thick hair. Fet immediately realized that Maria was like Beatrice for Dante. Then Fet was 28 years old, and Maria was 24 years old, she had full responsibility for the house and younger sisters, because she was the daughter of a poor Serbian general. Since then, all the writer’s love lyrics have been dedicated to this beautiful young lady.
According to contemporaries, Mary was not distinguished by incomparable beauty, but she was pleasant and seductive. So Afanasy and Maria began to communicate, write letters to each other, and spend joint evenings discussing art. But one day, while leafing through her diary (at that time all the girls had diaries in which they copied their favorite poems, quotes, and attached photographs), Fet noticed the musical notes under which there was a signature - Franz Liszt. Ferenc, a famous composer of that time, who toured Russia in the 40s, met Maria and even dedicated a piece of music to her. At first Fet was upset and jealousy washed over him, but then when he heard how great the melody sounded for Maria, he asked to play it constantly.
But a marriage between Athanasius and Maria was impossible, he has no means of subsistence and no title, and Maria, although from a poor family, is from a noble family. Lazic’s relatives did not know about this and did not understand at all why Fet had been communicating with their daughter for two years, but did not propose. Naturally, rumors and speculation spread throughout the city about Fet himself and Maria’s immorality. Then Afanasy told his beloved that their marriage was impossible, and the relationship needed to be ended urgently. Maria asked Afanasy to just be there without marriage or money.
But in the spring of 1850 something terrible happened. In despair, Maria sat in her room, trying to gather her thoughts on how to live further, how to achieve an eternal and indestructible union with her beloved. Suddenly she stood up sharply, causing the lamp to fall onto her long muslin dress; in a matter of seconds, flames engulfed the girl’s hair, she only managed to shout “Save the letters!” Relatives put out the fire of madness, but the number of burns on her body was incompatible with life, and after four painful days Maria died. Her last words were “It’s not his fault, but I...”. There is speculation that it was suicide and not just an accidental death.
Marriage of convenience
Years later, Fet marries Maria Botkina, but not out of strong love, but out of convenience. The image of tall and black-haired Maria Lazic will forever remain in his heart and poetry.
How Fet returned the title
It took the poet several years of service in the infantry to achieve officer rank and receive the nobility. He did not like the army way of life at all; Fet wanted to study literature, not war. But in order to regain his rightful status, he was ready to endure any difficulties. After his service, Fet had to work as a judge for 11 years, and only then did the writer become worthy of receiving a noble title!
Suicide attempt
After receiving a noble title and a family estate, Fet, who had achieved the main goal in his life, under some pretext asked his wife to go visit someone. On November 21, 1892, he locked himself in his office, drank a glass of champagne, called the secretary, dictating the last lines.
“I don’t understand the deliberate increase in inevitable suffering. I voluntarily go towards the inevitable. November 21, Fet (Shenshin)"
He took out a stiletto for cutting paper and raised his hand above his temple; the secretary managed to snatch the stiletto from the writer’s hands. At that moment, Fet jumped out of the office into the dining room, tried to grab the knife, but immediately fell. The secretary ran up to the dying writer, who said only one word “voluntarily” and died. The poet left no heirs behind him.
The great Russian lyricist A. Fet was born on December 5, 1820. But biographers doubt not only the exact date of his birth. The mysterious facts of their true origin tormented Fet until the end of his life. In addition to the absence of a father as such, the situation with the real surname was also unclear. All this shrouds Fet’s life and work in a certain mystery.
Fet's parents
According to the official version, the Russian nobleman Afanasy Neofitovich Shenshin, while undergoing treatment in the German city of Darmstadt, settled in the house of Oberkrieg Commissioner Karl Becker. After some time, a retired army officer becomes interested in the owner's daughter, Charlotte. However, Charlotte at that time was no longer free and was married to a petty German official, Karl Feth, who also lived in Becker’s house.
Despite these circumstances and even the fact that Charlotte has a daughter from Fet, a whirlwind romance begins. The lovers' feelings were so strong that Charlotte decided to escape with Shenshin to Russia. In the fall of 1820, Charlotte, leaving her husband and daughter, left Germany.
Mother's protracted divorce
An outline of Fet's life and work is impossible without a story about the relationship of his parents. Already in Russia, Charlotte dreams of an official divorce from Karl Fet. But divorce in those days was a rather lengthy process. Some biographers claim that because of this, the wedding ceremony between Shenshin and Charlotte took place two years after the birth of little Afanasy, their common son. According to one version, Shenshin allegedly bribed the priest in order to give the boy his last name.
Probably, it was this fact that influenced the poet’s entire life. Violations of this kind were treated quite strictly in the Russian Empire. However, all sources confirm the fact of the wedding of Shenshin and Charlotte, who later took the name Shenshin.
From nobles to paupers
Getting acquainted with the biography of the lyricist, you involuntarily ask yourself the question of what influenced Fet’s life and work. It is difficult to find out all the details down to the smallest detail. But the main milestones are quite accessible to us. Until the age of 14, little Afanasy considered himself a hereditary Russian nobleman. But then, thanks to the hard work of judicial officials, the secret of the child’s origin was revealed. In 1834, an investigation was launched into this case, as a result of which, by a decree of the Oryol provincial government, the future poet was deprived of the right to be called Shenshin.
It is clear that the ridicule of his recent comrades immediately began, which the boy experienced quite painfully. In part, this was what contributed to the development of Fet’s mental illness, which haunted him until his death. However, what was much more important was that in this situation he not only did not have the right to inheritance, but in general, judging by the documents presented from the archives of that time, he was a person of no confirmed nationality. At one point, a hereditary Russian nobleman with a rich inheritance turned into a beggar, a person of no use to anyone except his mother, without a surname, and the loss was so great that Fet himself considered this event to have disfigured his life to the point of his deathbed.
Foreigner Fet
One can imagine what the poet’s mother went through, begging the court’s tricksters for at least some kind of certificate about the origin of her son. But it was all in vain. The woman took a different route.
Remembering her German roots, she appealed to the pity of her former German husband. History is silent about how Elena Petrovna achieved the desired result. But he was. Relatives sent official confirmation that Afanasy is the son of Fetu.
So the poet at least got a last name, Fet’s life and work received a new impetus in development. However, in all circulars he still continued to be called “foreigner Fet.” The natural conclusion from this was complete disinheritance. After all, now the foreigner had nothing in common with the nobleman Shenshin. It was at this moment that he was overcome by the idea of regaining his lost Russian name and title by any means possible.
First steps in poetry
Afanasy enters the Faculty of Literature at Moscow University and is still referred to in the university forms as “foreigner Fet.” There he meets the future poet and critic. Historians believe that Fet’s life and work changed at this very moment: it is believed that Grigoriev discovered Afanasy’s poetic gift.
Soon Feta comes out - “Lyrical Pantheon”. The poet wrote it while still a university student. Readers highly appreciated the young man's gift - they did not care what class the author belonged to. And even the harsh critic Belinsky repeatedly emphasized the poetic gift of the young lyricist in his articles. Belinsky's reviews, in fact, served Fet as a kind of passport into the world of Russian poetry.
Afanasy began to publish in various publications and within a few years he prepared a new lyric collection.
Military service
However, the joy of creativity could not cure Fet’s sick soul. The thought of his true origin haunted the young man. He was ready to do anything to prove it. In the name of a great goal, Fet immediately after graduating from university enlists in military service, hoping to earn nobility in the army. He ends up serving in one of the provincial regiments located in the Kherson province. And immediately the first success - Fet officially receives Russian citizenship.
But his poetic activity does not end; he still continues to write and publish a lot. After some time, the army life of the provincial unit makes itself felt: Fet’s life and work (he writes poetry less and less) become more and more gloomy and uninteresting. The craving for poetry is weakening.
Fet, in personal correspondence, begins to complain to friends about the hardships of his current existence. In addition, judging by some letters, he is experiencing financial difficulties. The poet is even ready to do anything just to get rid of the current oppressive physically and morally deplorable situation.
Transfer to St. Petersburg
Fet's life and work were quite gloomy. Briefly summarizing the main events, we note that the poet pulled the soldier's burden for eight long years. And just before receiving the first officer rank in his life, Fet learns about a special decree that raised the length of service and the level of army rank for receiving the rank of nobility. In other words, nobility was now granted only to a person who received a higher officer rank than Fet had. This news completely demoralized the poet. He understood that he was unlikely to reach this rank. Fet's life and work were again reshaped by someone else's grace.
A woman with whom he could connect his life for convenience was also not on the horizon. Fet continued to serve, falling more and more into a depressed state.
However, luck finally smiled on the poet: he managed to transfer to the Guards Life Lancer Regiment, which was stationed not far from St. Petersburg. This event happened in 1853 and surprisingly coincided with a change in society's attitude towards poetry. Some decline in interest in literature, which emerged in the mid-1840s, passed.
Now, when Nekrasov became the editor-in-chief of the Sovremennik magazine and gathered the elite of Russian literature under his wing, the times clearly contributed to the development of any creative thought. Finally, the second collection of Fet’s poems, written long ago, was published, which the poet himself had forgotten about.
Poetic confession
The poems published in the collection made an impression on poetry connoisseurs. And soon such well-known literary critics of the time as V.P. Botkin and A.V. Druzhinin left rather flattering reviews of the works. Moreover, under pressure from Turgenev, they helped Fet release a new book.
In essence, these were all the same previously written poems from 1850. In 1856, after the release of a new collection, Fet’s life and work changed again. Briefly speaking, Nekrasov himself drew attention to the poet. Many flattering words addressed to Afanasy Fet were written by the master of Russian literature. Inspired by such high praise, the poet develops vigorous activity. He is published in almost all literary magazines, which undoubtedly contributed to some improvement in his financial situation.
Romantic interest
Fet's life and work gradually filled with light. His most important desire - obtaining a noble title - was soon to come true. But the next imperial decree again raised the bar for obtaining hereditary nobility. Now, in order to gain the coveted rank, it was necessary to rise to the rank of colonel. The poet realized that it was simply useless to continue to pull the hated burden of military service.
But as often happens, a person cannot help but be lucky in absolutely everything. While still in Ukraine, Fet was invited to a reception with his friends Brzhevsky and on a neighboring estate he met a girl who would not leave his mind for a long time. This was the gifted musician Elena Lazich, whose talent amazed even the famous composer who was then touring Ukraine.
As it turned out, Elena was a passionate fan of Fet’s poetry, and he, in turn, was amazed by the girl’s musical abilities. Of course, it is impossible to imagine Fet’s life and work without romance. The summary of his romance with Lazic fits into one phrase: the young people had tender feelings for each other. However, Fet is very burdened by his dire financial situation and does not dare to take a serious turn of events. The poet tries to explain his problems to Lazic, but she, like all girls in such a situation, does not understand his torment well. Fet directly tells Elena that there will be no wedding.
Tragic death of a loved one
After that, he tries not to see the girl. Leaving for St. Petersburg, Afanasy realizes that he is doomed to eternal spiritual loneliness. According to some historians studying his life and work, Afanasy Fet wrote too pragmatically to his friends about marriage, about love and about Elena Lazich. Most likely, the romantic Fet was simply carried away by Elena, not intending to burden himself with a more serious relationship.
In 1850, while visiting the same Brzhevskys, he did not dare to go to the neighboring estate to dot all the i’s. Later Fet very much regretted this. The fact is that Elena soon died tragically. History is silent whether her terrible death was a suicide or not. But the fact remains: the girl burned alive on the estate.
Fet himself found out about this when he once again visited his friends. This shocked him so much that until the end of his life the poet blamed himself for Elena’s death. He was tormented by the fact that he could not find the right words to calm the girl down and explain his behavior to her. After Lazic’s death, there were many rumors, but no one ever proved Fet’s involvement in this sad event.
Marriage of convenience
Fairly judging that in the army service he is unlikely to achieve his goal - a noble title, Fet takes a long leave. Taking with him all the accumulated fees, the poet sets off on a trip to Europe. In 1857, in Paris, he unexpectedly married Maria Petrovna Botkina, the daughter of a wealthy tea merchant, who, among other things, was the sister of the literary critic V.P. Botkin. Apparently, this was the same arranged marriage that the poet had dreamed about for so long. Contemporaries very often asked Fet about the reasons for his marriage, to which he responded with eloquent silence.
In 1858, Fet arrived in Moscow. He is again overcome by thoughts about the scarcity of finances. Apparently, his wife's dowry does not fully satisfy his requirements. The poet writes a lot and is published a lot. Often the quantity of works does not correspond to their quality. This is noticed by both close friends and literary critics. The public also seriously cooled towards Fet’s work.
landowner
Around the same time, Leo Tolstoy left the bustle of the capital. Having settled in Yasnaya Polyana, he tries to regain inspiration. Fet probably decided to follow his example and settle on his estate in Stepanovka. Sometimes they say that Fet’s life and work ended here. Interesting facts, however, were also found in this period. Unlike Tolstoy, who really found a second wind in the provinces, Fet increasingly abandons literature. He is now passionate about the estate and farming.
It should be noted that as a landowner he really found himself. After some time, Fet increases his holdings by purchasing several more neighboring estates.
Afanasy Shenshin
In 1863, the poet published a small lyric collection. Even despite the small circulation, it remained unsold. But the neighboring landowners assessed Fet in a completely different capacity. For about 11 years he held the elected position of justice of the peace.
The life and work of Afanasy Afanasyevich Fet were subordinated to the only goal towards which he moved with amazing tenacity - the restoration of his noble rights. In 1873, a royal decree was issued that put an end to the poet’s forty-year ordeal. He was fully restored to his rights and legitimized as a nobleman with the surname Shenshin. Afanasy Afanasyevich admits to his wife that he does not even want to say out loud the surname Fet, which he hates.
Afanasy Afanasyevich Fet, also known as Shenshin, is a famous Russian poet, one of the best lyricists in Russian literature. Many fans of his work know when Fet was born and died. If you are not one of them, we suggest filling the gap in knowledge. This man has gone through a rather difficult life path. And he experienced the first blow of fate already in his youth.
Birth story, or Who is the father?
The origin of Afanasy Fet is the darkest place in his biography. It is still not known exactly who his real father is. A brief account of his birth describes a complex and controversial story.
In September 1820, respectable forty-four-year-old landowner Afanasy Neofitovich Shenshin returned to his estate after a year-long treatment at a German spa resort. In Germany, he stayed at the house of Karl Becker, where he met his married daughter Charlotte Feth. After some time, the woman became pregnant...
Controversial opinion about origin
Of course, it is important to know when Fet was born and died, but understanding this almost detective story of his birth is no less interesting. Opinions differ regarding further events. Some biographers believe that Charlotte hastily filed for divorce and soon had a legal marriage with Afanasy Neofitovich in Germany.
Other experts who have examined the facts of the birth of the future poet are inclined to believe that Afanasy Neofitovich, without waiting for a divorce, simply took Charlotte to his estate. There, little Afanasy, the future great poet, would subsequently be born. This is a short biography of Fet, which tells about his complicated origin.
The first blow of fate
When Afanasy Afanasievich turned fourteen years old, an official notification came from Germany, which concerned the rights of his birth. According to him, from that moment on he was the legitimate son of his German father. In connection with this, he was automatically deprived of all noble titles, which he rightfully enjoyed as Shenshin.
As a result of these circumstances, fourteen-year-old Afanasy Fet began to be considered the illegitimate child of Shenshin Afanasy Neofitovich. And this left a huge stain on the poet’s entire future life. Now his main goal was to restore his noble dignity and regain lost rights.
Studying at the university and making new acquaintances
During the same period, Fet Afanasy Afanasievich was sent to the Livonian city of Verro, where he was accepted into a German boarding school. Without a name, family or citizenship, the boy felt particularly disadvantaged. During these same years, the young man began to discover his poetic talent, with the help of which he distanced himself from reality and immersed himself in the world of creativity.
In 1837, Fet Afanasy Afanasievich - by decision of Shenshin - was transferred to a boarding school in Moscow, owned by Mikhail Pogodin. And next year the future poet enters the university to study laws and philology. There he meets his classmate and they become very close friends.
Soon Afanasy even moved to Apollo’s house on Malaya Polyanka, where he settled in a small room on the top floor. In the future, many contemporaries will note that with his ideas he had an important influence on the work of the young Afanasy Fet.
A. Fet: photo in military uniform, or What is service for?
Afanasy studied very poorly, science did not interest him. Because of this, he had to stay at the university even two years longer. The young man is constantly tormented by melancholy, it suffocates him, and he finds salvation only in poetry. Finally, Afanasy Afanasievich graduated from Moscow University, and the friendly connections that appeared during these years of Fet’s life played a significant role in the fate of the Russian lyricist. During that period, he met German philosophers, matured and became a true poet.
In 1840, Fet's first collection of poems, called "Lyrical Pantheon", was published. However, after graduating from university, Afanasy Afanasyevich begins his career in the military. Why did this man suddenly begin to serve in the army? The fact is that certain ranks gave a person the right to personal nobility. Significant years of Fet’s life were spent trying to regain the name Shenshin.
This is connected with his endless travels to different regions of Russia and Afanasy Afanasyevich’s remoteness from those places where real literary life was seething, magazines were published, and poetry was discussed. And it’s not so important when Fet was born and died. Of great importance is what fate awaited the poet because of the incomprehensible history of his birth.
Poet or business executive. A man standing firmly on his feet
Even years later, Afanasy Afanasyevich was engaged in creativity as if episodically. In 1863, the final collection of his poems was published, which draws a line under the entire period of Fet’s life. Then comes a decade during which he practically not only does not publish his works, but does not even write them. This is caused by certain external reasons.
The 1960s are a time of reform, and Afanasy Fet publishes articles on agriculture, devoted to many topical issues. And many begin to perceive the poet primarily as a business executive. It is enough to remember the appearance of this man - stocky, strong, with a large black beard - to understand that it is not without reason that he writes about the economy. He was indeed very skillful and very steady on his feet.
Two directions in Russian literature
The 1960s are the years when literature, and poetry in particular, devotes itself to public service. So, for example, it was in the lyrics of Nikolai Nekrasov, the greatest poet of that time. The axis of opposition between Nekrasov and Fet lies in the fact that the former represented civil poetry, and Afanasy Afanasievich personified the poetry of pure art.
On the one hand, specific goals, relevance, topicality, and on the other - something very strange. Some streams, nightingales, dreams... Who needs this? This is how many readers of that era reasoned. During these years, Afanasy Afanasievich was subjected to endless attacks from journalists. They write numerous parodies of the poet. They do not like the excessive musicality and rhythm of his works. Indeed, Fet’s poetry is distinguished by its integrity and unity. From the very beginning, he showed himself as a lyricist, praising the beauty and harmony of the world.
Special motives of Afanasy Afanasievich's lyrics
The main characteristics of Afanasy Fet's lyrics are associativeness, ambiguity and musicality. His poems represent not wild nature, but the space of human life. For example, not the sea, but a pond, not the whistle of the wind, but the sounds of music, not a forest, but a garden. "Whispers, timid breathing, trills of a nightingale...". Not everyone remembers when Fet was born and died, but many readers know by heart these textbook lines written by Afanasy Afanasievich.
The world of Fet's poetry consists of images of pure beauty. These poems do not require any external stimuli, any special reasons or social events. And it was precisely this intimacy that allowed Fet to remain a poet for decades. And it’s as if you don’t notice your aging. Afanasy Afanasievich was born in 1820, and Fet’s life was cut short in 1892. And it should be noted that it was precisely in the last decade, in the 1880s, that the absolute flowering of his work occurred.
The enormous significance of Fet's lyrics
It was at the time when Afanasy Fet was the owner of his wonderful estate in the Kursk province that he wrote his most delightful poems. Then the poet found stability and happiness in family life. Fet, whose photo is familiar to even the youngest reader today, began publishing collections one after another under the same title “Evening Lights.” Four were published, the fifth was prepared for publication.
Anyone can see in these last verses the same young soul of the poet, who is not so much immersed in everyday life, but is inclined to see its philosophical depth behind every detail. And this is no coincidence. Because his early university interests in philosophy in his mature years resulted in systematic studies.
Afanasy Afanasyevich occupies a special place in Russian poetry of the nineteenth century. Without Fet there would be no Russian symbolists, the work of Alexander Blok, Konstantin Balmont and many other wonderful poets. It was on the basis of the lyrical discoveries of Afanasy Fet that entire trends in the poetry of the twentieth century arose. First of all, symbolism. The significance of Fet's poetry is thus very great.
