The scene where Grushnitsky changes the pistol. Essay duel between Pechorin and Grushnitsky analysis of the scene episode

Ya.P. Polonsky was born on December 19 (December 6, old style) in the city of Ryazan in a poor noble family. Here he spent his childhood and adolescence.
The Polonsky family changed their place of residence several times. After the death of his mother in April 1832 and his father’s departure to the Caucasus, to a new place of service, Yasha was left an orphan, the eldest of six children. They were taken in by their maternal aunts, the Kaftyrevs. Their house was located on Nikolodvoryanskaya Street (since 1919 - Polonsky Street). From here the future poet went to study at the gymnasium on the street. Astrakhan, where his father assigned him before leaving.

Yasha learned to read and write much earlier. He was taught by seminarian I. Vilkov from books with popular prints.
“When I was seven years old, I already knew how to read and write and read everything that came to hand,” Yakov Petrovich wrote in his memoirs about childhood. One day, the daughter of Madame Turbert (who taught him French) he accidentally came across a notebook with poems by A. Pushkin. The boy became interested in them. As Polonsky recalls: “Pushkin in those distant years was considered a not entirely decent poet. His poems were not given to young people, but the forbidden fruit seemed more valuable. Several handwritten poems by Pushkin passed through the hands of schoolchildren. So, not in print, but in handwritten notebooks, I was able to read “Count Nulin” and “Eugene Onegin” for the first time. But in high school, V. Benediktov became his favorite poet. He was then in great glory and even his teachers admired him. Benediktov captivated everyone with the sonority of his verse. Pushkin faded into the background. They said about him that he was exhausted, that even his rhymes were changed. And Polonsky began to imitate Benediktov.

At that time, all gymnasium students wrote poetry, but Yakov stood out with his poems, and this was known to the gymnasium authorities. That is why, when in August 1837 the heir to the throne, Tsarevich Alexander (the future Tsar-reformer Alexander II with his teacher, was going to visit the gymnasium, famous poet Vasily Zhukovsky), director N. Semenov instructed 6th grade student Y. Polonsky to write a poetic greeting. Although the reading did not take place, the poet was invited by the director to his apartment, where V. Zhukovsky met him, praised him for his poetry and said that the Tsarevich was favoring him with a gold watch.
The next day, in the assembly hall of the new gymnasium (the senior classes were in another building, donated to the gymnasium by the merchant N.G. Ryumin, now there is an art museum), after a prayer service in the presence of all the teachers and students, Yakov was given a case with a gold watch.
Yakov Polonsky became the hero of the day in Ryazan.
Thus began his journey to the heights of poetry.

But the studies still continued. Yakov studied unevenly. In literature (that’s what literature was called then) I always got an A, in other subjects I got twos and even ones.
Here, for example, are the grades he received in the seventh (last) grade of the gymnasium:

Grammar - 3 (only four had this score, the rest had twos and ones);
essay - 3;
piitika - 5;
rhetoric - 4;
history of literature - 5;
Greek - 1;
Latin - 2;
French - 3;
history - 2;
geography - 3;
God's law - 4
Among sixteen graduates, Polonsky took 10th place with an average score of “3”.

Noteworthy is the abundance of bad grades among many students. In our time of widespread percentage mania, Polonsky would not have been given a certificate, but would have been left for the second year.
But bad marks he was forgiven for his excellent knowledge of Russian literature. The literature teacher in high school N. Titov (Polonsky’s favorite teacher) more than once shamed Yakov for grammatical errors, but constantly gave him a “5” in literature.

On June 20 (Old Style), 1838, Ya. Polonsky received a gymnasium certificate. In it, in addition to grades, it was written that he was awarded a watch by the heir to the throne.
After graduating from high school, he went to Moscow on a Yamsk cart. Entered the law faculty of the university.
Moscow University at that time was the center public life Russia. Young talented and progressive professors taught there, which was reflected in the minds of the students.
“We all dreamed,” writes Polonsky, “of the liberation of the peasants.”
His first comrade was Apollo Grigoriev (who later became a famous poet and critic). Then he became close to Fet (also a future celebrity). The friendship of gifted young men contributed to the development of poetic talent. He moves in the circle of such extraordinary personalities as Khomyakov, Granovsky, Chaadaev, Turgenev; meets Herzen, Samarin, Pogodin and Aksakov.

Yakov Petrovich lived very poorly during these years. In winter he wore a student's overcoat (back then students wore uniforms), and a roll of tea often replaced his lunch. However, poverty did not stop him from being creative. He still continued to write poetry. It never occurred to him to publish and make money through poetry. But still, on the advice of one of my comrades. Polonsky decided to publish his first collection by subscription.
He earned a commendable review from the journal Otechestvennye Zapiski, the most popular and authoritative magazine at that time. But this did not bring him wealth.

After graduating from the university in 1844, Yakov Petrovich went to Odessa to visit his school friend, A. Bakunin, a professor at the Richelieu Lyceum, the brother of one of the famous leaders of the anarchist movement, Mikhail Bakunin, who sheltered him and helped him find temporary work. The circle of acquaintances has expanded. It included people who knew Pushkin well: the governor’s wife, Countess Vorontsova, younger brother Alexander Sergeevich Lev, poet Shalikov and others.
Because permanent place there was no work, Polonsky began to seek patronage from the influential Count Vorontsov, who was assigned to the Caucasus. Yakov Petrovich followed him. And soon, in addition to working in the governor’s office, he took part in the publication of the Transcaucasian Vestnik newspaper. The colorful southern nature inspired him. The poet writes and publishes a lot, releasing several collections of poetry.

In 1851 literary affairs Polonsky arrived in St. Petersburg. The stormy literary life attracted the poet, and he decided not to return to the Caucasus. During this period, Polonsky worked a lot, serving as editor of the magazine " Russian word", and then in the Committee of Foreign Censorship and, in the last two years, in the Main Directorate for Press Affairs.

In 1855, the first collection of poems was published. His literary fame and authority are growing. His achievements were recognized with Pushkin Prizes and a gold medal. In 1887, Yakov Petrovich was solemnly honored during his 50th anniversary creative activity. The St. Petersburg society presented him with a silver wreath.

At the end of his life, Yakov Petrovich became close to I.S. Turgenev and Fet. Yakov Petrovich was not only a poet, but also talented artist. He spent two summers at Turgenev's estate, Spasskoye-Lutovinovo, painting there mainly. His paintings still adorn the walls of the museum-estate. For some time he also lived with Fet, as evidenced by the following lines in famous poem: “Polonsky was greeted here not without greetings by Fet...”

In addition to his poetry, Polonsky was known for his literary “Fridays,” during which the cream of the St. Petersburg intelligentsia gathered in his house: writers, artists, musicians.
In 1898, at the 79th year of his life, the poet died after serious illness, and was buried according to his will in the Olga Monastery, not far from his mother’s grave.

Polonsky entered the history of Russian literature as folk poet. Songs based on his poems are still sung today.
Yakov Petrovich Polonsky never forgot about his hometown and always maintained close ties with him. When he studied at Moscow University, he came to Ryazan every summer. In 1851, on the way to St. Petersburg, Y.P. Polonsky again visited Ryazan and, finally, in 1881 he was already in last time visited his homeland, being already a famous poet.
He maintained contact with the Ryazan Scientific Archival Commission, and in May 1887 he was accepted into this commission as an honorary member. In 1890, his memoirs about school years, and in the year of the 800th anniversary of the city of Ryazan in 1895, Polonsky sent a letter of greeting and sent the historical museum a silver wreath, presented to him in honor of the 50th anniversary of his creative activity.
In February 1898, the already seriously ill Yakov Petrovich asked the governor to transfer to Historical Museum at the archival commission, a gold medal received by him from the Academy of Sciences for critical analysis of essays submitted for competition Pushkin Prizes. By the way, we know very little about Polonsky the critic, since he critical articles V Soviet time almost never published.
Unfortunately, the poor student Polonsky was forced to sell the gold watch given to him by the Tsarevich in order to buy clothes for himself. Otherwise, Yakov Petrovich would probably have handed them over to the Ryazan museum.

Ryazan residents did something to perpetuate the memory of Ya.P. Polonsky. Books by Prof. P.A. Orlova about Ya.P. Polonsky in Ryazan book publishing house in 1961 (reissued with additions in 2002), L.A. Pronina "I. Polonsky and time" in 2000 (republished in 2004) and N.F. Bogdanova “Polonsky and Turgenev” in 2004.
In 2003, the book “Favorites” by Ya.P. was published for the first time in Ryazan. Polonsky. It includes more than 80 poems and memoirs of the writer “Old Time and My Childhood” and “I.S. Turgenev at his place on his last visit to his homeland.” This book opens the series “Ryazan Muse Y.P. Polonsky”, which sets the task of republishing all the writer’s works, as well as materials about the life and work of Yakov Petrovich.
Reopened in December 2005 Memorial plaque. The truth happened to the board Detective story. The fact is that back in 1908, on the initiative of the Ryazan Scientific Archival Commission, a memorial marble plaque was installed on the house where Ya. Polonsky lived with the inscription: “The house where he lived in 1832-1838 while studying at the Ryazan gymnasium.” poet Yakov Petrovich Polonsky, born in Ryazan on December 6, 1820. Died on October 18, 1898, buried in the Olga Monastery of the Ryazan province.” (Solodovnikov D. Pereyaslavl Ryazan. - P. 165.).
In the 30s (according to the memoirs of E. Karpeltseva and the version of E. Krupin), the house was demolished along with the board. I don’t know whether the board has survived or where it is located. On the new board there is a different inscription: “Here was the house in which the outstanding Russian poet Yakov Petrovich Polonsky lived in his youth from 1831 to 1838. 1819-1898." The difference in the dates of the poet’s birth and his life in the house is striking. It was not possible to find accurate data in the archive.
The same detective story turned out with the monument at the grave of Ya. Polonsky. It is not yet known when it was installed, what it looked like, and no exact date transferring it to the territory of the Ryazan Kremlin. Moreover, there is evidence that no transfer actually took place. This is what my friend told me, long years who lived on the territory of the Kremlin, R.G. Naperstkov (by the way, he wrote something about this in the newspaper “Evening Ryazan” dated February 27, 2002 in the article “The fence is chaos, years of confusion”):
“After the demolition of the Spassky Monastery, only three monuments remained: S.D. Khvoshchinskaya and unknown Ryazan residents next to her grave. In the 50s (in the spring of 1958 - in a book by P. Orlov or in 1959 - in all reference books about memorable places) decided to transport Polonsky’s ashes and the monument to the territory of the Ryazan Kremlin, and erect the monument to Pozhalostin again (he had only one cross with a plaque). There was probably an order to this effect (I didn’t find any messages in the archives or newspapers). The “craftsmen” did their job: the surviving monuments were used as monuments to Ya. Polonsky and I. Pozhalostin. That is, the old inscriptions were eliminated, and at the bottom they wrote “in the Soviet way”, without hard signs (“POLONSKY Yakov Petrovich Russian poet. 1819 - 1898”). This is how the “transfer” of the monument and ashes of Ya. Polonsky took place.

A. Solzhenitsyn brings some clarity in his story from “Krokhotok” (1991 edition, written in 1958-1960) “The Ashes of the Poet”: “... You can’t go to Polonsky. He's in the zone. You can't go to him. What is there to see? - is the monument torn? Although,” the warden turns to his wife, “Like they dug up Polonsky?” - Well. “They took me to Ryazan,” the wife nods from the porch, cracking the seeds.”

Apparently, the monument was actually taken away, but they were embarrassed to put it up in this form and therefore resorted to falsification. Moreover, the relatives were not told anything about this event, as L.A. writes in his book. Pronina. It was a shame.

For complete clarity, it is necessary to find documents about the transfer of the ashes and the monument and a photograph (or at least a reproduction) of the monument that stood in the Olgov Monastery.

Looking through Ryazan newspapers for 1958 and 1959, I did not find any reports about this landmark event. But it is told in great detail about the opening of the bust of Sergei Yesenin in the concert hall named after him in May 1958. Truly, as the former Ryazan poetess N. Krasnova writes in her book “Belated Flowers”: “... there is one Ryazan poet, whom Sergei Yesenin, one might say , obscured, obscured with himself, not with his gray beard, but with his golden head - this is the poet Yakov Polonsky, a contemporary of all the best Russian poets, writers of the 19th century century and comrade of many of them...

The critic Inna Rostovtseva, whom I once met in Moscow, in one of the editorial offices, said to me: “Why don’t you, Ryazan people, honor your Polonsky?” “I was confused and said for all the people of Ryazan: “How can we not honor it?” We have his grave in Ryazan. On the territory of our Kremlin, and it is all in order (in what “order”, we now know. - M.M.).
- There is a grave. But there is no museum.
- What is not there is not there. There is a Yesenin Museum in Ryazan (I’ll add: practically none, since the premises were taken away for the Veterans’ House. - M.M.). But there is no Polonsky Museum. Why? Or does he not deserve a museum?
- Yesenin is a poet of the first rank, and Polonsky is of the second! - someone may object to me.

By the way, there is a Polonsky Museum in Odessa. He lived in Odessa for only one year, and the people of Odessa (that’s who the Ryazan people should take an example from!) made him a museum... They honor him, but we don’t...”

Moreover, as N. Krasnova writes: “... in the 60s, the widow of one of the grandsons of Yakov Petrovich Polonsky, Valeria Kuzminichna Polonskaya, offered Ryazan, the regional department of culture and local history museum archive, things, furniture Ya.P. Polonsky, his paintings own work and not for money, but like that. And during his lifetime, the grandson Alexey Aleksandrovich Polonsky worked hard for us, “for God’s sake,” to take Polonsky’s exhibits and organize a museum... But we gave up...
And Valeria Kuzminichna gave the entire archive, all things, all the furniture of Ya. Polonsky and all his paintings to Leningrad, Pushkin House. It turns out that Polonsky turned out to be more valuable to the Leningraders, as well as the Odessa residents, than to his own people, the Ryazan residents.”

Now in Ryazan there is talk about the need to hold various events, dedicated to creativity our fellow countryman-poet, which, by the way, are already beginning to take place. The so-called “Polonsky Fridays” have recently been resumed. Following the example of Moscow, a society of lovers and propagandists of the poet’s work is being created in Ryazan, and annual song and poetry festivals named after Ya.P. are planned. Polonsky and the construction of a bronze monument for the 190th anniversary of the poet (the Ryazan Scientific Archival Commission decided to install such a monument in the city park at the beginning of the 20th century). A literary prize named after Y.P. was established. Polonsky, a quiz was held dedicated to the poet.
But this is clearly not enough. We are indebted to Polonsky.

It is necessary, in my opinion, to publish much more of his books.
Over twenty recent years Only five one-volume collections have been published in Russia. This, of course, is a drop in the bucket.
It is necessary to reissue the five-volume complete collection of poems of 1896 and the ten-volume collected works of Ya.P. Polonsky 1885-1886 with additions and relevant comments.

It would be nice to re-publish Yakov Petrovich’s poems in the large and small series of the “Poet’s Library,” which have not been re-published for more than 50 years. His novels could be published separately. For starters, at least the best of them " Cheap city”, which after Polonsky’s death was never republished. Release separately his literary critical articles, which also have not been republished. And, finally, prepare and release it for the 200th anniversary of the birth of Ya.P. Polonsky's complete academic collection of his works.
This is the only way we can make amends to Polonsky.

Biography

Yakov Polonsky is a Russian poet and prose writer. Born on December 6 (18), 1819 in Ryazan into a poor noble family. In 1838 he graduated from the Ryazan gymnasium. The beginning of his literary activity Polonsky was counting 1837 when he presented one of his poems to the Tsarevich, the future Tsar Alexander II, who was traveling around Russia accompanied by his tutor V. A. Zhukovsky.

In 1838 Polonsky entered the law faculty of Moscow University (graduated in 1844). IN student years became close to A. Grigoriev and A. Fet, who highly appreciated the talent of the young poet. I also met P. Chaadaev, A. Khomyakov, T. Granovsky. In 1840, Polonsky’s poem “The Holy Gospel Sounds Solemnly” was first published in the magazine “Otechestvennye zapiski”... It was published in the magazine “Moskvityanin” and in the student almanac “Underground Keys”.

In 1844, the first collection of poetry by Polonsky Gamma was published, in which the influence of M. Lermontov is noticeable. The collection already contained poems written in the genre of everyday romance (Meeting, winter journey and etc.). Polonsky’s lyric masterpiece, Song of the Gypsy (“My fire shines in the fog…”, 1853), was subsequently written in this genre. Literary critic B. Eikhenbaum later called main feature Polonsky's romances "combination of lyrics with narration." It is typical for them a large number of portrait, household and other details reflecting psychological condition lyrical hero(“The shadows of the night came and became...”, etc.).

After graduating from university, Polonsky moved to Odessa, where he published his second collection of poetry, Poems of 1845 (1845). The book caused a negative assessment by V. G. Belinsky, who saw in the author “an unrelated, purely external talent.” In Odessa, Polonsky became a prominent figure in the circle of writers who continued Pushkin’s poetic tradition. Impressions of Odessa life subsequently formed the basis for the novel Cheap City (1879).

In 1846 Polonsky was appointed to Tiflis, to the office of the governor M. Vorontsov. At the same time, he became an assistant editor of the Transcaucasian Vestnik newspaper, in which he published essays. Polonsky's poetry collection Sazandar (Singer) was published in Tiflis in 1849. It included ballads and poems, as well as poems in the spirit of “ natural school" - i.e., replete with everyday scenes (Walk through Tiflis) or written in the spirit national folklore(Georgian song).

In 1851 Polonsky moved to St. Petersburg. In his diary in 1856 he wrote: “I don’t know why I feel an involuntary disgust from any political poem; It seems to me that in the most sincere political poem there are as many lies and untruths as in politics itself.” Soon Polonsky definitely declared his creative credo: “God did not give me the scourge of satire... / And for the few I am a poet” (For the few, 1860). Contemporaries saw in him “a modest but honest figure of the Pushkin trend” (A. Druzhinin) and noted that “he never shows off or plays any role, but always appears as he is” (E. Stackenschneider).

In St. Petersburg, Polonsky published two poetry collection(1856 and 1859), as well as the first collection of prose, Stories (1859), in which N. Dobrolyubov noticed “the poet’s sensitive sensitivity to the life of nature and the internal merging of the phenomena of reality with the images of his fantasy and with the impulses of his heart.” D. Pisarev, on the contrary, considered such traits to be manifestations of a “narrow mental world” and classified Polonsky among the “microscopic poets.”

In 1857 Polonsky left for Italy, where he studied painting. He returned to St. Petersburg in 1860. He experienced a personal tragedy - the death of his son and wife, reflected in the poems The Seagull (1860), Madness of Grief (1860), etc. In the 1860s he wrote the novels Confessions of Sergei Chalygin (1867) and The Marriage of Atuev (1869) , in which the influence of I. Turgenev is noticeable. Polonsky was published in magazines different directions, explaining this in one of his letters to A. Chekhov: “All my life I have been a nobody’s.”

In 1858-1860 Polonsky edited the magazine “Russian Word”, in 1860-1896 he served on the Committee for Foreign Censorship. In general, the 1860s and 1870s were marked for the poet by reader inattention and everyday disorder. Interest in Polonsky's poetry arose again in the 1880s, when, together with A. Fet and A. Maykov, he was part of the “poetic triumvirate”, which enjoyed the respect of the reading public. Polonsky again became an iconic figure in literary life Petersburg, “Polonsky Fridays” brought together outstanding contemporaries. The poet was friends with Chekhov and closely followed the work of K. Fofanov and S. Nadson. In the poems The Madman (1859), The Double (1862), and others, he predicted some of the motifs of 20th century poetry.

In 1890, Polonsky wrote to A. Fet: “You can trace my whole life through my poems.” In accordance with this principle of reflecting internal biography, he built his final Complete collection works in 5 volumes, published in 1896.

Polonsky Yakov Petrovich (1819 - 1898), poet. Born on December 6 (18 NS) in Ryazan into a poor noble family. He studied at the Ryazan gymnasium, after which he entered the law faculty of Moscow University. During his student years he began to write and publish his poems in

« Domestic notes"(1840), "Moskvitian" and in the student almanac "Underground Keys" (1842). He is friends with A. Grigoriev, A. Fet, P. Chaadaev, T. Granovsky, I. Turgenev.

In 1844, Polonsky’s first collection of poems, “Gammas,” was published, attracting the attention of critics and readers.

After graduating from university he lived in Odessa. There he published his second collection, “Poems of 1845.”

In 1846, Polonsky moved to Tiflis, joined the office and at the same time worked as an assistant editor of the Transcaucasian Vestnik newspaper. While in Georgia, Polonsky turned to prose (articles and essays on ethnography), publishing them in the newspaper.

Georgia inspired him to create a book of poems “Sazandar” (Singer) in 1849; in 1852 - historical play"Darejana Imereti".

From 1851 Polonsky lived in St. Petersburg, traveling abroad from time to time. The poet's collections of poems (1855 and 1859) were well received by various critics.

In 1859 - 60 he was one of the editors of the magazine “Russian Word”.

In the social and literary struggle of the 1860s, Polonsky did not take part on the side of any of the camps. He defended the poetry of “love,” contrasting it with the poetry of “hate” (“For the Few,” 1860; “To the Citizen Poet,” 1864), although he recognized the impossibility of love “without pain” and life outside the problems of modernity (“To One of the Weary” , 1863). During these years, his poetry was sharply criticized by radical democrats. I. Turgenev and N. Strakhov defended Polonsky’s original talent from attacks, emphasizing his “worship of everything that is beautiful and lofty, service to truth, goodness and beauty, love of freedom and hatred of violence.”

In 1880 - 90 Polonsky was a very popular poet. During these years he returned to the themes of his early lyrics. The most people unite around him different writers, artists, scientists. He is very attentive to the development of creativity of Nadson and Fofanov.

In 1881 the collection “At Sunset” was published, in 1890 - “ evening call, evening Bell", imbued with motifs of sadness and death, reflections on the fleeting nature of human happiness.

From 1860 to 1896, Polonsky served on the Committee of Foreign Censorship and on the Council of the Main Directorate for Press Affairs, which gave him the means to support himself.

Coming from a poor noble family, Yakov Petrovich Polonsky (1819-1898) was a Russian poet from Ryazan. In Ryazan he graduated from high school. After this, he enters Moscow University and studies at the Faculty of Law. As a student, he wrote poetry and published it in Otechestvennye zapiski (Otechestvennye zapiski) (1840). Befriended famous writers, among whom were A. Grigoriev, A. Fet, P. Chaadaev, T. Granovsky, I. Turgenev.

Polonsky as a poet was noticed and adequately appreciated when his poetry collection "Gammas" was published.

After graduating from Polonsky University, he lived in Odessa. There he published his second collection of poems, Poems of 1845.

In 1846, the poet traveled to Tiflis (Georgia), where he served in the office and worked as an assistant editor of the Transcaucasian Bulletin publication and published ethnographic articles and essays. In 1849 he created a book of poems “The Singer”, then wrote the historical play “Darejana of Imereti” (1852).

Since 1851, the poet has lived in St. Petersburg, sometimes traveling abroad. He wrote poetry and compiled collections in 1855 and 1859.

In 1859-1860 – works as one of the editors of the Russian Word publication. His poems are criticized by radical democrats, and his friends and comrades actively come out in defense. Popularity came to the poet in the 1880-1890s. In 1881 the collection “At Sunset” was published, in 1890 “Evening Bells” was published. They are dominated by the motif of sadness and death, and the poet also reflects on the fragmented happiness of man.

The poet earns money by serving in the Committee of Foreign Censorship from the 60s to 1896. The poet died in St. Petersburg, but was buried in Ryazan.

Yakov Polonsky is a Russian poet and prose writer. Born on December 6 (18), 1819 in Ryazan into a poor noble family. In 1838 he graduated from the Ryazan gymnasium. Polonsky considered the beginning of his literary activity to be 1837, when he presented one of his poems to the crown prince, the future Tsar Alexander II, who was traveling around Russia accompanied by his tutor V.A. Zhukovsky.

In 1838 Polonsky entered the law faculty of Moscow University (graduated in 1844). During his student years, he became close to A. Grigoriev and A. Fet, who highly appreciated the talent of the young poet. I also met P. Chaadaev, A. Khomyakov, T. Granovsky. In 1840, Polonsky’s poem “The Holy Gospel Sounds Solemnly” was first published in the magazine “Otechestvennye zapiski”... Published in the magazine “Moskvityanin” and in the student almanac “Underground Keys”.

In 1844, the first collection of poetry by Polonsky Gamma was published, in which the influence of M. Lermontov is noticeable. The collection already contained poems written in the genre of everyday romance (Meeting, Winter Journey, etc.). Polonsky’s lyric masterpiece, Song of the Gypsy (“My fire shines in the fog...”, 1853), was subsequently written in this genre. Literary critic B. Eikhenbaum subsequently called the main feature of Polonsky’s romances “the combination of lyrics with narration.” They are characterized by a large number of portrait, everyday and other details reflecting the psychological state of the lyrical hero ("The shadows of the night came and became...", etc.).

After graduating from university, Polonsky moved to Odessa, where he published his second collection of poetry, Poems of 1845 (1845). The book caused a negative assessment by V.G. Belinsky, who saw in the author “an unrelated, purely external talent.” In Odessa, Polonsky became a prominent figure among writers who continued the Pushkin poetic tradition. Impressions of Odessa life subsequently formed the basis for the novel Cheap City (1879).

In 1846 Polonsky was appointed to Tiflis, to the office of the governor M. Vorontsov. At the same time, he became an assistant editor of the Transcaucasian Vestnik newspaper, in which he published essays. Polonsky's poetry collection Sazandar (Singer) was published in Tiflis in 1849. It included ballads and poems, as well as poems in the spirit of the “natural school” - i.e. replete with everyday scenes (Walk through Tiflis) or written in the spirit of national folklore (Georgian song).

In 1851 Polonsky moved to St. Petersburg. In his diary in 1856 he wrote: “I don’t know why I feel an involuntary disgust from any political poem; it seems to me that in the most sincere political poem there are as many lies and untruths as in politics itself.” Soon Polonsky definitely declared his creative credo: “God did not give me the scourge of satire... / And for the few I am a poet” (For the few, 1860). Contemporaries saw in him “a modest but honest figure of the Pushkin trend” (A. Druzhinin) and noted that “he never shows off or plays any role, but always appears as he is” (E. Stackenschneider).

In St. Petersburg, Polonsky published two collections of poetry (1856 and 1859), as well as the first collection of prose Stories (1859), in which N. Dobrolyubov noticed “the poet’s sensitive sensitivity to the life of nature and the internal merging of the phenomena of reality with the images of his fantasy and with the impulses of his heart ". D. Pisarev, on the contrary, considered such traits to be manifestations of a “narrow mental world” and classified Polonsky among the “microscopic poets.”

In 1857 Polonsky left for Italy, where he studied painting. He returned to St. Petersburg in 1860. He experienced a personal tragedy - the death of his son and wife, reflected in the poems The Seagull (1860), Madness of Grief (1860), etc. In the 1860s he wrote the novels Confessions of Sergei Chalygin (1867) and The Marriage of Atuev (1869) , in which the influence of I. Turgenev is noticeable. Polonsky was published in magazines of various directions, explaining this in one of his letters to A. Chekhov: “I have been a nobody’s whole life.”

In 1858-1860 Polonsky edited the magazine "Russian Word", in 1860-1896 he served on the Committee of Foreign Censorship. In general, the 1860-1870s were marked for the poet by reader inattention and everyday disorder. Interest in Polonsky's poetry arose again in the 1880s, when, together with A. Fet and A. Maykov, he was part of the “poetic triumvirate” that enjoyed the respect of the reading public. Polonsky again became an iconic figure in the literary life of St. Petersburg; outstanding contemporaries gathered at “Polonsky Fridays.” The poet was friends with Chekhov and closely followed the work of K. Fofanov and S. Nadson. In the poems The Madman (1859), The Double (1862), and others, he predicted some of the motifs of 20th century poetry.

In 1890, Polonsky wrote to A. Fet: “You can trace my whole life through my poems.” In accordance with this principle of reflecting internal biography, he built his final Complete Works in 5 volumes, published in 1896.

"Notes of the Fatherland" (1840), "Moscowite" and in the student almanac "Underground Keys" (1842). He is friends with A. Grigoriev, A. Fet, P. Chaadaev, T. Granovsky, I. Turgenev.

In 1844, Polonsky’s first collection of poems, “Gammas,” was published, attracting the attention of critics and readers.

After graduating from university he lived in Odessa. There he published his second collection, “Poems of 1845.”

Georgia inspired him to create the book of poems “Sazandar” (Singer) in 1849, and the historical play “Darejana of Imereti” in 1852.

From 1851 Polonsky lived in St. Petersburg, traveling abroad from time to time. The poet's collections of poems (1855 and 1859) were well received by various critics.

In 1859 - 60 he was one of the editors of the magazine "Russian Word".

In 1880 - 90 Polonsky was a very popular poet. During these years he returned to the themes of his early lyrics. A variety of writers, artists, and scientists unite around him. He is very attentive to the development of creativity of Nadson and Fofanov.

In 1881 the collection “At Sunset” was published, in 1890 - “Evening Bells”, imbued with motifs of sadness and death, reflections on the fleeting nature of human happiness.

From 1860 to 1896, Polonsky served on the Committee of Foreign Censorship and on the Council of the Main Directorate for Press Affairs, which gave him the means to support himself.

Polonsky Yakov Petrovich (12/06/1820) - one of the main Russian poets of the post-Pushkin era, born in Ryazan, the son of an official; He studied at a local gymnasium, then at Moscow University, where his comrades were Fet and S. M. Solovyov. At the end of the course P.; as a home teacher, spent several years in the Caucasus (1846 - 52), where he was an assistant editor. "Transcaucasus Vestn." and abroad. In 1857 he married, but soon became a widower; for the second time in 1866 he married Josephine Antonovna Rühlmann (an amateur sculptor, known, among other things, for the bust of Turgenev erected in Odessa). Upon returning to Russia, he served for a long time as a censor in the Foreign Censorship Committee; Since 1896 he has been a member of the council of the Main Directorate for Press Affairs. - In the totality of P.’s poems there is no one complete harmony between inspiration and reflection and that conviction in living reality and the superiority of poetic truth in comparison with deadening reflection, which differ, for example. Goethe, Pushkin, Tyutchev. P. was very impressionable also to those movements of modern thought that were anti-poetic in nature: in many of his poems prosaicity and rationality predominate; but where he surrenders to pure inspiration, we find in him examples of strong and original poetry. Typical poems by P. have that distinctive feature that the very process of inspiration - the transition or impulse from the ordinary material and everyday environment into the realm of poetic truth - remains palpable. Usually in poetic works the finished result of inspiration is given, and not its very rise, which remains hidden, whereas with P. it is sometimes felt in the very sound of his poems, for example. It’s not the wind - Aurora’s sigh stirred up the sea fog... In one of P.’s earliest poems, the area and character of his poetry seem to have been outlined in advance: Already above the spruce forest from behind the prickly tops the gold of the evening clouds shone, When I was tearing through a thick net with an oar floating Swamp grasses and water flowers From the idle slander and malice of the secular mob That evening, finally, we were far away And you could boldly, with the gullibility of a child, express yourself freely and easily. And your prophetic voice was sweet, So many secret tears trembled in it, And the disorder of mourning clothes and light brown braids seemed captivating to me. But my chest involuntarily contracted with melancholy, I looked into the depths, where thousands of roots of swamp grasses were invisibly intertwined Like a thousand living green snakes. And another world flashed before me, Not that one beautiful world, in which you lived... And life seemed to me a harsh depth With a surface that is light. P.’s works are distinguished by “captivating disorder”; there is also “mourning” in them for worldly evil and grief, but the head of his muse shines with the reflection of heavenly light; in her voice secret tears of experienced grief are mixed with prophetic sweetness best hopes; sensitive - perhaps even too much - to the vanity and malice of everyday life, she strives to get away from them “beyond the thorny peaks of the earth” “into the golden clouds” and there “she speaks freely and easily, with the gullibility of a child.” Based on the contrast between that beautiful and bright world where his muse lives, and that “harsh depth” of real life, where the swamp plants of evil intertwine with their own, it was written. in 1856). The poet does not separate the hope of saving the “mother ship” from faith in the common universal good. The broad spirit of all humanity, excluding national enmity, is characteristic of more or less all true poets; Of all the Russians, he expresses himself most decisively and consciously, after A. Tolstoy, in P., especially in two poems dedicated to Schiller (1859) and Shakespeare (1864). Not joining the radical social movements of his time, P. treated them with heartfelt humanity, especially the victims of sincere passion (for example, the poem “That she is not my sister, not my lover”). In general, keeping the best behests of Pushkin, P. “awakened good feelings with the lyre” and “called for mercy for the fallen.” - IN early years The poet's hopes for a better future for humanity were connected with his youthful, unaccountable belief in omnipotence. science: The kingdom of science knows no limit, Everywhere are traces of its eternal victories - Reason, word and deed, Strength and light. The Light of Science shines upon the world like a new sun, and only with it does the Muse decorate the brow with a Fresh wreath. But soon the poet abandoned the cult of science, which knows what happens, and not creates what should be; his muse inspired him that the world with a powerful lie and with powerless love could be reborn only by “another, inspiring force” - the power of moral labor, with faith “in God’s judgment, or in the Messiah”: From then on, with courage in heart, To comprehend I have become, O Muse, What is wrong with you without this faith? There is no legal union. At the same time, P. more decisively than before expresses the conviction that the real source of poetry is objective beauty, in which “God shines” (verse “Tsar Maiden”). and the most typical of P.'s short poems ("Winter Way", "Rocking in a Storm", "Bell". "Return from the Caucasus", "The shadows of the night came and became", "My fire shines in the fog", "At night in the cradle baby" etc.) differ not so much ideological content as much as by the power of immediate, soulful lyricism. Individual feature this lyricism cannot be defined in concepts; only a few can be specified general signs what are (besides what is mentioned at the beginning) the connection graceful images and sounds with the most real ideas, then the bold simplicity of expressions, and finally - the transfer of half-asleep, twilight, slightly delirious sensations. In P.'s larger works (with the exception of the impeccable in all respects "The Musician's Grasshopper") the architecture is very weak: some of his poems are not completed, others are cluttered with extensions and superstructures. There is also relatively little plasticity in his works. properties of musicality and picturesqueness, the latter - especially in paintings Caucasian life(past and present), which in P. are much brighter and more lively than in Pushkin and Lermontov. In addition to historical and descriptive paintings, and actually lyric poems Inspired by the Caucasus, P. is saturated with real local colors (for example, “After the Holiday”). The noble, but nameless Circassians of ancient romanticism pale in front of P.’s less noble, but still living natives, such as the Tatar Agbar or the heroic robber Tamur Hassan. Eastern women Pushkin and Lermontov are colorless and speak to the dead literary language; P.’s speeches breathe living artistic truth: He stone tower stood under the wall, And I remember: he was wearing an expensive caftan, And a blue shirt flashed under the red cloth. German... A golden grenade grows under the wall; No hand can reach all the fruits; Everyone handsome men Why would I begin to bewitch!... The mountains, the Erivan hills, separated us, destroyed us! Forever cold winter They are covered with eternal snow!... About me In that country, my dear, won't you forget? Although the poet’s personal confession also applies to Caucasian life: “You, with whom I have lived so much patient suffering in my soul,” etc.,” but, as a result of his youth, he endured a cheerful and clear feeling of spiritual freedom: I am ready for the battles of life I carry a snowy pass... Everything that was deception, betrayal, That lay on me like a chain, - Everything disappeared from memory - with the foam of Mountain rivers running out into the steppe. This feeling of sincere reconciliation, taking away from “everyday battles” their sharp and gloomy character remained with P. throughout his life and constitutes the predominant tone of his poetry. Very sensitive to the negative side of life, he did not, however, become a pessimist. In the most difficult moments of personal and general grief, “the cracks from darkness to light” did not close for him “Although through them I sometimes saw so few, few rays of love over the abyss of evil,” but these rays never went out for him and, taking away the malice from his satire, allowed him to create his most original work: “The Grasshopper Musician.” To more clearly present the essence of life, poets sometimes continue its lines in one direction or another. Thus, Dante exhausted all human evil in the nine grand circles of his hell; P., on the contrary, pulled and compressed the ordinary content of human existence into a cramped world of insects. Dante had to erect two more huge worlds over the darkness of his hell - cleansing fire and triumphant light; P. could place cleansing and enlightening moments in the same corner of the field and park. Empty existence, in which everything real is shallow and everything high is an illusion - the world of anthropoid insects or insect-like people - is transformed and enlightened by the power of pure love and selfless sorrow. This meaning is concentrated in the final scene (the funeral of a butterfly), which produces, despite the microscopic outline of the entire story, that soul-cleansing impression that Aristotle considered the purpose of tragedy. TO the best works P. refers to “Cassandra” (with the exception of two extra explanatory stanzas - IV and V, which weaken the impression). In P.'s large poems modern life(human and canine), generally speaking, the internal meaning does not correspond to the volume. Some passages here are excellent, for example. description of the southern night (in the poem "Mimi"), especially the sound impression of the sea: And on the sandy shallows it seems to be strewing with rolling pearls; and it seems like Someone is walking around and afraid of bursting into tears, only shedding tears, knocking on someone’s door, Now rustling, dragging its train back across the sand, then Returning there again... In later works P. clearly sounds a religious motive, if not as a positive confidence, then as a desire and readiness for faith: “Blessed is the one who has been given two ears - who hears both the church bell and the prophetic voice of the Spirit.” P.'s last collection of poems worthily ends with a truthful poetic story: “The Dreamer,” the meaning of which is; that the poetic dream of a hero who died early turns out to be something very real. Regardless of the desire for positive religion, P. in their latest works looks into the most fundamental questions of existence. Thus, the secret of time becomes clear to his poetic consciousness - the truth that time is not the creation of an essentially new content, but only a rearrangement into different positions of the same essential meaning of life, which in itself is eternity (verse.

Yakov Petrovich Polonsky(December 6, Ryazan - October 18, St. Petersburg) - Russian writer, known mainly as a poet.

Biography

From the nobles. Born into the family of a poor official in 1819. He graduated from the Ryazan gymnasium (1838). He studied at the Faculty of Law of Moscow University (1838-1844), listened to lectures by professors P. G. Redkin, D. L. Kryukov and T. N. Granovsky, who had a significant influence on the formation of Polonsky’s worldview. He studied at the university for five years instead of the required four, because in the 3rd year he did not pass the exam in Roman law to Professor N.I. Krylov. During his student years, Polonsky became close to A. A. Grigoriev and A. A. Fet, and also met P. Ya. Chaadaev, A. S. Khomyakov, T. N. Granovsky. During his student years, Polonsky made a living by giving private lessons.

Polonsky's addresses:

Polonsky died in St. Petersburg in 1898 and was buried in the Olgov Monastery near Ryazan; in 1958 he was reburied on the territory of the Ryazan Kremlin (photo of the grave).

Creation

Polonsky's literary heritage is very large and unequal; it includes several collections of poems, numerous poems, novels and stories. According to the characteristics of Yuli Aikhenvald,

A writer of rare inspiration, Polonsky was a remarkably skillful versifier, and at times it was as if technical efforts and difficulties of meter and rhyme did not exist for him. Effortlessly and easily, as if Speaking, his simple, unorthodox and often inexpensive verse flows.

Polonsky also wrote prose. The first collection of prose “Stories” was published separate publication in 1859. In the novels “Confessions of Sergei Chalygin” (1867) and “The Marriage of Atuev” (1869) he followed I. S. Turgenev. The novel “Cheap City” (1879) was based on impressions of Odessa life. He also published texts of a memoir nature (“My uncle and some of his stories”).

Many of Polonsky's poems were set to music by A. S. Dargomyzhsky, P. I. Tchaikovsky, S. V. Rachmaninov, S. I. Taneyev, A. G. Rubinstein, M. M. Ivanov and became popular romances and songs. " "( My fire is shining in the fog"), written in 1853, has become a folk song.

Journalism

Yakov Polonsky, 1880s

From 1860 until the end of his life, scientists, cultural and artistic figures gathered in the poet’s apartment on Fridays at meetings called “Fridays” by Ya. P. Polonsky.

Polonsky wrote letters in defense of the Doukhobors to Pobedonostsev, and also planned to write memoirs about them.

Conservative and Orthodox, at the end of his life Ya. P. Polonsky opposed criticism of the church and state by Leo Tolstoy. In 1895, regarding Tolstoy’s work “The Kingdom of God is Within You,” which was published abroad, Polonsky published a polemical article in “Russian Review” (No. 4-6) “Notes on one foreign publication and the new ideas of Count L.N. Tolstoy.” After the appearance of Tolstoy’s article “What is art?” Polonsky also wrote a harsh article. This prompted a letter from L.N. Tolstoy with a proposal for reconciliation: Tolstoy became aware of Polonsky’s friendly attitude towards the persecuted Doukhobors.

Family

First wife since July 1858 - Elena Vasilievna Ustyuzhskaya(1840-1860), daughter of the headman of the Russian church in Paris, Vasily Kuzmich Ustyuzhsky (Ukhtyuzhsky), and a French woman. The marriage was concluded for love, although the bride knew almost no Russian, and Polonsky knew no French. She died in St. Petersburg from the consequences of typhoid fever, combined with a miscarriage. Their six-month-old son Andrei died in January 1860.

Second wife since 1866 - Josephine Antonovna Rühlman(1844-1920), amateur sculptor, sister of the famous doctor Anton Antonovich Rühlmann. According to a contemporary, “Polonsky married her because he fell in love with her beauty, but she married him because she had nowhere to lay her head.” The marriage had two sons, Alexander (1868-1934) and Boris (1875-1923), and a daughter Natalia (1870-1929), married to N. A. Jelacich.

Notes

Polotskaya E. A. Polonsky // Brief literary encyclopedia - M.: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1962. - T. 5.
Polonsky Yakov Petrovich // Great Soviet Encyclopedia: [in 30 volumes] / ed. A. M. Prokhorov - 3rd ed. - M.: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1969.
Vl. Soloviev // encyclopedic Dictionary - St. Petersburg : Brockhaus-Efron, 1898. - T. XXIV. - P. 361–363.
Eisenstadt, V.; Aizenstadt, M. Along the Fontanka. Pages of the history of St. Petersburg culture. - M.: Tsentropoligraf, 2007. - p. 227. -