Brief biography of A.A. Blok: the most important and basic information about the life and work of the poet
Blok's biography is the life story of a great poet, whose work had a huge influence on Russian and world literature. Alexander was born into a noble family on November 28, 1880. His father was a lawyer, his mother was the daughter of the rector of a university in St. Petersburg. His parents' marriage broke up before he was born. The first years of his life he was raised in the family of his paternal grandfather.
Blok's biography contains many interesting facts. It is known that little Sasha wrote his first poem at the age of 5. It was filled with special poetry, which was constantly present in his future. His serious work began at the age of 17.
After graduating from high school in 1898, Alexander entered St. Petersburg University at the Faculty of Law. His choice was made quite unconsciously, but over time his creativity took over, and after 3 years he transferred to the Faculty of History and Philology, which had a Slavic-Russian department. Alexander graduated from the University in 1906.
1901 was an important year in the poet’s life, when he met the poet A. Bely, who influenced the formation of his creative views. Later, these friendly relations brought a lot of disappointments.
On August 17, 1903, the poet married L. Mendeleeva, the daughter of the greatest Mendeleev D.I.. There was practically no spiritual intimacy in the relationship of this couple, which caused a long-term conflict. A. Bely intervened in them, becoming carried away by the poet’s wife and creating a situation that almost escalated into a duel.
The year 1903 was also significant for the release of the poet’s first collection of poems, which reflected the love experiences of the first happy months of married life. During this period, A. Pushkin and Vl. Solovyov had a significant influence on the work of A. Blok.
The biography of Alexander Blok cannot be considered in isolation from his work, since it reflects the main events of his life. The first collection of poems was published in 1904, it was called “Poems about a Beautiful Lady.” Here the author expresses his ideas about idealism and divine wisdom. The poetry collections “City” and “Snow Mask” reflect a religious theme that also worried the poet.
In 1909, Alexander travels through Germany and Italy, as a result of which “Poems about Italy” appears, recognized as the best in Russian poetry.
Blok was called up for military service in 1916. Then he returned to Petrograd after In 1917, Alexander participated in the work of the Cheka to investigate crimes committed under the tsarist regime. This is the story of his book, published posthumously in 1921, “The Last Days of Imperial Power.”
Blok’s short biography contains many facts testifying to the subtlety of his nature, which was felt in everything. Even his aspirations about the fate of the Motherland are permeated with awe and tenderness. The poet expressed great fears about the future of Russia. The poet's illusions associated with the Bolshevik regime eventually collapsed. Initially, he accepted the 1917 revolution with optimism, refusing to emigrate, as Blok’s biography tells us.
However, later Alexander became disillusioned with the actions of the Bolsheviks, since they ran counter to the poet’s ideas and their promises. The unfinished work “Retribution” describes the political position of the poet, which he adhered to during the years of the revolution. It fully reflects the despair of one’s own delusions.
Nevertheless, he still had faith in the indestructibility of Russia, which was to play an exceptional role for all mankind. This is confirmed by the biography of A. Blok and his works “Scythians” and “Motherland”. Using gypsy folklore to convey his feelings in his work “Scythians,” the poet fully reflected the intensity of human passions.
Blok’s short biography, unfortunately, does not contain all the events of his life, but allows us to get acquainted with the most significant of them and his best works. One of them is the controversial and mysterious 1920 poem "The Twelve." Here the author uses a fairly strict narrative language to make it easier for the reader to imagine the events described.
I would like to note that Blok also left a noticeable mark on the history of Russian theater, and his translations are noted for their high artistry and closeness to the originals.
07.08 in the morning in St. Petersburg in 1921 after a serious illness. He left behind a huge legacy in the form of immortal works.
Born on November 28, 1880 in St. Petersburg. Father - Alexander Lvovich Blok (1852-1909), professor. Mother - Alexandra Andreevna, (1860-1923) - daughter of rector Beketov. In 1898 he graduated from the Vvedensky gymnasium. In 1903, Blok married Lyubov Mendeleeva, the daughter of the chemist Mendeleev. In 1906 he graduated from the Slavic-Russian department of St. Petersburg University. He died on August 7, 1921 at the age of 40. He was buried at the Volkovskoye cemetery in St. Petersburg. Main works: poem “The Twelve”, poems “Stranger”, “Night, Street, Lantern, Pharmacy”, “On the Railway”, “On the Kulikovo Field”, “Scythians” and others.
Brief biography (details)
Alexander Blok is one of Russia's greatest poets, playwright and literary critic. He was also one of the brightest representatives of the Symbolist era in literature. Alexander Blok was born on November 28, 1880 in St. Petersburg, in the family of a lawyer and professor at the University of Warsaw and the daughter of the rector of St. Petersburg University. The parents were not together for long, as Blok’s mother soon remarried. The future poet was brought up in the family of his grandfather, the then famous rector Andrei Beketov.
The poet began writing poetry quite early, at the age of 5, and more serious works were published in 1900. In 1903, his works were already published. At the same time, he married Lyubov Mendeleeva, the daughter of the outstanding Russian chemist Dmitry Mendeleev.
In 1906, Blok graduated from the Slavic-Russian faculty at St. Petersburg University. In 1916, the writer was drafted into the army as a timekeeper. Upon his return, he joins the Theater and Literary Commission.
The writer’s work was greatly influenced by the poet, religious thinker and philosopher of the 19th century - Vladimir Solovyov. Blok loved to experiment with poetic rhythm and tried to invent new forms. The poet’s first collection was called “Poems about a Beautiful Lady,” written under the influence of his first love and the beginning of family life with Lyubov Mendeleeva. Subsequent collections of poetry were more religious in theme. Blok's later poems are full of hope and despair about the future of Russia.
In order to understand and comprehend the October Revolution of 1917, the writer wrote the poem “The Twelve”. In 1919, he was arrested on suspicion of an anti-Soviet conspiracy. However, soon after interrogations, he was released. In 1921, the poet fell ill and applied for an exit visa for treatment abroad. The visa was denied and on August 7 of the same year, he died in his apartment in St. Petersburg from inflammation of the heart valves. He was only forty years old. Before his death, he deliberately destroyed some of his notes.
Alexander Blok was buried in Petrograd at the Smolensk Orthodox Cemetery next to his relatives, but in 1944 the remains were transferred to the Literary Bridge at the Volkovsky Cemetery.
Brief biography video (for those who prefer to listen)
Brief biography of the poet, basic facts of life and work:
ALEXANDER ALEXANDROVICH BLOK (1880-1921)
Alexander Alexandrovich Blok was born on November 16 (28), 1880 in St. Petersburg into a noble family. His father, Alexander Lvovich Blok, was a lawyer and professor at the University of Warsaw. Mother, Alexandra Andreevna Beketova, was the daughter of botanist Andrei Nikolaevich Beketov, rector of St. Petersburg University.
Blok’s parents separated on the eve of the birth of their son. Mother and Alexander settled in their grandfather's house. Sashura - that was the name of the future poet at home - forever retained the deepest spiritual attachment to Alexandra Andreevna. It was she who first noticed her son’s abilities and for many years was his only advisor in literature. Alexander was the first to show her his initial creative experiments, trusting her advice and taste. And, by his own admission, the poet began composing at almost the age of five and even published handwritten magazines for his family.
In September 1889, Alexandra Andreevna married Lieutenant of the Life Guards of the Grenada Regiment Franz Feliksovich Kublitsky-Piottukh. She left her parents' family and, together with her son, moved to her husband's government apartment on the regiment's territory. Blok lived in the officer corps of the Grenada barracks for more than sixteen years.
Alexander began to live in two houses, since he was the favorite of both families. For the summer, the boy was usually taken to Shakhmatovo, the Beketov family estate near Moscow.
In 1891, Blok entered the Vvedensky gymnasium of St. Petersburg. He was an average student - he was irritated by crowds. The time has come, and the female part of the family became worried that the teenager was not paying attention to the girls at all.
But in May 1897, after graduating from the penultimate class of the gymnasium, Alexander, along with his mother and aunt, left for the German resort of Bad Nauheim. And here the young man had a lover. She was a beautiful dark-haired lady with a chiseled profile, clear blue eyes and a drawling voice. Her name was Ksenia Mikhailovna Sadovskaya. Sadovskaya was thirty-seven years old (!), and Alexander was seventeen. The lady just wanted to have fun, but Sashura sincerely fell in love.
A month later they broke up. Blok dedicated beautiful poems to his first woman, and that was where his passion ended. And for Sadovskaya, the short romance turned out to be the only strong feeling in life. The young man wrote her last, very dry letter in 1901.
...Many years later, during the Civil War, a very sick, poor old woman appeared in Odessa. When she died, twelve letters from Blok were found sewn into the hem of her worn skirt. The crazy beggar woman turned out to be Sadovskaya - the same blue-eyed goddess, dedicated to whom the whole of Russia was reading poems.
In 1898, the future poet entered the law faculty of St. Petersburg University. At the same time, Alexander Alexandrovich met with his future wife, Lyubov Dmitrievna Mendeleeva, the daughter of the great Russian scientist Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleev, who at first glance made a huge impression on the young man.
One of the key events in Blok’s life was his acquaintance in 1901 with the work of the philosopher and poet Vladimir Sergeevich Solovyov. Many young people in Russia lived at the beginning of the 20th century under the influence of this thinker’s idea of the mystical Eternal Femininity. They raved about the image of a Beautiful Lady and idolized their friends from a distance, not recognizing sexual relationships. They needed the Beautiful Lady to maintain their spirit and prayerful ecstasy. And to pacify the flesh, one could use the services of a prostitute.
The poet was also captivated by the thought of the embodiment of the Ideal in earthly reality. He believed in the possibility of contact between the ideal and real worlds. The expectation of a grandiose transformation was more and more closely associated in his mind with the descent to earth of the Eternal Feminine, the Mysterious Virgin.
After much thought, Alexander Alexandrovich realized that such a Virgo was Lyubov Mendeleev. Blok perceived his attitude towards the girl as a sublime “mystical novel.” He asked for his beloved's hand in marriage and received consent on November 7, 1902. The wedding took place in August 1903. However, the marriage did not make Lyubov Dmitrievna happy. Blok loved her, but not as an earthly woman of flesh and blood, but as a Muse, a source of poetic inspiration. For four years after the wedding, his wife remained for him a Beautiful Lady - the earthly embodiment of the divine principle. Sexual relations with her were simply blasphemous for Blok. Mendeleev did not share her husband’s point of view. She wanted to be loved like an ordinary woman, and considered Alexander Alexandrovich’s behavior mocking.
The first years of the new century were marked for the poet by the beginning of friendship with Mikhail Sergeevich Solovyov (younger brother of Vladimir Solovyov) and his wife Olga Mikhailovna Solovyova (cousin of Blok’s mother), with Zinaida Nikolaevna Gippius and Dmitry Sergeevich Merezhkovsky. Under the influence of these people, Alexander Alexandrovich became interested in religious, social and aesthetic problems.
In 1903, the magazine “New Path,” which was headed by Merezhkovsky, published the first selection of Blok’s poems (“From Dedications”). In the same year, in the third book of the almanac “Northern Flowers,” his poetic cycle “Poems about a Beautiful Lady” (the title was proposed by Valery Bryusov) was published.
Alexander Blok's first book appeared in October 1904 under the title "Poems about a Beautiful Lady." With this publication, the poet summed up the romantic period of his work. A new stage began in Blok’s work - realistic poetry.
This happened under the influence of a chain of tragic events both in the personal fate of the poet and in all of Russia.
On January 16, 1903, Mikhail Solovyov died of pneumonia. As soon as he closed his eyes, his wife went into the next room and shot herself. Blok, who was very close to the Solovyovs, perceived this as a significant tragedy.
Soon the Russo-Japanese War began, shamefully lost by the national bureaucracy and the bored nobility. At the height of the war, the first Russian revolution of 1905-1907 took place with its Bloody Sunday and complete impunity for those who brought the country to a desperate state.
Blok's social conflict was superimposed on a personal conflict. Blok became friends with Boris Nikolaevich Bugaev, an aspiring writer who appeared in magazines under the pseudonym Andrei Bely. He became a frequent guest in the house of the young Bloks, but over time it turned out that Boris was passionately in love with Lyubov Dmitrievna and was a rival of her husband. The painful confusion in the love triangle relationship lasted three years, until in June 1905 Andrei Bely decided to confess his feelings to Lyubov Dmitrievna in a note. The woman did not attach any importance to this and that same evening, laughing, she told her husband about the note.
In his poems of 1904-1906, the poet sought earthly values instead of the abstract dreams of his youth. This is the time of the “Stranger” and just the woman he meets, this is the world of the “night restaurant visitor,” the world of “Unexpected Joy” (as Blok called his second collection, published in 1907).
The book was accepted by the poet's recent associates - Andrei Bely and Sergei Solovyov - as sedition. They accused Blok of betraying the high ideals of his youth, of abandoning the noble mission of a poet-theurgist called to transform the world. Alexander Alexandrovich responded to this criticism with a trilogy of “lyrical dramas” - “Balaganchik”, “Stranger” and “King in the Square”.
Only at the end of 1907 did Lyubov Dmitrievna finally break up with Andrei Bely. During this time, the all-forgiving Blok himself fell passionately in love with the Meyerhold theater actress Natalia Volokhova. The woman was very impressive - lean, black-haired, unsmiling and big-eyed. The poetic cycles “Snow Mask” and “Faina” are dedicated to her. They did not hide the lovers’ relationship from Lyubov Dmitrievna. The romance lasted for almost two years and was interrupted by Blok.
A free relationship was established between the spouses. Mendeleeva became interested in theater, began playing with Meyerhold and went on tour with his troupe to the Caucasus. Lyubov Dmitrievna wrote at length to her husband about each new romance, which she started “out of boredom,” but at the same time assured: “I love you alone in the whole world.”
The wife returned from the tour pregnant with the child of actor Dagobert. Blok accepted her joyfully and said: “Let there be a child. Since we don’t have one, he will be ours together...” A boy was born, he lived only eight days. Blok himself buried the baby and often visited the grave afterwards.
A trip to Italy in April 1909 became a turning point for Alexander Alexandrovich. The impressions he gained from this journey were embodied in the cycle “Italian Poems”.
At the end of November 1909, Blok, having received news of his father’s hopeless illness, went to Warsaw, but did not find him alive. The result of this trip and experiences was the poem “Retribution,” on which Blok worked until the end of his life and which remained unfinished.
At the end of 1913, his last, all-consuming love came to the poet. At the performance of J. Bizet's opera "Carmen" at the Musical Drama Theater, he saw Lyubov Aleksandrovna Andreeva-Delmas performing the main role. Blok was thirty-four years old, and she was the same age. The poet dedicated the poetic cycle “Carmen” (1914) to the singer.
In 1914, the First World War began. And in July 1916, Blok was drafted into the army. Until March 1917, the poet served near Pinsk as a timekeeper in an engineering and construction squad. Soon after the February Revolution he was released on leave. In Petrograd, Alexander Alexandrovich was offered to edit the stenographic reports of the Extraordinary Investigative Commission. The result of this work, unusual for Blok, was the article “The Last Days of the Old Regime” (in an expanded version - the book “The Last Days of Imperial Power”, 1921).
After 1916, Blok wrote almost no poetry. He only republished previously created works.
The poet accepted the socialist revolution with enthusiasm. He addressed his readers with the article “The Intelligentsia and the Revolution,” in which he made an appeal: “With all your body, with all your heart, with all your consciousness - listen to the Revolution!”
And in 1918, the poem “The Twelve” was published, in which the revolution was sanctified by Jesus Christ. Passionate debate flared up around the poem. Many of his friends decisively turned away from the poet, including S. M. Solovyov, Z. N. Gippius, D. S. Merezhkovsky.
The poem “The Twelve” and the poem “Scythians” (also created in 1918) summed up Blok’s poetic work.
And then the poet began to experience a severe spiritual crisis caused by disappointment in the revolution. Blok still worked on the commission for the publication of classics of Russian literature; in the summer of 1920 he became chairman of the Petrograd branch of the All-Russian Union of Poets; performed a reading of his poems.
The poet’s last lifetime book with the play “Ramses” was published in early 1921. In April, Alexander Alexandrovich began to have attacks of inflammation of the heart valves. On August 7, 1921, Alexander Alexandrovich Blok died in Petrograd.
Alexander Alexandrovich Blok (1880-1921)
By the end of the 90s of the 19th century, symbolism began to play a leading role in Russian poetry. Russian symbolism has absorbed a wide variety of influences, ranging from the French decadents - Baudelaire, Verdun, Maeterlinck, Malarme, the English aestheticism of Oscar Wilde, the individualistic preaching of Ibsen and Nietzsche and ending with the mystical philosophy of Vladimir Solovyov, the novels of Dostoevsky, the poetry of Tyutchev and Fet, the ideas of German romanticism .
One can trace the special connection between symbolism and Western decadence and highlight different trends in Russian symbolism, but if we talk directly about Blok, the key to understanding his poetry and, in general, to understanding the poetry of the “second generation” of Russian symbolists lies in the philosophy and lyrics of Vladimir Solovyov. The “second generation”, or young symbolists - V. Ivanov, A. Bely, J. Baltrushaitis, A. Blok, S. Solovyov - decisively dissociate themselves from the previous “decadence”.
They contrast the idea of solipsism, the doctrine of boundless self-love, calls for escape into the secluded world of dreams and elusive moods, passivity, lifelessness, admiration for the image of death and the painfully perverted eroticism of Western decadence with the idea of conciliarity, activity, the prophetic ministry of the poet, the strong-willed desire to carry out into the life of his religious and philosophical ideas.
“Dear friend, don’t you see that everything we see is only a reflection, only shadows from what is invisible with our eyes?..” “Everything, whirling, disappears in the darkness, only the sun of love is motionless...” This is how Vladimir Solovyov writes, and this is how they feel life and the world is all young symbolists. Vladimir Solovyov reveals the image of the “Princess”, the mystical “World Soul”, “Sophia”, “Eternal Femininity”, which received its highest development in Blok’s “Beautiful Lady”.
“It is not events that capture a person’s entire being, but symbols of something else,” wrote Andrei Bely. And he says: “Art should teach to see the Eternal; the immaculate, petrified mask of classical art has been torn off and broken.”
The essence of Russian symbolism was formulated by Vyach. Ivanov: “And so, I’m not a symbolist if I don’t awaken with an elusive hint or influence in the listener’s heart indescribable sensations, sometimes similar to the original memory (“And for a long time she languished in the world, full of wonderful desires, and boring songs could not replace the sounds of heaven.” earth”), sometimes to a distant, vague premonition, sometimes to the thrill of someone’s familiar and desired approach”... “I am not a symbolist if my words do not evoke in the listener a sense of connection between what is his “I” and what that he calls “Not - I” - the connections of things empirically separated, if my words do not directly convince him of the existence of hidden life, where his mind did not suspect life...” “I am not a symbolist, if my words are equal to themselves, if they are not echoes of other sounds.”
You can think a lot about the symbolism from which Alexander Blok emerged, but the lines of the great Goethe come to mind:
Theory, my friend, is dry,
And the tree of life is ever green.
Indeed, the tree of life, the tree of poetry is forever green - you can not delve into the theory of symbolism, but receive the greatest pleasure, always carry in your soul the brilliant poems of Blok, from which life seems to become more vital and fuller, and more sublime. “Under the monotonous noise and ringing...”, “Night, street, lantern, pharmacy...”, “About valor. About exploits, about glory...”, “Oh, I want to live crazy...”, “We met you at sunset...”, “The girl sang in the church choir...”, “Years have passed, but you are still the same...”, “Stranger”, “Oh, spring without end and without edge...”, “She came from the cold...”, “I bless everything that happened...”, “Do you remember? In our sleepy bay...”, “They will bury it, bury it deep...”, “It’s raining and slush outside...”, “Cruel May with white nights...”, “I am nailed to a tavern counter...”, “On the Kulikovo field,” “ Russia", "Autumn Day", "Kite", poem "Twelve...". These and many other works of Alexander Blok carry such poetic power, beauty, are so piercing that, of course, you recognize that Blok is the most famous poet of the 20th century. He rises not only above his friends in symbolism, but also above all Russian poets of all movements and trends. Akhmatova, Yesenin, Klyuev, and Pasternak agreed with this...
Blok’s beautiful poetry, perhaps, was carved out of the extraordinary contradiction that lived in the poet. On the one hand, one of Blok’s main keywords was the word DESTRUCTION. Korney Chukovsky noted: “Blok pronounced the word “death” very emphatically at that time; in his conversations it was more noticeable than all his other words.” The death of Messina, Halley's comet, the death of the Titanic - everything that was disastrous interested him and worried him. Blok wrote to A. Bely: “I love death, I loved it from time immemorial and remained with this love.” But, on the other hand, this gave him the opportunity to more acutely feel life, its beauty, its music, its spring:
Oh, spring without end and without edge -
An endless and endless dream!
I recognize you, life! I accept!
And I greet you with the ringing of the shield!
I accept you, failure,
And, good luck, my greetings to you!
In the enchanted area of crying,
There is no shame in the secret of laughter!
I accept sleepless arguments,
Morning in the curtains of dark windows,
So that my inflamed eyes
Spring was annoying and intoxicating!
I accept desert weights!
And the wells of earthly cities!
The illuminated expanse of the skies
And the languor of slave labor!
And I meet you at the doorstep -
With a wild wind in snake curls,
With an unsolved name of god
On cold and compressed lips...
Before this hostile meeting
I will never give up my shield...
You will never open your shoulders...
But above them is a drunken dream!
And I look and measure the enmity,
Hating, cursing and loving:
For torment, for death - I know -
All the same: I accept you!
In general, there were many polar forces in the Bloc, pulling in different directions. This is exactly what Daniil Andreev meant when he said about him that “a colossal poet has appeared, the likes of which has not been seen in Russia for a long time, but a poet with shadows of a serious spiritual illness on his face.”
The topic of a separate and deep conversation is about the poet’s aspiration for spiritual abandonment, the desire to be damned, spiritually lost, the thirst for self-destruction, a kind of spiritual suicide. This is especially vividly captured in the book “Snow Mask”. But this is really a topic for another discussion. Anyone who wants to delve deeper into this topic can refer to the book by Daniil Andreev “The Rose of the World”, to the chapter “The Fall of the Messenger”.
Alexander Alexandrovich Blok was born in St. Petersburg. His father was a law professor, his mother, the daughter of the famous botanist Beketov, was a writer. Early childhood passed in the house of my grandfather, the rector of St. Petersburg University. In the summer, Blok lived on his grandfather’s estate - the village of Shakhmatovo, Klinsky district, Moscow province. Young Sasha was surrounded by a highly intelligent noble environment, which was close to literature, music, and theater. After high school, Blok studied at St. Petersburg University, first at the Faculty of Law, then at the Faculty of History and Philology. He graduated from the university in 1908. In 1904, his first book, “Poems about a Beautiful Lady,” was published. Blok’s lyrics of this time are painted in prayerful and mystical tones: the real world is contrasted with a ghostly, otherworldly world, comprehended only in secret signs and revelations. In the following books, the image of the homeland, of real Russian life, comes to the fore. Blok was characterized by a keen sense of time and history. He said: “In the poems of every poet, 9/10, perhaps, belongs not to him, but to the environment, era, wind.”
The poet surrendered to this wind, this element - and the wind of history carried him to the ocean of the Russian Revolution. Most poets saw the shore of this ocean covered in blood and mud, but not Blok. He accepted the revolution, and was even glad that the peasants burned their richest library in Shakhmatovo. The poet considered this a fair retribution for centuries of serfdom. With true genius, the poet captured and embodied the element of revolution in the famous poem “The Twelve.” Read his articles “Intellectuals and Revolution”, “Art and Revolution”. Everyone remembers Blok’s call: “Listen to the music of the Revolution!” The poet wrote in his diary: “It’s just blood and atrocities first, and then clover, pink porridge... By shackling with iron, you won’t lose this precious violence, this tirelessness.”
One can, of course, say that Blok was deeply mistaken. But everything that happened in Russia in those years can also be understood as an inevitable hurricane from everything that has accumulated in Russian history. It’s another thing to greet him joyfully or cry, but nothing can be changed. Blok accepted the elements as redemption, as a challenge to stagnation. You can argue as much as you like about Christ at the end of “The Twelve,” but you cannot help but take into account the point of view that “In a white corolla of roses / Ahead is Jesus Christ” - this is a normal Christian view of what happened, that everything is from God, that nothing happens here without His will or permission.
Blok is a world-class lyricist. The lyrical image of Russia, a passionate confession about bright and tragic love, the image of St. Petersburg, the “tear-stained beauty” of villages, the majestic rhythms of Italian poetry - all this wealth flowed into Russian poetry like a wide, deep river.
There are several versions associated with Blok's death. One of them is that he died of hunger, the other that he was poisoned by the Bolsheviks, the third that he “fell sick all over,” “the whole person,” like Apollo Grigoriev - these are the words of Remizov. They say that before his death, Blok broke the bust of Apollo in his heart, saying that he cursed the beauty that brought him so much pain...
And yet, nevertheless, it was Alexander Blok who said: “Erase random features, / And you will see, the world is beautiful!”
Another thing is at what cost random features are erased.
* * *You read the biography (facts and years of life) in a biographical article dedicated to the life and work of the great poet.
Thank you for reading. ............................................
Copyright: biographies of the lives of great poets
He amazed everyone with his irrepressible faith in the future of Russia and its people. Loving and suffering to embrace the immensity, a man with a wide soul and a tragic life. Blok's life and work deserve attention for their completeness and touchingness.
Biography of the poet
Blok Alexander Alexandrovich, born 1880, November 28. Place of birth - St. Petersburg. His parents: father - A.L. Blok, worked as a lawyer at the university in Warsaw, mother - A.A. Beketova, daughter of the famous botanist.
The boy's parents divorced before he was born, so he did not grow up in a complete family. However, maternal grandfather A.N. Beketov, in whose family Alexander grew up, surrounded the child with due care and attention. Gave him a good education and a start in life. A.N. himself Beketov was the rector of the university in St. Petersburg. The highly moral and cultural atmosphere of the environment left its mark on the formation of Blok’s worldview and upbringing.
Since childhood, he has had a love for the classics of Russian literature. Pushkin, Apukhtin, Zhukovsky, Fet, Grigoriev - these are the names on whose works little Blok grew up and became familiar with the world of literature and poetry.
Poet's training
The first stage of education for Blok was a gymnasium in St. Petersburg. After graduating in 1898, he entered St. Petersburg University to study law. He completed his legal studies in 1901 and changed his direction to historical and philological.
It was at the university that he finally decided to delve into the world of literature. This desire is also reinforced by the beautiful and picturesque nature, among which his grandfather’s estate is located. Having grown up in such an environment, Alexander forever absorbed the sensitivity and subtlety of his worldview, and reflected this in his poems. From then on, Blok’s creativity began.
Blok maintains a very warm relationship with his mother; his love and respect for her is limitless. Until his mother’s death, he constantly sent her his works.
Appearance
Their marriage took place in 1903. Family life was ambiguous and difficult. Mendeleev was waiting for great love, as in novels. The block offered moderation and tranquility of life. The result was his wife’s passion for his friend and like-minded person, Andrei Bely, a symbolist poet who played an important role in the work of Blok himself.
Lifetime work
Blok’s life and work developed in such a way that, in addition to literature, he took part in completely everyday affairs. For example:
"Poems about a Beautiful Lady";
"Unexpected joy";
"Snowy Night"
"On the Kulikovo field."
“Retribution”, which he wrote like that.
was an active participant in dramatic productions in the theater and even saw himself as an actor, but the literary field attracted him more;
for two years in a row (1905-1906) the poet was a direct witness and participant in revolutionary rallies and demonstrations;
writes his own literature review column in the newspaper "Golden Fleece";
from 1916-1917 repays his debt to the Motherland, serving near Pinsk (engineering and construction squad);
is part of the leadership of the Bolshoi;
upon returning from the army, he gets a job in the Extraordinary Investigative Commission for the Affairs of Tsarist Ministers. He worked there as a shorthand report editor until 1921.
Blok's early work
Little Sasha wrote his first poem at the age of five. Even then, he had the makings of a talent that needed to be developed. This is what Blok did.
Love and Russia are two favorite themes of creativity. Blok wrote a lot about both. However, at the initial stage of development and realization of his talent, what attracted him most was love. The image of the beautiful lady, which he had been looking for everywhere, captured his entire being. And he found the earthly embodiment of his ideas in Lyubov Mendeleeva.
The theme of love in Blok’s work is revealed so fully, clearly and beautifully that it is difficult to dispute it. Therefore, it is not surprising that his first brainchild - a collection of poems - is called "Poems about a Beautiful Lady", and it is dedicated to his wife. When writing this collection of poems, Blok was greatly influenced by the poetry of Solovyov, whose student and follower he is considered to be.
In all poems there is a feeling of Eternal femininity, beauty, and naturalness. However, all expressions and phrases used in writing are allegorical and unrealistic. Blok is carried away in a creative impulse to “other worlds.”
Gradually, the theme of love in Blok’s work gives way to more real and pressing problems surrounding the poet.
The beginning of disappointment
Revolutionary events, discord in family relationships, and miserably failing dreams of a clean and bright future for Russia force Blok’s work to undergo obvious changes. His next collection is called “Unexpected Joy” (1906).
More and more he ridicules the Symbolists, to whom he no longer considers himself, and he becomes more and more cynical about hopes for the best ahead. He is a participant in revolutionary events, who is completely on the side of the Bolsheviks, considering their cause to be right.
During this period (1906) his trilogy of dramas was published. First, “Balaganchik”, after some time “King in the Square”, and this trio ends with bitter disappointment from the imperfection of the world, from their disappointed hopes. During the same period, he became interested in actress N.N. Volokhova. However, he does not receive reciprocity, which adds bitterness, irony and skepticism to his poems.
Andrei Bely and other previously like-minded people in poetry do not accept the changes in Blok and criticize his current work. Alexander Blok remains adamant. He is disappointed and deeply saddened.
"The Incarnation Trilogy"
In 1909, Blok’s father dies, to whom he does not have time to say goodbye. This leaves an even greater imprint on his state of mind, and he decides to combine his most striking works, in his opinion, into one poetic trilogy, which he gives the name “Trilogy of Incarnation.”
Thus, Blok’s work in 1911-1912 was marked by the appearance of three collections of poems, which bear poetic titles:
A year later, he released a cycle of love poems “Carmen”, wrote the poem “The Nightingale Garden”, dedicated to his new hobby - singer L.A. Delmas.
Homeland in Blok’s works
Since 1908, the poet has positioned himself no longer as a lyricist, but as a glorifier of his Motherland. During this period he writes poems such as:
"Autumn Wave";
"Autumn Love";
All these works are imbued with love for the Motherland, for one’s country. The poet simultaneously shows two sides of life in Russia: poverty and hunger, piety, but at the same time wildness, unbridledness and freedom.
The theme of Russia in Blok’s work, the theme of the homeland, is one of the most fundamental in his entire poetic life. For him, the Motherland is something living, breathing and feeling. Therefore, the ongoing events of the October Revolution are too difficult, disproportionately difficult for him.
The theme of Russia in Blok’s works
After revolutionary trends capture his entire spirit, the poet almost completely loses lyricism and love in his works. Now the whole meaning of his works is directed towards Russia, his homeland.
Blok personifies his country in poetry with a woman; he makes it almost tangible, real, as if he humanizes it. The homeland in Blok’s work takes on such a large-scale significance that he never writes about love again.
Believing in the Bolsheviks and their truth, he experiences severe, almost fatal disappointment for him when he sees the results of the revolution. Hunger, poverty, defeat, mass extermination of the intelligentsia - all this forms in Blok’s mind an acute hostility towards the Symbolists, towards lyricism and forces him from now on to create works only with a satiristic, poisonous mockery of faith in the future.
However, his love for Russia is so great that he continues to believe in the strength of his country. That she will rise up, dust herself off and be able to show her power and glory. The works of Blok, Mayakovsky, Yesenin are similar in this regard.
In 1918, Blok wrote the poem “The Twelve,” the most scandalous and loud of all his works, which caused a lot of rumors and conversations about it. But criticism leaves the poet indifferent; the emerging depression begins to consume his entire being.
Poem "Twelve"
The author began writing his work "The Twelve" in early January. On the first day of work, he didn't even take a break. His notes say: “Trembling inside.” Then the writing of the poem stopped, and the poet was able to finish it only on January 28.
After the publication of this work, Blok’s work changed dramatically. This can be briefly described as follows: the poet lost himself, stagnation set in.
The main idea of the poem was recognized differently by everyone. Some saw in it support for the revolution, a mockery of symbolist views. Some, on the contrary, have a satirical slant and mockery of the revolutionary order. However, Blok himself had both in mind when creating the poem. She is contradictory, just like his mood at that moment.
After the publication of “The Twelve,” all already weak ties with the Symbolists were severed. Almost all of Blok’s close friends turned away from him: Merezhkovsky, Vyach, Prishvin, Sologub, Piast, Akhmatova and others.
By that time, he himself was becoming disillusioned with Balmont. Thus, Blok is left practically alone.
Post-revolutionary creativity
The revolution passed, and the bitterness from the disappointment of the Bolshevik policies grew and intensified. Such a gap between what was promised and what was done as a result of the revolution became unbearable for Blok. We can briefly characterize Blok’s work during this period: nothing was written.
As they would later write about the poet’s death, “the Bolsheviks killed him.” And indeed it is. Blok was unable to overcome and accept such a discrepancy between the word and deed of the new government. He failed to forgive himself for supporting the Bolsheviks, for his blindness and short-sightedness.
Blok is experiencing severe discord within himself and is completely lost in his inner experiences and torment. The consequence of this is illness. From April 1921 to the beginning of August, the illness did not let go of the poet, tormenting him more and more. Only occasionally emerging from semi-oblivion, he tries to console his wife, Lyubov Mendeleeva (Blok). On August 7, Blok died.
Where did the poet live and work?
Today, Blok’s biography and work captivate and inspire many. And the place where he lived and wrote his poems and poems turned into a museum. From the photographs we can judge the environment in which the poet worked.
You can see the appearance of the estate where the poet spent time in the photo on the left.
The room in which the poet spent the last bitter and difficult moments of his life (photo below).
Today, the poet’s work is loved and studied, admired, his depth and integrity, unusualness and brightness are recognized. Russia in Blok’s works is studied in school classes, and essays are written on this topic. This gives every right to call the author a great poet. In the past, he was a symbolist, then a revolutionary, and at the end of the day he was simply a deeply disillusioned person with life and power, an unhappy person with a bitter, difficult fate.
A monument has been erected in St. Petersburg to perpetuate the author’s name in history and pay due respect to his undeniable talent.
Blok Alexander Alexandrovich was born in St. Petersburg on November 28, 1880. His father was Alexander Lvovich Blok, who worked as a professor at the University of Warsaw, and his mother was the translator Alexandra Andreevna Beketova, whose father was the rector of St. Petersburg University.
The mother of the future poet married her first husband at the age of eighteen, and soon after the birth of the boy, she decided to sever all ties with her unloved husband. Subsequently, the poet’s parents practically did not communicate with each other.
In those days, divorces were rare and condemned by society, but in 1889, the self-sufficient and purposeful Alexandra Blok ensured that the Holy Governing Synod officially dissolved her marriage to Alexander Lvovich. Soon after this, the daughter of the famous Russian botanist married again for true love: to the guard officer Kublitsky-Piottukh. Alexandra Andreevna did not change her son’s surname to her own or to her stepfather’s intricate surname, and the future poet remained Blok.
Sasha spent his childhood years in his grandfather's house. In the summer he went to Shakhmatovo for a long time and throughout his life he carried warm memories of the time spent there. Moreover, Alexander Blok lived with his mother and her new husband on the outskirts of St. Petersburg.
There has always been an incomprehensible spiritual connection between the future poet and his mother. It was she who revealed to Sasha the works of Baudelaire, Polonsky, Verlaine, Fet and other famous poets. Alexandra Andreevna and her young son studied together new trends in philosophy and poetry, had enthusiastic conversations about the latest news in politics and culture. Subsequently, it was Alexander Blok who primarily read his works to his mother and it was from her that he sought consolation, understanding and support.
In 1889, the boy began studying at the Vvedenskaya gymnasium. Some time later, when Sasha was already 16 years old, he went with his mother on a trip abroad and spent some time in the city of Bad Nauheim, a popular German resort of those times. Despite his young age, on vacation he selflessly fell in love with Ksenia Sadovskaya, who was 37 years old at that time. Naturally, there was no talk of any relationship between a teenager and an adult woman. However, the charming Ksenia Sadovskaya, her image, imprinted in Blok’s memory, later became an inspiration for him when writing many works.
In 1898, Alexander completed his studies at the gymnasium and successfully passed the entrance exams to St. Petersburg University, choosing jurisprudence for his career. Three years after this, he nevertheless transferred to the historical and philological department, choosing the Slavic-Russian direction for himself. The poet completed his studies at the university in 1906. While receiving higher education, he met Alexei Remizov, Sergei Gorodetsky, and also became friends with Sergei Solovyov, who was his second cousin.
The beginning of creativity
The Blok family, especially on the maternal side, continued a highly cultured family, which could not but affect Alexandra. From a young age, he avidly read numerous books, was fond of theater and even attended the corresponding circle in St. Petersburg, and also tried his hand at poetry. The boy wrote his first simple works at the age of five, and in adolescence, in the company of his brothers, he enthusiastically wrote a handwritten journal.
An important event in the early 1900s for Alexander Alexandrovich was his marriage to Lyubov Mendeleeva, who was the daughter of a famous Russian scientist. The relationship between the young spouses was complex and unique, but filled with love and passion. Lyubov Dmitrievna also became a source of inspiration and a prototype for a number of characters in the poet’s works.
We can talk about Blok’s full-fledged creative career starting from 1900-1901. At that time, Alexander Alexandrovich became an even more devoted admirer of the work of Afanasy Fet, as well as the lyrics and even the teachings of Plato. In addition, fate brought him together with Dmitry Merezhkovsky and Zinaida Gippius, in whose magazine called “New Path” Blok took his first steps as a poet and critic.
At an early stage of his creative development, Alexander Alexandrovich realized that a direction in literature close to his liking was symbolism. This movement, which pierced all varieties of culture, was distinguished by innovation, a desire for experimentation, and a love of mystery and understatement. In St. Petersburg, symbolists close to him in spirit were the above-mentioned Gippius and Merezhkovsky, and in Moscow - Valery Bryusov. It is noteworthy that around the time Blok began publishing in the St. Petersburg “New Way,” a Moscow almanac called “Northern Flowers” began publishing his works.
A special place in the heart of Alexander Blok was occupied by a circle of young admirers and followers of Vladimir Solovyov, organized in Moscow. The role of a kind of leader of this circle was taken on by Andrei Bely, at that time an aspiring prose writer and poet. Andrey became a close friend of Alexander Alexandrovich, and members of the literary circle became some of the most devoted and enthusiastic fans of his work.
In 1903, the almanac “Northern Flowers” published a series of works by Blok entitled “Poems about a Beautiful Lady.” At the same time, three poems by the young rhymer were included in a collection of works by students of the Imperial St. Petersburg University. In his first known cycle, Blok presents a woman as a natural source of light and purity, and raises the question of how true a feeling of love brings an individual closer to the world as a whole.
Revolution of 1905-1907
Revolutionary events became for Alexander Alexandrovich the personification of the spontaneous, disordered nature of existence and quite significantly influenced his creative views. The Beautiful Lady in his thoughts and poems was replaced by images of blizzards, blizzards and vagrancy, bold and ambiguous Faina, Snow Mask and Stranger. Poems about love faded into the background.
Drama and interaction with the theater at this time also fascinated the poet. The first play written by Alexander Alexandrovich was called “Balaganchik” and was composed by Vsevolod Meyerhold at the Vera Komissarzhevskaya Theater in 1906.
At the same time, Blok, who, idolizing his wife, did not refuse the opportunity to have tender feelings for other women, became inflamed with passion for N.N. Volokhova, theater actress Vera Komissarzhevskaya. The image of the beautiful Volokhova soon filled Blok’s philosophical poems: the poet dedicated the “Faina” cycle and the book “Snow Mask” to her; he copied the heroines of the plays “Song of Fate” and “The King in the Square” from her.
At the end of the 1900s, the main theme of Blok’s works was the problem of the relationship between the common people and the intelligentsia in domestic society. In the poems of this period one can trace a vivid crisis of individualism and attempts to determine the place of the creator in the conditions of the real world. At the same time, Alexander Alexandrovich associated the Motherland with the image of his beloved wife, which is why his patriotic poems acquired a special, deeply personal individuality.
Refusal of symbolism
1909 was a very difficult year for Alexander Blok: that year his father, with whom he still maintained fairly warm relations, died, as well as the newborn child of the poet and his wife Lyudmila. However, the impressive inheritance that Alexander Blok Sr. left to his son allowed him to forget about financial difficulties and focus on major creative projects.
In the same year, the poet visited Italy, and the foreign atmosphere further pushed him to reassess previously established values. The cycle “Italian Poems” tells about this internal struggle, as well as prose essays from the book “Lightning of Art”. In the end, Blok came to the conclusion that symbolism, as a school with strictly defined rules, had exhausted itself for him, and from now on he felt the need for self-deepening and a “spiritual diet.”
Concentrating on large literary works, Alexander Alexandrovich gradually began to devote less and less time to journalistic work and appearances at various events that were popular among the poetic bohemia of those times.
In 1910, the author began composing an epic poem called “Retribution,” which he was never destined to finish. Between 1912 and 1913 he wrote the famous play The Rose and the Cross. And in 1911, Blok, taking five of his books of poetry as a basis, compiled a collection of works in three volumes, which was reprinted several times.
October Revolution
Soviet power did not evoke such a negative attitude from Alexander Blok as it did from many other poets of the Silver Age. At a time when Julius Aikhenvald, Dmitry Merezhkovsky and many others were strongly criticizing the Bolsheviks who had come to power, Blok agreed to cooperate with the new government leadership.
The name of the poet, who by that time was quite well known to the public, was actively used by the authorities for their own purposes. Among other things, Alexander Alexandrovich was constantly appointed to positions of no interest to him in various commissions and institutions.
It was during that period that the poem “Scythians” and the famous poem “The Twelve” were written. The last image of “The Twelve”: Jesus Christ, who found himself at the head of a procession of twelve Red Army soldiers, caused a real resonance in the literary world. Although this work is now considered one of the best creations of the “Silver Age” of Russian poetry, most of Blok’s contemporaries spoke about the poem, especially about the image of Jesus, in an extremely negative way.
Personal life
Blok's first and only wife was Lyubov Mendeleeva, with whom he was madly in love and whom he considered his real destiny. The wife was a support and support for the writer, as well as a constant muse.
However, the poet’s ideas about marriage were quite unique: firstly, he was categorically against physical intimacy, praising spiritual love. Secondly, until the last years of his life, Blok did not consider it shameful to fall in love with other representatives of the fair sex, although his women never mattered to him as much as his wife. However, Lyubov Mendeleeva also allowed herself to be carried away by other men.
The Bloks couple, alas, did not have children: the child, born after one of the few nights together between Alexander and Lyubov, turned out to be too weak and did not survive. Nevertheless, Blok still has quite a lot of relatives both in Russia and in Europe.
Death of poet
After the October Revolution, not only interesting facts happened from the life of Alexander Alexandrovich. Loaded with an incredible amount of responsibilities, not his own, he began to get very sick. Blok developed asthma, cardiovascular disease, and mental disorders began to develop. In 1920, the author fell ill with scurvy.
At the same time, the poet was also going through a period of financial difficulties.
Exhausted by poverty and numerous illnesses, he passed away on August 7, 1921, while in his apartment in St. Petersburg. The cause of death was inflammation of the heart valves. The funeral and funeral service of the poet was performed by Archpriest Alexei Zapadlov; Blok’s grave is located at the Smolensk Orthodox Cemetery.
Shortly before his death, the writer tried to get permission to travel abroad for treatment, but he was refused. They say that after this, Blok, being of sober mind and sound mind, destroyed his notes and, on principle, did not take any medicine or even food. For a long time there were also rumors that before his death, Alexander Alexandrovich went crazy and was delirious about whether all copies of his poem “The Twelve” had been destroyed. However, these rumors were not confirmed.
Alexander Blok is considered one of the most brilliant representatives of Russian poetry. His major works, as well as small poems (“Factory”, “Night Street Lantern Pharmacy”, “In a Restaurant”, “Dilapidated Hut” and others), became part of the cultural heritage of our people.
