Afanasy Afanasyevich Fet biography. Poet Fet Afanasy Afanasyevich - biography: years of life and interesting facts about creativity

Reading time: 12 min

Many schoolchildren hardly distinguish Fet's poetry from Tyutchev's creations - undoubtedly this is the teacher's fault, who failed to correctly present the masterpieces of two meters of Russian literature. I assure you that after this article about interesting facts from the life of Fet, you will immediately learn to distinguish the poetics of Afanasy Afanasyevich from the work of Fedor Ivanovich Tyutchev, I will try to be very brief!

The main differences between Fet's lyrics and Tyutchev's

In Tyutchev's poetry, the world is represented as cosmic, even the forces of nature come to life and become natural spirits that surround a person. The motives in Fet's work are closer to reality (mundane). Before us is a description of real landscapes, images of real people, Fet's love - the same complex feeling, but earthly and accessible.

The secret of the poet's surname and why Fet became a foreigner

As a child, A. Fet experienced a shock - he was deprived of his title of nobility and his paternal surname. The real name of the writer Shenshin, his father is a retired Russian captain, and his mother is the German beauty Charlotte Fet.

Parents met in Germany, where they immediately had a whirlwind romance. Charlotte was married, but completely unhappy in marriage, her husband liked to drink and often raised his hand to her. Having met a noble Russian military man, she fell desperately in love with him, and even maternal feelings did not interfere with the reunion of two hearts - Charlotte had a daughter.

Already in the seventh month of pregnancy, Charlotte runs away to Russia to Afanasy Shenshin. Later, Shenshin will write a letter to Charlotte's husband, but in return he will receive an obscene telegram. After all, the lovers committed an un-Christian act.

The future poet was born in the Oryol province, was recorded in the register of births by Afanasy Shenshin. Charlotte and Shenshin got married only two years after the birth of their son.

At the age of 14, Athanasius was recognized as illegitimate, he was returned the surname Fet and is called "foreigner". As a result, the boy loses his noble origin and the inheritance of the father of the landowner. Later he will restore his rights, but after many, many years.

Fet and Tolstoy

In the works of Lotman there is a mention of one unusual case from the life of two great writers. Everyone played card games in those days, he especially liked to gamble (but now it’s not about him).

The process of the game was quite emotional, in a rush the players tore and threw the cards on the floor, money fell along with them. But it was considered indecent to raise this money, they remained lying on the floor until the end of the game, and then they were taken away by lackeys in the form of a tip.

Once, socialites (including Fet and Tolstoy) were playing a card game, and Fet bent down to pick up a fallen banknote. It was a little strange for everyone, but not for Tolstoy, the writer bent down to his friend to light a candle. There is nothing shameful in this act, because Fet played with his last money, unlike his rivals.

Fet also wrote prose

In the 60s of the 19th century, Fet began work on prose, as a result, two prose collections were published, consisting of essays and short stories, sketches.

"We can not be separated" - the story of unhappy love

The poet met Maria Lazich at a ball in the house of the famous officer Petkovich (this happened in 1848, when the sun mercilessly burned down on the border of the Kyiv and Kherson provinces). Maria Lazich was charming - tall, slender, swarthy, with a mop of dark thick hair.

Fet immediately realized that Maria for him is like Beatrice for Dante.

Then Fet was 28 years old, and Maria was 24 years old, she had all the responsibility for the house and younger sisters, because she was the daughter of a poor Serbian general. Since then, all the writer's love lyrics have been dedicated to this beautiful young lady.

According to contemporaries, Mary was not distinguished by incomparable beauty, but she was pleasant and seductive. So Athanasius and Maria began to communicate, write letters to each other, spend joint evenings discussing art.

But one day, leafing through her diary (then all the girls had diaries in which they copied their favorite poems, quotes, attached photographs), Fet noticed musical signs, under which there was a signature - Franz Liszt.

Ferenc, a well-known composer of that time, who toured Russia in the 40s, met Maria and even dedicated a piece of music to her. At first, Fet was upset, jealousy surged over him, but then when he heard how great the melody sounds for Maria, he asked to play it constantly.

But the marriage between Athanasius and Mary was impossible, he has no means of subsistence and title, and Mary, although from a poor family, is from a noble family. Lazich's relatives did not know about this and did not understand at all why Fet had been communicating with their daughter for two years, but did not propose.

Naturally, rumors and speculation about Fet himself and Mary's immorality spread around the city. Then Athanasius told his beloved that their marriage was impossible, and the relationship must be urgently terminated. Maria asked Athanasius to just be there without marriage and money.

But in the spring of 1850 something terrible happened. In desperation, Maria sat in her room, trying to gather her thoughts on how to live on, how to achieve an eternal and indestructible union with her beloved.

Suddenly, she stood up sharply, which caused the lamp to fall on a long muslin dress, in a matter of seconds the flame engulfed the girl's hair, she only had time to shout "Save the letters!" Relatives put out the fire of madness, but the number of burns on the body was incompatible with life, after four painful days, Maria died.

Her last words were "He is not to blame, but I ..". There is speculation that it was suicide, not just an accidental death.

Marriage of convenience

Years later, Fet marries Maria Botkina, but not because of strong love, but by calculation. In his heart and poems, the image of the tall and black-haired Maria Lazich will forever be preserved.

How Fet returned the title

It took the poet several years of service in the infantry to achieve the rank of officer and receive the nobility. He did not like the army way of life at all, Fet wanted to engage in literature, not war. But in order to regain his rightful status, he was ready to endure any difficulties. After the service, Fet had to work for 11 years as a judge, and only then did the writer become worthy of receiving a title of nobility!

Suicide attempt

After receiving the title of nobility and family estate, having achieved the main goal in his life, Fet, under some pretext, asked his wife to go to visit someone. On November 21, 1892, he closed himself in his office, drank a glass of champagne, called the secretary, dictating the last lines.

“I don’t understand the conscious increase of inevitable suffering. Volunteering towards the inevitable. November 21, Fet (Shenshin)"

He took out a stylet for cutting paper and raised his hand above his temple, the secretary managed to snatch the stylet from the writer's hands. At that moment, Fet jumped out of the office into the dining room, tried to grab a knife, but immediately fell. The secretary ran up to the dying writer, who said only one word "voluntarily" and died. The poet left no heirs behind him.

Biography of Fet, Afanasy Afanasyevich (1820 - 1892) - a famous Russian poet with German roots, translator, lyricist, author of memoirs, corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of St. Petersburg.

Brief biography - Fet A.A. for children

Option 1

Afanasy Afanasyevich Fet is a Russian poet of German origin, memoirist, translator, and since 1886 a corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. Fet was born on December 5, 1820 in the Novoselki estate (Oryol province). The writer's father was a wealthy German-born landowner named Fet. Mother Athanasius remarried Afanasy Shenshin, who became the official father for the writer and gave him his last name.

When the boy was 14 years old, the legal illegality of this record was discovered, and Afanasy was forced to take the surname Fet again, which was akin to shame for him. Subsequently, he tried all his life to regain the name Shenshin. Fet received his education in a German private boarding school. Around 1835 he began to write poetry and take an interest in literature. After leaving school, he entered Moscow University, where he studied for 6 years at the verbal department of the Faculty of Philosophy.

In 1840, a collection of poems by the poet "Lyrical Pantheon" appeared. At the beginning of his literary career, he was supported by his friend and colleague Apollon Grigoriev. In 1845, Fet entered the service and a year later received his first officer rank. A few years later, the second collection of the writer appeared, which received a positive assessment from critics. At the same time, the beloved of the poet Marich Lazic died, to whom many poems from the collection were dedicated. Among them, "Talisman" and "Old Letters".

Fet often visited St. Petersburg, where he communicated with Goncharov and other writers. There he collaborated with the editors of the Sovremennik magazine. The third collection of poems appeared in 1856, edited by Turgenev. Soon the poet married Maria Botkina. After retiring, the writer settled in Moscow.

In 1863, a two-volume collection of his poems appeared. In 1867 he was awarded the title of justice of the peace, and in 1873 he was finally able to return his former name and title of nobility. The writer died of a heart attack on November 21, 1892 in Moscow. He was buried in Kleymenovo, now the Oryol region, the ancestral village of the Shenshins.

Option 2

Fet (Shenshin) Afanasy Afanasyevich, (1820–1892) Russian poet, prose writer, translator

Born in the village of Novoselki (Oryol province) in the family of a landowner A.N. Shenshin from Karolina Fet, who came from Germany. The whole life of the poet was spent in efforts to obtain the nobility. Fourteen years after his birth, some error in the metric was discovered, and in an instant he became a foreigner from a nobleman.

Russian citizenship was returned to him only in 1846.

In 1838-1844 he studied at Moscow University. During his studies, his first collection, Lyrical Pantheon (1840), was published, and starting from 1842, his poems began to be regularly published on the pages of magazines.

In 1845, Fet became a non-commissioned officer of the provincial regiment, since the officer rank gave the right to receive hereditary nobility. In 1853 he moved to the privileged Guards Life Hussar Regiment.

In 1858 he retired and energetically engaged in literary work. The nobility was not received. Then the poet acquired a landowner's plot, becoming a landowner-raznochinets.

Only in 1873 Fet, by permission of the king, became a nobleman Shenshin. By this time he was already widely known as the poet Fet.

Option 3

Fet Afanasy Afanasyevich (1820-1892). Fet holds one of the most honorable places among the writers who sang Russian nature. His poems convey subtle images, melodious lyrics of his father's expanses and poignant romance of feelings.

Fet was born in the family of a poor landowner with German roots, in the Novoselki estate. By the age of fifteen he was sent to a private boarding house and three years later he entered Moscow University. While studying at the verbal faculty, he began to try himself in the literary field. In 1840, his collection Lyrical Pantheon was published, which delighted readers with sincerity and purity.

The poet's second book came out only ten years later, and was overshadowed by the death of his beloved, Maria Lazich. At this time, Afanasy Afanasievich was in military service. He needed to regain the nobility, which he was deprived of due to the peculiarities of Russian jurisprudence. Being transferred to the Life Guards, the poet has the opportunity to communicate with Turgenev, Goncharov.

Ivan Turgenev edits Fet's third poetry collection, published in 1856. It included about a hundred works; both old and new. This edition was highly acclaimed by both readers and critics.

In 1856, Afanasy Fet married and retired the following year. He acquires a vast estate, where he becomes a successful landowner. His poems, previously published in separate books and published in leading domestic journals, are published in a two-volume edition of 1863.

After the resignation, Fet successfully leads the landowner's economy, zealously protecting the old way of life. His noble family name - Shenshin and privileges are returned to him. Issues of his collection "Evening Lights" and a book of memoirs are published. But health wears out a deadly disease.

During one of the attacks, the poet decides to commit suicide, but falls dead, barely opening a cabinet with table knives.

Biography of Fet A. A. by years

Option 1

Are you interested in knowing the most important and significant moments in the life of a writer? Then you did the right thing by opening the page where the chronological table of Fet is presented. It will help not only students, but also teachers. The table briefly describes the life and work of Fet; the presented data can be given to your students during the lesson, or you can remember forgotten dates and events yourself.

The writer of the golden age left behind many lyrical works, each of which conveys his inner mood. The biography of Afanasy Fet by date will help you independently understand the stages of development of his creative path and the main moments in the life of the great poet.

1820, December 5 (18)- Born in the Novoselki estate of the Mtsensk district of the Oryol province, which belonged to a retired officer Afanasy Neofitovich Shenshin.

1835-1837 - Education in the German private boarding school Krümmer in Verro (now Võru, Estonia). At this time, he began to write poetry, to show interest in classical philology.

1838 - Entered Moscow University, first at the Faculty of Law, then at the historical and philological (verbal) department of the Faculty of Philosophy. Studied for 6 years: 1838-1844.

1840 - Fet's collection of poems "Lyrical Pantheon" was published with the participation of Apollon Grigoriev, Fet's friend at the university.

1845 - entered military service in the cuirassier regiment of the Military Order, became a cavalryman.

1846 - He was awarded the first officer rank.

1850 - Fet's second collection was released, which received positive reviews from critics in the magazines Sovremennik, Moskvityanin and Domestic Notes.

1853 - Fet was transferred to the guards regiment stationed near St. Petersburg;
in St. Petersburg he met with Turgenev, Nekrasov, Goncharov and others, as well as his rapprochement with the editors of the Sovremennik magazine.

1854 - served in the Baltic Port, which he described in his memoirs "My memories".

1856 - the third collection of Fet was published, edited by I. S. Turgenev.

1857 - Fet married Maria Petrovna Botkina

1858 - retired with the rank of guards headquarters captain and settled in Moscow.

1859 - there was a break between the poet and the journalist Dolgoruky A.V. from Contemporary.

1863 - a two-volume collection of Fet's poems was published.

1867 - Athanasius Fet was elected a justice of the peace for 11 years.

1873 - Afanasy Fet returned the nobility and the surname Shenshin. The poet continued to sign literary works and translations with the surname Fet.

1883-1891 - publication of four issues of the collection "Evening Lights".

1892 November 21 (December 4)- died in Moscow. According to some reports, his death from a heart attack was preceded by a suicide attempt. He was buried in the village of Kleymenovo, the Shenshin family estate.

Option 2

Afanasy Afanasyevich Fet (Shenshin) is a Russian lyricist who became famous as a "poet of feelings" and a "beauty fanatic". Being an adherent "pure art" , he developed in his work the "eternal" themes of love, beauty, nature, "poetry of the soul", art.

Life of A.A. Feta in dates and facts

Presumably between 29 October And 29 November 1820G.- was born on the estate of the landowner Athanasius Shenshin, in the village of Novoselki, Mtsensk district, Oryol province; at birth was recorded under the name of the father.

1834 G.- was sent to study in the town of Verro, located in Livonia (now Estonia). While there, the future poet received news from his father that his surname had been changed to the surname “Fet” due to the “sad circumstances” of his birth that had been revealed. This event brought him a lot of suffering and doomed him to years of struggle to regain his lost position in society.

1837 G.- was transported to Moscow and given to the boarding house M.P. Pogodin - a well-known writer, historian and journalist. Then Fet became interested in writing poetry.

1838 G.- entered Moscow University, where he first studied at the Faculty of Law, and then moved to the verbal department of the Faculty of Philosophy. In his student years, Fet received recognition from the most authoritative connoisseurs of fine literature, in particular, who noted his talent, and V.G. Belinsky, who approved his first collection of poetry "Lyric Pantheon", published in 1840 signed “A. F."

1845 G.- after graduating from the university, the poet entered military service in the Cuirassier regiment stationed in the Kherson province, thereby hoping to regain, in accordance with the laws of that time, the noble rank. He successfully combined military duties with poetry, which was evidenced by the flowering of his literary fame in the 1850s.

IN 1848 G. Fet met M. Lazich, for whom he experienced a deep love feeling, but with whom, due to social and material reasons, he could not get married. Soon the girl died, and this loss left a deep wound in the soul of the poet. The image of Maria Lazich is present in many of Fet's poems.

IN 1856 G.- made a trip to Europe, during which he visited Germany, France and Italy.

1857 G. - married M. Botkina.

1858 G. - retired and settled in Moscow.

IN 1860 G. in his native Mtsensk district of the Oryol province, the poet bought the Stepanovka farm and, having built a house there, lived the life of a village landowner. Immersed in the chores of the estate, he abandoned literary work for some time, but eventually returned to it again. During the years of voluntary "flight to Stepanovka" Fet actively translated the poetry of antiquity (Anacreon), the East (Saadi, Hafiz), German and French authors (Goethe, Heine, Musset, Beranger). He also wrote the first Russian translation of the famous treatise by the German philosopher A. Schopenhauer "The World as Will and Representation".

IN 1863 G.- Fet's collected works were published.

Beginning with 1883 G., successively published collections of his poems under the general title "Evening Lights" thanks to which he again ascended to the pinnacle of glory.

Option 3

1820 year, November 23 - was born in the village of Novoselki, Mtsensk district, Oryol province
1835-1837 - studying at the German private boarding school Krümmer in Verro (now Võru, Estonia), Fet begins to write poetry, shows interest in classical philology
1838-1844 - study at Moscow University
1840 - publication of a collection of poems by A. A. Fet "Lyric Pantheon" with the participation of A. Grigoriev, a friend of Fet at the university
1842 - publications in the magazines "Moskvityanin" and "Domestic Notes"
1845 - entry into military service in the cuirassier regiment of the Military Order, becomes a cavalryman
1846 - assignment of the first officer rank
1850 - the second collection of A. A. Fet, positive reviews from critics in the magazines Sovremennik, Moskvityanin and Domestic Notes. The death of Maria Kozminichna Lazich, the poet's beloved, whose memories are devoted to many of his subsequent poems.
1853 - Fet is transferred to the guards regiment stationed near St. Petersburg. The poet often visits St. Petersburg, then the capital. Fet's meetings with Turgenev, Nekrasov, Goncharov and others. Rapprochement with the editors of the Sovremennik magazine
1854 - service in the Baltic Port, described in his memoirs "My memories"
1856 - the third collection of A. A. Fet. Editor - Turgenev
1857 - Fet's marriage to M. P. Botkina
1858 - the poet retires with the rank of guards captain, settles in Moscow
1859 - break with the Sovremennik magazine
1863 - the release of a two-volume collection of poems by Fet
1867 - Fet elected magistrate for 11 years
1873 - returned the nobility and the surname Shenshin.
1883 -1891 - publication of four issues of the collection "Evening Lights"
1892 November 21 - Fet's death in Moscow. According to some reports, his death from a heart attack was preceded by a suicide attempt.

Full biography of Fet A. A.

Option 1

Afanasy Afanasyevich Fet (Shenshin) was born on December 5 (November 23 according to the old style) in 1820 in the Novoselki estate near the city of Mtsensk, Oryol province (now the Mtsensk district of the Oryol region).

According to other sources, Fet's date of birth is November 10 (October 29, old style) or December 11 (November 29, old style), 1820.

The future poet was born into the family of a landowner, retired captain Afanasy Shenshin, who in 1820 allegedly married abroad according to the Lutheran rite with Charlotte Fet, the daughter of Ober-Kriegs Commissar Karl Becker, who bore the surname Fet after her first husband. This marriage had no legal force in Russia. Until the age of 14, the boy bore the surname Shenshin, and then was forced to take the surname of his mother, as it turned out that the Orthodox wedding of his parents was performed after the birth of the child.

This deprived Fet of all noble privileges.

Until the age of 14, the boy lived and studied at home, and then was sent to a German boarding school in Verro, Livonia province (now the city of Vyru in Estonia).

In 1837, Afanasy Fet arrived in Moscow, spent half a year in the boarding house of Professor Mikhail Pogodin and entered Moscow University, where he studied in 1838-1844, first at the law department, then at the verbal department.

In 1840, the first collection of poems was published under the title “Lyrical Pantheon”, the author took refuge behind the initials A.F. From the end of 1841, Fet’s poems regularly appeared on the pages of the Moskvityanin magazine published by Pogodin. Since 1842, Fet has been published in the liberal Western journal Otechestvennye Zapiski.

In order to obtain the title of nobility, Fet decided to enter the military service. In 1845 he was accepted into a cuirassier regiment; in 1853 he moved to the Lancers Guards Regiment; in the Crimean campaign was part of the troops guarding the Estonian coast; in 1858 he retired as a staff captain, having not served the nobility.

During the years of military service, Afanasy Fet was in love with a relative of his provincial acquaintances, Maria Lazich, who influenced all his work. In 1850, Lazich died in a fire. Researchers single out a special cycle of Fet's poems related to Lazich.

In 1850, the second collection of Fet's poems, entitled Poems, was published in Moscow. In 1854, while in St. Petersburg, Afanasy Fet became close to the literary circle of the Sovremennik magazine - Nikolai Nekrasov, Ivan Turgenev, Alexander Druzhinin, Vasily Botkin, and others. His poems began to be published in the magazine. In 1856, a new collection of poems by A.A. Feta”, republished in 1863 in two volumes, with the second including translations.

In 1860, Fet bought the Stepanovka farm in the Mtsensk district of the Oryol province, took care of the household, and lived there all the time. In 1867-1877 he was a justice of the peace. In 1873, the surname Shenshin with all the rights associated with it was approved for Fet. In 1877, he sold Stepanovka, which he had arranged well, bought a house in Moscow and the picturesque Vorobyovka estate in the Shchigrovsky district of the Kursk province.

From 1862 to 1871, in the journals Russky Vestnik, Literary Library, and Zarya, Fet's essays were published under the editorial titles Notes on Volunteer Labor, From the Village, and On the Question of Hiring Workers.

In Stepanovka, Fet began work on the memoirs “My Memoirs”, covering the period from 1848 to 1889, they were published in 1890 in two volumes, and the volume “The Early Years of My Life” was published after his death - in 1893.

A lot at this time, Fet was engaged in translations, completed mainly in the 1880s. Fet is known as a translator of Horace, Ovid, Goethe, Heine and other ancient and modern poets.

In 1883-1891, four issues of Fet's collection of poems "Evening Lights" were published. The fifth he did not sing to release. The poems intended for him were partly and in a different order included in the two-volume Lyrical Poems published after his death (1894), prepared by his admirers - the critic Nikolai Strakhov and the poet K.R. (Grand Duke Konstantin Romanov).

Fet's last years were marked by signs of external recognition. In 1884, for the complete translation of the works of Horace, he received the Pushkin Prize of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, in 1886, for the totality of his works, he was elected its corresponding member.

In 1888, Fet received the court rank of chamberlain, personally introduced himself to Emperor Alexander III.

Afanasy Fet died on December 3 (November 21, old style) 1892 in Moscow. The poet was buried in the village of Kleymenovo, the Shenshin family estate.

Afanasy Fet was married to the sister of the literary critic Vasily Botkin - Maria Botkina.

Option 2

Afanasy Afanasyevich Fet is a recognized genius of literature, whose work is cited both in Russia and in foreign countries. His poems, such as "", "Whisper, timid breathing", "Evening", "", "This morning, this joy", "", "Do not wake her at dawn", "", "I have come", "The Nightingale and the Rose" and others are now mandatory for study in schools and higher educational institutions.

In the biography of Afanasy Fet, there are many mysteries and secrets that still excite the minds of scientists and historians. For example, the circumstances of the birth of a great genius who sang of the beauty of nature and human feelings are like a riddle of the Sphinx.

When Shenshin was born (the name of the poet, which he bore for the first 14 and the last 19 years of his life), is not known for certain. They call it November 10 or December 11, 1820, but Afanasy Afanasyevich himself celebrated his birthday on the 5th of the twelfth month.

His mother, Charlotte-Elisabeth Becker, was the daughter of a German burgher and for some time was the wife of a certain Johann Feth, an assessor at the local court in Darmstadt. Soon Charlotte met Afanasy Neofitovich Shenshin, an Oryol landowner and part-time retired captain.

The fact is that Shenshin, having arrived in Germany, could not book a place in a hotel, because they simply were not there. Therefore, the Russian settles in the house of Ober-Kriegskommissar Karl Becker, a widower who lived with a 22-year-old daughter who was pregnant with her second child, son-in-law and granddaughter.

What a young girl fell in love with 45-year-old Athanasius, who, moreover, according to the memoirs of his contemporaries, was unsightly himself - history is silent. But, according to rumors, before meeting the Russian landowner, the relationship between Charlotte and Fet gradually came to a standstill: despite the birth of their daughter Carolina, husband and wife often clashed, besides, Johann got into numerous debts, poisoning the existence of a young wife.

It is only known that from the “City of Sciences” (as Darmstadt is called), the girl, together with Shenshin, fled to a snowy country, the severe frosts of which the Germans even never dreamed of.

Karl Becker could not explain such an eccentric and unprecedented act of his daughter for those times. After all, she, being a married woman, left her husband and beloved child to the mercy of fate and went in search of adventure in an unfamiliar country. Grandfather Athanasius used to say that “means of seduction” (most likely, Karl meant alcohol) deprived her of her mind. But in fact, Charlotte was later diagnosed with a mental disorder.

Already in Russia, two months after the move, a boy was born. The baby was baptized according to the Orthodox tradition and named Athanasius. Thus, the parents predetermined the future of the child, because Athanasius in Greek means "immortal". In fact, Fet became a famous writer, whose memory has not died for many years.

Converted to Orthodoxy, Charlotte, who became Elizaveta Petrovna, recalled that Shenshin treated his adopted son as a blood relative and endowed the boy with care and attention.

Later, the Shenshins had three more children, but two died at a young age, which is not surprising, because due to progressive diseases in those troubled times, infant mortality was considered far from uncommon. Afanasy Afanasyevich recalled in his autobiography "The Early Years of My Life" how his sister Anyuta, who was a year younger, went to bed. Near the girl's bed, relatives and friends were on duty day and night, and in the morning doctors visited her room. Fet remembered how he approached the girl and saw her ruddy face and blue eyes, fixedly looking at the ceiling. When Anyuta died, Afanasy Shenshin, initially suspecting such a tragic outcome, fainted.

In 1824, Johann proposed marriage to the governess who was raising his daughter Caroline. The woman agreed, and Fet, either out of resentment for life, or then, in order to annoy the ex-wife, struck Afanasy out of the will. “I am very surprised that Fet forgot in his will and did not recognize his son. A person can make mistakes, but to deny the laws of nature is a very big mistake, ”Elizaveta Petrovna recalled in letters to her brother.

When the young man was 14 years old, the spiritual consistory canceled the baptismal record of Athanasius as the legitimate son of Shenshin, so the boy was given his last name - Fet, since he was born out of wedlock. Because of this, Athanasius lost all privileges, therefore, in the eyes of the public, he appeared not as a descendant of a noble family, but as a “Hessendarstadt subject”, a foreigner of dubious origin. Such changes were a blow to the heart for the future poet, who considered himself primordially Russian. For many years, the writer tried to return the name of the person who raised him as his own son, but the attempts were in vain. And only in 1873 Athanasius won and became Shenshin.

Athanasius spent his childhood in the village of Novoselki, in the Oryol province, in his father's estate, in a house with a mezzanine and two outbuildings. The boy's gaze opened up picturesque meadows covered with verdant grass, crowns of mighty trees lit by the sun, houses with smoking chimneys and a church with ringing bells. Also, young Fet got up at five in the morning and, wearing only pajamas, ran to the maids so that they would tell him a fairy tale. Although the spinning maids tried to ignore the annoying Athanasius, the boy eventually got his way.

All these childhood memories that inspired Fet were reflected in his subsequent work.

From 1835 to 1837, Athanasius attended the German private boarding school of Krümmer, where he showed himself to be a diligent student. The young man pored over literature textbooks and even then tried to come up with poetic lines.

Literature

At the end of 1837, the young man went to conquer the heart of Russia. Athanasius diligently studied for six months under the supervision of the famous journalist, writer and publisher Mikhail Petrovich Pogodin. After preparation, Fet easily entered the Moscow University at the Faculty of Law. But soon the poet realized that the subject patronized by Saint Ivo of Brittany was not his path.

Therefore, the young man, without any hesitation, transferred to Russian literature. As a first-year student, Afanasy Fet seriously took up poetry and showed his test of the pen to Pogodin. Having familiarized himself with the works of the student, Mikhail Petrovich gave the manuscripts Gogol, who stated: "Fet is an undoubted talent." Encouraged by the praise of the author of the book "Viy", Afanasy Afanasyevich publishes his debut collection "Lyrical Pantheon" (1840) and begins to be published in the literary journals "Domestic Notes", "Moskvityanin", etc. "Lyrical Pantheon" did not bring recognition to the author. Unfortunately, Fet's talent was not appreciated by his contemporaries.

But at one point, Afanasy Afanasyevich had to leave literary work and forget about the pen and inkwell. A black streak has come in the life of a gifted poet. At the end of 1844, his beloved mother died, as well as an uncle, with whom Fet had warm friendly relations. Afanasy Afanasyevich counted on the inheritance of a relative, but his uncle's money unexpectedly disappeared. Therefore, the young poet was literally left without a livelihood and, hoping to acquire a fortune, entered the military service and became a cavalryman. He rose to the rank of officer.

In 1850, the writer returned to poetry and released a second collection, which received rave reviews from Russian critics. After a fairly long period of time, under the editorship of Turgenev, the third collection of the gifted poet was published, and in 1863 a two-volume collected works of Fet was published.

If we consider the work of the author of "May Night" and "Spring Rain", then he was a refined lyricist and, as if, identified nature and human feelings. In addition to lyrical poems, his track record includes elegies, thoughts, ballads, messages. Also, many literary scholars agree that Afanasy Afanasyevich invented his own, original and multifaceted genre of "melodies", in his works there are often responses to musical works.

Among other things, Afanasy Afanasyevich is familiar to modern readers as a translator. He translated into Russian a number of poems by Latin poets, and also introduced readers to the mystical.

Personal life

Afanasy Afanasyevich Fet during his lifetime was a paradoxical figure: before his contemporaries he appeared as a thoughtful and gloomy person, whose biography is surrounded by mystical halos. Therefore, a dissonance arose in the minds of poetry lovers, some could not understand how this person, burdened with worldly worries, could so exaltedly sing of nature, love, feelings and human relationships.

In the summer of 1848, Afanasy Fet, who served in the cuirassier regiment, was invited to a ball in the hospitable house of the former officer of the Order Regiment M.I. Petkovich.

Among the young ladies fluttering around the hall, Afanasy Afanasyevich saw a black-haired beauty, the daughter of a retired cavalry general of Serbian origin, Maria Lazich. From that very meeting, Fet began to perceive this girl as Caesar Cleopatra or as Lilya Brik. It is noteworthy that Maria knew Fet for a long time, however, she met him through his poems, which she read in her youth. Lazic was educated beyond her years, knew how to play music and was well versed in literature. It is not surprising that Fet recognized a kindred spirit in this girl. They exchanged numerous fiery letters and often flipped through albums. Maria became the lyrical heroine of many Fetov's poems.

But the acquaintance of Fet and Lazich was not happy. The lovers could become spouses and raise children in the future, but the prudent and practical Fet refused the union with Mary, because she was as poor as he was. In his last letter, Lazich Afanasy Afanasyevich initiated the breakup.

Soon Maria died: due to a carelessly thrown match, her dress caught fire. The girl could not be saved from numerous burns. It is possible that this death was a suicide. The tragic event struck Fet to the core, and Afanasy Afanasyevich found consolation from the sudden loss of a loved one in his work. His subsequent poems were received with a bang by the reading public, so Fet managed to acquire a fortune, the poet's fees allowed him to travel around Europe.

While abroad, the master of trochaic and iambic met with a wealthy woman from a famous Russian dynasty - Maria Botkina. The second wife of Fet was not good-looking, but she was distinguished by good nature and easy disposition. Although Afanasy Afanasyevich proposed not out of love, but out of convenience, the couple lived happily. After a modest wedding, the couple left for Moscow, Fet resigned and devoted his life to creativity.

Death

On November 21, 1892, Afanasy Afanasyevich Fet died of a heart attack. Many biographers suggest that before his death, the poet attempted suicide. But at the moment there is no reliable evidence for this version. The grave of the creator is located in the village of Kleymenovo.

Option 3

ABOUTonce to the question of the questionnaire of the daughter of Leo Tolstoy Tatyana “How long would you like to live?” Fet replied: "The least long." And yet the writer had a long and very eventful life - he not only wrote many lyrical works, critical articles and memoirs, but also devoted whole years to agriculture, and apple marshmallow from his estate was even supplied to the imperial table.

Non-hereditary nobleman: childhood and youth of Athanasius Fet

Afanasy Fet was born in 1820 in the village of Novoselki near the city of Mtsensk, Oryol province. Until the age of 14, he bore the surname of his father, the wealthy landowner Afanasy Shenshin. As it turned out later, Shenshin's marriage to Charlotte Fet was illegal in Russia, since they got married only after the birth of their son, which the Orthodox Church categorically did not accept. Because of this, the young man was deprived of the privileges of a hereditary nobleman. He began to bear the name of his mother's first husband, Johann Fet.

Athanasius was educated at home. Basically, he was taught literacy and the alphabet not by professional teachers, but by valets, cooks, courtyards, and seminarians. But Fet absorbed most of his knowledge from the surrounding nature, the peasant way of life and rural life. He liked to communicate for a long time with the maids, who shared news, told tales and legends.

At the age of 14, the boy was sent to the German boarding school Krummer in the Estonian city of Vyru. It was there that he fell in love with the poetry of Alexander Pushkin. In 1837, young Fet arrived in Moscow, where he continued his studies at the boarding school of professor of world history Mikhail Pogodin.

In quiet moments of complete carelessness, I seemed to feel the underwater rotation of flower spirals, trying to bring the flower to the surface; but in the end it turned out that only spirals of stems were striving outward, on which there were no flowers. I drew some verses on my slate board and erased them again, finding them meaningless.

From the memoirs of Afanasy Fet

In 1838, Fet entered the Faculty of Law of Moscow University, but soon switched to the Faculty of History and Philology. From the first year he wrote poems that interested classmates. The young man decided to show them to Professor Pogodin, and he - to the writer Nikolai Gogol. Soon Pogodin gave a review of the famous classic: "Gogol said this is an undoubted talent". The works of Fet and his friends were approved - the translator Irinarkh Vvedensky and the poet Apollon Grigoriev, to whom Fet moved from Pogodin's house. He recalled that "the house of the Grigorievs was the true cradle of my mental self." The two poets supported each other in their work and life.

In 1840, Fet's first collection of poems, Lyrical Pantheon, was published. It was published under the initials "A. F." It included ballads and elegies, idylls and epitaphs. The collection was liked by critics: Vissarion Belinsky, Pyotr Kudryavtsev and the poet Yevgeny Baratynsky. A year later, Fet's poems were already regularly published by Pogodin's magazine "Moskvityanin", and later by the magazine "Domestic Notes". In the last year, 85 Fetov's poems were published.

The idea to return the title of nobility did not leave Afanasy Fet, and he decided to enter the military service: the officer rank gave the right to hereditary nobility. In 1845, he was accepted as a non-commissioned officer in the Order's cuirassier regiment in the Chersonese province. A year later, Fet was promoted to cornet.

In 1850, bypassing all the censorship committees, Fet released a second collection of poems, which was praised on the pages of major Russian magazines. By this time, he was transferred to the rank of lieutenant and quartered closer to the capital. In the Baltic port, Afanasy Fet participated in the Crimean campaign, whose troops guarded the Estonian coast.

In 1854, in St. Petersburg, the poet entered the literary circle of Sovremennik, where he met writers Nikolai Nekrasov, Ivan Goncharov and Ivan Turgenev, critics Alexander Druzhinin and Vasily Botkin. Soon Fet's poems began to be printed by Sovremennik.

... We consider Mr. Fet not only a true poetic talent, but a rare phenomenon in our time, because true poetic talent, to whatever extent it manifests itself, is always a rare phenomenon: for this you need many special, happy, natural conditions.

Vasily Botkin

Under the supervision of Turgenev, the second collection of Fetov's poems was carefully revised, and in 1856 they published “Poems by A.A. Feta. The poet, although he accepted the corrections of the famous writer, later admitted that "the edition from Turgenev's editorial board came out as cleared as it was mutilated."

Encouraged by success, Fet began to write whole poems, stories in verse, fiction, and nature, as well as travel essays and critical articles. In addition, he translated the works of Heinrich Heine, Johann Goethe, Andre Chenier, Adam Mickiewicz and other poets.

“We can safely say that a person who understands poetry and willingly opens his soul to its sensations will not draw as much poetic pleasure from any Russian author, after Pushkin, as Mr. Fet gives him.”

Nikolai Nekrasov

In 1857, Afanasy Fet married Vasily Botkin's younger sister, Maria, the heiress of a wealthy merchant family. The following year, with the rank of guards staff captain, he retired, without having achieved the nobility. The couple settled first in Moscow, and in 1860 in the Stepanovka estate, which they bought in the Mtsensk district of the Oryol province - in the writer's homeland.

As Ivan Turgenev said,

“he [Fet] has now become an agronomist-owner to the point of desperation, let his beard grow to his loins, does not want to hear about literature, and drove the Musa away from behind ...”.

Fet devoted himself to rural care and household chores: he grew crops, designed a stud farm, kept cows, sheep, poultry, bred bees, and fish. From Stepanovka, Fet made an exemplary estate: the yields from his fields raised the statistics of the province, and Fet's apple marshmallow was delivered directly to the imperial court.

However, in 1863 the poet published another book - a two-volume set of his poems. Some critics greeted the book with joy, noting the "wonderful lyrical talent" of the writer, while others attacked him with harsh articles and parodies. Fet was accused of being a “serf landowner” and hiding under the guise of a lyric poet.

Afanasy Fet regularly published in the journals Russky Vestnik, Literary Library and Zarya. His essays on the post-reform state of agriculture were published there. They were printed under the editorial titles Notes on Freelance Labor, From the Village, and On the Question of Hiring Workers. In 1867, Afanasy Fet was elected a justice of the peace. This largely influenced the fact that 10 years later, by imperial decree, the surname Shenshin was finally approved for him and the title of nobility was returned. But the writer continued to sign his works with the surname Fet.

Laureate of the full Pushkin Prize: mature years and the death of the poet

In 1877, Fet sold Stepanovka in order to buy a house in Moscow, and in the Kursk province the old estate Vorobyovka. Despite the fact that many new concerns fell on the landowner Shenshin, he did not abandon literature. After a 20-year break, in 1883 a new poetic book was published - "Evening Lights". By this time, Fet had come to terms with the fact that his works were "for the few". "People don't need my literature, and I don't need fools", he said. In turn, the readers responded to the poet in the same way.

“When I began to re-read these three little pieces [“ Departed ”,“ Death ”,“ Alterego»] - I was terribly struck by their connection, and that terrible despondency that is hidden under this energetic, bright speech. Poor Fet! .. Alone everywhere, and in his magnificent Vorobyovka!

From a letter from Nikolai Strakhov to Leo Tolstoy, 1879

In the last years of his life, Fet received public recognition. In 1884, for the translation of Horace's works, he became the first recipient of the full Pushkin Prize of the Imperial Academy of Sciences. Two years later, the poet was elected its corresponding member. In 1888, Athanasius Fet was personally introduced to Emperor Alexander III and awarded the court title of chamberlain.

While still in Stepanovka, Fet began to write the book “My Memoirs”, where he talked about his life as a landowner. The memoirs cover the period from 1848 to 1889. The book was published in two volumes in 1890.

On December 3, 1892, Fet asked his wife to call a doctor, and in the meantime he dictated to his secretary: “I don’t understand the conscious increase in inevitable suffering. Volunteering towards the inevitable" and signed "Fet (Shenshin)". The writer died of a heart attack, but it is known that at first he tried to commit suicide by rushing after a steel stiletto. Afanasy Fet was buried in the village of Kleymenovo, the Shenshin family estate.

I was offended to see how indifferently the sad news was received even by those whom it most of all should have touched. How selfish we are!<…>He was a strong man, fought all his life and achieved everything he wanted: he won a name, wealth, literary celebrity and a place in high society, even at court. He appreciated all this and enjoyed everything, but I am sure that his poems were dearest to him in the world and that he knew that their charm is incomparable, the very heights of poetry. The further, the more others will understand it.

From a letter from Nikolai Strakhov to Sofya Tolstoy, 1892

Already after the death of the writer, in 1893, the last volume of memoirs "The Early Years of My Life" was published. Fet also did not have time to release the volume that completes the cycle of poems “Evening Lights”. The works for this poetic book were included in the two-volume "Lyric Poems", which was published in 1894 by Nikolai Strakhov and Grand Duke Konstantin Romanov.

The talented poet Afanasy Fet was one of those whose poems can move even the most callous soul to tears. Soulful lyrics, deep and sensual, but at the same time without a gram of falsehood - that's what his poems are. In addition, Fet was noted in history as an excellent translator of foreign poetry.

Interesting facts from the life of Fet.

1. Athanasius was the son of a German whose wife, being pregnant, ran away with her lover, a Russian nobleman. The stepfather bribed the priest to hide the secret of his stepson's origin, but when he was 14 years old, the secret became public, and the future poet lost his noble title, surname and inheritance.
2. In documents and papers, due to his indefinite social status, the poet was usually called "foreigner Fet".
3. Athanasius received his last name, under which he became famous, when his mother managed to beg his biological father to recognize the child as his son. In general, his surname sounded like "Fet", but the poet himself preferred to speak and write "Fet".
4. Being in a cramped financial situation, Fet married for convenience in order to receive a dowry. The latter, however, was still not enough to solve all the problems of the poet.
5. Fet's poems were first published in 1840.
6. Many years later, the noble title and the name of his stepfather, Shenshin, were returned to the poet. But in history, Fet still remained under the name by which we know him.
7. One of the poet's phobias was a panicky fear of getting into a psychiatric hospital.
8. Fet wrote not only poetry, but also prose, and all his prose was written in the genre of realism.
9. Fet, who died of a heart attack, had tried to commit suicide a minute before.
10. Nekrasov wrote that among all Russian poets, only Fet can be put on a par with Pushkin.
11. It is Fet who authored the translation of the famous "Faust" by Goethe.
12. Afanasy Fet dedicated many of his poems to Maria Lazich, the tragically deceased girl with whom he was in love.
13. The poet devoted many years to military service, since literary activity did not bring him significant income.
14. During the first two decades of his work, Fet sold less than one thousand books.
15. The poet was close friends with Turgenev and Tolstoy.
16. Afanasy Fet left no descendants.

Afanasy Afanasyevich Fet(Fet) (the first 14 and the last 19 years of his life officially bore the surname Shenshin; November 23 [December 5], Novoselki estate, Mtsensk district, Orel province - November 21 [December 3], Moscow) - Russian lyric poet, translator, memoirist.

Biography

Father - Johann-Peter-Karl-Wilhelm Vöth (1789-1825), assessor of the city court of Darmstadt. Mother - Charlotte-Elizabeth Becker (1798-1844). Sister - Caroline-Charlotte-Georgina-Ernestina Feth (1819-?). Stepfather - Shenshin Afanasy Neofitovich (1775-1855). Maternal grandfather - Karl Wilhelm Becker (1766-1826), Privy Councilor, military commissar. Paternal grandfather - Johann Vöth, paternal grandmother - Milens Sibylla. Maternal grandmother - Gagern Henriette.

Wife - Botkina Maria Petrovna (1828-1894), from the Botkin family (her older brother, V.P. Botkin, a well-known literary and art critic, author of one of the most significant articles on the work of A. A. Fet, S. P. Botkin - a doctor, whose name is a hospital in Moscow, D.P. Botkin - a collector of paintings), there were no children in the marriage. Nephew - E. S. Botkin, shot in 1918 in Yekaterinburg, along with the family of Nicholas II.

On May 18, 1818, the marriage of 20-year-old Charlotte-Elisabeth Becker and Johann-Peter-Wilhelm Vöth took place in Darmstadt. On September 18-19, 1820, 45-year-old Afanasy Shenshin and Charlotte-Elizaveta Becker, pregnant at 7 months with their second child, secretly left for Russia. In November-December 1820, in the village of Novoselki, Charlotte-Elizabeth Becker had a son, Athanasius.

Around November 30 of the same year in the village of Novoselki, the son of Charlotte-Elizabeth Becker was baptized according to the Orthodox rite, named Athanasius, and recorded in the birth register as the son of Afanasy Neofitovich Shenshin. In 1821-1823, Charlotte-Elizabeth had a daughter from Afanasy Shenshin, Anna, and a son, Vasily, who died in infancy. On September 4, 1822, Afanasy Shenshin married Becker, who converted to Orthodoxy before the wedding and became known as Elizaveta Petrovna Fet.

On November 7, 1823, Charlotte-Elizabeth wrote a letter to her brother Ernst Becker in Darmstadt, in which she complained about her ex-husband Johann-Peter-Karl-Wilhelm Föth, who frightened her and offered to adopt her son Athanasius if his debts were paid.

In 1824, Johann VET remarried the tutor of his daughter Caroline. In May 1824, in Mtsensk, Charlotte-Elizabeth had a daughter from Afanasy Shenshin - Lyuba (1824-?). On August 25, 1825, Charlotte-Elizabeth Becker wrote a letter to her brother Ernst, in which she talked about how well Shenshin takes care of her son Athanasius, that even: "... No one will notice that this is not his blood child ...". In March 1826, she again wrote to her brother that her first husband, who had died a month ago, had not left her and her child money: “... To take revenge on me and Shenshin, he forgot his own child, disinherited him and put a stain on him ... Try, if possible , to beg our dear father to help restore this child his rights and honor; he must get a surname ... "Then, in the following letter:" ... It is very surprising to me that Fet forgot in his will and did not recognize his son. A person can make mistakes, but to deny the laws of nature is a very big mistake. It can be seen that before his death he was completely ill ... ", the poet's beloved, the memory of which is dedicated to the poem, poems, and many of his other poems.

Creation

Being one of the most sophisticated lyricists, Fet amazed his contemporaries by the fact that this did not prevent him from being an extremely businesslike, enterprising and successful landowner at the same time. The famous palindromic phrase, written by Fet and included in A. Tolstoy's "The Adventures of Pinocchio", is "A rose fell on Azor's paw."

Poetry

Fet's work is characterized by the desire to escape from everyday reality into the "bright realm of dreams." The main content of his poetry is love and nature. His poems are distinguished by the subtlety of the poetic mood and great artistic skill.

Fet is a representative of the so-called pure poetry. In this regard, throughout his life he argued with N. A. Nekrasov, a representative of social poetry.

A feature of Fet's poetics is that the conversation about the most important is limited to a transparent hint. The most striking example is a poem.

Whisper, timid breath,
trill nightingale
Silver and flutter
sleepy creek

Night light, night shadows
Shadows without end
A series of magical changes
sweet face,

In smoky clouds purple roses,
reflection of amber,
And kisses, and tears,
And dawn, dawn!..

There is not a single verb in this poem, but the static description of space conveys the very movement of time.

The poem is one of the best poetic works of the lyrical genre. First published in the magazine "Moskvityanin" (1850), then revised and finalized, six years later, in the collection "Poems by A. A. Fet" (published under the editorship of I. S. Turgenev).

Written in a multi-footed trochaic with female and male cross-rhyming (rather rare for the Russian classical tradition in size). At least three times it became the object of literary analysis.

The romance "At dawn, you don't wake her" was written on Fet's verses.

Another famous poem by Fet:

I came to you with greetings To tell you that the sun has risen, That it trembled with hot light On the sheets.

Translations

• both parts of "Faust" by Goethe (-),
• a number of Latin poets:

• Horace, all of whose works in Fetov's translation were published in 1883.
• satires of Juvenal (),
• poems by Catullus (),
• elegies of Tibullus (),
• XV books of Ovid's "Transformations" (),
• elegy Propercia (),
• satyrs Persia () and
• epigrams of Martial ().

Categories:

• Personalities in alphabetical order
• Writers alphabetically
• December 5th
• Born in 1820
• Born in Orel Governorate
• Deceased December 3
• Deceased in 1892
• Deceased in Moscow
• Graduates of the Faculty of History and Philology of Moscow University
• 19th century Russian writers
• Russian writers of the 19th century
• Poets of the Russian Empire
• Russian poets
• Translators of the Russian Empire
• Poetry translators into Russian
• Cultural figures of the Oryol region
• Illegitimate offspring of aristocrats of the Russian Empire
• Memoirists of the Russian Empire
• Died of heart failure

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• Tyumensky district (Tyumen region)
• Didactic heuristics

See what "Fet, Afanasy Afanasyevich" is in other dictionaries:

Fet Afanasy Afanasyevich- real name Shenshin (1820 1892), Russian poet, corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1886). Lyrics of nature saturated with specific signs, fleeting moods of the human soul, musicality: “Evening Lights” (sat. 1 4, 1883 91). Many… … encyclopedic Dictionary

Fet, Afanasy Afanasevich- Afanasy Afanasyevich Fet. FET (Shenshin) Afanasy Afanasyevich (1820-92), Russian poet. Penetrating lyricism in the comprehension of nature, service to “pure beauty”, musicality in the inseparable fusion of opposing human feelings, in melody ... ... Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary

Fet Afanasy Afanasyevich- (real name Shenshin) (1820, Novoselki, Oryol province 1892, Moscow), poet. The son of the landowner A.N. Shenshin and Karolina Fet. He first visited Moscow at the age of 14, passing by, staying at the Shevaldyshev Hotel (, 12; the house is not ... ... Moscow (encyclopedia)

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Afanasy Fet is an outstanding Russian poet, translator and memoirist, corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. His poems are known and read not only in Russia, but also far beyond its borders.

The whole life of Afanasy Afanasyevich was like a series of riddles: birth, name, position, creativity, personal life, death. One gets the feeling that the imperturbable poet is open at a glance, but his biography is replete with understatement, like holes in a holey coat.

Childhood and youth

At the end of his life, Fet wrote his memoirs "The Early Years of My Life" (they were published after his death, in 1893). He speaks dryly and reservedly about his childhood. This is not surprising. He remembered his father as stern, stingy with affection. Namely, his character, his orders determined the homely atmosphere. The poet's mother was a timid, submissive woman. Deprived of parental warmth, little Athanasius spent days on end communicating with the yard children.

At first, the boy, under the guidance of his mother, learned to read German, and when he began to read Russian, he became passionately interested in Pushkin's poetry.

School life began for Athanasius at the age of thirteen. He was sent to the boarding school of the German Krümmer in the small town of Verrlo (now Võru), located on the territory of present-day Estonia. From the school fraternity, the boy was distinguished by the gift of poetry. Poetic talent grew in Fet's soul with difficulty, but steadily. There was no one to perceive and warm this talent away from home. And then there was an event that turned the whole life upside down.

From the memoirs of Afanasy Fet:

In quiet moments of complete carelessness, I seemed to feel the underwater rotation of flower spirals, trying to bring the flower to the surface; but in the end it turned out that only spirals of stems were striving outward, on which there were no flowers. I drew some verses on my slate board and erased them again, finding them meaningless.

From birth, he bore the family noble family name of his father - Shenshin. But a year after the start of his studies at the boarding school, the boy received a letter from his father, which said that from now on Athanasius should bear his mother's surname - Fet. (He became a fet later and by accident: in the printing house where the magazine with his poems was printed, the typesetter forgot to put two dots over the "e".) For a teenager who loved his father, this was a blow and, moreover, meant that he was losing his nobility title and right to be heir.

And the fact was that the boy was born before the marriage of his father with Charlotte Feth was consecrated by the church. Shenshin managed to record it in the metrical documents, but in 1834 the forgery somehow surfaced. Leaving the boarding school as a seventeen-year-old youth, Afanasy Fet left in him annoying witnesses of his unexpectedly erupted misfortune.

In the winter of 1837, Afanasy Neofitovich unexpectedly arrived at the boarding school and took his son to Moscow to prepare for entering the university. When the time came for the exams, Fet passed them brilliantly. He was admitted to the Faculty of Law. Soon the young man moved to the verbal department of the Faculty of Philosophy. But he did not become a diligent student. Instead of sitting in a crowded auditorium, he sought solitude, and verses multiplied in his cherished notebook.

By the second year, the notebook was thoroughly replenished. It's time to present it to the judgment of an experienced connoisseur. Fet gave the notebook to the historian M.P. Pogodin, who at that time lived N.V. Gogol. A week later, Pogodin returned the poems with the words: "Gogol said that this is an undoubted talent."

creative way

The idea to return the title of nobility did not leave Afanasy Fet, and he decided to enter the military service: the officer rank gave the right to hereditary nobility. In 1845, he was accepted as a non-commissioned officer in the Order's cuirassier regiment in the Chersonese province. A year later, Fet was promoted to cornet.

In 1850, bypassing all the censorship committees, Fet released a second collection of poems, which was praised on the pages of major Russian magazines. By this time, he was transferred to the rank of lieutenant and quartered closer to the capital. In the Baltic port, Afanasy Fet participated in the Crimean campaign, whose troops guarded the Estonian coast.

In 1854, in St. Petersburg, the poet entered the literary circle of Sovremennik, where he met writers Nikolai Nekrasov, Ivan Goncharov and Ivan Turgenev, critics Alexander Druzhinin and Vasily Botkin. Soon Fet's poems began to be printed by Sovremennik.

Vasily Botkin:

We consider Mr. Fet not only a true poetic talent, but a rare phenomenon in our time, for true poetic talent, to whatever degree it manifests itself, is always a rare phenomenon: for this you need many special, happy, natural conditions.

Under the supervision of Turgenev, the second collection of Fetov's poems was carefully revised, and in 1856 they published “Poems by A.A. Feta. The poet, although he accepted the corrections of the famous writer, later admitted that "the edition from Turgenev's editorial board came out as cleared as it was mutilated."

Encouraged by success, Fet began to write entire poems, stories in verse, fiction, as well as travel essays and critical articles. In addition, he translated the works of Heinrich Heine, Johann Goethe, Andre Chenier, Adam Mickiewicz and other poets.

Nikolay Nekrasov:

We can safely say that a person who understands poetry and willingly opens his soul to its sensations will not draw as much poetic pleasure from any Russian author, after Pushkin, as Mr. Fet will give him.

In 1863, the poet published another book - a two-volume set of his poems. Some critics greeted the book with joy, noting the "wonderful lyrical talent" of the writer, while others attacked him with harsh articles and parodies. Fet was accused of being a “serf landowner” and hiding under the guise of a lyric poet.

Afanasy Fet regularly published in the journals Russky Vestnik, Literary Library and Zarya. His essays on the post-reform state of agriculture were published there. They were printed under the editorial titles Notes on Freelance Labor, From the Village, and On the Question of Hiring Workers. In 1867, Afanasy Fet was elected a justice of the peace. This largely influenced the fact that 10 years later, by imperial decree, the surname Shenshin was finally approved for him and the title of nobility was returned. But the writer continued to sign his works with the surname Fet.

Personal life

In the summer of 1848, Afanasy Fet, who served in the cuirassier regiment, was invited to a ball in the hospitable house of the former officer of the Order Regiment M.I. Petkovich. Among the young ladies fluttering around the hall, Afanasy Afanasyevich saw a black-haired beauty, the daughter of a retired cavalry general of Serbian origin, Maria Lazich. From that very meeting, Fet began to perceive this girl as Caesar Cleopatra or as Vladimir Mayakovsky - Lilya Brik. It is noteworthy that Maria knew Fet for a long time, however, she met him through his poems, which she read in her youth.

Lazic was educated beyond her years, knew how to play music and was well versed in literature. It is not surprising that Fet recognized a kindred spirit in this girl. They exchanged numerous fiery letters and often flipped through albums. Maria became the lyrical heroine of many Fetov's poems. But the acquaintance of Fet and Lazich was not happy.

The lovers could become spouses and raise children in the future, but the prudent and practical Fet refused the union with Mary, because she was as poor as he was. In his last letter, Lazich Afanasy Afanasyevich initiated the breakup. Soon Maria died: due to a carelessly thrown match, her dress caught fire. The girl could not be saved from numerous burns. It is possible that this death was a suicide.

The tragic event struck Fet to the core, and Afanasy Afanasyevich found consolation from the sudden loss of a loved one in his work. His subsequent poems were received with a bang by the reading public, so Fet managed to acquire a fortune, the poet's fees allowed him to travel around Europe.

While abroad, the master of trochaic and iambic met with a wealthy woman from a famous Russian dynasty - Maria Botkina. The second wife of Fet was not good-looking, but she was distinguished by good nature and easy disposition. Although Afanasy Afanasyevich proposed not out of love, but out of convenience, the couple lived happily. After a modest wedding, the couple left for Moscow, Fet resigned and devoted his life to creativity.

Last years

In 1877, Fet sold Stepanovka in order to buy a house in Moscow, and in the Kursk province the old estate Vorobyovka. Despite the fact that many new concerns fell on the landowner Shenshin, he did not abandon literature.

After a 20-year break, in 1883 a new poetic book was published - "Evening Lights". By this time, Fet had come to terms with the fact that his works were "for the few". "People don't need my literature, and I don't need fools," he said.

In the last years of his life, Fet received public recognition. In 1884, for the translation of Horace's works, he became the first recipient of the full Pushkin Prize of the Imperial Academy of Sciences. Two years later, the poet was elected its corresponding member.

In 1888, Athanasius Fet was personally introduced to Emperor Alexander III and awarded the court title of chamberlain. While still in Stepanovka, Fet began to write the book “My Memoirs”, where he talked about his life as a landowner. The memoirs cover the period from 1848 to 1889. The book was published in two volumes in 1890.

On December 3, 1892, Fet asked his wife to call a doctor, and in the meantime he dictated to his secretary:

I do not understand the conscious multiplication of inevitable suffering. Volunteering towards the inevitable

And signed "Fet (Shenshin)"

The writer died of a heart attack, but it is known that at first he tried to commit suicide by rushing after a steel stiletto. Afanasy Fet was buried in the village of Kleymenovo, the Shenshin family estate.

Already after the death of the writer, in 1893, the last volume of memoirs "The Early Years of My Life" was published. Fet also did not have time to release the volume that completes the cycle of poems “Evening Lights”. The works for this poetic book were included in the two-volume "Lyric Poems", which was published in 1894 by Nikolai Strakhov and Grand Duke Konstantin Romanov.

Important dates in life

■ 1834 - was deprived of all the privileges of a hereditary nobleman, the surname Shenshin and Russian citizenship

■ 1835-1837 - studied at a private German boarding school in the city of Werro

■ 1838-1844 - studied at the university

■ 1840 - the first collection of poems "Lyrical Pantheon" was published

■ 1845 - entered the provincial cuirassier regiment in southern Russia

■ 1846 - received an officer rank

■ 1850 - the second collection of poems "Poems" was published

■ 1853 - joined the guards regiment

■ 1856 - the third collection of poems was published

■ 1857 - married Maria Botkina

■ 1858 - retired

■ 1863 - a two-volume collection of poems was published

■ 1867 - Elected Justice of the Peace

■ 1873 - returned noble privileges and the surname Shenshin

■ 1883 - 1891 - worked on the five-volume "Evening Lights"

According to Nekrasov, among all Russian poets, only Fet could compete with Pushkin

Afanasy Fet was terrified of being in a mental hospital

A minute before he died of a heart attack, Fet tried to commit suicide.

Fet maintained friendly relations with Ivan Turgenev and Leo Tolstoy

In the first 20 years of his career, the poet sold less than 1,000 books.

Fet did not leave behind a single descendant

Afanasy Afanasyevich Fet was born in 1820. The mysterious circumstances of his birth were the most dramatic experiences of the poet himself and the subject of special study of many researchers of his work. According to the research of biographers, A.A. Fet was the son of an amt-assessor Johann Peter Karl Wilhelm Feth, who lived in Darmstadt, and his wife Charlotte. But the future poet was born in Russia, on the estate of Afanasy Neofitovich Shenshin, a Russian officer who took A. Fet's mother away from her hometown and, having achieved her divorce from her first husband, married her. Until the age of 14, Fet was considered the son of A.N. Shenshin and bore his last name. The revealed truth deprived the boy of the right to be called the Russian nobleman Shenshin, and Russian citizenship, and hopes for the future.

All his life, Afanasy Fet subordinated to the “idea-passion” - to return the name Shenshin and be called a Russian nobleman. In the struggle with life circumstances, the young man showed extraordinary courage, patience, perseverance. True, Fet himself was not inclined to recognize only the role of personal will in human destiny. In his memoirs, he stated:<...>Whatever the personal will of a person, it is powerless to go beyond the circle indicated by Providence. And further he even more emphasized this dependence of human aspirations on the higher will: “The thought of the subordination of our will to another higher one is so dear to me that I do not know spiritual pleasure above contemplating it on the life stream.” But be that as it may, A.A. Fet really showed extraordinary will and patience, achieving his goal.

Serving in the army and obtaining an officer rank was the only way to return the lost noble rank and citizenship, and Fet, having graduated from Moscow University and refusing to live in Moscow, which was closer to him in spiritual inclinations, began serving in the provinces. An undoubted victim on the altar of the goal was Fet's refusal to marry Maria Lazich, the daughter of a poor Kherson landowner. “She has nothing, and I have nothing,” he wrote to Y. Polonsky, explaining his decision. Soon, in 1851, Maria Lazich died tragically.

But the officer ranks that Fet receives for conscientious service bring not only satisfaction, but also bitter disappointment. By the highest decree of the emperor, since 1849 the rank of cornet just received by Fet did not give the noble rank, and from 1852 - the rank of major assigned to him. Fet retires in 1853, without having achieved the title of nobility.

And yet, on the slope of life, Fet returns the name Shenshin, becomes a chamberlain. This goal was achieved not thanks to military service, but to the fame that his poetry acquires, however, in rather narrow, albeit influential circles (for example, Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich Romanov, who entered Russian poetry under the pseudonym K.R. .). Already after the death of Fet, the well-known critic N. Strakhov, who knew him well, wrote to S.A. Tolstoy: “He was a strong man, fought all his life and achieved everything he wanted: he won a name, wealth, literary celebrity and a place in high society, even at court. He appreciated all this and enjoyed it all, but I am sure that his poems were dearest to him in the world and that he knew: their charm is undoubted, the very heights of poetry.

Fet needed undoubted willpower not only at the crossroads of life, but also in his creative destiny. The literary fate of Fet was also not cloudless: there were few connoisseurs of Fet's poetry, although among them were such authoritative judges as V.G. Belinsky, I.S. Turgenev, L.N. Tolstoy, N.N. Strakhov, F.M. Dostoevsky, Vl. Solovyov. Fet did not receive wide recognition from democratic criticism or ordinary readers. The poet much more often had to hear the voices of critics, rather mocking and unfriendly than admiring.

The hostility of modern Fetu criticism was explained by various motives. One of the reasons was rooted in Fet's demonstrative rejection of civic themes as the subject of poetry, which, in the era of the dominance of Muse Nekrasov, the "sad companion of the sad poor," and the "sorrowful" poets who imitated Nekrasov, was perceived as a challenge to the moods of a radical society, eager to see poetry as a platform for discussion social and political problems.

In the preface to the third edition of Evening Lights, Fet explained the rejection of "mournful" poets and their poetry, which describes social ulcers:<...>No one will suggest that, unlike all people, we alone do not feel, on the one hand, the inevitable burden of everyday life, and on the other, those periodic trends of absurdities that are really capable of filling any practical worker with civic sorrow. But this grief could not inspire us in any way. On the contrary, it was these hardships of life that forced us for 50 years to turn away from them from time to time and break through everyday ice in order to at least for a moment breathe in the pure and free air of poetry. And then Fet gives his understanding of poetry as "the only refuge from all life's sorrows, including civil ones." According to Fet, “poetry, or artistic creativity in general, is a pure perception not of an object, but only of its one-sided ideal.<...>The artist, - he believes in an article devoted to the poems of F. Tyutchev, - only one side of the objects is dear - their beauty.

Undoubtedly, it was a hard-won conviction. Fet was very upset by "the disgrace of the whole course of our life," as N.N. Strakhov after meeting with the poet. But the thought of "the ugliness of the whole course of our life" did not find a consistent poetic embodiment. Defining life on earth as a “bazaar shouting God”, as a “prison” (“Windows in bars, and gloomy faces”, 1882), “blue prison” (“N.Ya. Danilevsky”), the poet does not see his task in to pass judgment on her or to describe in detail "worldly sorrows." Recognizing the imperfection of the social structure, Fet made the beauty of earthly existence the subject of his work: the beauty of nature and the poetry of human feelings.

1880s - one of the most intense, fruitful periods of A.A. Feta. In 1883, his poetry collection "Evening Lights" was published, which collected his best works, three more editions of the collection were published every two or three years. Fet is working on his memoirs, and in 1890 he publishes two thick volumes of My Memoirs. The third volume - "The Early Years of My Life" comes out after the death of the poet in 1893. Fet translates a lot. Among his most significant translations is the main work of the German philosopher A. Schopenhauer "The World as Will and Representation", a poetic translation of all the works of Horace (a work begun in his youth). Less highly researchers appreciate the translations of other Roman authors made by Fet, but one cannot but be amazed at the purposefulness and enthusiasm of the Russian poet. He translates the comedies of Plautus, the "Satires" of Juvenal, the lyrical works of Catullus, the "Sorrowful Elegies" and "Metamorphoses" of Ovid, the epigrams of Martial. Before his death, Fet is working on the fifth issue of "Evening Lights".

In 1892 the poet died.