Brief biography of the poet, the main facts of life and work:
APOLLO NIKOLAEVICH MAIKOV (1821-1897)
Apollon Nikolayevich Maikov was born on May 23 (June 4, New Style) 1821 in Moscow into an old noble family with rich cultural traditions. The ancestor of the Maykovs was the clerk of the Grand Duke Vasily Vasilyevich and Tsar Ivan the Terrible Andrei Mike. As many researchers suggest and all the Maikovs were sure, the Russian saint and church writer Nil Sorsky (in the world Nil or Nikolai Maikov) belonged to their family. However, no documentary evidence of this has yet been found.
The father of the future poet, Nikolai Apollonovich (1796-1873), was a man of unusually interesting fate. Youngster Maykov-father "was given to the second cadet corps at a time when only two careers were considered decent for a nobleman: either in the military or in the civil service. Right from the school bench, without having had time to finish the course, he was, like many then, released as an officer, about 18 years old, into the army, into the Bagration corps. In the Battle of Borodino, Nikolai Apollonovich was wounded in the leg and sent to an estate in the Yaroslavl province for treatment. In the same place, out of boredom, the young man took up drawing, first copying the picture that hung over his bed. The copy was a success, and having already returned to the service in the hussar regiment, Maikov continued to indulge in a new hobby. After the end of the war, Maikov, who was awarded the Order of Vladimir, retired with the rank of major, got married and, with relief, shifting all the worries of life onto his wife's shoulders, took up painting. The Maykov brothers were already in their teens when their father became a famous artist, a favorite of Emperor Nicholas I. On behalf of the sovereign, Maykov painted a number of images for the churches of the Holy Trinity in the Izmailovsky regiment (which brought him the title of academician in 1835), images for small iconostases St. Isaac's Cathedral, on the execution of which the artist worked for about 10 years.
The mother of the Maykov brothers, Evgenia Petrovna, nee Gusyatnikova (1803-1880), came from an old merchant family. The woman is highly educated, she collaborated in literary magazines, acted as a poetess and novelist.
The Maykovs had four sons. The elders, Valerian and Apollo, and the younger ones, Vladimir and Leonid.
The early childhood of Apollon Nikolaevich was spent in the estate of his father, the village of Nikolsky, near the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, and partly in the estate of his grandmother, the village of Chepchikha, Klinsky district, Moscow province.
His constant comrades were peasant children. Here he became addicted to fishing for the rest of his life, which was later reflected in his poem "Fishing".
In 1834 the Maykovs moved to Petersburg, and further fate the poet was connected with the capital.
Evgenia Petrovna was a kind and sociable lady, she always welcomed young writers, fed the poor, everyone could find support from her and good word. Subsequently, Maykova was very fond of and respected as a kindest friend by Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky.
Numerous guests - artists and writers - always gathered in the friendly Moscow mansion of the Maykovs. In the end, the Maykov salon took shape, but it was not high society, and famous writers were not attracted to it. There were mostly young, beginning writers, semi-professional writers, talented amateurs, students who worshiped poetry and art. Ivan Alexandrovich Goncharov (1812-1891), still unknown to anyone, became a frequent guest of the salon.
The initial education of Maykov's sons - Valerian and Apollo - was carried out at the home of a friend of Nikolai Apollonovich by the writer Vladimir Andreevich Solonitsyn. The history of literature was taught to the brothers by I. A. Goncharov.
The resulting “home circle”, which also included house friends V. G. Benediktov, I. A. Goncharov and others, “issued” the handwritten magazine “Snowdrop” and the almanac “Moonlight Nights”, which included the first poetic samples of young Maykov .
When Apollo was sixteen years old, he and Valerian entered St. Petersburg University. Apollo studied at the Faculty of Law.
At the university, the young poet was actively engaged in creativity. Maykov's gift was noticed, especially by Professor Pyotr Alexandrovich Pletnev, who for many years then took care of the poet and introduced the greatest writers, in particular V. A. Zhukovsky and N. V. Gogol, to his works.
After graduating from the university, Apollon Nikolaevich was assigned to serve in the Department of the State Treasury, but soon, having received allowance from Nicholas I for traveling abroad, he left for Italy, where he studied painting and poetry, and then to Paris, where he listened to lectures on art and literature. Maikov visited both Dresden and Prague. He was especially interested in Prague, because by that time the poet had already become imbued with the ideas of Slavophilism and Pan-Slavism. In particular, he met and talked a lot with Safarik.
In 1844 Maykov returned to Russia, where he worked for eight years as an assistant librarian at the Rumyantsev Museum.
The first poetry collection of Apollon Nikolaevich "Poems" was published in 1842 and was highly appreciated by V. G. Belinsky.
During these years, Maykov became close to Belinsky and his entourage - I. S. Turgenev and N. A. Nekrasov. A special page in his life was the short-term participation of the poet in the activities of the Petrashevsky circle. On this basis, Maykov especially became friends with F. M. Dostoevsky.
On August 3, 1849, three and a half months after the arrest of all the activists of the Petrashevsky circle, Maikov was also arrested. He was interrogated, they came to the conclusion that he was a random person in this case, and they released him that evening.
In 1852, Maykov married a Russian German woman of the Lutheran faith, Anna Ivanovna Stemmer (1830-1911). Over time, four children were born to them, but only three sons survived to adulthood.
And in October 1852, the poet entered the service of the St. Petersburg Committee of Foreign Censorship, where he acted as junior censor. Despite the fact that the service was complex and difficult, the poet fell in love with her, especially when, on his advice, his friend and great Russian poet F. I. Tyutchev was appointed chairman of the committee, and in 1860 Ya. P. Polonsky became the secretary there. Since 1875 Maykov himself headed the committee.
I don’t need anything else: I want to die, like Tyutchev, in the committee dear to my heart, - Apollon Nikolaevich once admitted. Maykov worked in this department for forty-five years, until his death.
As head of the academic committee for foreign censorship, Maikov was also a member of the academic committee of the Ministry of Public Education. In 1853, the Academy of Sciences elected him a corresponding member in the department of the Russian language and literature, and the Kyiv University an honorary member.
The Crimean War of 1853-1856 stirred up Maikov's patriotic and monarchist feelings. At the very beginning of 1855, his small book of poems "1854" was published.
After Crimean War Apollon Nikolayevich became close friends with the young editors of The Moskvityanin, the late Slavophiles and the "statesmen". On the basis of the Slavophils, but with a firm idea of the state, with the recognition of post-Petrine history, Maykov became a supporter of the ideas of M. P. Pogodin and M. N. Katkov. At the same time, he created a number of poems about Russian nature, which were memorized “almost with the first prayers”, which became textbooks and quotes: “Spring! The first frame is exhibited…”, “Summer rain”, “Haymaking”, “Swallows” and others.
Fascinated by the era Ancient Russia and Slavic folklore, Maikov created the best translation into modern Russian of the epic "The Tale of Igor's Campaign" in the history of world literature (the work went on in the period 1866-1870).
Based on the history of ancient Rome, the poet wrote the philosophical and lyrical drama "Two Worlds", awarded the Pushkin Prize by the Academy of Sciences in 1882.
In everyday life, Maikov was characterized by subtle carefree humor and kindness of heart. All his life he remained a sincere unmercenary.
On February 27, 1897, Apollon Nikolaevich Maikov went out into the street too lightly dressed, soon fell ill, and a month and a half later, on March 8 (20 according to the new style), 1897, he died.
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Copyright: biographies of the lives of great poets
Born Apollon Nikolaevich Maykov in Moscow, in a family of hereditary nobles in 1821. Several previous generations of this kind are closely associated with art, this fact eventually influenced his worldview and contributed to the development of creative talents. In 1834, the parents of the future poet moved with their children to St. Petersburg. It was there that Apollon Maikov would receive legal education which will help him to take place as a civil servant.
Maykov's formation as a writer begins in 1842. Then he publishes his first book, on the basis of which he goes on a trip around the world. Having visited several countries, he returned to St. Petersburg in 1844 and began writing his Ph.D. thesis. The chosen topic (Old Slavic law) will be clearly traced in some of the author's works in the future.
Achievement list
Throughout his life, Apollon Nikolayevich actively builds a career. Having proven himself well while serving in the Ministry of Finance, in 1867 he was appointed State Councilor. Nine years later, he was appointed to the honorary position of senior censor. In 1897, he was approved for the position of acting chairman of the Central Committee of Foreign Censorship.
In parallel with his main employment, he is a member of literary communities, actively writes for newspapers and magazines, and is a member of the commission dealing with the device folk readings in St. Petersburg.
Creation
The early debut of the thirteen-year-old Apollon Nikolaevich was the poem "Eagle", which was published in 1835 in the Library for Reading. However, the first serious publications are considered to be “Picture” and “Dream”, which appeared five years later in the “Odessa Almanac”.
For creative way the change in the political mood of the poet is clearly traced. liberal views in early work later they are replaced by conservative and pan-Slavic ones. For this reason, in the 1860s, the author's work was seriously criticized. The revolutionary democrats did not like this change of heart.
The main theme of creativity are rural and natural motifs, episodes from history native land. These poems are included in school textbooks and anthologies. Some of them were later set to music by such famous composers as P.I. Tchaikovsky and N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov.
In addition to writing poems and poems, he was known for literary translations. He translated the famous works of Goethe, Heine, Mickiewicz. He knew several languages, so he could translate from Greek, Spanish, Serbian and so on. In 1870 he completed the translation of The Tale of Igor's Campaign, which took him four years to complete.
Apollon Nikolaevich's wife was Anna Ivanovna Stemmer, who gave birth to a wife of three sons and one daughter. The poet died on March 20, 1897, after a month-long severe cold. He was buried at the cemetery of the Voskresensky Novodevichy Convent.
Apollo Maikov (1821-1897)
Apollon Nikolaevich Maikov was born on May 23, 1821 in Moscow. The childhood years of the poet were spent in the village of Nikolsky near Moscow, near the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. Father, Nikolai Apollonovich Maikov - artist, academician of painting, mother, Evgenia Petrovna - writer. Artists, writers, musicians were frequent guests in the Maykovs' house. One of Maikov's home teachers was I. A. Goncharov. In 1837, Maykov entered the Faculty of Law of St. Petersburg University, willingly and did a lot of history. Ancient Greece and Rome, studied Latin language and Roman poets. He began writing poetry at the age of fifteen. Young Maykov dreamed of a career as a painter, but flattering reviews by Pletnev and Nikitenko about his first poetic experiments and poor eyesight prompted him to devote himself to literature. In 1842 Maykov went on a trip abroad. He spent about a year in Italy, then lived in Paris, where, together with his brother Valerian, he listened to lectures at Sorbonne and the College de France. The result of this trip was the "Essays on Rome" published in 1847 and a Ph.D. thesis on ancient Slavic law. Upon his return to St. Petersburg, Maykov served in the Ministry of Finance, then as a librarian of the Rumyantsev Museum before moving it to Moscow, and later as chairman of the Foreign Censorship Committee. Apollon Nikolayevich Maikov died in 1897.
Maykov's poetry is notable for its even, contemplative mood, deliberate drawing, it is plastic and harmoniously finished. It is clear and precise, without penumbra and hints, lines, shapes and colors appear. Maikov's verse in his best works is distinguished by its strength, expressiveness and relatively weak lyricism, the author's emotions are hidden, as it were, the poems are devoid of psychological tension; the latter is primarily due to the fact that the poet finished his works too carefully, sometimes to the detriment of the original inspiration. Maikov began to print in 1840. Inspired by ancient images, works of Greek and Roman sculpture, the world of ideally beautiful gods and goddesses, his poems carried a bright and optimistic beginning with a clearly predominant epicurean character. Another theme of the poet's work is Russian-Byzantine historical legends. At the beginning of his literary activity, the motives of Russian nature are clearly heard, often inspired by Maikov's favorite pastime - fishing. Unlike Tyutchev or Fet Maikov does not look for the ambiguity of symbols in nature, he creates concrete images and pictures, while showing remarkable pictorial vigilance and depth of feelings.
Maikov's "anthological" poems immediately brought him fame. The clarity and completeness of the images are distinguished primarily by "Dream", "Remembrance", "Echo and Silence", "My child, there are no more blessed days", "Poetry", "Bas-relief". Maikov begins one of his "Epicurean songs" with a rare lyrical impulse:
Give me Myrta Cyprida!
What do I need colored garlands?
However, in the second stanza, he gracefully returns to his usual tone:
Myrtle green vine
The old man, having married, is gratifying
Drink under a thick gazebo
Covered with grape vine.
Characteristic of Maykov's poetry is the poem "After visiting the Vatican Museum". The impressions made on him by the sculptures of this museum remind the poet of similar impressions from early childhood, which significantly influenced the nature of his work:
Even in infancy loved to wander my mind
On the dusty marbles of the Potemkin chambers.
The dusty antiques seemed alive to me;
And dominating my infantile mind
They were related to him, like fairy tales of a clever nanny,
In the plastic beauty of mythical legends...
Now, now I am here, in their bright homeland,
Where the gods lived among people, taking their image
And their immortal face was revealed to their gaze.
Like a distant pilgrim, among his shrines,
I stood among the statues...
An instant impression can transport a poet from a modern ballroom to the ancient world:
... Oh, you're the one to blame
O roses of Paestum, classic roses!
(Roses. Fayupazii)
In another poem - "Improvisation" - Maykov's plastic poetry successfully comes into contact with an area of musical sensations alien to her in general:
But the fading sounds become clear again...
And passionate songs are invaded by a jet
One dreary sound, pleading, full of torment...
It grows, everything grows, and it flows like a river ...
Already a sweet hymn of love in one memory
Shoots far ... but with a stone foot
The inexorable is coming, the suffering is coming
And his every step rumbles over me...
Some kind of cry in the boundless desert
It sounds like it's calling... alas! there is no hope!
He whines... and in the midst of the thunders in response to him
Only a mournful melody broke through the lullaby.
A characteristic expression of the good-natured and innocent Epicureanism of the poet was the poem "To the Young Men":
And they couldn't get drunk!
A little at the table - and drunk!
What and how - you don't care!
The wise drink with self-awareness,
And to the light, and smell
He appreciates the wine.
He, quietly losing his sobriety,
Thoughts give brilliance and playfulness,
Touched by the soul
And owning passion, anger,
Sweet to the elders, pleasant to the virgins,
And happy with myself.
It is worth noting two "Messages" by Maikov. The first - to Ya. P. Polonsky - very aptly characterizes this poet, the second - to P. A. Pletnev - is distinguished by the beauty of thought and form. Maykov's historical poems, imbued with a truly humanistic spirit, gained immense popularity among his contemporaries ("Clermont Cathedral", "Sovanarola", "At the Cathedral in Constance", "Confession of the Queen", "Eshman"). Maykov's main poetic work was the philosophical and lyricaldrama"Two Worlds" (1881). For the first time, her theme was heard at the end of the poem " Ancient Rome» (1848).
In 1852, on the same subject, was writtendramaticessay "Three Deaths", supplemented later by "The Death of Lucius" (1863). Finally, six years after the first draft, appeared in its final formdrama"Two worlds". The idea of pagan Rome is clearly understood and expressed by the poet:
Rome united everything
As in man the mind; the world
He gave laws and sealed the world,—
and elsewhere:
... From him went
Rays to all ends of the earth,
And where they went, there appeared
Trade, toga, circus and court,
And the eternal ones flee
Roman roads in the deserts.
The hero of the tragedy Maykov lives by faith in Rome and dies with it, defending and defending it from impending Christianity. What he believes in will survive all historical catastrophes:
Oh, Rome geter, jester and mime, -
He is vile, he will fall! .. But no,
Indeed, in what bears the name of Rome,
There is something higher! .. Testament
All that has been lived for centuries!
In it is the thought that lifted me up
Both over people and over gods!
It has Promethean fire
Unquenchable flame!
Rome is like the sky, firmly vaulted
He lightened the earth and the nations,
To all these thousand tribes
Or obsolete, or familiar
To robberies only, multilingual
He gave his tongue and the law!
Imperial Rome is doubly understandable and dear to the poet as adjacent to both worlds of his poetry - to the world of beautiful classical antiquity, on the one hand, and to the world of Byzantine statehood, on the other: both as an elegant Epicurean, and as a Russian official-patriot Maikov finds native elements here. However, the idea of a new Rome - Byzantium - is not realized by the poet with such depth and clarity as the idea of the first Rome. He loves the Byzantine-Russian system of life in its historical reality and takes on faith its ideal dignity, sometimes not noticing its internal contradictions. This faith is so strong that it brings Maikov to the apotheosis of Ivan the Terrible, whose greatness is allegedly not yet understood and whose "day will still come." It is impossible, of course, to suspect a humane poet of sympathy for the atrocities of Ivan IV, but they do not at all prevent his glorification, Maykov is even ready to consider them only as "a thorn of underground boyar slander and alien malice." At the end of Sovanarola, claiming that the Florentine prophet always had Christ on his lips, Maikov not without reason asks: "Christ! didn't you understand?" With incomparably greater right it can be asserted that the pious founder of the oprichnina “did not understand Christ”; but this time the poet completely forgets what religion his hero was - otherwise he would agree that the representative of the Christian kingdom, who does not understand Christ, is alien and hostile to His spirit, is in any case an anomalous phenomenon, not deserving of apotheosis. Hence, in The Two Worlds there is a weaker depiction of the Christian world than of the pagan world. Even such an outstanding personality as the apostle Paul is not presented clearly enough and accurately. The sermon of Paul transmitted at the end of the tragedy consists entirely of apocalyptic images and "apologists", which does not correspond much to the actual method and style of the biblical Paul. In addition to "Two Worlds", among the major works of Maykov, the "Wanderer" (excellently reproducing the concepts and language of some Russian sectarian movements), "Princess", "Bringilda", as well as a poetic arrangement " Words about Igor's regiment”(remaining to this day one of the best literary translations of it).
Biography
Apollon Nikolaevich Maykov (May 23 (June 4), 1821, Moscow - March 8 (20), 1897, St. Petersburg) - Russian poet, corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1853).
Born in 1821. In Moscow. The son of the nobleman Nikolai Apollonovich Maikov, painter and academician, and writer Evgenia Petrovna Maikova; Older brother literary critic and publicist Valerian Maikov, prose writer and translator Vladimir Maikov and literary historian, bibliographer and ethnographer Leonid Maikov. In the summer he lived in the estate of his grandmother in the Moscow region, near the present Solnechnogorsk, the village of Chepchikha.
In 1834 the family moved to St. Petersburg. I. A. Goncharov was the home teacher of the Maykov brothers. In 1837-1841. studied at the Faculty of Law of St. Petersburg University. At first he was fond of painting, but then devoted to
Having received an allowance from Nicholas I for a trip to Italy for the first book, he went abroad in 1842. Having seen Italy, France, Saxony and the Austrian Empire, Maykov returned to St. Petersburg in 1844 and began working as an assistant librarian at the Rumyantsev Museum.
AT last years life was a real state adviser. Since 1882 - Chairman of the Foreign Censorship Committee.
February 27, 1897 Maikov went out into the street too lightly dressed and fell ill. Died March 20, 1897. He was buried at the cemetery of the Resurrection Novodevichy Convent.
Creation
The first publications were usually considered the poems "Dream" and "Picture of the Evening", which appeared in the "Odessa Almanac for 1840" (1839). However, the debut of the 13-year-old Maykov was the poem "Eagle", published in the "Library for Reading" in 1835. The first book "Poems of Apollo Maykov" was published in 1842 in St. Petersburg. He wrote poems (“Two Fates”, 1845; “Princess”, 1878), dramatic poems or lyrical dramas (“Three Deaths”, 1851; “Wanderer”, 1867; Two Worlds, 1872), ballads (“Emshan”, 1875) . Published in magazines: Otechestvennye zapiski, Library for reading. Maykov’s liberal moods of the 40s (the poems Two Fates, 1845, Masha, 1846) were replaced by conservative views (the poem The Carriage, 1854), Slavophile and pan-Slavist ideas (the poem Clermont Cathedral, 1853); in the 60s, Maykov's work was sharply criticized by the revolutionary democrats. Maykov's aesthetic position also underwent changes: a short-term rapprochement with the natural school gave way to an active defense of "pure art".
Maikov's lyrics often contain images of the Russian village, nature, Russian history; also reflects his love for the ancient world, which he studied for most of his life. Maikov's poems about Russian nature, created in 1854-1858, became textbooks: “Spring! The first frame is exhibited”, “Summer Rain” (1856), “Haymaking”, “Swallow”, “Niva” and others. Many of Maykov's poems were set to music by N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov, P. I. Tchaikovsky and others.
During four years translated into poetic form"The Tale of Igor's Campaign" (translation completed in 1870). He also translated folk poetry from Belarus, Greece, Serbia, Spain and other countries. translated works such poets like Heine, Mickiewicz, Goethe. translated IV-X chapters"Apocalypse" (1868).
In addition to poetry, essays and book reviews, he also wrote prose, which is not significant. After 1880, Maikov practically did not write anything new, being engaged in editing his works for the preparation of a collected works.
Selected editions and works
"Poems of Apollo Maykov" (1842)
Poem "Two Fates" (1845)
Poem "Mashenka" (1846)
Poem "Savonarola" (1851)
Poem "Clermont Cathedral" (1853)
The cycle of poems "In an anthological kind"
Cycle of poems "Centuries and peoples" (1854-1888)
Cycle of poems "Eternal Questions"
Cycle of poems "Neapolitan Album"
Cycle of poems "Modern Greek Songs" (1858-1872)
Cycle of poems "Reviews of history"
Cycle of poems "Essays on Rome"
Drama "Two Worlds" (1872)
Drama "Three Deaths" (1851)
Drama "The Death of Lucius" (1863)
Complete Works (1893)
