Tell me who your friend is. Like-minded people and opponents of Konstantin Balmont
Biography
“A light, slightly limping gait as if throws Balmont forward into space. Or rather, it’s as if Balmont falls from the spaces onto the ground - into the salon, onto the street. And the impulse breaks within him, and he, realizing that he has ended up in the wrong place... puts on his pince-nez and arrogantly (or rather, fearfully) looks around, raises his dry lips, framed by a beard red as fire... And that’s why his whole appearance doubles. Arrogance and powerlessness, greatness and lethargy, boldness, fear - all this alternates in him, and what a subtle, whimsical range runs through his emaciated face, pale, with widely flared nostrils! ...the vengeful genius of the thunderstorm, the demon of burning passion... the red-bearded Thor himself, but Thor, wandering sadly along the Arbat on an October day, when streams of rain stretch over the city day and night. He stops... and suddenly arrogantly stamps his foot on the wet asphalt: “I came into this world to see the sun!” - this is how Andrei Bely captured the poet’s appearance. The celebration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the literary activity of K. D. Balmont, organized on March 11, 1912 by the Neophilological Society at St. Petersburg University, M. A. Voloshin called the anniversary of “young” Russian literature: “Twenty-five years ago, at the sound of Balmont’s first poems, she woke up from that senile sleep, into which she gradually sank. Balmont was truly the glow of future dawns.”
Konstantin Dmitrievich Balmont was born into a noble family in the village of Gumnishchi, Vladimir province. The most vivid impressions of my childhood are the nature of the Central Russian strip. “In our places there are forests and swamps, there are beautiful rivers and lakes, reeds and marsh lilies grow in the barrels, sweet lungwort breathes, night violets cast their spell,” the poet recalled in his autobiography of 1907. His literary tastes were formed under the influence of “folk songs, Nikitin, Koltsov, Nekrasov and Pushkin.” In his youth, he developed a penchant for foreign languages, which he mastered quickly and easily. This helped the poet get acquainted with Western European literature in the originals and translate P. B. Shelley, E. Poe, P. Calderon, C. Marlowe, O. Wilde. Later, my passion for travel arose. “Balmont has traveled all over the world. It seems that world poetry has not known a poet who spent so much time on the deck of a steamship or at the window of a carriage,” noted I. Ehrenburg. Indeed, the poet traveled all over Europe (Scandinavia, England, Spain, Italy), visited Mexico, and traveled to Egypt, Greece, Oceania, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, southern and northern India. His literary debut - the collection “Poems” (Yaroslavl, 1890) - did not bring the poet the expected success; he himself later considered the book weak. The fate of the next three collections of the 1890s turned out to be happier - “Under the Northern Sky”, “In the Boundless”, “Silence”. The sadly romantic tone of these books - the poetry of “sadness, oppression, twilight” - fit well into the flavor of the lyrics of the 90s. True, against the backdrop of the then prevailing inexpressiveness of poetic forms and the predominance of Pushkin’s iambic, they were favorably distinguished by the “brilliant decoration of the verse,” an abundance of alliteration and internal rhymes, playing with caesura, abrupt lines and new unexpected rhythms. Balmont, called by Gorky “a brilliant virtuoso of form,” showed “what a poet who loves music can do with Russian verse.” Individual poems, such as “The Canoe of Longing”, “I caught the departing shadows with a dream...”, “Reeds”, were recognized as masterpieces and brought fame to Balmont. It was this path, using the musical possibilities of verse, that numerous imitators of the poet, nicknamed “Balmontists,” took. In the collections “Burning Buildings”, “Let’s Be Like the Sun”, “Only Love”, published in 1900 - 1903, an individual Balmont system of poetic images-symbols (sun, fire, elements) was formed, which influenced the poetics of symbolism in general . In them, the poet finally found “the path of ecstatic penetration into the soul of the world, into the essence of the universe, the final justification of the entire diversity of the universe, the great “Yes”, which he painfully sought in vain all his life.” At this time, Balmont is the idol of the public, he is at the peak of his creative potential and “reigns over Russian literature.” E.V. Anichkov regarded Balmont’s program collections as “moral, artistic and simply physical liberation from the former mournful school of Russian poetry, which tied poetry to the adversities of the native society.” Proud optimism, the life-affirming pathos of Balmont's lyrics, the desire for freedom from the shackles imposed by society, and a return to the fundamental principles of existence - all this was perceived by readers not just as an aesthetic phenomenon, but as a new worldview. Balmont's poetic method is improvisation, “impressionistic crystallization of creative moments.” They, Bryusov believed, “powerfully take” the poet’s soul “and drag it into their swiftness, like a small pebble in a whirlpool. What is true now is true. What was before no longer exists. There may be no future at all. There is truly only one present, only this moment, only mine now... And really, what are Balmont’s poems if not captured moments?” Balmont believed that the merit of “new poetry” was the ability to “speak in the gentle voice of a siren, filled with hints and omissions, or in the dull voice of a sibyl, evoking foreboding”; in a “symbolic” work he saw “two contents”: “hidden abstraction and obvious beauty.” Already from the collection “Liturgy of Beauty” (1905), criticism has noted signs of an obvious “decline” in the poet’s work. Although Russian poetry, as Blok noted, had not yet managed to get rid of Balmont’s influence by this time, the poet himself begins to repeat “his images, his techniques, his thoughts.” His glorifications of life no longer sound convincing; critics and readers now feel in them “something intentional, some kind of effort, some kind of compulsion of language and feeling” (V. Ya. Bryusov). For the revolution of 1905 - 1907. Balmont responded with political poems, most of which were included in the collection “Songs of the Avenger.” In search of new material for poetic creativity, he turns to folklore sources: he writes poems on the themes of Slavic mythology, rearranges epics, artistically interprets incantations and spells, Khlyst “singers” (collections “Firebird”, “Green Vertograd”), introduces the reading public with aesthetic impressions of his travels (“White Architect”, “Glow of Dawn”). These books are no longer successful among readers, and criticism points to their artistic imperfection. In 1920, Balmont left Russia and settled in France. He is still actively working, translating, and publishing poetry collections. Subtle nostalgic experiences become the leitmotif of his lyrics. Previously prone to light and cheerful “dressing up,” the poet - sometimes he is a gloomy skald, sometimes a passionate Mexican, sometimes a Spanish grandee - writes about himself for the first time: “I am Russian, I am fair-haired, I am red.” The image of a lost homeland becomes central in the emigrant collections “Haze”, “Mine - Her”, “In the Spreading Distance”, “Northern Lights” and others. The poet writes about her with pain and curses and at the same time does not lose hope for a possible reconciliation.
Konstantin Dmitrievich Balmont was born in the village of Gumnishchi, located in the Vladimir province, into the family of a nobleman. Since childhood, he loved nature and folklore of his homeland, and was fond of the works of Pushkin, Nekrasov, Koltsov and Nikitin. In his youth he became interested in foreign languages, for which he showed aptitude. Thanks to this, the poet was able to read Western European literature in the originals, and also did translations.
Traveling became my next hobby. Balmont visited many countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, etc.
The first collection of essays, simply titled “Poems,” was published in 1890 in Yaroslavl, but it was poorly received by the public. Then three more collections were published: “Under the Northern Sky”, “In the Boundless”, “Silence” - and they already brought fame to the poet. 1900-1903 - collections “Burning Buildings”, “Let’s Be Like the Sun”, “Only Love” are published with the already formed individual Balmont system of poetic images and symbols, which ultimately influenced the entire poetics of symbolism. It was in them that Balmont finally decided on his literary style. This was the culmination of the poet's fame.
Beginning in 1905, when the collection “Liturgy of Beauty” was published, the popularity of the poet’s work began to decline. He began to repeat himself, the verses felt heavy and forced. During the revolution of 1905-1907. K.D. Balmont tried his hand at political poetry, the main part of which was included in the collection “Songs of the Avenger.”
Feeling the fading of his muse, the poet turns to folklore (the collections “Green Vertograd” and “Firebird”), describes the impressions of his travels (“Glow of Dawn”, “White Architect”). However, these books are no longer interesting to readers and are subject to criticism.
In 1920, Konstantin Dmitrievich moved to France. He continued to work actively, engaged in translations, and published collections of poetry. The main theme of his poems during this period was subtle nostalgic experiences, and the central image in the emigrant collections (“Haze”, “Mine - Her”, “In the Spreading Distance”, “Northern Lights”, etc.) was the image of a lost homeland.
Balmont Konstantin Dmitrievich is a Russian poet who worked in the direction of symbolism, translator, essayist, one of the most significant figures in the poetry of the Silver Age. Among the authors whose works Balmont translated were Edgar Allan Poe, Charles Baudelaire, William Blake, Oscar Wilde, Hermann Suderman. His works include memoirs, philological treatises, historical and literary studies, critical essays, poetry and prose collections. The great poet was born in the Vladimir region, in the village of Gumnishchi, Shuisky district, on June 15, 1867. Balmont's father served in the Shuya district court, and his mother studied literature, organized amateur performances and appeared in print. Little Balmont learned to read on his own when he spied on the literacy lessons his mother gave to his older brother. She also introduced him to the best examples of Russian poetry (Nekrasov, Lermontov, Pushkin).
10 years after the birth of Konstantin Dmitrievich, his family moved to Shuya, because it was time for the older children to go to school. In 1877, young Balmont entered the Shuya gymnasium, but he quickly became bored with his studies, although he made great progress in his studies. The future poet spent more and more time reading; he read French and German books in the original. At the age of ten he began to compose his first poems. In 1884, Balmont was expelled from the gymnasium for participating in a revolutionary circle and distributing proclamations of Narodnaya Volya. The poet transferred to a gymnasium in Vladimir, where he lived with a Greek teacher. Three of his poems were published in the journal Zhivopisnoe Obozreniye, which caused a negative reaction from Balmont’s mentor. He forbade him to publish his works until he graduated from high school. Later, the poet compared studying there with imprisonment.
Later, in 1886, Konstantin Dmitrievich entered the law faculty of Moscow State University, but a year later he was expelled for participating in riots. Attempts to obtain a “government education” continued in 1888, but Balmont abandoned them. In 1889, the poet published his first “Collection of Poems,” which did not receive any public response, which is why Balmont destroyed the entire circulation. The heyday of creative activity occurred in the 1890s. At this time, the creator reads a lot, studies foreign languages and travels. In 1894, he translated Horn's History of Scandinavian Literature, and in 1897, Gaspari's History of Italian Literature.
At this time there was also a tragic episode in the poet’s life - in 1890 he tried to commit suicide by jumping from a third-floor window. He spent almost a year in bed, and Balmont later called this time incredibly productive and cheerful. In 1894, the poet published his collection of poems “Under the Northern Sky” and published his works in such publishing houses as “Scorpio” and “Libra”. In 1895 and 1898, two new books appeared - “In the Vast” and “Silence”. 1896 - trip abroad, to Europe. At this time he travels and gives lectures on Russian poetry in England. The 1901 event made him a hero in St. Petersburg. Balmont participates in a mass demonstration of students, a little later in the hall of the City Duma he reads the poem “Little Sultan”, which contains criticism of the political regime in Russia. In 1903, Balmont’s fourth collection of poetry, entitled “Let’s Be Like the Sun,” was published. It gained great popularity among readers and brought success to the author. In 1905, Konstantin Dmitrievich again traveled abroad, visiting Mexico and California.
In 1905, Balmont took an active part in revolutionary actions, reading poetry and lectures to students. His passion for the revolution was shallow; in 1906, the poet left for Paris. Collections of his poems are banned in Russia, among them “Songs of the Avenger”, “Evil Spells”, “Green Vertograd”. Balmont returned to Russia only in 1915. At the same time, his theoretical study entitled “Poetry as Magic” was published, which can be regarded as a continuation of the declaration “Elementary words on symbolic poetry”, released in 1900. Here Balmont writes about the essence and purpose of lyrical poetry, talks about the “incantatory-magical” power words. During these years, the poet wrote more than 200 sonnets, of which he compiled the collection “Sonnets of the Sun, Sky and Moon.” Many critics accused the author of the monotony of his work and an excess of “banal beauty.”
Balmont warmly accepts the revolution of 1917, but quickly becomes disillusioned with the new government. In 1920, he made his last move to France, where he wrote several negative articles about the Bolsheviks and the new regime. In Paris, Konstantin Dmitrievich published several poetry collections (“Gift to the Earth”, “Bright Hour”, “Haze”), and in 1923 - memoirs “Under the New Sickle” and “Air Route”. Balmont yearned for his native land, regretting that he had left it forever. This theme is often raised in his poems. In those years, the creator’s health became worse and worse, and financial problems arose. He is diagnosed with a serious mental disorder. His life was cut short on December 23, 1942 from pneumonia in Noisy-le-Grand. Balmont became the first representative of symbolist poetry to achieve all-Russian fame. His poetry was distinguished by incredible musicality, airiness and beauty.
Konstantin Balmont is a Russian symbolist poet, essayist, prose writer and translator. He is one of the brightest representatives of Russian poetry of the Silver Age. In 1923 he was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature.
So, in front of you short biography of Balmont.
Biography of Balmont
Konstantin Dmitrievich Balmont was born on June 3, 1867 in the village of Gumnishchi, in the Vladimir province. He grew up in a simple village family.
His father, Dmitry Konstantinovich, was first a judge, and then served as head of the zemstvo government.
Mother, Vera Nikolaevna, was from an intelligent family in which they paid a lot of attention. In this regard, she repeatedly organized creative evenings and staged performances at home.
Childhood and youth
His mother had a serious influence on the development of Balmont’s personality and played a big role in his biography. Thanks to his mother, the boy was well acquainted not only with literature, but also with music and literature.
Konstantin Balmont in childhood In addition to Konstantin, six more boys were born into the Balmont family. An interesting fact is that Konstantin learned to read by watching his mother teach his older brothers to read.
Initially, the Balmonts lived in the village, but when the time came to send their children to school, they decided to move to Shuya. During this period of his biography, Konstantin first became interested in poetry.
When Balmont was 10 years old, he showed his poems to his mother. After reading them, Vera Nikolaevna insisted that he stop writing poetry. The boy obeyed her and did not compose anything for the next six years.
In 1876, the first significant event occurred in Balmont’s biography. He was enrolled in a Russian gymnasium, where he proved himself to be a talented and obedient student. However, he soon got tired of adhering to discipline and obeying the teachers in everything.
Konstantin became interested in reading literature with particular zeal, reading the works of not only Russian but also foreign authors. It is interesting that he read the books of French and German classics in the original.
Later, the careless student was expelled from the gymnasium for low grades and revolutionary sentiments.
In 1886, Konstantin Balmont went to Vladimir. There he entered one of the local gymnasiums to study. It is interesting that at this time his poems were published for the first time in one of the capital’s publications.
After graduating from high school, Balmont entered Moscow University at the Faculty of Law. There he made friends with the revolutionaries of the sixties. He listened to his comrades with great interest and was imbued with revolutionary ideas.
While studying in his second year, Balmont took part in student riots. As a result, he was expelled from the university and sent back to Shuya.
Later, Konstantin Balmont entered universities more than once, but due to a nervous disorder he was unable to graduate from a single institution. Thus, the young man was left without higher education.
Creativity of Balmont
Balmont published the first collection in his creative biography in 1890. But later, for some reason, he personally destroyed most of the circulation.
Feeling confident in his own abilities, he continued to engage in writing.
During the biography years 1895-1898. Balmont published 2 more collections - “In the vastness of darkness” and “Silence”.
These works also aroused admiration among critics, after which his works began to be published in various publishing houses. He was predicted to have a great future and was called one of the most promising poets of our time.
In the mid-1890s, Konstantin Balmont became better known as a symbolist poet. In his work, he admired natural phenomena, and in some cases touched upon mystical themes. This can be seen most of all in the collection “Evil Spells,” which was banned from publication.
Having received recognition and financial independence, Balmont visited many different countries. He shared his impressions with readers in his own works.
An interesting fact is that Balmont did not like to correct text that had already been written, because he believed that the first thoughts are the strongest and most correct. In 1905, the collection “Fairy Tales” was published, which the writer dedicated to his daughter.
It is worth noting that Konstantin Dmitrievich never abandoned revolutionary ideas, which he, in fact, did not hide.
Aphorisms of Balmont, 1910 There was a case when Balmont publicly read the poem “Little Sultan”, in which the listeners easily discovered the character. After this, the poet was expelled from the city for 2 years.
Konstantin Balmont maintained friendly relations with. Like his friend, he was an ardent opponent of the monarchy, and therefore he greeted the First Russian Revolution with sincere joy.
During this period of his biography, Balmont’s poems were more reminiscent of rhymed slogans than lyrical quatrains.
When the Moscow uprising occurred in 1905, Balmont gave a speech to students. However, fearing to end up behind bars, he decided to leave his homeland.
During the period of biography from 1906 to 1913, the disgraced poet was in. He continued to write, but heard more and more criticism of his work. The prose writer was accused of writing about the same thing in his works.
Balmont himself called “Burning Buildings” his best book. Lyrics of the modern soul." It should be noted that in this work, unlike the previous ones, there were many bright and positive poems.
After returning to his homeland in 1913, Konstantin Balmont presented a 10-volume collected works. At this time, he worked hard on translations and attended many lectures.
When it took place in 1917, the poet, like many of his colleagues, greeted this event with great joy.
Balmont was confident that with the advent of the new government everything would change for the better. However, when the country was swallowed up by terrible anarchy, the poet was horrified. He described the October Revolution as “chaos” and “a hurricane of madness.”
In 1920, Konstantin Dmitrievich and his family moved to, but did not stay there long. Soon he, his wife and children, left for France again.
“Bohemian” Balmont and Sergei Gorodetsky with their spouses A. A. Gorodetskaya and E. K. Tsvetkovskaya (left), St. Petersburg, 1907 It is worth noting that Balmont no longer enjoyed authority among representatives of the Russian intelligentsia.
During his biography, Konstantin Balmont published 35 poetry collections and 20 prose books, and also translated the works of many foreign writers.
Personal life
In 1889, Konstantin Balmont took the merchant daughter Larisa Garelina as his wife. Interestingly, the mother was categorically against their wedding, but the poet was adamant.
This marriage could hardly be called happy. The wife turned out to be a very jealous and scandalous woman. She did not support her husband in his work, but rather, on the contrary, interfered with his creative aspirations.
Some biographers of the poet suggest that it was his wife who turned him to alcohol.
In the spring of 1890, Balmont decided to commit suicide by jumping from the 3rd floor. However, the suicide attempt failed and he remained alive. However, his injuries left him with a limp for the rest of his life.
In union with Garelina, he had two children. The first child died in infancy, and the second, son Nikolai, suffered from nervous disorders. Due to objective reasons, this marriage could not last long, and the family soon broke up.
The second wife in Balmont’s biography was Ekaterina Andreeva, whom he married in 1896. Andreeva was a competent, wise and attractive girl. After 5 years, their daughter Nina was born.
Balmont loved his wife and was often with her. Together with Catherine, he talked about literature and also worked on translations of texts.
In the early 1900s, on one of the streets Balmont met Elena Tsvetkovskaya, who fell in love with him at first sight. He began dating her secretly from his wife, as a result of which his illegitimate daughter Mirra was born.
However, the double life greatly depressed Balmont, which soon developed into depression. This led to the poet deciding to jump out of the window again. But, as in the first case, he remained alive.
After much thought, Balmont decided to stay with Elena and Mirra. Soon he moved with them to France. There he met Dagmar Shakhovskaya.
Shakhovskaya also played an important role in Balmont’s biography. The poet began to meet with her more and more often, until he realized that he was in love with her.
This led to the birth of two children - a boy, Georges, and a girl, Svetlana.
It is worth noting that Tsvetkovskaya loved Balmont so much that she turned a blind eye to his love affairs and never abandoned him.
Death
During his emigration to France, Konstantin Balmont constantly yearned for. Every day his health worsened, and financial problems arose.
He felt not only physical, but also mental exhaustion, and therefore could no longer engage in writing.
Balmont, forgotten by everyone, lived in a modest apartment, and except for his closest people, he communicated with almost no one.
In 1937, doctors discovered he had a mental disorder. He lived out his last years in the Russian House shelter, where he soon died.
Konstantin Dmitrievich Balmont died on December 23, 1942 from pneumonia at the age of 75.
If you liked the short biography of Konstantin Balmont, share it on social networks. If you like biographies of great people in general and in particular, subscribe to the site. It's always interesting with us!
Did you like the post? Press any button.
Born on June 15 (June 3, old style) 1867 in the village of Gumnishchi, Shuisky district, Vladimir province, into a poor noble family. His father was an employee, his mother organized amateur performances and literary evenings, and appeared in the local press.
In 1886, Balmont entered the law faculty of Moscow University, and in 1887 he was expelled for participating in student riots. In 1888, he was again admitted to the university, but was soon forced to leave due to a severe nervous disorder. He studied for several months at the Demidov Legal Lyceum in Yaroslavl.
He first published poems in 1885; his first collection of poems was published in Yaroslavl in 1890. The publication did not arouse interest either in literary circles or among the poet’s relatives, so he burned almost the entire circulation of the book.
His next collection, “Under the Northern Sky,” was published in 1894 in St. Petersburg. Balmont soon became one of the leaders of the symbolist movement (one of the modernist movements in Russian poetry at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries) and gained great popularity as a symbolist. One after another, his collections of poems “In the Boundless” (1895), “Silence” (1898), “Burning Buildings” (1900), “Let’s Be Like the Sun” (1903), “Only Love” (1903), “Liturgy of Beauty” were published . Elemental hymns" (1905).
During this period, the poet traveled a lot. In 1902 he went abroad and lived mainly in Paris, making trips to England, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland and Spain. In January 1905 he went (from Moscow) to Mexico and California. His essays about Mexico, along with his free adaptations of Indian myths and legends, later compiled the book “Snake Flowers” (1910).
Balmont responded to the events of the first Russian revolution (1905-1907). His revolutionary poetry is presented in the books “Poems” (1906; confiscated by the police) and “Songs of the Avenger” (Paris, 1907; prohibited for distribution in Russia). At the end of December 1905, fearing reprisals from the authorities, Balmont illegally left Russia.
During this period, a national theme also emerged in his poems. Balmont’s passion for Russian and Slavic antiquity was first reflected in the poetry collection “Evil Spells” (1906; the book was arrested by censorship due to “blasphemous” poems). Folklore stories and texts processed by the poet were compiled into the collections “Firebird. Slav's pipe" (1907) and "Green Vertograd. Kissing words" (1909). In the collection “Calls of Antiquity” (1909), the poet presented the “primary creativity” of various (non-Slavic) peoples, examples of ritual-magical and priestly poetry.
Since 1906, Balmont lived in Paris, traveling from there to different countries. In the spring of 1907 he visited the Balearic Islands, and at the end of 1909 - beginning of 1910 - Egypt. Balmont’s numerous essays about Egypt later compiled the book “The Land of Osiris” (1914). In 1912, the poet made an 11-month journey through the southern countries, visiting the Canary Islands, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Polynesia, Ceylon, and India. This journey was also reflected in his poetry collection “White Architect. The Mystery of the Four Lamps" (1914).
Balmont also wrote literary critical articles, essays dedicated to Russian and Western European poets, travel essays: “Mountain Peaks” (1904), “White Lightning” (1908); "Sea Glow" (1910).
He learned about the beginning of the First World War in the summer of 1914 in the town of Sulak on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean. In June 1915, through England, Norway and Sweden, Balmont returned to Russia. At the end of 1915, his book “Poetry as Magic” was published - a treatise on the essence and purpose of lyric poetry.
At the end of 1915 and in the spring of 1916, he traveled with lectures to the Volga, Ural and Siberian cities. In May 1916 he visited Japan. During this period, the sonnet genre became dominant in his lyrics. The 255 sonnets he wrote during the war years made up the collection “Sonnets of the Sun, Sky and Moon” (1917).
Balmont is also known as a translator. His main work in this area is the translation of Percy Bysshe Shelley, which since 1893 has been published in St. Petersburg in seven editions, and in 1903-1905 published in revised and expanded form in three volumes.
In 1920, not accepting the revolution, Balmont emigrated from Russia and lived in Paris or in small villages on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean.
Abroad, he published collections of poems “A Gift to the Earth” (1921), “Haze” (1922), “Mine is Hers. Poems about Russia" (1923), "In the widening distance" (1930), "Northern Lights" (1923), "Blue Horseshoe" (1937). In 1923, he published two books of autobiographical prose - “Under the New Sickle” and “Air Route”.
Balmont translated Czech, Bulgarian, Lithuanian, and Polish poets, and in 1930 he published a poetic translation of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.”
Konstantin Dmitrievich Balmont (with the emphasis on the first syllable - a generic name, on the second - a literary name) - Russian poet, prose writer, critic, translator - born June 3 (15), 1867 in the village of Gumnishchi, Shuisky district, Vladimir province, in a poor noble family. Here he lived until he was 10 years old.
Balmont's father worked as a judge, then as head of the zemstvo government. The love of literature and music was instilled in the future poet by his mother. The family moved to the city of Shuya when the older children went to school. In 1876 Balmont studied at the Shuya gymnasium, but soon he got tired of studying, and he began to pay more and more attention to reading. After being expelled from the gymnasium for revolutionary sentiments, Balmont transferred to Vladimir, where he studied before 1886. Studied at Moscow University in the law department ( 1886-1887.; expelled for participating in student riots).
K. Balmont published poetry for the first time in 1885 in the magazine “Picturesque Review” in St. Petersburg. Late 1880s Balmont was engaged in translation activities. In 1890 Due to his poor financial situation and unsuccessful first marriage, Balmont tried to commit suicide - he jumped out of the window, but remained alive. Having received serious injuries, he spent a year in bed. This year turned out to be creatively productive. The first collection of poetry was published in Yaroslavl in 1890(destroyed most of the circulation).
He gained initial fame as a translator of the works of B.P. Shelley and E. Poe. Balmont has been translating (from more than 30 languages) all his life; his translations of Calderon’s plays and “The Knight in the Skin of the Tiger” by Sh. Rustaveli have become classics.
Books of poems “Under the Northern Sky” ( 1894 ) and "In the Vast" ( 1895 ) are close to impressionism, marked by the musical melodiousness of the verse. Having become close to the circle of senior symbolists ( in the mid 1890s., living in Moscow, Balmont communicates with V.Ya. Bryusov, a little later in St. Petersburg - with D.S. Merezhkovsky, Z.N. Gippius, N.M. Minsky), Konstantin Balmont becomes one of the most famous poets of this movement.
Getting married for the second time in 1896, Balmont leaves for Europe. He has been traveling for several years. In 1897 in England he lectures on Russian poetry.
A kind of lyrical trilogy are his best collections of poetry - “Silence” ( 1898 ), "Burning Buildings" ( 1900 ) and “Let's be like the Sun” ( 1903 ). Enthusiastic openness to all phenomena of the world, incl. and “demonic” (especially noticeable in the cycle “The Devil Artist” and in the collection “Evil Spells”, confiscated by the censors, 1906 ), the ability to record instant experiences, mastery of complex forms of verse, and the phonetic richness of speech made Balmont's poems incredibly popular.
The books of critical essays, “Mountain Peaks” ( 1904 ), "Poetry as Magic" ( 1915 ). Readers' admiration was aroused by the poet's knowledge of many languages and multiculturalism, images of exotic countries (K. Balmont visited Mexico, Polynesia, Australia, Japan, etc.), reputation as an active “life creator” (including in his personal life, well known to the public ).
However, the abundance of travel impressions often interfered with the deep experience of other cultures; in his work they became difficult to distinguish from each other. The profuse writing (voluminous books of new poems were published almost every time) entailed self-repetition, impressionistic descriptions of the nature and soul of the poet became stereotyped. And although some poems and even books were successful (for example, “Liturgy of Beauty”, 1905 ; "Firebird", 1907 ; "Glow of Dawn" 1912 ), criticism increasingly spoke about the decline of K. Balmont’s work. K. Balmont’s biased speeches with political poems did not save the situation. He was persecuted more than once, 1906-1913. he was forced to live abroad (mainly in Paris), but his revolutionary poems (“Songs of the Avenger”, 1907 , etc.) do not correspond to the level of the poet’s talent.
K. Balmont spent the years of the First World War and the Revolution in Russia. In the essayistic book “Am I a Revolutionary or Not” ( 1918 ) asserted the priority of the individual over social transformations. In 1920 due to the poor health of his third wife and daughter, with the permission of the Soviet government, he went with them to France. He never returned to Russia. In Paris, Balmont publishes 6 more collections of his poems, and in 1923- autobiographical books: “Under the New Sickle”, “Air Route”. There he soon came out with sharp criticism of the Bolshevik regime.
In the 1920s and in the first half of the 1930s. Konstantin Balmont continued to publish a lot, wrote poetry and prose, translated Polish, Czech, Bulgarian, Lithuanian poets; during his trips to Europe, his performances were successful, but Balmont no longer enjoyed recognition in the centers of the Russian diaspora.
Since 1937 mentally ill, practically did not write. Konstantin Balmont died of pneumonia December 23, 1942 in Noisy-le-Grand (near Paris) in the Russian House shelter in poverty and oblivion.