Polonsky Yakov Petrovich: biography and creativity

Among Russian writers of the XIX century there are poets and prose writers, whose work does not have such significance as the contribution to the national literature of the Titans like Pushkin, Gogol or Nekrasov. But without them, our literature would lose the multicolor and multifacetedness, breadth and depth of the reflection of the Russian world, the thoroughness and completeness of the study of the complex soul of our people. A special place among these masters is occupied by the poet and novelist Polonsky. Yakov Petrovich became a symbol of the interconnection of the great Russian writers who lived at the beginning and at the end of the nineteenth century.

A native of Ryazan

My fire in the fog shines,

Sparks go out on the fly ...

The author of these lines from the song, which has long been considered popular, was born in the very center of Russia, in the provincial Ryazan. The mother of the future poet - Natalya Yakovlevna - came from the old Kaftyrev family, and her father was an impoverished nobleman who served in the office of Ryazan Governor-General Petr Grigoryevich Polonsky. Yakov Petrovich, born in early December 1819, was the eldest of their seven children.

When Jacob was 13 years old, his mother passed away, and his father, having been appointed to a public office, left for Yeravan, leaving the children in the care of his wife's relatives. By that time, Yakov Petrovich Polonsky had already been admitted to the First Men's Gymnasium of Ryazan, which was one of the centers of the cultural life of the provincial city.

Meeting with Zhukovsky

Rhyming in the years when the genius of Pushkin was at the zenith of glory was a common thing. Among those who had a marked propensity for poetic creativity, while exhibiting remarkable abilities, was the young schoolboy Polonsky. Yakov Petrovich, whose biography is full of significant meetings and acquaintances with the best writers of Russia of the XIX century, often recalled a meeting that had a great influence on his choice of the writer's field.

In 1837, Ryazan visited the future Emperor Alexander II. At the request of the director, Polonsky wrote a poetic greeting in two verses, one of which was to be performed by the choir for the tune "God Save the Tsar!", Which became the official anthem of the Russian Empire only four years earlier. In the evening, after a successful event with the participation of the heir to the throne, the director of the gymnasium arranged a reception at which the young poet got acquainted with the author of the text of the new hymn, Vasily Andreevich Zhukovsky.

The famous poet, mentor and close friend of the great Pushkin highly appreciated Po- lonsky's poetry. Yakov Petrovich the next day after Alexander's departure, even awarded on behalf of the future king a gold watch. Zhukovsky's praise strengthened Polonsky in his desire to devote his life to literature.

University of Moscow

In 1838 he became a student of the law faculty of Moscow University. Contemporaries have always noted the remarkable sociability, internal and external attractiveness, which differed Polonsky. Yakov Petrovich quickly acquired acquaintances among the most advanced figures of science, culture and art. Many Moscow acquaintances of university time have become for him true friends for life. Among them - poets Afanasy Fet and Apollon Grigoriev, historians Sergei Soloviev and Konstantin Kavelin, writers Alexei Pisemsky and Mikhail Pogodin, Decembrist Nikolai Orlov, philosopher and publicist Pyotr Chaadayev, great actor Mikhail Schepkin.

In those years, a close friendship between Polonsky and Ivan Turgenev was born, which highly valued each other's talent for many years. With the help of friends, Polonsky's first publications were published in the journal Domestic Notes (1840) and in the form of a poetic collection Gamma (1844).

Despite the fact that the first experiments of the young poet were positively received by critics, in particular Belinsky, his hopes of living through literary work turned out to be naive dreams. Student years of Polonsky passed in poverty and need, he was forced to constantly earn additionally private lessons and tutoring. Therefore, when there was an opportunity to get a place in the office of the Caucasus governor Count Vorontsov, Polonsky left Moscow, after graduating from the university course.

On my way

Since 1844 he lives first in Odessa, then moved to Tiflis. At this time he met with Pushkin's brother Lev Sergeyevich, cooperating in the newspaper "Transcaucasian Herald". His poetry collections - "Sazandar" (1849) and "Several Poems" (1851) are published. In the verses of that time there is a special color, inspired by the poet's acquaintance with the customs of the mountaineers, with the history of Russia's struggle for approval on the southern borders.

Real extraordinary abilities of Polonsky to the fine arts were noticed even during his studies at the Ryazan gymnasium, therefore, inspired by the unique landscapes of the Caucasus and its environs, he does a lot of painting and painting. This fascination accompanies the poet throughout his life.

In 1851, Yakov Petrovich went to the capital, St. Petersburg, where he expanded the circle of his literary acquaintances and worked hard on new verses. In 1855 another collection was published, his poems eagerly publish the best literary magazines - Sovremennik and Otechestvennye Zapiski, but honoraria can not provide even a modest existence. He becomes a home teacher of the son of the St. Petersburg governor Smirnov. In 1857, a family of a high-ranking official travels to Baden-Baden, along with Polonsky. Yakov Petrovich travels extensively in Europe, takes drawing lessons from French artists, gets to know many Russian and foreign writers and artists - in particular, with the famous Alexander Dumas.

Personal life

In 1858 Polonsky returned to Petersburg with his young wife - Elena Vasilyevna Ustyuzhskaya, whom he met in Paris. The next two years were for Yakov Petrovich one of the most tragic in life. First, he gets a serious injury, from the consequences of which he can not get rid of before the end of life, moving only with the help of crutches. Then the typhoid becomes ill and Polonsky's wife dies, and a few months later their newborn son also dies.

Despite personal dramas, the writer works surprisingly much and fruitfully, in all genres - from small lyrical verses, operatic libretto to large in volume prose books of artistic content - remained his most interesting experiences in memoirs and journalism.

The second marriage in 1866 Polonsky combined with Josefina Antonovna Rulman, who became the mother of their three children. She discovered in herself the abilities of a sculptor and actively participated in the artistic life of the Russian capital. Literary and creative evenings were held in Polonsky's house, in which the most famous writers and artists of that time took part. These evenings continued for some time after the death of the poet, which followed on October 30, 1898.

Heritage

The legacy of Yakov Petrovich is great and is estimated as unequal. The main property of Polonsky's poetry is its subtle lyricism, originating in Romanticism enriched by the genius of Pushkin. It was not accidental that he was considered a true continuer of the traditions of the great poet, for good reason Yakov Petrovich's poems were often used in his romances by the most famous composers - Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky, Rachmaninov and many others. At the same time, even the faithful connoisseurs of the poetic gift of Polonsky believed that there were not so many achievements in his work.

In the last third of the XIX century, Russian thinkers shared in two camps - "Westerners" and "Slavophiles". One of those who did not seek to express an obvious commitment to one of the parties was Polonsky. Yakov Petrovich (interesting facts about his theoretical disputes with Tolstoy are in the memoirs of contemporaries) expressed more conservative ideas about the growing of Russia into European culture, while in many ways agreeing with his friend - the obvious "Westerner" Ivan Turgenev.

He lived a life full of work and ideas of the Russian writer, having received a blessing from contemporaries of Pushkin and remaining an active poet when the Blok star was already rising. Indicative in this sense is the metamorphosis of the external appearance that Polonsky underwent. Yakov Petrovich, whose photo is already technically perfect at the end of the century, appears in the portraits of the last time as a true patriarch realizing the significance of the path he has traveled.