Message about creativity a feta. Report: Afanasy Afanasyevich Fet

Afanasy Afanasyevich Fet (correctly Fet) for the first 14 and last 19 years of his life officially bore the surname Shenshin. Born on November 23 (December 5), 1820 in the Novoselki estate of the Mtsensk district of the Oryol province - died on November 21 (December 3), 1892 in Moscow. Russian lyricist of German origin, translator, memoirist, corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1886).

Father - Johann-Peter-Karl-Wilhelm Feth (Föth) (1789-1825), assessor of the Darmstadt city court.

Mother - Charlotte Elizabeth Becker (1798-1844). Sister - Caroline-Charlotte-Georgina-Ernestina Föt (1819-1868).

Stepfather - Shenshin Afanasy Neofitovich (1775-1855).

Maternal grandfather - Karl-Wilhelm Becker (1766-1826), privy councilor, military commissar.

Paternal grandfather - Johann Föt.

Paternal grandmother - Miles Sibylla.

Maternal grandmother - Gagern Henrietta.

On May 18, 1818, the marriage of 20-year-old Charlotte Elisabeth Becker and Johann Peter Karl Wilhelm Vöth took place in Darmstadt. In 1820, a 45-year-old Russian landowner, hereditary nobleman Afanasy Neofitovich Shenshin, came to Darmstadt for the waters and stayed in the Fetov house. A romance broke out between him and Charlotte-Elizabeth, despite the fact that the young woman was expecting her second child. On September 18, 1820, Afanasy Neofitovich Shenshin and Charlotte-Elizabeth Becker secretly left for Russia.

On November 23 (December 5), 1820, in the village of Novoselki, Mtsensk district, Oryol province, Charlotte Elizabeth Becker had a son, who was baptized in the Orthodox rite on November 30 and named Athanasius. In the registry book he was recorded as the son of Afanasy Neofitovich Shenshin. However, the couple got married only in 1822, after Charlotte-Elizabeth converted to Orthodoxy and began to be called Elizaveta Petrovna Fet. In 1821-1823, Charlotte-Elizabeth gave birth to a daughter, Anna, and a son, Vasily, from Afanasy Shenshin, who died in infancy, and in May 1824, a daughter, Lyuba.

Johann Feth married his daughter Caroline's teacher in 1824. On November 7, 1823, Charlotte Elisabeth wrote a letter to her brother Ernst Becker in Darmstadt, in which she complained about her ex-husband Johann Peter Karl Wilhelm Feth, who frightened her and offered to adopt her son Athanasius if his debts were paid. On August 25, 1825, Charlotte-Elizabeth Becker wrote a letter to her brother Ernst about how well Shenshin takes care of her son Afanasy: “no one will notice that this is not his natural child.”

In March 1826, she again wrote to her brother that her first husband, who had died a month earlier, had not left her and the child any 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 ask our dear father to help restore this child to his rights and honor; he should get a surname..." Then, in the next letter: "... It is very surprising to me that Fet forgot and did not recognize his son in his will. A person can make mistakes, but denying the laws of nature is a very big mistake. Apparently, before his death he was quite ill...”

When Afanasy Shenshin was 14 years old, the diocesan authorities found out that he was born before marriage, and he was deprived of his surname, Russian citizenship and nobility and became “Hessendarmstadt subject Afanasy Fet.” This event radically changed the young man’s whole life. Along with his surname, he lost his position in society and the right to inheritance. The goal of his life was to obtain a noble title, so he went to serve in a cuirassier regiment, despite the fact that he graduated from the verbal department of the Faculty of Philosophy of Moscow University. According to the laws of that time, along with the officer rank, the rank of nobility was also given, and a junior officer rank could be obtained after six months of service. However, it was at this time that Nicholas I issued a decree according to which only senior officers were entitled to nobility, and this meant that Athanasius would have to serve for 15-20 years.

Only in 1873 Afanasy Fet officially regained his surname Shenshin, but he continued to sign his literary works and translations with the surname Fet.

In 1835-1837, Afanasy studied at the German private boarding school of Krümmer in Verro (now Võru, Estonia). At this time he began to write poetry and show interest in classical philology. In 1838 he 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.

In 1840, a collection of Fet’s poems, “Lyrical Pantheon,” was published with the participation of Apollo Grigoriev, Fet’s friend from the university. In 1842 - publications in the magazines “Moskvityanin” and “Domestic Notes”. In 1845 he entered military service in the cuirassier regiment of the Military Order and became a cavalryman. In 1846 he was awarded the first officer rank.

In 1850, Fet's second collection was published, which received positive reviews from critics in the magazines Sovremennik, Moskvityanin and Otechestvennye zapiski. At this time, Maria Kozminichna Lazich, the poet’s beloved, died, to whose memories the poem “Talisman”, the poems “Old Letters”, “You suffered, I still suffer...”, “No, I have not changed. Until deep old age..." and many of his other poems.

In 1853, Fet was transferred to a guards regiment stationed near St. Petersburg. The poet often visited St. Petersburg, then the capital of Russia. There Fet met with, and others, as well as his rapprochement with the editors of the Sovremennik magazine.

In 1854 he served in the Baltic Port, which he described in his memoirs “My Memoirs”.

In 1856, Fet's third collection was published, edited by I. S. Turgenev.

In 1857, Fet married Maria Petrovna Botkina, sister of the critic V.P. Botkin.

In 1858 he retired with the rank of guards captain and settled in Moscow.

In 1859, the poet broke up with the journalist Dolgoruky A.V. from Sovremennik.

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

In 1867, Afanasy Fet was elected justice of the peace for 11 years.

In 1873, Afanasy Fet was returned to the nobility and the surname Shenshin. The poet continued to sign his literary works and translations with the surname Fet.

In 1883-1891 - publication of four issues of the collection “Evening Lights”.

He died on November 21, 1892 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 family estate of the Shenshins.

Family of Afanasy Afanasyevich Fet:

Wife - Botkina Maria Petrovna (1828-1894), from the Botkin family. Her brothers: V. P. Botkin, a famous literary and art critic, author of one of the most significant articles about the work of A. A. Fet, S. P. Botkin - a doctor, after whom a hospital in Moscow is named, D. P. Botkin - 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.

Being one of the most sophisticated lyricists, Fet amazed his contemporaries by the fact that this did not prevent him from being at the same time an extremely businesslike, enterprising and successful landowner. in many works, especially in the novel “The Diary of a Provincial in St. Petersburg,” he was repeatedly and completely unfairly accused of adherence to the serfdom.

The famous palindrome phrase written by Fet and included in “The Adventures of Buratino” by A. N. Tolstoy - "And the rose fell on Azor's paw".

Philologist O. Sharovskaya writes about him: “In Fet’s lyrics there are no completed psychological portraits, characters, the images of the addressees are not outlined, even the image of the beloved is abstract. There is also no lyrical hero in the narrow sense: nothing is known about his social status, life experience, habits. The main place of “action” is generally a garden, a house in general, etc. Time is presented as “cosmic” (the existence of life on earth - its disappearance), natural (time of year, time of day) and only in the most general form as biological (life -death, youth or, more precisely, years of full strength - old age, and there are no milestones or boundaries here), but in no case is historical time. Thoughts, feelings, sensations are expressed that are intended to have a universal significance, albeit small, private, but understandable to any thinking and feeling person.”

Fet is a late romantic with a clear inclination towards psychological realism and accuracy of subject descriptions, but is thematically narrow. Its three main themes are nature, love, art (usually poetry and most often “song”), united by the theme of beauty.

The Russian poet Afanasy Afanasyevich Fet lived a long and very difficult life. During his lifetime, interest in his personality was not as high as after his death. Soon after the poet's death, it became obvious that during his work he opened a new chapter in Russian poetry. It is his poems that can be considered the starting point of twentieth-century poetry. Therefore, today Fet is one of the most popular poets: his poems are included in the school curriculum, they are popular with people of different ages, his biography and work are studied by scientists, finding new interesting facts.

The poet bore his mother's surname. Carolina Charlotte Feth, the poet's mother, a German, having met the retired captain Shenshin, leaves for Russia. Some time later, already in his father’s homeland, a boy is born. Shenshin adopts him without taking Carolina as his wife. Fourteen years later, the boy’s surname is taken away and he is declared illegitimate. From a Russian nobleman he turns into a foreigner Fet. For the boy, this event became a real tragedy, and he decides to do everything to return his father's surname. As a result, almost twelve years later he achieves his goal.

Received an excellent education by the standards of his time. From the age of fifteen, Fet was sent to a German boarding school in Germany. Already here he is persistently studying classical philology, studying literary criticism and trying to write poetry. Having become interested in philology, he easily enters the literature department at Moscow University, from which he graduates with excellent results.

In order to regain his status as a nobleman, Fet left literature for several years.. After graduating from university, he is sent to serve in an infantry regiment, because the rank of officer gives the right to receive nobility. He did not understand army life, but was ready to endure any difficulties to achieve his goal.

In the sixties of the nineteenth century, Fet created prose. At this time, poetry faded into the background. There were periods in which Fet did not create a single poem. He is the author of two prose cycles, consisting of essays and short stories, which were published in magazines of the time.

Fet was personally acquainted with Leo Tolstoy. In the seventies of the nineteenth century, he became close to Tolstoy and considered him a friend. They often meet, have conversations on philosophical and social topics, Fet reads his new works to Tolstoy, and they discuss them. Tolstoy emphasizes the strengths of many of them, and openly criticizes some works

Fet translated a lot. He translated, both for himself and for paid orders, Schiller and Goethe, Shakespeare, Byron. Fet knew German and English perfectly and was interested in French.

Fet considered himself guilty of the death of his beloved. While still a student, Fet met a girl with whom he fell in love. She was homeless. Years passed. The poet received a return declaration of love, but never proposed to his chosen one, since he was not rich and was embarrassed by his status. And, in his own words, he was not yet ready for such a serious step. A few years later, the poet’s beloved burned alive on her own estate. Many researchers believe that she committed suicide without becoming the wife of the one she loved. This tragic story tormented the poet until his death.


Fet was in a marriage of convenience. Shortly after the death of his love, he goes on an unplanned vacation to Europe. Here, in the capital of France, he got married to Maria Botkina, the daughter of a wealthy tea seller. Most likely, it was a marriage of convenience that the poet was thinking about. Friends and acquaintances quite often asked Fet about the reason for such an imminent wedding, but he only remained silent. The poet had no children.

About eleven years old Fet worked as a magistrate. He resolved issues in the name he bought and the estates nearby, for which all the landowners who lived in the neighborhood were grateful to him.

Fet had an ear for music and could play the piano. This is probably why his poems are so melodic, and some of them became romances. Tchaikovsky even called Fet more of a musician than a poet.

Fet was afraid of mental illness. This disease could have been inherited from him. His relatives were frequent patients at the psychiatric clinic. The poet often fell into depression and could not leave the room for several days. Fet could go for several weeks without talking to anyone, devoting himself entirely to creativity.

Fet died two days before his seventieth birthday. Fet was sick with asthma and had poor eyesight, but felt decent. On the morning of November 21, 1892, he asked his wife to pour him a glass of champagne. The request was followed by a refusal, since the poet was still undergoing treatment. Fet demanded that his wife go to the doctor and come home with him for an examination, because, according to him, he wanted everyone to make sure that he had recovered and could drink alcohol. After his wife left, he wanted to cut his wrists. The secretary stopped him. Fet went to the closet to get something, but while trying to open the closet door, he sighed heavily and fell unconscious on a nearby chair.

Fet's personality is amazing: he simultaneously managed to be both a romantic, dreaming of sincere love and care, and a businesslike, enterprising landowner living a real life. He is a poet who created sincere poems about nature, writing about children and for children. At the same time, he is an accurate publicist and prose writer, who often spent time translating, where he cannot meditate and dream. He is a versatile personality, and this is why he is interesting to this day.

Afanasy Afanasyevich Fet was born in the Novoselki estate in Mtsensk district in November 1820. The story of his birth is not entirely ordinary. His father, Afanasy Neofitovich Shenshin, a retired captain, belonged to an old noble family and was a wealthy landowner. While undergoing treatment in Germany, he married Charlotte Feth, whom he took to Russia from her husband and daughter. Two months later, Charlotte gave birth to a boy, named Afanasy and given the surname Shenshin. Fourteen years later, the spiritual authorities of Orel discovered that the child was born before the parents’ wedding, and Afanasy was deprived of the right to bear his father’s surname and deprived of his noble title. This event wounded the impressionable child, and he spent almost his entire life experiencing the ambiguity of his position. In addition, he had to earn his noble rights, which the church deprived him of. He graduated from the university, where he studied first at the Faculty of Law and then at the Faculty of Philology. At this time, in 1840, he published his first works as a separate book, which, however, did not have any success.

Having received his education, Afanasy. Afanasyevich decided to become a military man, since the rank of officer provided the opportunity to receive a title of nobility. But in 1858 A. Fet was forced to resign. He never won the rights of the nobility - at that time the nobility gave only the rank of colonel, and he was a captain of headquarters. But the years of military service can be considered the heyday of his poetic activity. In 1850, “Poems” by A. Fet was published in Moscow, which was greeted with delight by readers. In St. Petersburg he met Nekrasov, Panaev, Druzhinin, Goncharov, Yazykov. Later he became friends with Leo Tolstoy. This friendship was long and fruitful for both.

During the years of military service, Afanasy Fet experienced a tragic love for Maria Lazich, a fan of his poetry, a very talented and educated girl. She also fell in love with him, but they were both poor, and for this reason Fet did not dare to join his destiny with his beloved girl. Soon Maria Lazic died. Until his death, the poet remembered his unhappy love; in many of his poems one can hear its unfading breath.

In 1856, a new book on this was published. After retiring, A. Fet bought land in Mtsensk district and decided to devote himself to agriculture. Soon he married M.P. Botkina. Fet lived in the village of Stepanovka for seventeen years, visiting Moscow only briefly. Here he received his highest decree that the surname Shenshin with all the rights associated with it had finally been approved for him.

In 1877, Afanasy Afanasyevich bought the village of Vorobyovka in the Kursk province, where he spent the rest of his life, only leaving for Moscow for the winter. These years, unlike the years he lived in Stepanovka, were marked by his return to literature. The poet signed all his poems with the surname Fet: under this name he acquired poetic fame, and it was dear to him. During this period, A. Fet published a collection of his works under the title “Evening Lights” - there were four issues in total.

In January 1889, the fiftieth anniversary of A. A. Fet’s literary activity was solemnly celebrated in Moscow, and in 1892 the poet died, two days short of his 72nd birthday. He was buried in the village of Kleymenovo, the family estate of the Shenshins, 25 versts from Orel.

A. A. Fet lived a long and difficult life. His literary fate was also difficult. Of his creative heritage, modern readers know mainly poetry and much less prose, journalism, translations, memoirs, and letters. Without Afanasy Fet it is difficult to imagine the life of literary Moscow in the 19th century. Many famous people visited his house on Plyushchikha. For many years he was friends with A. Grigoriev and I. Turgenev. All of literary and musical Moscow attended Fet’s musical evenings.

A. Fet's poems are pure poetry in the sense that there is not a drop of prose. He did not sing about hot feelings, despair, delight, lofty thoughts, no, he wrote about the simplest things - about nature, about the simplest movements of the soul, even about momentary impressions. His poetry is joyful and bright, it is filled with light and peace. The poet even writes about his ruined love lightly and calmly, although his feeling is deep and fresh, as in the first minutes. Until the end of his life, Fet did not lose the ability to rejoice.

The beauty, naturalness, and sincerity of his poetry reach complete perfection; his verse is amazingly expressive, figurative, and musical. It is not for nothing that Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Balakirev, Rachmaninov, and other composers turned to his poetry. “This is not just a poet, but rather a poet-musician...” - Tchaikovsky said about him. Many romances were written based on Fet's poems, which quickly gained wide popularity.

Fet can be called a singer of Russian nature. The approach of spring and autumn withering, a fragrant summer night and a frosty day, a rye field stretching endlessly and without edge and a dense shady forest - he writes about all this in his poems. Fet's nature is always calm, quiet, as if frozen. And at the same time, it is surprisingly rich in sounds and colors, living its own life, hidden from the inattentive eye:

I came to you with greetings,

Tell me that the sun has risen

What is it with hot light

The sheets began to flutter;

Tell me that the forest woke up, woke up all over, every branch, every bird was roused

And full of thirst in spring...

Fet also perfectly conveys the “fragrant freshness of feelings” inspired by nature, its beauty and charm. His poems are imbued with a bright, joyful mood, the happiness of love. The poet unusually subtly reveals the various shades of human experiences. He knows how to capture and put into bright, living images even fleeting mental movements that are difficult to identify and convey in words:

Whisper, timid breathing,

The trill of a nightingale,

Silver and sway

Sleepy stream,

Night light, night shadows,

Endless shadows

A series of magical changes

Sweet face

There are purple roses in the smoky clouds,

The reflection of amber

And kisses and tears,

And dawn, dawn!..

Usually A. Fet in his poems dwells on one figure, on one turn of feelings, and at the same time his poetry cannot be called monotonous; on the contrary, it amazes with its diversity and multitude of themes. The special charm of his poems, in addition to the content, lies precisely in the nature of his mood in poetry. Fet's muse is light, airy, as if there is nothing earthly in it, although she tells us exactly about the earthly. There is almost no action in his poetry; each of his verses is a whole series of impressions, thoughts, joys and sorrows. Take at least such of them as “Your ray, flying far...,” “Motionless eyes, crazy eyes...”, “The sun’s ray between the linden trees...”, “I stretch out my hand to you in silence... " and others.

The poet sang beauty where he saw it, and he found it everywhere. He was an artist with an exceptionally developed sense of beauty; This is probably why the pictures of nature in his poems are so beautiful, which he reproduced as it is, without allowing any decorations of reality. In his poems we recognize a specific landscape - central Russia.

In all descriptions of nature, the poet is impeccably faithful to its smallest features, shades, and moods. It was thanks to this that such poetic masterpieces as “Whisper, timid breathing...”, “I came to you with greetings...”, “At dawn, don’t wake her up...”, “Dawn” were created. says goodbye to the earth..."

Fet's love lyrics are the most frank page of his poetry. The poet's heart is open, he does not spare it, and the drama of his poems is literally shocking, despite the fact that, as a rule, their main tonality is light, major.

The poems of A. A. Fet are loved in our country. Time has unconditionally confirmed the value of his poetry, showing that we, people of the 21st century, need it, because it speaks about the eternal and most intimate, and reveals the beauty of the world around us.

Born into the family of landowner Afanasy Neofitovich Shenshin and his mother, who left her husband Johann-Peter Fet for him. After fourteen years, the Oryol spiritual consistory returned the surname of his mother’s previous husband to Afanasy, which caused him to lose all the privileges of the nobility. Fet studied at first at home, then was sent to a German boarding school in Verro and graduated brilliantly in 1837.

In 1837 Afanasy Fet came to Moscow and studied at the boarding school of Professor M.P. Pogodin and in 1838 he entered first the Faculty of Law, then the Historical and Philological Department of the Faculty of Philosophy of Moscow University.

In 1840, he published at his own expense a collection of poems, “A.F.’s Lyrical Pantheon,” which was praised in “Notes of the Fatherland” and scolded in “Library for Reading.”

In 1842 - 1843, his eighty-five poems were published in Otechestvennye zapiski.

In 1845, Afanasy Fet entered the cuirassier regiment stationed in the Kherson province as a non-commissioned officer, wishing to acquire hereditary Russian nobility. In 1846 he was awarded his first officer rank.

In 1847, censorship permission to publish the book was obtained and a book of poems was published in 1850. The poems received positive reviews in the magazines Sovremennik, Moskvityanin, and Otechestvennye zapiski.

In 1853, Afanasy Fet joined the Uhlan Guards regiment, stationed near Volkhov, and began to visit St. Petersburg more often. Here he began to communicate with the new editors of Sovremennik N. Nekrasov, I. Turgenev, V. Botkin, A. Druzhinin.

In 1854, his poems began to be published in Sovremennik.

In 1856, Afanasy Fet left military service with the rank of guards headquarters captain, having not achieved the nobility, and settled in Moscow. In 1857 he married M.P. Botkina.

In 1860, he bought an estate in Mtsensk district and, in the words of I. Turgenev, “became an agronomist-owner to the point of despair.”

From 1862, he began to regularly publish essays in the editorial “Russian Bulletin” that exposed the conditions in the countryside.

In 1867 - 1877 Afanasy Fet was elected justice of the peace.

In 1873, the surname Shenshin was recognized as his surname and hereditary nobility was granted. During this period, he was little involved in literary activities.

In 1881, Afanasy Fet bought a mansion in Moscow and in the same year his translation of “The World as Will and Representation” by A. Schopenhauer was published.

In 1882, he published his translation of the first part of “Faust” by I.V. Goethe.

In 1883, Afanasy Fet began publishing his poems again in the form of collections “Evening Lights”.

In 1888, the second part of “Faust” by I.V. was published. Goethe translated by Afanasy Fet and the third collection of poems “Evening Lights”.

Afanasy Fet died of a suspected heart attack on November 21 (December 3), 1892 in Moscow. He was buried in the village of Kleymenovo, the family estate of the Shenshins.

The future poet was born on November 23 (December 5, new style) 1820 in the village. Novoselki, Mtsensk district, Oryol province (Russian Empire).

As the son of Charlotte-Elizabeth Becker, who left Germany in 1820, Afanasy was adopted by the nobleman Shenshin. After 14 years, an unpleasant event occurred in the biography of Afanasy Fet: an error was discovered in the birth record, which deprived him of his title.

Education

In 1837, Fet graduated from Krümmer's private boarding school in the city of Verro (now Estonia). In 1838 he entered the Faculty of Philosophy at Moscow University, continuing to be interested in literature. He graduated from the university in 1844.

The poet's work

In Fet’s brief biography, it is worth noting that his first poems were written by him in his youth. Fet's poetry was first published in the collection "Lyrical Pantheon" in 1840. Since then, Fet's poems have been constantly published in magazines.

Trying in every possible way to regain his title of nobility, Afanasy Fet went to serve as a non-commissioned officer. Then, in 1853, Fet’s life involved a transition to the Guards Regiment. Fet's creativity, even in those times, does not stand still. His second collection was published in 1850, and his third in 1856.

In 1857, the poet married Maria Botkina. Having retired in 1858, without having achieved the return of the title, he acquired land and devoted himself to farming.

Fet's new works, published from 1862 to 1871, comprise the cycles “From the Village” and “Notes on Free Labor.” They include short stories, short stories, and essays. Afanasy Afanasievich Fet strictly distinguishes between his prose and poetry. For him, poetry is romantic, and prose is realistic.