Maikov Apollon Nikolaevich is a famous Russian poet. He lived in the 19th century (1821-1897). The creative heritage of this poet is of interest in our time, which speaks of his undoubted talent.
Origin of A. N. Maykov
It should be said that Apollo Maykov was not the only talented representative of his family. The ancient family of the poet was rich in talented people. In the 15th century, the famous Russian theologian Nil Sorsky lived, and during the time of Catherine, the poet Vasily Maikov worked.
The father of our hero was an academician of painting. The rest of his family also belonged to the creative intelligentsia. Mother is a translator and poetess, brother Valerian is a publicist and literary critic, and Leonidas, another brother of Apollo, is a publisher and literary historian.
Childhood and youth, first book of poems
Apollon Nikolaevich spent his childhood on an estate that belonged to his father. It was located near the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. The Maykov family moved to St. Petersburg in 1834. As a child, Apollo was interested in both literature and painting. However, myopia prevented him from following in his father's footsteps. In Maikov's first prose experiments, the influence of Gogol is visible. Then Apollon Maikov became interested in poetry. His biography of this period is also marked by his studies at St. Petersburg University, Faculty of Law. After graduating from university, Apollon Nikolaevich published the first book of his poems. This important event occurred in 1842.
Trip abroad, new poems
In the same year, Apollo Maykov went abroad. Here he stayed for about two years. Maikov listened to lectures by famous scientists in Paris. While in Rome, he took part in the revelry of Russian artists, wrote poetry, made sketches, and went on horseback rides through the Roman valley. The result of the impressions received was Maykov’s poetic cycle “Essays on Rome” (published in 1847). It was during his life in Italy that the first breakdown occurred in the poet’s work. Apollo Maykov broke with anthological poetry and began to strive for the so-called poetry of thought and feeling. Maykov was no longer interested in the old man. He decided to turn to modern times. As a result, portraits of the inhabitants of Rome appeared (Lorenzo, "Capucin", "Beggar").
Homecoming
Returning to his homeland, the poet began working at the Rumyantsev Museum as an assistant librarian. In the second half of the 1840s, his circle of friends included Nekrasov, Grigorovich, Turgenev, Belinsky. Apollo Maikov was at that time influenced by the natural school. The poet published a lot in Otechestvennye zapiski. In Nekrasov's "Petersburg Collection" in 1846 his poem "Mashenka" appeared. A little earlier, another poem was created, “Two Fates,” which tells the story of an “extra” person.
Communication with the Petrashevites and the editorial office of Moskvityanin
Apollon Nikolaevich in those years was ideologically close to Westernism. He became involved in the Petrashevtsy movement through his brother Valerian. However, he soon began to become depressed by their constant criticism of the government. Maikov saw utopianism in the Petrashevite movement, “a lot of egoism,” “a lot of nonsense” and “little love.”
Apollon Nikolaevich, who was going through a crisis, ended up in the editorial office of Moskvityanin. Here he unexpectedly found not only participation, but also support for his views. Maikov denied the principles of Western European civilization. This idea ran through his entire collection “1854,” which accurately reflected Maikov’s worldview at that time. Another cross-cutting theme of the book was the historical mission of the Russian state, which blocked the path to the West for Batu’s hordes and thereby prevented the death of the civilization of Europe (“Clermont Council”, etc.). At the same time, Maikov became a convinced monarchist. He believed in the greatness of Nicholas I.
Creativity of the 1850s
As happens with every real poet, Maykov’s work of the 1850s is much broader than his ideological principles. He created works on social themes (the idyll “Fool”, the cycle “Everyday Thoughts”), and poems of an ideological and political nature. At the same time, Maykov wrote poems that continued the anthological and aesthetic principles of his poetry of the early period. We are talking about such cycles as “Cameos” and “Fantasies”. At the end of 1850 The cycles “At Home”, “In the Wild”, “In the Rain”, “Spring”, “Haymaking” appeared. In these works one can still feel Maikov's former harmonic view of nature. However, now he manifests himself in sketches of rural landscapes of Russia.
"Autumn"
In 1856, Apollo Maikov created one of the most famous poems. "Autumn" - that's what he called it. From a young age, the poet was fond of hunting, but often caught himself thinking that an ordinary walk in the forest without a gun gave him much more pleasure. He really loved to rake the leaves with his foot, to hear the cracking of the branches... However, the forest in the fall loses its mystery and enigma, since “the last flower has been tied,” “the last nut has been picked.” And this world gives birth to hitherto unknown feelings in the poet...
Marine expedition
The Italian theme reappeared in the works of Apollon Nikolaevich in 1859. This was due to the fact that he, together with other researchers, made a sea expedition, visiting the islands of the Greek archipelago. The ship on which the voyage was carried out did not reach Greece. He had to stay in Naples. Therefore, instead of one cycle, as Apollon Nikolaevich Maikov intended, it turned out to be two. The "Neapolitan Album" was created based on Italian impressions. This is a kind of story in verse, the theme of which is the life of the people in Naples. As a result of the study of the culture and history of Greece, “Modern Greek Songs” appeared (“The Swallow Has Rushed”, “Lullaby”, etc.).
One of his most famous poems is “Lullaby...”. Apollo Maikov created this work in 1860. More than 20 composers wrote music for it at one time. Among them are A. Chesnokov, A. Arensky, V. Rebikov, P. Tchaikovsky.
last years of life
In the last 25 years of his life, Maykov was interested in eternal questions of existence. He thought about the development of civilizations. An important place in Maykov’s thoughts at this time was occupied by the fate of our country, its past and present, its role in history. In the 1880s, Apollon Nikolaevich also created a number of poems, distinguished by deep religiosity and the idea that religious humility is a distinctive feature of the Russian person (“The eternal night is approaching...”, “Leave, leave!..”, etc.).
Finally
Merezhkovsky in his book “Eternal Companions” wrote that Maykov Apollo is a poet whose life path was bright and smooth. There was no persecution, no enemies, no passions, no struggle in him. There were poems, books, travel, family joys, fame. Indeed, his biography was not very poetic: he did not die on the scaffold or in a duel, was not persecuted, and was not tormented by passions. For Apollo Maykov, everything external went inside. His real biography, his true destiny was his path from the Romans and Greeks to Russian reality, the history of peoples, the poetry of the Bible and the eternal questions of existence.
Apollon Nikolaevich Maikov was born May 23 (June 4 n.s.) 1821 in Moscow in a noble family. Son of academician of painting N.A. Maykova, brother V.N. and L.N. Maykovs.
Maikov was brought up in an atmosphere filled with interest in art. His childhood years were spent in a Moscow house and estate near Moscow, which were often visited by artists and writers. The artistic atmosphere of the house contributed to the formation of the spiritual interests of the future poet, who began to draw and write poetry early.
Since 1834 the family moved to St. Petersburg, and Maykov’s further fate is connected with the capital. IN 1837-1841 A.N. Maikov studied at the Faculty of Law of St. Petersburg University. After graduating from university, he served in the State Treasury Department, but soon, having received an allowance from Nicholas I to travel abroad, he went to Italy, where he studied painting and poetry, then to Paris, where he attended lectures on art and literature. He visited both Dresden and Prague.
In 1844 Maikov returned to Russia. Since 1844– assistant librarian at the Rumyantsev Museum, since 1852 and until the end of his life he was a censor, then chairman of the foreign censorship committee. He traveled abroad several times, mainly to Greece and Italy.
His first poems appeared in the handwritten collections “Snowdrop” ( 1835-1838) and "Moonlit Nights" ( 1839 .), produced in the Maykov family. He appeared in print with the poem “Eagle” (“Library for Reading”, 1835., Vol. IX). In 1842 published a collection of “Poems”, in which Maykov’s characteristic interest in Ancient Greece and Rome was revealed. Maikov continued the traditions of the anthological poetry of K.N. Batyushkova and N.I. Gnedich. He is characterized by clarity and plasticity of images, a humanistic ideal of earthly life.
In the next collection “Essays on Rome” ( 1847 ) Maikov made an attempt in the background ancient world show nature and everyday scenes of modern Italy. The idealization of antiquity is combined with thoughts about the descendants of free peoples, sympathy for the national liberation movement led by G. Garibaldi (verse “Palazzo”). In the mid 40s A. Maikov becomes close to Belinsky and the Petrashevites. Some works of this period, for example the poem “Two Fates” ( 1845 ), "Mashenka" ( 1846 ), "The Young Lady" ( 1846 ), written in the spirit of the natural school, contain civic motives.
Beginning since the 50s, A. Maikov is increasingly joining the conservative camp. Patriotic feelings on the eve of the Crimean War were reflected in the poem “Clermont Cathedral” ( 1853 ) and in the collection “1854” ( 1855 ). In 1858 after a trip to Greece, the cycles “Neapolitan Album” and “Modern Greek Songs” appeared. A. Maikov greeted the peasant reform with enthusiastic poems “Picture”, “Fields”, “Niva”. Opposing himself to the revolutionary-democratic camp, he became a supporter of “art for art’s sake,” which caused sharp criticism from M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, parodies by N.A. Dobrolyubov, the poets of Iskra, Kozma Prutkov.
Apollo Maikov showed constant interest in historical topics. His passion for the era of Ancient Rus' and Slavic folklore helped him create one of the best poetic translations of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” ( 1866-1870 ). Like the Slavophiles, Maikov contrasted the traditions of Russian antiquity and the strong Russian statehood with the new bourgeois relations. With sympathy he drew images of Alexander Nevsky, Ivan IV, Peter I (“Who is he?”, 1868 ; “In Gorodets in 1263”, 1875 ; “The Streletsky legend about Princess Sofya Alekseevna”, 1867 ; "At the tomb of Ivan the Terrible" 1887 ).
A. Maykov was attracted by dramatic episodes of world history. In the poems "Savonarola" ( 1851 ) and "Verdict" ( 1860 ) religious fanaticism and dogma are contrasted with a humanistic worldview. Based on history Ancient Rome dramatic poems “Three Deaths” were written ( 1851 , publ. 1857 ), "The Death of Lucius" ( 1863 ), "Two worlds" ( 1871, 1881 , awarded the Pushkin Prize in 1882), closely related to each other. The first of them, depicting the despotism of Nero, provided rich material for parallels with the despotic regime of Nicholas I. In “The Death of Lucius,” Christianity is contrasted with paganism, winning new supporters. The same antithesis is in the lyrical drama “Two Worlds”.
Last period ( since the 70s) was marked by a decline in A. Maikov’s creative activity and an increase in religious sentiments that replaced artistic epicureanism. Religious and philosophical themes come first, contrasted with modernity with the offensive of capital hated by A. Maikov (cycle of poems “Eternal Questions”, “From Apollodorus the Gnostic”). Among the best creations of Apollo Maykov are his landscape lyrics (“Spring! The first frame is being exhibited,” “Haymaking,” “In the rain,” “Swallows,” etc.). Unlike Italian landscapes, where the poet strived for external decorativeness, poems dedicated to Russian nature are distinguished by their sincerity, watercolor subtlety of colors, melodiousness, and some contemplation. Many of his poems inspired composers (P.I. Tchaikovsky, N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov, etc.). Apollon Maikov performed translations from V. Goethe, G. Heine, A. Mickiewicz, G. Longfellow and others.
Apollo Maykov (1821—1897)
Apollo Nikolaevich Maikov was born on May 23, 1821 in Moscow. The poet's childhood years were spent in the village of Nikolskoye near Moscow, near the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. Father, Nikolai Apollonovich Maykov, is an artist, academician of painting, mother, Evgenia Petrovna, is a writer. Artists, writers, and musicians were frequent guests at the Maykovs' house. One of Maykov’s home teachers was I. A. Goncharov. In 1837, Maikov entered the Faculty of Law of St. Petersburg University, willingly and extensively studied the history of Ancient Greece and Rome, studied the Latin language and Roman poets. He began writing poetry at the age of fifteen. Young Maikov dreamed of a career as a painter, but flattering reviews from Pletnev and Nikitenko about his first poetic experiments and poor eyesight prompted him to devote himself to literature. In 1842, Maikov went on a trip abroad. He spent about a year in Italy, then lived in Paris, where, together with his brother Valerian, he attended lectures at the Sorbonne and the College de France. The result of this trip was the “Essays on Rome” published in 1847 and a candidate’s dissertation on ancient Slavic law. Upon returning to St. Petersburg, Maikov served in the Ministry of Finance, then as a librarian at the Rumyantsev Museum before moving it to Moscow, and later as chairman of the Committee for Foreign Censorship. Apollo Nikolaevich Maikov died in 1897.
Maykov's poetry is distinguished by an even, contemplative mood, thoughtful design, it is plastic and harmoniously finished. Lines, shapes and colors appear in it clearly and accurately, without penumbra or hints. Maykov's verse in his best works is distinguished by strength, expressiveness and relatively weak lyricism, the author's emotions are, as it were, hidden, the poems are devoid of psychological tension; the latter is explained primarily by the fact that the poet finished his works too carefully, sometimes to the detriment of the original inspiration. Maikov began publishing in 1840. Inspired by ancient images, works of Greek and Roman sculpture, the world of ideally beautiful gods and goddesses, his poems had 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, motifs of Russian nature are clearly heard, often inspired by Maykov’s favorite pastime - fishing. Unlike Tyutchev or Fet Maikov does not look for polysemy of symbols in nature; he creates specific images and paintings, showing remarkable pictorial vigilance and depth of feelings.
Maikov’s “anthological” poems immediately brought him fame. The clarity and completeness of the images stand out primarily for “Dream”, “Memory”, “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 outburst:
Myrta Cyprus give me!
What do I need colored garlands for?
However, in the second stanza he gracefully switches to his usual tone:
Myrtle green vine
The old man, having got married, is pleased
Drink under the thick arbor,
Covered with grape vines.
The poem “After visiting the Vatican Museum” can be called characteristic of Maikov’s poetry. 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 my gaze loved to wander
Along the dusty marbles of the Potemkin chambers.
The dusty antiques seemed alive to me;
And dominating my infant mind,
They became related to him, like fairy tales from a smart nanny,
In the plastic beauty of mythical legends...
Now, now I'm here, in their bright homeland,
Where the gods lived among people, taking their image
And they revealed their immortal face to their gaze.
Like a distant pilgrim, among his shrines,
I stood among the statues...
An instant impression can transport the poet from the modern ballroom to the ancient world:
...Oh, it's all your fault
Oh roses of Paestum, classic roses!..
(Roses. "Fayupasia")
In another poem - “Improvisation” - Maykov’s plastic poetry successfully comes into contact with an area of musical sensations that is generally alien to her:
But the sounds that were fading again become clearer...
And a stream invades passionate songs
One melancholy sound, pleading, full of torment...
It grows, everything grows, and it flows like a river...
A very sweet hymn of love in one memory
Warbles far away... but with a stone foot
The inexorable comes, the suffering comes
And every step he takes rumbles above me...
One cry in the boundless desert
It sounds, calling to you... alas! there is no hope!..
He whines... and amid the thunder in response
Only a mournful lullaby broke through.
A characteristic expression of the poet’s good-natured and innocent epicureanism was the poem “To the Young Men”:
And we couldn’t get drunk!
A little at the table - and you're drunk!
What and how - you don’t care!
The wise man drinks with self-awareness,
Both by light and by smell
He evaluates the wine.
He, quietly losing sobriety,
Thoughts give shine and agility,
Touches the soul,
And mastering passion, anger,
Dear to the elders, pleasant to the maidens,
And I’m happy with myself.
It is worth noting two “Messages” of Maykov. 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 enormous popularity among his contemporaries (“Clermont Cathedral”, “Sovanarolla”, “At the Council of Constance”, “Confession of the Queen”, “Eshman”). Maikov's main poetic work was the philosophical and lyricaldrama"Two Worlds" (1881). Its theme was first heard at the end of the poem “Ancient Rome” (1848).
In 1852 he wrote on the same topicdramaticessay “Three Deaths”, later supplemented by “The Death of Lucius” (1863). Finally, six years after the first draft, it appeared in its final form.drama"Two worlds". The idea of pagan Rome is clearly understood and expressed by the poet:
Rome united everything
Like the mind in a person; to the world
He gave laws and cemented the world,—
and elsewhere:
... They left him
Rays to all ends of the earth,
And where they passed, there she appeared
Trade, toga, circus and court,
And the eternal ones flee
Roman roads in the deserts.
The hero of the tragedy, Maykova, lives by faith in Rome and dies with it, defending and protecting it from the approaching Christianity. What he believes will survive all historical catastrophes:
Oh, Rome hetaera, jester and mime, -
He is vile, he will fall!.. But no,
For in what bears the name of Rome,
There is something higher!.. Testament
Everything that has been lived for centuries!
There is a thought in it that lifted me up
Both over people and over gods!
It contains Promethean fire
Undying flame!
Rome is like the sky, firmly vaulted
Lifting the earth and the peoples,
To all these thousands of tribes
Or outdated, or familiar
To robberies only, multilingual
He gave his own language and law!
Imperial Rome is doubly clear and dear to the poet as it adjoins both worlds of his poetry - the world of beautiful classical antiquity, on the one hand, and the world of Byzantine statehood, on the other: both as an elegant epicurean and as a Russian patriotic official, Maikov finds here elements that are native to him. However, the idea of a new Rome - Byzantium - was 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 accepts its ideal dignity, sometimes not noticing its internal contradictions. This faith is so strong that it brings Maykov to the apotheosis of Ivan the Terrible, whose greatness is supposedly not yet understood and whose “day will come.” One cannot, of course, suspect a humane poet of sympathizing with the atrocities of Ivan IV, but they do not at all interfere with his glorification; Maikov is even ready to consider them only “a thorn of underground boyar slander and foreign malice.” In the finale of Sovanarola, claiming that the Florentine prophet always had Christ on his lips, Maikov, not without reason, asks: "Christ! Didn’t I understand You?” 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 a representative of the Christian kingdom, who does not understand Christ, is alien and hostile to His spirit, is in any case an anomalous phenomenon that does not deserve apotheosis. Hence, in “Two Worlds” there is a weaker image of the Christian world than the pagan world. Even such an extraordinary personality as the Apostle Paul is not presented clearly and accurately enough. Paul’s sermon, conveyed at the end of the tragedy, consists entirely of apocalyptic images and “apologists,” which little corresponds to the actual method and style of the biblical Paul. In addition to “Two Worlds”, among Maikov’s major works, “The Wanderer” (excellently reproducing the concepts and language of some Russian sectarian movements), “Princess”, “Bringilda”, as well as a poetic arrangement of “ Words about Igor's Campaign"(which remains one of his best literary translations to this day).
Maikov Apollon Nikolaevich (1821 1897), poet.
Born on May 23 (June 4 n.s.) in Moscow into an old noble family with rich cultural traditions. His father was a famous artist, academician of painting. His childhood years were spent in a Moscow house and estate near Moscow, which were often visited by artists and writers.
The artistic atmosphere of the house contributed to the formation of the spiritual interests of the future poet, who began to draw and write poetry early.
Since 1834, the family moved to St. Petersburg, and Maykov’s further fate is connected with the capital.
In 1837 1841 he studied at the Faculty of Law of St. Petersburg University, without leaving literary studies. After graduating from university, he served in the State Treasury Department, but soon, having received an allowance from Nicholas I to travel abroad, he went to Italy, where he studied painting and poetry, then to Paris, where he attended lectures on art and literature. He visited both Dresden and Prague.
His first collection of poetry was published in 1842 and was highly praised by V. Belinsky, who noted his “genuine and remarkable talent.” The collection was a great success.
Impressions from a trip to Italy are expressed in Maykov’s second collection of poetry, “Essays on Rome” (1847).
During these years, he became close to Belinsky and his entourage, Turgenev and Nekrasov, attended M. Petrashevsky’s “Fridays,” and maintained close acquaintance with F. Dostoevsky and A. Pleshcheev. Although Maikov did not fully share their ideas, they had a certain influence on his work. His works such as the poems “Two Fates” (1845), “Mashenka” and “The Young Lady” (1846) contain civic motives.
Since 1852, Maikov took the place of censor in the Committee of Foreign Censorship and since then, for more than forty years, he served in this department. At the same time, he became close to the Slavophiles, imbued with their ideas and gradually moved away from the liberals and radicals, becoming a zealous defender of the “firm” monarchical power and the Orthodox religion. He more consistently switched to conservative positions, as evidenced by the poem “Clermont Cathedral” published in 1853 and the cycles “Neapolitan Album” and “Modern Greek Songs” published in 1858 (after a trip to Greece). The peasant reform of 1861 was greeted with enthusiastic poems “Fields” and “Niva”. Having finally contrasted his understanding of art with the ideas of revolutionary democrats, he became a supporter of “art for art’s sake,” which provoked sharp criticism from Saltykov-Shchedrin and Dobrolyubov’s satirical parodies.
Fascinated by the era of Ancient Rus' and Slavic folklore, Maikov created one of the best translations of “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.”
Based on the history of Ancient Rome, he wrote the philosophical and lyrical drama “Two Worlds,” which was awarded the Pushkin Prize by the Academy of Sciences in 1882. If earlier the poet was attracted to antiquity, now his interest has shifted to Christianity as a new moral teaching opposed to the aestheticism of paganism.
Among the best creations of Maykov are his landscape lyrics: “Haymaking”, “In the Rain”, “Swallows”, etc., distinguished by their sincerity and melodiousness. Many of his poems inspired composers to write romances. In 1893, his three-volume collected works were published, the sixth in a row, completing his sixty-year literary career.
Apollo Nikolaevich Maikov was born in Moscow on June 4 (May 23, old style) 1821. Apollon Maykov's father, Nikolai Apollonovich Maykov, was a talented artist who achieved the title of academician of painting, and his mother, Evgenia Petrovna, wrote books. The artistic atmosphere of his parents' home contributed to the formation of the spiritual interests of the boy, who began to draw and write poetry early. His literature teacher was the writer I.A. Goncharov. As a twelve-year-old teenager, Maikov was taken to St. Petersburg, where the whole family soon moved.
Almost all family members tried their hand at literature. An idea arose to publish a handwritten magazine, which was called simply and beautifully “Snowdrop”.
Issues of "Snowdrop" were stitched together over the course of a year and decorated with a massive red cover with gold embossing.
In 1837, A. Maikov entered the Faculty of Law of St. Petersburg University. His studies in Roman law aroused in him a deep interest in the ancient world, which later manifested itself in his work. Maikov knew several languages perfectly, including Latin and Ancient Greek.
A.N. Maikov’s debut as a poet took place in 1841. He became a famous poet of his time. Maikov is a word painter, creator of beautiful poems about his native nature. He is the translator of the immortal monument of antiquity "The Tale of Igor's Campaign."
The poet's poems were included in all school anthologies in Russia.
In his declining years, Apollon Nikolaevich purchased in the vicinity of St. Petersburg at the Siverskaya Varshavskaya station railway a modest dacha. Here, as his contemporaries noted, “he found his honor and his place,” engaging in charitable activities. Thanks to his efforts and efforts, a church, a school and a library-reading room, named after the poet, were built in Siverskaya.