Pedigree of the poet feta. Life and work of Fet. Interesting facts from the life of Fet. Afanasy Fet - books worth reading

Biography of Fet, Afanasy Afanasyevich (1820 - 1892) - a famous Russian poet with German roots, translator, lyricist, author of memoirs, corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of St. Petersburg.

Brief biography - Fet A.A. for children

Option 1

Afanasy Afanasyevich Fet is a Russian poet of German origin, memoirist, translator, and since 1886 a corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. Fet was born on December 5, 1820 in the Novoselki estate (Oryol province). The writer's father was a wealthy German-born landowner named Fet. Mother Athanasius remarried Afanasy Shenshin, who became the official father for the writer and gave him his last name.

When the boy was 14 years old, the legal illegality of this record was discovered, and Afanasy was forced to take the surname Fet again, which was akin to shame for him. Subsequently, he tried all his life to regain the name Shenshin. Fet received his education in a German private boarding school. Around 1835 he began to write poetry and take an interest in literature. After leaving school, he entered Moscow University, where he studied for 6 years at the verbal department of the Faculty of Philosophy.

In 1840, a collection of poems by the poet "Lyrical Pantheon" appeared. At the beginning of his literary career, he was supported by his friend and colleague Apollon Grigoriev. In 1845, Fet entered the service and a year later received his first officer rank. A few years later, the second collection of the writer appeared, which received a positive assessment from critics. At the same time, the beloved of the poet Marich Lazic died, to whom many poems from the collection were dedicated. Among them, "Talisman" and "Old Letters".

Fet often visited St. Petersburg, where he communicated with Goncharov and other writers. There he collaborated with the editors of the Sovremennik magazine. The third collection of poems appeared in 1856, edited by Turgenev. Soon the poet married Maria Botkina. After retiring, the writer settled in Moscow.

In 1863, a two-volume collection of his poems appeared. In 1867 he was awarded the title of justice of the peace, and in 1873 he was finally able to return his former name and title of nobility. The writer died of a heart attack on November 21, 1892 in Moscow. He was buried in Kleymenovo, now the Oryol region, the ancestral village of the Shenshins.

Option 2

Fet (Shenshin) Afanasy Afanasyevich, (1820–1892) Russian poet, prose writer, translator

Born in the village of Novoselki (Oryol province) in the family of a landowner A.N. Shenshin from Karolina Fet, who came from Germany. The whole life of the poet was spent in efforts to obtain the nobility. Fourteen years after his birth, some error in the metric was discovered, and in an instant he became a foreigner from a nobleman.

Russian citizenship was returned to him only in 1846.

In 1838-1844 he studied at Moscow University. During his studies, his first collection, Lyrical Pantheon (1840), was published, and starting from 1842, his poems began to be regularly published on the pages of magazines.

In 1845, Fet became a non-commissioned officer of the provincial regiment, since the officer rank gave the right to receive hereditary nobility. In 1853 he moved to the privileged Guards Life Hussar Regiment.

In 1858 he retired and energetically engaged in literary work. The nobility was not received. Then the poet acquired a landowner's plot, becoming a landowner-raznochinets.

Only in 1873 Fet, by permission of the king, became a nobleman Shenshin. By this time he was already widely known as the poet Fet.

Option 3

Fet Afanasy Afanasyevich (1820-1892). Fet holds one of the most honorable places among the writers who sang Russian nature. His poems convey subtle images, melodious lyrics of fatherly expanses and poignant romance of feelings.

Fet was born in the family of a poor landowner with German roots, in the Novoselki estate. By the age of fifteen he was sent to a private boarding house and three years later he entered Moscow University. While studying at the verbal faculty, he began to try himself in the literary field. In 1840, his collection Lyrical Pantheon was published, which delighted readers with sincerity and purity.

The poet's second book came out only ten years later, and was overshadowed by the death of his beloved, Maria Lazich. At this time, Afanasy Afanasievich was in military service. He needed to regain the nobility, which he was deprived of due to the peculiarities of Russian jurisprudence. Being transferred to the Life Guards, the poet has the opportunity to communicate with Turgenev, Goncharov.

Ivan Turgenev edits Fet's third poetry collection, published in 1856. It included about a hundred works; both old and new. This edition was highly acclaimed by both readers and critics.

In 1856, Afanasy Fet married and retired the following year. He acquires a vast estate, where he becomes a successful landowner. His poems, previously published in separate books and published in leading domestic journals, are published in a two-volume edition of 1863.

After the resignation, Fet successfully leads the landowner's economy, zealously protecting the old way of life. His noble family name - Shenshin and privileges are returned to him. Issues of his collection "Evening Lights" and a book of memoirs are published. But health wears out a deadly disease.

During one of the attacks, the poet decides to commit suicide, but falls dead, barely opening a cabinet with table knives.

Biography of Fet A. A. by years

Option 1

Are you interested in knowing the most important and significant moments in the life of a writer? Then you did the right thing by opening the page where the chronological table of Fet is presented. It will help not only students, but also teachers. The table briefly describes the life and work of Fet; the presented data can be given to your students during the lesson, or you can remember forgotten dates and events yourself.

The writer of the golden age left behind many lyrical works, each of which conveys his inner mood. The biography of Afanasy Fet by date will help you independently understand the stages of development of his creative path and the main moments in the life of the great poet.

1820, December 5 (18)- Born in the Novoselki estate of the Mtsensk district of the Oryol province, which belonged to a retired officer Afanasy Neofitovich Shenshin.

1835-1837 - Education in the German private boarding school Krümmer in Verro (now Võru, Estonia). At this time, he began to write poetry, to show interest in classical philology.

1838 - 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.

1840 - Fet's collection of poems "Lyrical Pantheon" was published with the participation of Apollon Grigoriev, Fet's friend at the university.

1845 - entered military service in the cuirassier regiment of the Military Order, became a cavalryman.

1846 - He was awarded the first officer rank.

1850 - Fet's second collection was released, which received positive reviews from critics in the magazines Sovremennik, Moskvityanin and Domestic Notes.

1853 - Fet was transferred to the guards regiment stationed near St. Petersburg;
in St. Petersburg he met with Turgenev, Nekrasov, Goncharov and others, as well as his rapprochement with the editors of the Sovremennik magazine.

1854 - served in the Baltic Port, which he described in his memoirs "My memories".

1856 - the third collection of Fet was published, edited by I. S. Turgenev.

1857 - Fet married Maria Petrovna Botkina

1858 - retired with the rank of guards headquarters captain and settled in Moscow.

1859 - there was a break between the poet and the journalist Dolgoruky A.V. from Contemporary.

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

1867 - Athanasius Fet was elected a justice of the peace for 11 years.

1873 - Afanasy Fet returned the nobility and the surname Shenshin. The poet continued to sign literary works and translations with the surname Fet.

1883-1891 - publication of four issues of the collection "Evening Lights".

1892 November 21 (December 4)- died 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 Shenshin family estate.

Option 2

Afanasy Afanasyevich Fet (Shenshin) is a Russian lyricist who became famous as a "poet of feelings" and a "beauty fanatic". Being an adherent "pure art" , he developed in his work the "eternal" themes of love, beauty, nature, "poetry of the soul", art.

Life of A.A. Feta in dates and facts

Presumably between 29 October And 29 November 1820G.- was born on the estate of the landowner Athanasius Shenshin, in the village of Novoselki, Mtsensk district, Oryol province; at birth was recorded under the name of the father.

1834 G.- was sent to study in the town of Verro, located in Livonia (now Estonia). While there, the future poet received news from his father that his surname had been changed to the surname “Fet” due to the “sad circumstances” of his birth that had been revealed. This event brought him a lot of suffering and doomed him to years of struggle to regain his lost position in society.

1837 G.- was transported to Moscow and given to the boarding house M.P. Pogodin - a well-known writer, historian and journalist. Then Fet became interested in writing poetry.

1838 G.- entered Moscow University, where he first studied at the Faculty of Law, and then moved to the verbal department of the Faculty of Philosophy. In his student years, Fet received recognition from the most authoritative connoisseurs of fine literature, in particular, who noted his talent, and V.G. Belinsky, who approved his first collection of poetry "Lyric Pantheon", published in 1840 signed “A. F."

1845 G.- after graduating from the university, the poet entered military service in the Cuirassier regiment stationed in the Kherson province, thereby hoping to regain, in accordance with the laws of that time, the noble rank. He successfully combined military duties with poetry, which was evidenced by the flowering of his literary fame in the 1850s.

IN 1848 G. Fet met M. Lazich, for whom he experienced a deep love feeling, but with whom, due to social and material reasons, he could not get married. Soon the girl died, and this loss left a deep wound in the soul of the poet. The image of Maria Lazich is present in many of Fet's poems.

IN 1856 G.- made a trip to Europe, during which he visited Germany, France and Italy.

1857 G. - married M. Botkina.

1858 G. - retired and settled in Moscow.

IN 1860 G. in his native Mtsensk district of the Oryol province, the poet bought the Stepanovka farm and, having built a house there, lived the life of a village landowner. Immersed in the chores of the estate, he abandoned literary work for some time, but eventually returned to it again. During the years of voluntary "flight to Stepanovka" Fet actively translated the poetry of antiquity (Anacreon), the East (Saadi, Hafiz), German and French authors (Goethe, Heine, Musset, Beranger). He also wrote the first Russian translation of the famous treatise by the German philosopher A. Schopenhauer "The World as Will and Representation".

IN 1863 G.- Fet's collected works were published.

Beginning with 1883 G., successively published collections of his poems under the general title "Evening Lights" thanks to which he again ascended to the pinnacle of glory.

Option 3

1820 year, November 23 - was born in the village of Novoselki, Mtsensk district, Oryol province
1835-1837 - studying at the German private boarding school Krümmer in Verro (now Võru, Estonia), Fet begins to write poetry, shows interest in classical philology
1838-1844 - study at Moscow University
1840 - publication of a collection of poems by A. A. Fet "Lyric Pantheon" with the participation of A. Grigoriev, a friend of Fet at the university
1842 - publications in the magazines "Moskvityanin" and "Domestic Notes"
1845 - entry into military service in the cuirassier regiment of the Military Order, becomes a cavalryman
1846 - assignment of the first officer rank
1850 - the second collection of A. A. Fet, positive reviews from critics in the magazines Sovremennik, Moskvityanin and Domestic Notes. The death of Maria Kozminichna Lazich, the poet's beloved, whose memories are devoted to many of his subsequent poems.
1853 - Fet is transferred to the guards regiment stationed near St. Petersburg. The poet often visits St. Petersburg, then the capital. Fet's meetings with Turgenev, Nekrasov, Goncharov and others. Rapprochement with the editors of the Sovremennik magazine
1854 - service in the Baltic Port, described in his memoirs "My memories"
1856 - the third collection of A. A. Fet. Editor - Turgenev
1857 - Fet's marriage to M. P. Botkina
1858 - the poet retires with the rank of guards captain, settles in Moscow
1859 - break with the Sovremennik magazine
1863 - the release of a two-volume collection of poems by Fet
1867 - Fet elected magistrate for 11 years
1873 - returned the nobility and the surname Shenshin.
1883 -1891 - publication of four issues of the collection "Evening Lights"
1892 November 21 - Fet's death in Moscow. According to some reports, his death from a heart attack was preceded by a suicide attempt.

Full biography of Fet A. A.

Option 1

Afanasy Afanasyevich Fet (Shenshin) was born on December 5 (November 23 according to the old style) in 1820 in the Novoselki estate near the city of Mtsensk, Oryol province (now the Mtsensk district of the Oryol region).

According to other sources, Fet's date of birth is November 10 (October 29, old style) or December 11 (November 29, old style), 1820.

The future poet was born into the family of a landowner, retired captain Afanasy Shenshin, who in 1820 allegedly married abroad according to the Lutheran rite with Charlotte Fet, the daughter of Ober-Kriegs Commissar Karl Becker, who bore the surname Fet after her first husband. This marriage had no legal force in Russia. Until the age of 14, the boy bore the surname Shenshin, and then was forced to take the surname of his mother, as it turned out that the Orthodox wedding of his parents was performed after the birth of the child.

This deprived Fet of all noble privileges.

Until the age of 14, the boy lived and studied at home, and then was sent to a German boarding school in Verro, Livonia province (now the city of Vyru in Estonia).

In 1837, Afanasy Fet arrived in Moscow, spent half a year in the boarding house of Professor Mikhail Pogodin and entered Moscow University, where he studied in 1838-1844, first at the law department, then at the verbal department.

In 1840, the first collection of poems was published under the title “Lyrical Pantheon”, the author took refuge behind the initials A.F. From the end of 1841, Fet’s poems regularly appeared on the pages of the Moskvityanin magazine published by Pogodin. Since 1842, Fet has been published in the liberal Western journal Otechestvennye Zapiski.

In order to obtain the title of nobility, Fet decided to enter the military service. In 1845 he was accepted into a cuirassier regiment; in 1853 he moved to the Lancers Guards Regiment; in the Crimean campaign was part of the troops guarding the Estonian coast; in 1858 he retired as a staff captain, having not served the nobility.

During the years of military service, Afanasy Fet was in love with a relative of his provincial acquaintances, Maria Lazich, who influenced all his work. In 1850, Lazich died in a fire. Researchers single out a special cycle of Fet's poems related to Lazich.

In 1850, the second collection of Fet's poems, entitled Poems, was published in Moscow. In 1854, while in St. Petersburg, Afanasy Fet became close to the literary circle of the Sovremennik magazine - Nikolai Nekrasov, Ivan Turgenev, Alexander Druzhinin, Vasily Botkin, and others. His poems began to be published in the magazine. In 1856, a new collection of poems by A.A. Feta”, republished in 1863 in two volumes, with the second including translations.

In 1860, Fet bought the Stepanovka farm in the Mtsensk district of the Oryol province, took care of the household, and lived there all the time. In 1867-1877 he was a justice of the peace. In 1873, the surname Shenshin with all the rights associated with it was approved for Fet. In 1877, he sold Stepanovka, which he had arranged well, bought a house in Moscow and the picturesque Vorobyovka estate in the Shchigrovsky district of the Kursk province.

From 1862 to 1871, in the journals Russky Vestnik, Literary Library, and Zarya, Fet's essays were published under the editorial titles Notes on Volunteer Labor, From the Village, and On the Question of Hiring Workers.

In Stepanovka, Fet began work on the memoirs “My Memoirs”, covering the period from 1848 to 1889, they were published in 1890 in two volumes, and the volume “The Early Years of My Life” was published after his death - in 1893.

A lot at this time, Fet was engaged in translations, completed mainly in the 1880s. Fet is known as a translator of Horace, Ovid, Goethe, Heine and other ancient and modern poets.

In 1883-1891, four issues of Fet's collection of poems "Evening Lights" were published. The fifth he did not sing to release. The poems intended for him were partially and in a different order included in the two-volume Lyrical Poems published after his death (1894), prepared by his admirers - the critic Nikolai Strakhov and the poet K.R. (Grand Duke Konstantin Romanov).

Fet's last years were marked by signs of external recognition. In 1884, for the complete translation of the works of Horace, he received the Pushkin Prize of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, in 1886, for the totality of his works, he was elected its corresponding member.

In 1888, Fet received the court rank of chamberlain, personally introduced himself to Emperor Alexander III.

Afanasy Fet died on December 3 (November 21, old style) 1892 in Moscow. The poet was buried in the village of Kleymenovo, the Shenshin family estate.

Afanasy Fet was married to the sister of the literary critic Vasily Botkin - Maria Botkina.

Option 2

Afanasy Afanasyevich Fet is a recognized genius of literature, whose work is cited both in Russia and in foreign countries. His poems, such as "", "Whisper, timid breathing", "Evening", "", "This morning, this joy", "", "Do not wake her at dawn", "", "I have come", "The Nightingale and the Rose" and others are now mandatory for study in schools and higher educational institutions.

In the biography of Afanasy Fet, there are many mysteries and secrets that still excite the minds of scientists and historians. For example, the circumstances of the birth of a great genius who sang of the beauty of nature and human feelings are like a riddle of the Sphinx.

When Shenshin was born (the name of the poet, which he bore for the first 14 and the last 19 years of his life), is not known for certain. They call it November 10 or December 11, 1820, but Afanasy Afanasyevich himself celebrated his birthday on the 5th of the twelfth month.

His mother, Charlotte-Elisabeth Becker, was the daughter of a German burgher and for some time was the wife of a certain Johann Feth, an assessor at the local court in Darmstadt. Soon Charlotte met Afanasy Neofitovich Shenshin, an Oryol landowner and part-time retired captain.

The fact is that Shenshin, having arrived in Germany, could not book a place in a hotel, because they simply were not there. Therefore, the Russian settles in the house of Ober-Kriegskommissar Karl Becker, a widower who lived with a 22-year-old daughter who was pregnant with her second child, son-in-law and granddaughter.

What a young girl fell in love with 45-year-old Athanasius, who, moreover, according to the memoirs of his contemporaries, was unsightly himself - history is silent. But, according to rumors, before meeting the Russian landowner, the relationship between Charlotte and Fet gradually came to a standstill: despite the birth of their daughter Carolina, husband and wife often clashed, besides, Johann got into numerous debts, poisoning the existence of a young wife.

It is only known that from the “City of Sciences” (as Darmstadt is called), the girl, together with Shenshin, fled to a snowy country, the severe frosts of which the Germans even never dreamed of.

Karl Becker could not explain such an eccentric and unprecedented act of his daughter for those times. After all, she, being a married woman, left her husband and beloved child to the mercy of fate and went in search of adventure in an unfamiliar country. Grandfather Athanasius used to say that “means of seduction” (most likely, Karl meant alcohol) deprived her of her mind. But in fact, Charlotte was later diagnosed with a mental disorder.

Already in Russia, two months after the move, a boy was born. The baby was baptized according to the Orthodox tradition and named Athanasius. Thus, the parents predetermined the future of the child, because Athanasius in Greek means "immortal". In fact, Fet became a famous writer, whose memory has not died for many years.

Converted to Orthodoxy, Charlotte, who became Elizaveta Petrovna, recalled that Shenshin treated his adopted son as a blood relative and endowed the boy with care and attention.

Later, the Shenshins had three more children, but two died at a young age, which is not surprising, because due to progressive diseases in those troubled times, infant mortality was considered far from uncommon. Afanasy Afanasyevich recalled in his autobiography "The Early Years of My Life" how his sister Anyuta, who was a year younger, went to bed. Near the girl's bed, relatives and friends were on duty day and night, and in the morning doctors visited her room. Fet remembered how he approached the girl and saw her ruddy face and blue eyes, fixedly looking at the ceiling. When Anyuta died, Afanasy Shenshin, initially suspecting such a tragic outcome, fainted.

In 1824, Johann proposed marriage to the governess who was raising his daughter Caroline. The woman agreed, and Fet, either out of resentment for life, or then, in order to annoy the ex-wife, struck Afanasy out of the will. “I am very surprised that Fet forgot in his will and did not recognize his son. A person can make mistakes, but to deny the laws of nature is a very big mistake, ”Elizaveta Petrovna recalled in letters to her brother.

When the young man was 14 years old, the spiritual consistory canceled the baptismal record of Athanasius as the legitimate son of Shenshin, so the boy was given his last name - Fet, since he was born out of wedlock. Because of this, Athanasius lost all privileges, therefore, in the eyes of the public, he appeared not as a descendant of a noble family, but as a “Hessendarstadt subject”, a foreigner of dubious origin. Such changes were a blow to the heart for the future poet, who considered himself primordially Russian. For many years, the writer tried to return the name of the person who raised him as his own son, but the attempts were in vain. And only in 1873 Athanasius won and became Shenshin.

Athanasius spent his childhood in the village of Novoselki, in the Oryol province, in his father's estate, in a house with a mezzanine and two outbuildings. The boy's gaze opened up picturesque meadows covered with verdant grass, crowns of mighty trees lit by the sun, houses with smoking chimneys and a church with ringing bells. Also, young Fet got up at five in the morning and, wearing only pajamas, ran to the maids so that they would tell him a fairy tale. Although the spinning maids tried to ignore the annoying Athanasius, the boy eventually got his way.

All these childhood memories that inspired Fet were reflected in his subsequent work.

From 1835 to 1837, Athanasius attended the German private boarding school of Krümmer, where he showed himself to be a diligent student. The young man pored over literature textbooks and even then tried to come up with poetic lines.

Literature

At the end of 1837, the young man went to conquer the heart of Russia. Athanasius diligently studied for six months under the supervision of the famous journalist, writer and publisher Mikhail Petrovich Pogodin. After preparation, Fet easily entered the Moscow University at the Faculty of Law. But soon the poet realized that the subject patronized by Saint Ivo of Brittany was not his path.

Therefore, the young man, without any hesitation, transferred to Russian literature. As a first-year student, Afanasy Fet seriously took up poetry and showed his test of the pen to Pogodin. Having familiarized himself with the works of the student, Mikhail Petrovich gave the manuscripts Gogol, who stated: "Fet is an undoubted talent." Encouraged by the praise of the author of the book "Viy", Afanasy Afanasyevich publishes his debut collection "Lyrical Pantheon" (1840) and begins to be published in the literary journals "Domestic Notes", "Moskvityanin", etc. "Lyrical Pantheon" did not bring recognition to the author. Unfortunately, Fet's talent was not appreciated by his contemporaries.

But at one point, Afanasy Afanasyevich had to leave literary work and forget about the pen and inkwell. A black streak has come in the life of a gifted poet. At the end of 1844, his beloved mother died, as well as an uncle, with whom Fet had warm friendly relations. Afanasy Afanasyevich counted on the inheritance of a relative, but his uncle's money unexpectedly disappeared. Therefore, the young poet was literally left without a livelihood and, hoping to acquire a fortune, entered the military service and became a cavalryman. He rose to the rank of officer.

In 1850, the writer returned to poetry and released a second collection, which received rave reviews from Russian critics. After a fairly long period of time, under the editorship of Turgenev, the third collection of the gifted poet was published, and in 1863 a two-volume collected works of Fet was published.

If we consider the work of the author of "May Night" and "Spring Rain", then he was a refined lyricist and, as if, identified nature and human feelings. In addition to lyrical poems, his track record includes elegies, thoughts, ballads, messages. Also, many literary scholars agree that Afanasy Afanasyevich invented his own, original and multifaceted genre of "melodies", in his works there are often responses to musical works.

Among other things, Afanasy Afanasyevich is familiar to modern readers as a translator. He translated into Russian a number of poems by Latin poets, and also introduced readers to the mystical.

Personal life

Afanasy Afanasyevich Fet during his lifetime was a paradoxical figure: before his contemporaries he appeared as a thoughtful and gloomy person, whose biography is surrounded by mystical halos. Therefore, a dissonance arose in the minds of poetry lovers, some could not understand how this person, burdened with worldly worries, could so exaltedly sing of nature, love, feelings and human relationships.

In the summer of 1848, Afanasy Fet, who served in the cuirassier regiment, was invited to a ball in the hospitable house of the former officer of the Order Regiment M.I. Petkovich.

Among the young ladies fluttering around the hall, Afanasy Afanasyevich saw a black-haired beauty, the daughter of a retired cavalry general of Serbian origin, Maria Lazich. From that very meeting, Fet began to perceive this girl as Caesar Cleopatra or as Lilya Brik. It is noteworthy that Maria knew Fet for a long time, however, she met him through his poems, which she read in her youth. Lazic was educated beyond her years, knew how to play music and was well versed in literature. It is not surprising that Fet recognized a kindred spirit in this girl. They exchanged numerous fiery letters and often flipped through albums. Maria became the lyrical heroine of many Fetov's poems.

But the acquaintance of Fet and Lazich was not happy. The lovers could become spouses and raise children in the future, but the prudent and practical Fet refused the union with Mary, because she was as poor as he was. In his last letter, Lazich Afanasy Afanasyevich initiated the breakup.

Soon Maria died: due to a carelessly thrown match, her dress caught fire. The girl could not be saved from numerous burns. It is possible that this death was a suicide. The tragic event struck Fet to the core, and Afanasy Afanasyevich found consolation from the sudden loss of a loved one in his work. His subsequent poems were received with a bang by the reading public, so Fet managed to acquire a fortune, the poet's fees allowed him to travel around Europe.

While abroad, the master of trochaic and iambic met with a wealthy woman from a famous Russian dynasty - Maria Botkina. The second wife of Fet was not good-looking, but she was distinguished by good nature and easy disposition. Although Afanasy Afanasyevich proposed not out of love, but out of convenience, the couple lived happily. After a modest wedding, the couple left for Moscow, Fet resigned and devoted his life to creativity.

Death

On November 21, 1892, Afanasy Afanasyevich Fet died of a heart attack. Many biographers suggest that before his death, the poet attempted suicide. But at the moment there is no reliable evidence for this version. The grave of the creator is located in the village of Kleymenovo.

Option 3

ABOUTonce to the question of the questionnaire of the daughter of Leo Tolstoy Tatyana “How long would you like to live?” Fet replied: "The least long." And yet the writer had a long and very eventful life - he not only wrote many lyrical works, critical articles and memoirs, but also devoted whole years to agriculture, and apple marshmallow from his estate was even supplied to the imperial table.

Non-hereditary nobleman: childhood and youth of Athanasius Fet

Afanasy Fet was born in 1820 in the village of Novoselki near the city of Mtsensk, Oryol province. Until the age of 14, he bore the surname of his father, the wealthy landowner Afanasy Shenshin. As it turned out later, Shenshin's marriage to Charlotte Fet was illegal in Russia, since they got married only after the birth of their son, which the Orthodox Church categorically did not accept. Because of this, the young man was deprived of the privileges of a hereditary nobleman. He began to bear the name of his mother's first husband, Johann Fet.

Athanasius was educated at home. Basically, he was taught literacy and the alphabet not by professional teachers, but by valets, cooks, courtyards, and seminarians. But Fet absorbed most of his knowledge from the surrounding nature, the peasant way of life and rural life. He liked to communicate for a long time with the maids, who shared news, told tales and legends.

At the age of 14, the boy was sent to the German boarding school Krummer in the Estonian city of Vyru. It was there that he fell in love with the poetry of Alexander Pushkin. In 1837, young Fet arrived in Moscow, where he continued his studies at the boarding school of professor of world history Mikhail Pogodin.

In quiet moments of complete carelessness, I seemed to feel the underwater rotation of flower spirals, trying to bring the flower to the surface; but in the end it turned out that only spirals of stems were striving outward, on which there were no flowers. I drew some verses on my slate board and erased them again, finding them meaningless.

From the memoirs of Afanasy Fet

In 1838, Fet entered the Faculty of Law of Moscow University, but soon switched to the Faculty of History and Philology. From the first year he wrote poems that interested classmates. The young man decided to show them to Professor Pogodin, and he - to the writer Nikolai Gogol. Soon Pogodin gave a review of the famous classic: "Gogol said this is an undoubted talent". The works of Fet and his friends were approved - the translator Irinarkh Vvedensky and the poet Apollon Grigoriev, to whom Fet moved from Pogodin's house. He recalled that "the house of the Grigorievs was the true cradle of my mental self." The two poets supported each other in their work and life.

In 1840, Fet's first collection of poems, Lyrical Pantheon, was published. It was published under the initials "A. F." It included ballads and elegies, idylls and epitaphs. The collection was liked by critics: Vissarion Belinsky, Pyotr Kudryavtsev and the poet Yevgeny Baratynsky. A year later, Fet's poems were already regularly published by Pogodin's magazine "Moskvityanin", and later by the magazine "Domestic Notes". In the last year, 85 Fetov's poems were published.

The idea to return the title of nobility did not leave Afanasy Fet, and he decided to enter the military service: the officer rank gave the right to hereditary nobility. In 1845, he was accepted as a non-commissioned officer in the Order's cuirassier regiment in the Chersonese province. A year later, Fet was promoted to cornet.

In 1850, bypassing all the censorship committees, Fet released a second collection of poems, which was praised on the pages of major Russian magazines. By this time, he was transferred to the rank of lieutenant and quartered closer to the capital. In the Baltic port, Afanasy Fet participated in the Crimean campaign, whose troops guarded the Estonian coast.

In 1854, in St. Petersburg, the poet entered the literary circle of Sovremennik, where he met writers Nikolai Nekrasov, Ivan Goncharov and Ivan Turgenev, critics Alexander Druzhinin and Vasily Botkin. Soon Fet's poems began to be printed by Sovremennik.

... We consider Mr. Fet not only a true poetic talent, but a rare phenomenon in our time, because true poetic talent, to whatever extent it manifests itself, is always a rare phenomenon: for this you need many special, happy, natural conditions.

Vasily Botkin

Under the supervision of Turgenev, the second collection of Fetov's poems was carefully revised, and in 1856 they published “Poems by A.A. Feta. The poet, although he accepted the corrections of the famous writer, later admitted that "the edition from Turgenev's editorial board came out as cleared as it was mutilated."

Encouraged by success, Fet began to write whole poems, stories in verse, fiction, and nature, as well as travel essays and critical articles. In addition, he translated the works of Heinrich Heine, Johann Goethe, Andre Chenier, Adam Mickiewicz and other poets.

“We can safely say that a person who understands poetry and willingly opens his soul to its sensations will not draw as much poetic pleasure from any Russian author, after Pushkin, as Mr. Fet gives him.”

Nikolai Nekrasov

In 1857, Afanasy Fet married Vasily Botkin's younger sister, Maria, the heiress of a wealthy merchant family. The following year, with the rank of guards staff captain, he retired, without having achieved the nobility. The couple settled first in Moscow, and in 1860 in the Stepanovka estate, which they bought in the Mtsensk district of the Oryol province - in the writer's homeland.

As Ivan Turgenev said,

“he [Fet] has now become an agronomist-owner to the point of desperation, let his beard grow to his loins, does not want to hear about literature, and drove the Musa away from behind ...”.

Fet devoted himself to rural care and household chores: he grew crops, designed a stud farm, kept cows, sheep, poultry, bred bees, and fish. From Stepanovka, Fet made an exemplary estate: the yields from his fields raised the statistics of the province, and Fet's apple marshmallow was delivered directly to the imperial court.

However, in 1863 the poet published another book - a two-volume set of his poems. Some critics greeted the book with joy, noting the "wonderful lyrical talent" of the writer, while others attacked him with harsh articles and parodies. Fet was accused of being a “serf landowner” and hiding under the guise of a lyric poet.

Afanasy Fet regularly published in the journals Russky Vestnik, Literary Library and Zarya. His essays on the post-reform state of agriculture were published there. They were printed under the editorial titles Notes on Freelance Labor, From the Village, and On the Question of Hiring Workers. In 1867, Afanasy Fet was elected a justice of the peace. This largely influenced the fact that 10 years later, by imperial decree, the surname Shenshin was finally approved for him and the title of nobility was returned. But the writer continued to sign his works with the surname Fet.

Laureate of the full Pushkin Prize: mature years and the death of the poet

In 1877, Fet sold Stepanovka in order to buy a house in Moscow, and in the Kursk province the old estate Vorobyovka. Despite the fact that many new concerns fell on the landowner Shenshin, he did not abandon literature. After a 20-year break, in 1883 a new poetic book was published - "Evening Lights". By this time, Fet had come to terms with the fact that his works were "for the few". "People don't need my literature, and I don't need fools", he said. In turn, the readers responded to the poet in the same way.

“When I began to re-read these three little pieces [“ Departed ”,“ Death ”,“ Alterego»] - I was terribly struck by their connection, and that terrible despondency that is hidden under this energetic, bright speech. Poor Fet! .. Alone everywhere, and in his magnificent Vorobyovka!

From a letter from Nikolai Strakhov to Leo Tolstoy, 1879

In the last years of his life, Fet received public recognition. In 1884, for the translation of Horace's works, he became the first recipient of the full Pushkin Prize of the Imperial Academy of Sciences. Two years later, the poet was elected its corresponding member. In 1888, Athanasius Fet was personally introduced to Emperor Alexander III and awarded the court title of chamberlain.

While still in Stepanovka, Fet began to write the book “My Memoirs”, where he talked about his life as a landowner. The memoirs cover the period from 1848 to 1889. The book was published in two volumes in 1890.

On December 3, 1892, Fet asked his wife to call a doctor, and in the meantime he dictated to his secretary: “I don’t understand the conscious increase in inevitable suffering. Volunteering towards the inevitable" and signed "Fet (Shenshin)". The writer died of a heart attack, but it is known that at first he tried to commit suicide by rushing after a steel stiletto. Afanasy Fet was buried in the village of Kleymenovo, the Shenshin family estate.

I was offended to see how indifferently the sad news was received even by those whom it most of all should have touched. How selfish we are!<…>He was a strong man, fought all his life and achieved everything he wanted: he won a name, wealth, literary celebrity and a place in high society, even at court. He appreciated all this and enjoyed everything, but I am sure that his poems were dearest to him in the world and that he knew that their charm is incomparable, the very heights of poetry. The further, the more others will understand it.

From a letter from Nikolai Strakhov to Sofya Tolstoy, 1892

Already after the death of the writer, in 1893, the last volume of memoirs "The Early Years of My Life" was published. Fet also did not have time to release the volume that completes the cycle of poems “Evening Lights”. The works for this poetic book were included in the two-volume "Lyric Poems", which was published in 1894 by Nikolai Strakhov and Grand Duke Konstantin Romanov.

The talented poet Afanasy Fet was one of those whose poems can move even the most callous soul to tears. Soulful lyrics, deep and sensual, but at the same time without a gram of falsehood - that's what his poems are. In addition, Fet was noted in history as an excellent translator of foreign poetry.

Interesting facts from the life of Fet.

1. Athanasius was the son of a German whose wife, being pregnant, ran away with her lover, a Russian nobleman. The stepfather bribed the priest to hide the secret of his stepson's origin, but when he was 14 years old, the secret became public, and the future poet lost his noble title, surname and inheritance.
2. In documents and papers, due to his indefinite social status, the poet was usually called "foreigner Fet".
3. Athanasius received his last name, under which he became famous, when his mother managed to beg his biological father to recognize the child as his son. In general, his surname sounded like "Fet", but the poet himself preferred to speak and write "Fet".
4. Being in a cramped financial situation, Fet married for convenience in order to receive a dowry. The latter, however, was still not enough to solve all the problems of the poet.
5. Fet's poems were first published in 1840.
6. Many years later, the poet was returned the title of nobility and the name of his stepfather - Shenshin. But in history, Fet still remained under the name by which we know him.
7. One of the poet's phobias was a panicky fear of getting into a psychiatric hospital.
8. Fet wrote not only poetry, but also prose, and all his prose was written in the genre of realism.
9. Fet, who died of a heart attack, had tried to commit suicide a minute before.
10. Nekrasov wrote that among all Russian poets, only Fet can be put on a par with Pushkin.
11. It is Fet who authored the translation of the famous "Faust" by Goethe.
12. Afanasy Fet dedicated many of his poems to Maria Lazich, the tragically deceased girl with whom he was in love.
13. The poet devoted many years to military service, since literary activity did not bring him significant income.
14. During the first two decades of his work, Fet sold less than one thousand books.
15. The poet was close friends with Turgenev and Tolstoy.
16. Afanasy Fet left no descendants.

Afanasy Afanasyevich Fet(Fet) was born on December 5 (November 23, old style), 1820, in the Novoselka estate, Mtsensk district, Oryol province. Poet, thinker, publicist, translator.
Father - Johann-Peter-Karl-Wilhelm Vöth (1789-1825), assessor of the city court of Darmstadt.
Mother - Charlotte-Elizabeth Becker (1798-1844). In 1818, he married Johann-Peter-Karl-Wilhelm, and in 1820, at the seventh month of pregnancy, secretly left for Russia with Afanasy Neofitovich Shenshin, leaving his daughter Caroline-Charlotte-Georgina-Ernestina to raise her husband. Johann-Peter-Karl-Wilhelm did not recognize Afanasy Afanasyevich Fet as his son. Here is what Charlotte-Elizabeth Becker wrote to her brother: “It is very surprising to me that Fet forgot in his will and did not recognize his son.”
Stepfather - Afanasy Neofitovich Shenshin (1775-1855). A retired captain, he belonged to an old noble family and was a wealthy landowner. He married Charlotte Becker in 1822, who converted to Orthodoxy before the wedding and became known as Elizaveta Petrovna Fet.
A.A. Fet was born in 1820 and was baptized according to the Orthodox rite in the same year. In the register of births, he is recorded as the son of Afanasy Neofitovich Shenshin. Fourteen years later, the spiritual authorities of the Eagle discovered that the child was born before the wedding of the parents and Athanasius was deprived of the right to bear the father's surname, and deprived of the title of nobility. This event wounded the impressionable soul of the child, and he experienced the ambiguity of his position almost all his life. From now on, he had to bear the surname Fet, a rich heir suddenly turned into a "man without a name", the son of an unknown foreigner of dubious origin. Fet took it as a disgrace. To return the lost position became an obsession that determined his entire life path.
He studied at a German boarding school in the city of Verro (now Võru, Estonia), then at the boarding school of Professor Pogodin, historian, writer, journalist, where he entered Moscow University for training. 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.
A special position in the family influenced the further fate of Afanasy Fet, he had to earn for himself the rights of the nobility, which the church deprived him of and in 1845 Fet entered military service in one of the southern regiments.
In 1850, in the journal Sovremennik, owned by Nekrasov, Fet's poems are published, which are admired by critics of all directions. He was received among the most famous writers (Nekrasov and Turgenev, Botkin and Druzhinin, etc.), thanks to literary earnings, he improved his financial situation, which gave him the opportunity to travel around Europe.
In 1853, Fet was transferred to the guards regiment stationed near St. Petersburg. The poet often visits St. Petersburg, then the capital. Fet's meetings with Turgenev, Nekrasov, Goncharov and others. Rapprochement with the editors of the Sovremennik magazine.
Since 1854, the service in the Baltic Port, described in his memoirs "My memories".
In 1856 he published Fet's collection edited by I.S. Turgenev.
In 1857, in Paris, he married the daughter of the richest tea merchant and the sister of his admirer, the critic V. Botkin, M. Botkina.
In 1858, the poet retired with the rank of guards captain and settled in Moscow. Service in the army did not return Fet a title of nobility. At that time, the nobility gave only the rank of colonel.
1859 - break with the magazine Sovremennik.
1863 - the release of a two-volume collection of poems by Fet.
In 1867 he was elected justice of the peace in Vorobyovka for 11 years.
In 1873, the nobility and the surname Shenshin were returned to Fet, but the poet continued to sign literary works and translations with the surname Fet. He considered the day when the surname "Shenshin" was returned to him, "one of the happiest days of his life."
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.
In the late 1870s, Fet began to write poetry with renewed vigor. The sixty-three-year-old poet gave the name "Evening Lights" to the collection of poems. (More than three hundred poems are included in five editions, four of which were published in 1883, 1885, 1888, 1891. The poet prepared the fifth edition, but did not manage to publish it.)
November 21, 1892 - Fet's death 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 Shenshin family estate.

Afanasy Afanasyevich Fet (years of life 1820 - 1892) - this name is known to any schoolchild. Consider the most important thing in Fet's biography: his family, creativity, Fet's biography. The biography is short, for elementary school students. The life of the poet was very eventful events, and Fet's biography is briefly presented in a concise form with difficulty, since I want to tell a lot of interesting facts about Fet.

In contact with

The famous poem is taught at school by everyone without exception and is remembered all their lives:

• Again the birds fly from afar
• To the shores that break the ice
• The warm sun is high
• And the fragrant lily of the valley is waiting.
• Again in the heart nothing will die
• Till the ascending blood cries,
• And with a bribed soul you believe
• That, like the world, love is endless.
• But will we get so close again
• In the midst of nature, we are pampered,
• As seen walking low
• us the cold sun of winter?

Family

Athanasius was born in 1820 in the Oryol region (formerly the Oryol province) in the famous Mtsensk district. His mother Charlotte-Elisabeth Becker was a German citizen. Sh.-E. Becker was married to a German poor servant of the city court with the unmemorable long German name Johann-Peter-Karl-Wilhelm Föth. Has Fet through "e". Johann Vöth divorced Becker, then remarried and died in 1826. After his death, he left no legacy to his ex-wife and son.

On the eve of the divorce in 1820, a Russian landowner of noble origin, Afanasy Neofitovich Shenshin, arrived in Darmstadt. Elizabeth Becker meets him. They fall in love with each other. Elizabeth by that time was pregnant with her second child. Shenshin secretly takes his future wife to Russia. They got married only in 1822, when the boy was already 2 years old. The boy was baptized and named in the world Afanasy Afanasyevich Shenshin. At birth, the boy was recorded as the consanguineous son of the parent A. N. Shenshin.

Previously, a child could be legitimate, born in wedlock. Since the marriage took place two years after the birth of the future poet, it was difficult to recognize him as a natural son. It is believed that this was done for a bribe.

When the boy was 14 years old, fate played a cruel joke with him. The secret of his birth surfaced in the church office, it turned out that a mistake had been made, that he was not the son of the nobleman Shenshin, and therefore could not have a noble title. Afanasy Neofitovich was recognized as Fet's stepfather. An official church message was issued about this.

Married Shenshina and Becker had several children together. K.P. Matveeva is the elder sister of Fet. Born in 1819. All other brothers and sisters were born in the Shenshin family:

• L.A. Shenshin in 1824;
• V.A. Shenshin in 1827;
• ON THE. Borisov in 1832;
• P.A. Shenshin in 1834

There were children who died at an early age Anna, Vasily and possibly another Anna. Infant mortality was very high even in wealthy families.

It is interesting to know: the poet, the life and work of the writer.

Education

Fet initially studied at the Krummer boarding school in Estonia, where he received an excellent upbringing. Further, in 1838, he entered Moscow State University and studied at the philosophical and philological department of literature. Here he is passionate about literature and languages. He graduated from the university in 1844. The first publications of poems were made in the senior courses of the university.

Creation

Fet began writing his first poems at a young age. Afanasy Afanasyevich was a lyricist from God. He sensually composed nature, love and art into poetic forms. With all this, the poet's lyrical nature did not interfere, but rather, on the contrary, helped him to be an enterprising good landowner with a "commercial streak".

The first official publications of poems were made in the Lyric Pantheon magazine in 1840. The first collection of poems was published in 1850, and then published regularly. He became any modern poet and was published in various publications.

Feta has always been oppressed by circumstance, according to which he was deprived of the title of nobility. He was very eager to regain this title and in 1853 he entered the service in the guards regiment. Unfortunately, the service did not bear fruit. In 1858, he retired, and remained untitled.

A year earlier, he marries Maria Botkina . on accumulated capital they buy arable land. Fet becomes a passionate farmer: he grows crops, raises livestock, takes care of bees, and even digs a pond where he breeds fish. The estate was called Stepanovka. A few years later, the estate begins to bring a good income - up to 5-6 thousand a year. This is huge money. In 1877, he sold the estate and bought another - Vorobyovka in the Kursk province. It was an old estate with a beautiful manor house on the banks of the river and a huge century-old garden.

From 1862 to 1871, along with poetry, Fet was carried away by prose. These are two absolutely opposite literary currents of his work. If Fet's poetry is very lyrical, then prose is called realistic. These are stories, essays about rural hard work. Among the well-known - "Notes on civilian labor", "From the village" and others.

Fet had a lot of fans. One of them is Maria Lazich. They had tender feelings for each other, but could not cross their destinies. She died. Many of the best love poems are dedicated to Mary: “Talisman”, “You have suffered, I am still suffering ...” and others.

Afanasy Afanasyevich, knew several languages ​​and translated many works of famous writers:

• "Faust" by Goethe;
• Translations of ancient writers - Horace, Virgil, Ovid and many others.

Fet wanted to translate E. Kant's Critique of Pure Reason, but he took up the translation of Schopenhauer, and he also dreamed of translating the Bible.

Athanasius Fet- an outstanding Russian poet, translator and memoirist, corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. His poems are known and read not only in Russia, but also far beyond its borders.

Afanasy Fet in his youth

Soon he successfully passed the exams at Moscow University at the Faculty of Law, but then transferred to the verbal department of the Faculty of Philosophy.

At the university, the student became friends with the famous writer and journalist Mikhail Pogodin.

While studying at the university, Afanasy Fet did not stop composing new poems. Once he wanted to know Pogodin's opinion regarding his work.

He spoke positively about his poems and even decided to show them (see).

Imagine Fet's surprise when he learned that his work made a great impression on the famous writer. Gogol called the young poet "an undoubted talent."

Fet's works

Inspired by praise, in 1840 Afanasy Fet published the poetry collection "Lyrical Pantheon", which turned out to be the first in his creative biography. Since that time, his poems began to appear in various Moscow publications.

A few years later, serious changes took place in Fet's life. In 1844, his mother and beloved uncle passed away.

It is worth noting that after the death of his uncle, he expected to receive an inheritance from him. However, for some unknown reason, the money disappeared.

As a result, Afanasy Afanasyevich was left practically without a livelihood. In order to make a fortune for himself, he decided to become a cavalryman and rise to the rank of officer.

In 1850, the second collection of Afanasy Fet was published, which aroused great interest among critics and ordinary readers. After 6 years, a third collection appeared under the editorship (see).

In 1863, Fet published a two-volume collection of his own poems. There were many lyrical works in it, in which he perfectly described human qualities. In addition to poetry, he was also fond of writing elegies and ballads.

It is worth noting that Afanasy Fet gained great popularity as a translator. For his biography, he managed to translate both parts of Faust and many works of Latin poets, including Horace, Juvenal, Ovid and Virgil.

An interesting fact is that at one time Fet wanted to translate the Bible into, since he considered the synodal translation unsatisfactory. He also planned to translate The Critique of Pure Reason. However, these plans never materialized.

Fet's poems

Among the hundreds of poems in Fet's biography, the most popular are:

• If the morning pleases you...
• Steppe in the evening
• Just meet your smile...
• I stood still for a long time...
• I came to you with greetings ...

Personal life

By nature, Afanasy Fet was a rather extraordinary person. Many saw in him a serious and thoughtful person.

As a result, his fans could not understand how such a closed personality managed to vividly, vividly and easily describe nature and human feelings.

One day in the summer of 1848, Fet was invited to a ball. Getting acquainted with the invited guests and watching the dances, he noticed a black-haired girl Maria Lazich, who was the daughter of a retired general.

Interestingly, Maria was already familiar with the work of Afanasy Fet, because she loved poetry.

Soon a correspondence began between the young people. Later, the girl inspired Fet to write many poems and played an important role in his biography.

However, Afanasy Fet did not want to propose to Mary, because she was as poor as he was. As a result, their correspondence ceased, and at the same time, any communication.

Soon Maria Lazich tragically died. From an accidentally thrown match, her outfit caught fire, as a result of which she received many burns incompatible with life.

Some biographers of Fet claim that the death of the young beauty was a suicide.

When the writer gained some popularity and was able to improve his financial situation, he went on a trip to the cities of Europe.

Abroad, Fet met a wealthy woman, Maria Botkina, who later became his wife. And although this marriage was not for love, but for convenience, the couple lived a happy life together.

Death

Afanasy Afanasyevich Fet died on November 21, 1892 from a heart attack at the age of 71.

Some researchers of Fet's biography believe that his death was preceded by a suicide attempt, but this version does not have reliable facts.

The poet was buried in the village of Kleymenovo, the Shenshin family estate in the Oryol region of Russia.

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Afanasy Afanasyevich Fet was born in 1820 in the Oryol province. He was the son of the landowner Shenshin and a German woman, whose last name was written in German Foeth. Their marriage, which took place abroad, was invalid in Russia. Thus, Fet was officially illegitimate and remained a foreign citizen until his majority. This discovery, which he made when he left home to study, was a cruel test for him, and he spent his whole life trying to obtain the rights of a nobleman and the name of his father. In the end, he achieved this in 1876, when he received "by the highest command" the right to bear the name Shenshin. However, in literature, he retained his former name until his death.

Afanasy Afanasyevich Fet (1820 - 1892). Portrait by I. Repin, 1882

Fet studied at a private educational institution in Livonia, and then in Moscow, where for some time he was a boarder with Pogodin, who almost starved him to death. Enrolling at Moscow University, he turned out to be a classmate of Apollon Grigoriev, in whose house he lived, paying for his lodging. In 1840, at his own expense, he published a book of very immature poems, in which nothing foreshadowed the future great poet. But already in 1842 Fet published in Muscovite several poems that are still considered the best.

Afanasy Fet. Poetry and destiny

After graduating from the university, he entered the military service and served for fifteen years in various cavalry regiments, firmly determined to achieve the officer rank that gave the nobility. But, unfortunately for him, during his service in the army, the rank necessary for the nobility was twice raised, and only in 1856, having become the captain of the guard, he was finally able to retire as he wanted - a Russian nobleman. After a short trip abroad, he married (without any sentimentality, very profitable) and acquired a small estate, thinking of making a fortune.

In the meantime, poetry made him a name, and in the late fifties he was a prominent figure in the literary world. He became friends with Turgenev and Tolstoy, who valued his common sense and did not blame him for his extreme secrecy. It is from Fet that we know the details of the famous quarrel between two great novelists. Subsequently, it was Fet who reconciled them. But here the younger generation of anti-aesthetic radicals, irritated by the apparently civic direction of his poetry and his rabidly reactionary predilections, launched a systematic campaign against him. In the end they managed to silence him by whistling and hooting; having printed the third edition of his poems in 1863, Fet disappeared from literature for twenty years.

He lived on his estate, actively and successfully increasing his fortune and, as a justice of the peace, waging a stubborn struggle against the peasants for the interests of his own class. He gained fame as an extreme conservative and acquired a new, even better estate in the Kursk province. The main joys in his subsequent life were the return to him of his family name, the title of chamberlain, granted by Alexander III and the flattering attention of Grand Duke Constantine. In his relations with the royal family, Fet was a toady and a sycophant.

Although he stopped publishing poems after 1863, he never stopped writing them, and his poetic genius matured during a period of apparent silence. Finally, in 1883, he again appeared before the public and from that time began to publish small volumes under the general title Evening lights. He was never prolific as a poet and devoted his free time to broad undertakings of a more mechanical nature: writing three volumes of memoirs, translating his favorite Roman poets and his favorite philosopher Schopenhauer.

Under the strong influence of Schopenhauer, Fet became a staunch atheist and anti-Christian. And when, in the seventy-second year of his life, his asthma became unbearable, he naturally thought about suicide. Relatives did everything to prevent him from fulfilling his intention, and watched him very closely. But Fet showed extraordinary perseverance. Once, left alone for a moment, he took possession of a blunt knife, but before he could use it, he died of a broken heart (1892).