Innokenty Fedorovich ANNENSKY

Internet resources

Digital archive of Mikhail Alexandrovich Vygranenko

Oleg Kustov. “Every poet is a teacher and preacher”
Chapter from the book “Paladins” about the poets of the Silver Age.

Oleg Kustov. The Law of Identity or the Phenomenon of “a poet for poets”
Detachment and idolization of the impossible in the works of M. Heidegger and I. F. Annensky

Evgeny Golovin. Innokenty Annensky and the lilac haze
“Innokenty Annensky, one must assume, in addition to the courage necessary for a poet in a lean and cruel era, had a fair amount of common sense. This helped him resist the songs of the sirens and the flute of Pan, keep an eye on Scylla and Charybdis, and resist the seductions of the lilac darkness.”

L.M. Borisova. The tragedies of I. Annensky and the symbolist concept of drama
I. Annensky stands apart among the creators of symbolist drama, and in many respects is a real opponent of its main theorist V. Ivanov. At the same time, the poet only once, and quite late, when symbolism was already experiencing a crisis, spoke critically about theurgists in print in the article “On Modern Lyricism.”

Mikhail Epstein. Nature in the works of Annensky
From the book “Nature, the world, the hiding place of the universe...”

Natalya Nalegach. “Book Reader” by N. Gumilyov and “Ideal” by I. Annensky: on the problem of poetic dialogue”
The problem of the poetic dialogue between N. Gumilyov and I. Annensky has long been posed in literary criticism1 and is caused by the special position that the Acmeists took in relation to the previous poet as their teacher: “...seekers of new paths must write on their banner the name of Annensky, as our “Tomorrow” »

Oleg Leksanov. Annensky and Andersen about the Snow Queen, cold and warmth
In the scenery of Andersen's The Snow Queen, Annensky played out his own, deeply original drama. Innokenty Annensky has already provided an example of what an organic poet should be: the whole ship is knocked together from someone else’s boards, but he has his own to become.

O.Yu. Ivanova. Vyach. Ivanov and I. Annensky: two points of view on L. Bakst’s painting “Terror antiquus” (version)
In critical and memoir literature Vyach.I. Ivanov and I.F. Annensky traditionally act as antipodes, who nevertheless found “topics for productive dialogue.” And each of them, in their own way, recognized that they had a lot in common. The main feature that unites these “classical philologists” is the insightful ability to see and hear what is invisible and inaudible to others, a reverent attitude towards Thought, Word and Text, one’s own and others’, and active spiritual work on them.

I. Podolskaya. "I felt…"
Introductory article to the memoirs of Korney Chukovsky about his meeting with Annensky.

G.P. Kozubovskaya. The lyrical world of I. Annensky - the poetics of reflections and connections

L.A. Kolobaeva. Annensky phenomenon
“In Annensky’s lyricism, three different streams merge together: philosophical reflection, tragic irony and “poetry of conscience.”

E.Yu. Gamebook. “This verse... Not guessed, only lived”
Many of Annensky’s lyrical works are persistent attempts to more accurately express this feeling of merging with the world, and the poet uses both comparisons (explicit or hidden) and a kind of “relocation” into everything “that is not me.”

The fate of the poet Inokenty Fedorovich Annensky (1855-1909) is unique in its kind. He published his first poetry collection (and only one during his lifetime) at the age of 49 under the pseudonym Nick. That.

The poet was initially going to title the book “From the Cave of Polyphemus” and choose the pseudonym Utis, which means “nobody” in Greek (this is how Odysseus introduced himself to the Cyclops Polyphemus). Later the collection was called "Quiet Songs". Alexander Blok, who did not know who the author of the book was, considered such anonymity questionable. He wrote that the poet seemed to be burying his face under a mask, which made him get lost among many books. Perhaps, in this modest confusion we should look for an overly “painful tear”?

Origin of the poet, early years

The future poet was born in Omsk. His parents (see photo below) soon moved to St. Petersburg. Innokenty Annensky reported in his autobiography that he spent his childhood in an environment in which landowner and bureaucratic elements were combined. From a young age, he loved to study literature and history, and felt antipathy to everything banal, clear and elementary.

First poems

Innokenty Annensky began writing poetry quite early. Since the concept of "symbolism" was still unknown to him in the 1870s, he considered himself a mystic. Annensky was attracted to the “religious genre” of B. E. Murillo, a 17th-century Spanish artist. He tried to “formulate this genre in words.”

The young poet, following the advice of his older brother, who was a famous publicist and economist (N.F. Annensky), decided that he should not publish before the age of 30. Therefore, his poetic experiments were not intended for publication. Innokenty Annensky wrote poems in order to hone his skills and declare himself as a mature poet.

University studies

The study of antiquity and ancient languages ​​during university years replaced writing for a time. As Innokenty Annensky admitted, during these years he wrote nothing but dissertations. “Pedagogical-administrative” activities began after university. According to fellow antique scholars, she distracted Innokenty Fedorovich from his scientific studies. And those who sympathized with his poetry believed that it interfered with creativity.

Debut as a critic

Innokenty Annensky made his debut in print as a critic. He published a number of articles in the 1880-1890s, mainly devoted to Russian literature of the 19th century. The first “Book of Reflections” appeared in 1906, and the second in 1909. This is a collection of criticism, which is distinguished by impressionistic perception, Wildean subjectivism and associative-figurative moods. Innokenty Fedorovich emphasized that he was only a reader, and not a critic at all.

Translations of French poets

Annensky the poet considered the French symbolists to be his forerunners, whom he willingly and widely translated. In addition to enriching the language, he also saw their merit in increasing aesthetic sensitivity, in the fact that they increased the scale of artistic sensations. A significant section of Annensky's first collection of poems consisted of translations of French poets. Of the Russians, the closest to Innokenty Fedorovich was K. D. Balmont, who aroused awe in the author of “Quiet Songs.” Annensky highly valued the musicality and “new flexibility” of his poetic language.

Publications in the symbolist press

Innokenty Annensky led a rather secluded literary life. During the period of onslaught and storm, he did not defend the right to the existence of “new” art. Annensky did not participate in further intra-Symbolist disputes.

The first publications of Innokenty Fedorovich in the symbolist press date back to 1906 (the magazine "Pereval"). In fact, his entry into the Symbolist environment took place only in the last year of his life.

Last years

The critic and poet Innokenty Annensky gave lectures at the Poetry Academy. He was also a member of the “Society of Admirers of the Artistic Word,” which operated under the Apollo magazine. On the pages of this magazine, Annensky published an article that can be called programmatic - “On modern lyricism.”

Posthumous cult, "Cypress Casket"

His sudden death caused a wide resonance in Symbolist circles. Innokenty Annensky died near the Tsarskoye Selo station. His biography ended, but his creative destiny after death received further development. Among young poets close to “Apollo” (mostly of an Acmeist orientation, who reproached the Symbolists for not paying attention to Annensky), his posthumous cult began to take shape. 4 months after the death of Innokenty Fedorovich, the second collection of his poems was published. The poet's son, V. I. Annensky-Krivich, who became his biographer, commentator and editor, completed the preparation of the "Cypress Casket" (the collection was so named because Annensky's manuscripts were kept in a cypress box). There is reason to believe that he did not always follow his father’s author’s will punctually.

Innokenty Annensky, whose poems were not very popular during his lifetime, gained well-deserved fame with the release of The Cypress Casket. Blok wrote that this book penetrates deep into the heart and explains to him a lot about himself. Bryusov, who had previously paid attention to the “freshness” of phrases, comparisons, epithets and even just words that were chosen in the collection “Quiet Songs,” noted as an undoubted advantage the inability to guess Innokenty Fedorovich’s next two stanzas from the first two verses and the end works at its beginning. In 1923, Krivich published the remaining texts of the poet in a collection entitled “Posthumous Poems of In. Annensky”.

Originality

His lyrical hero is a man who solves the “hateful puzzle of existence.” Annensky thoroughly analyzes the “I” of a person, which would like to be the whole world, to spread out, to dissolve in it, and which is tormented by the consciousness of the inevitable end, hopeless loneliness and aimless existence.

“Cunning irony” gives Annensky’s poems a unique uniqueness. According to V. Bryusov, she became the second person of Innokenty Fedorovich as a poet. The writing style of the author of "The Cypress Casket" and "Quiet Songs" is sharply impressionistic. Annensky called it associative symbolism; he believed that poetry does not depict. It only hints to the reader what cannot be expressed in words.

Today, the work of Inokenty Fedorovich has received well-deserved fame. The school curriculum includes such a poet as Innokenty Annensky. “Among the Worlds,” which schoolchildren are asked to analyze, is perhaps his most famous poem. Let us also note that in addition to poetry, he wrote four plays in the spirit of Euripides based on the plots of his lost tragedies.

Russian poet and talented teacher. Read a short biography of Innokenty Annensky.

Innokenty Annensky short biography

Poet and playwright Innokenty Annensky born August 20, 1855 in Omsk, in the family of an official. The poet's childhood was unremarkable until the family moved to St. Petersburg in 1860. The creative atmosphere that literally permeates the city has raised another talented artist.

The first education of I. Annensky

As a boy, Innocent was frail and sickly, so he received a basic education at a private school, where the future poet could be properly cared for. After graduating from gymnasium No. 2 in St. Petersburg entered the university with the light hand of his famous older brother - Nikolai Annensky, encyclopedist. He received his first education at the Faculty of History and Philology of St. Petersburg University, and after graduating in 1879 with honors, he tried himself as a teacher, first in public and then in private schools.

Sphere of interests of I. Annensky as a teacher:

• Russian literature;
• Languages ​​of antiquity;
• Story;

Colleagues described I. Annensky as an erudite person - it was clear from an early age that he was a man of classicism. A fine spiritual organization, apparently, in combination with the classical school and tradition of antiquity, pushed the poet on a creative path.

Since 1896 he taught in St. Petersburg, Moscow, Kyiv. He managed to work as the director of a gymnasium in Tsarskoe Selo. Annensky did not last long at the helm - the playwright was too extraordinary a person. The students, as we learn from the works of biographers, considered Annensky an eccentric and were delighted, which cannot be said about the leadership of the gymnasium, which quickly removed the wonderful teacher.

Creativity of I. Annensky

Innokenty Annensky initially changed his teaching career to work as a district inspector. In the new position, a talented and educated young man was required to do translations. He easily worked with the originals of Euripides, read and presented the works of Rimbaud, Baudelaire, Verlaine. The poets inspired Annensky to create his own works - published articles and poems.

Creativity of I. Annensky in the literary field found a greater response than teaching efforts. Contemporaries valued the new author, considering him not only the best expert in Russian literature, but also a master of words. I. Annensky gradually conquered authority in literary circles, became the soul of the company and meeting centers.

Creativity of I. Annensky:

• "King Ixion" 1902.
• "Quiet Songs" 1904.
• "Cypress Casket" 190.
• “Posthumous Poems” 1923.

These are just a few of the works of the famous Russian poet and playwright, who was able to crystallize the creative word so much that he became one of the spiritual teachers of the Acmeist movement, and the poet’s followers sought to achieve at least a fraction of the clarity of beauty in syllable that the poet managed to achieve.

“I prayed to her, the lilac darkness:

Stay, stay with me in my corner,

Do not dispel my ancient melancholy,

Innokenty Annensky died on September 30, 1909 from a heart attack. He was buried in Tsarskoe Selo.

I. Annensky - quotes, sayings:

• “I’m burning and the road is bright at night.”
• “Dirt and baseness are only torment.”
• “I love everything that has no consonance or echo in this world.”

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Innokenty Fedorovich Annensky was born in Omsk in 1855 into the family of an important government official. In 1860, the father received a new appointment, and the whole family moved to St. Petersburg.

Education

At first Annensky studied at a private school (due to poor health), then at the 2nd St. Petersburg gymnasium, then again at a private school. His elder brother Nikolai Annensky, an outstanding encyclopedist, economist, and populist, helped him enter the university.

In 1875 he entered the Faculty of History and Philology of St. Petersburg University, and in 1879 he graduated with honors and began teaching. Annensky worked in both public and private schools. Usually he either taught Russian literature, or history, or ancient languages. Even then it was clear to everyone that this man was a big fan of classicism in its purest form.

Peak of teaching career

Annensky managed to work as a teacher of the Russian language, literature, history, and ancient languages ​​in St. Petersburg, Moscow, and Kiev, but in 1896 he was appointed to the position of director of the gymnasium in Tsarskoe Selo. The students adored him, although they considered him a great eccentric, but his superiors considered him too soft in 1906 and fired him. Annensky took the dismissal hard, because he really loved his job.

Creative activity

After leaving the gymnasium, Annensky worked as a district inspector, but at the same time managed to make translations from ancient Greek and French (translated Euripides, Baudelaire, Verlaine, Rimbaud), published several collections of poetry, and wrote critical articles. Annensky's work was highly appreciated by his contemporaries; he was considered perhaps the best translator in St. Petersburg and an expert in Russian literature. He was a recognized authority on classicism and classical education.

Death

Annensky died suddenly of a heart attack in 1909. He was buried in Tsarskoe Selo (now the city of Pushkin). His son, also a famous poet, did everything to ensure that his father’s poems and his dramatic works were published, and he also published the first short biography of I. F. Annensky and the biography of his brother N. F. Annensky.

Other biography options

• Annensky was a big fan of ancient Greek playwrights. During his leadership of the gymnasium in Tsarskoe Selo, he did everything to ensure that the students had a perfect command of the ancient Greek language.
• It is interesting that Annensky’s close friends for a long time knew nothing about his plays, in the spirit of Euripides, or about his poems. Annensky hid his poetic and dramatic talent. According to the memoirs of contemporaries, he was a rather modest person. Meanwhile, Annensky was considered a genius by many recognized classics of Russian literature. Anna Akhmatova loved him very much, and Pasternak admired him.
• Annensky's poem "Bells" is considered the first futuristic Russian poem. Annensky's poem "Among the Worlds" (considered one of the best poems in Russian literature) was set to music written by A. Vertinsky.
• In addition to ancient languages ​​and French, Annensky also knew German and English. He translated a lot of Goethe, Müller, and Heine. He translated the works of Horace from ancient Roman (Latin).

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Innokenty Fedorovich Annensky

Born on August 20 (1. IX), 1856 in Omsk.

Father - adviser, then head of the department of the Main Directorate of Western Siberia. The mother is a distant relative of Hannibal, and therefore of Pushkin. In 1860, my father was transferred to St. Petersburg as an official on special assignments in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Distinguished by his enterprising character, he got involved in trade speculation, incurred debts, eventually lost his job, and became seriously ill. Because of all this, Annensky did not like to remember his childhood.

In 1875 he entered St. Petersburg University - the historical and philological department. Annensky spoke French and German from childhood, and at the university he added Latin, Greek, English, Italian, Polish, Sanskrit, and Hebrew to these languages. “Since in those years they did not yet know the words symbolist, he recalled later, “that was me mystic in poetry and raved about the religious genre of Murillo. God knows what! At the university - how it was cut off with poetry. I fell in love with philology and wrote nothing but dissertations...”

In 1879 he graduated from the university with the title of candidate of the Faculty of History and Philology. He taught Latin and Greek at the private gymnasium of F. F. Bychkov. While still a third-year student, he fell passionately in love with Nadezhda Valentinovna Khmara-Barshchevskaya. Despite the reciprocal feeling, the cautious thirty-six-year-old widow, the mother of two sons, was in no hurry to become the wife of a student who was fourteen years younger than her. They got married only after Annensky graduated from university. In order to support his growing family (a son was soon born), Annensky, in addition to lessons at the gymnasium, began teaching at the Pavlovsk Institute and lectured at the Higher Women's (Bestuzhev) Courses.

In 1891, Annensky was transferred to Kyiv to the post of director of the Pavel Galagan College, a private closed educational institution established by the Galagan couple in memory of their early deceased son. In Kyiv, Annensky decided to translate into Russian all the tragedies of his beloved Euripides, giving them a detailed commentary. By the way, he carried out this plan - he translated all seventeen tragedies that have come down to us. True, he was already doing this in St. Petersburg: after a conflict with the honorary trustee of the “College,” Annensky returned to the capital.

In St. Petersburg, Annensky was appointed director of the 8th men's gymnasium, located on the 9th line of Vasilyevsky Island, but was soon transferred to Tsarskoye Selo - director of the Nikolaev men's gymnasium. “From time to time,” art critic N.N. Punin later recalled, “we saw the director in the gymnasium corridors; he appeared there rarely and always with unusual solemnity. A large white door opened at the end of the corridor on the first floor, where the senior classes were located, and Aref’s footman first came out, throwing open the door, followed by Annensky; he walked very straight and as if fettered by some strange immobility of his body, in a uniform, with a black plastron instead of a tie; his chin went into a high, tightly starched collar with bent corners; slightly graying strands of hair fell on both sides of his forehead, and they swayed as he walked; wide trousers hung around soft, almost silently walking boots; his cold and at the same time kind eyes did not seem to notice the schoolchildren parting in front of him, and, slightly nodding his head at their bows, he solemnly walked along the corridor, as if tightening the space behind him ... "

In 1901, Annensky's tragedy "Melanippe the Philosopher" was published, in 1902 - "King Ixion", and in 1906 - "Laodamia". And two years before the release of “Laodamia,” Annensky published (under the pseudonym “Nik. T-o”) a collection of poems, “Quiet Songs.” True, no one except V. Bryusov and A. Blok noticed “Quiet Songs,” but in a letter to A. V. Borodina, Annensky modestly noted: “I am not at all embarrassed by the fact that I work exclusively for the future.”

In 1906, Annensky was appointed inspector of the St. Petersburg educational district. During these years, a close friendship connected him with the wife of his eldest stepson, Olga Petrovna Khmara-Barshchevskaya. “Between the shadows, the sun's spots on the sand in the daydreaming garden went out. Everything about you is so sweetly incomprehensible, but I remember yours: “I’ll come”... Black smoke, but you are airier than smoke, you are more tender than the fluff of a leaf, I don’t know by whom, but you are loved, I don’t know whose you are, but a dream ... Diamond lights will not descend into the deserted chambers for you, for you the fragrant gilly leaves are spread out here alone like a carpet... I remember this night in an old dream, but it was not I who languished and wished: through a lantern forgotten on a birch tree, warm wax cried and burned ... " Eight years after the poet’s death, Olga Petrovna wrote to a person close to her: “Are you asking if I loved Innokenty Fedorovich? God! Of course I loved, I love. And my love “plus fort la mort”. Was I his “wife”? Unfortunately no! You see, I sincerely say “alas,” because I am not proud of this for a moment: the connection that the “Snake-Angel” patronizes did not exist between us. And not because I was afraid of sin, or didn’t dare, or didn’t want to, or lulled myself with false assurances that “you can love with two halves of your heart” - no, a thousand times no! Understand, dear, he didn’t want this, although, perhaps, he truly loved only me... But he could not step over... The thought killed him: “What am I? First I took my mother away (from my stepson), and then I will take my wife? Where can I hide from my conscience?”

In 1906, the Enlightenment Society published the first volume of Euripides' tragedies, translated by Annensky. A separate volume included articles about Russian writers of the 19th century and about some of their contemporaries - “The Book of Reflections”. Sharing the views of the Symbolists, Annensky argued: “In poetry there is only relativity, only approaching, therefore, it was not anything other than symbolic, and cannot be...”

At the same time, Annensky completed the “Bacchanalian drama” “Famira-kifared”. “Six years ago,” he wrote to Borodina, “I conceived a tragedy. I don’t remember if I told you its title. The thought was forgotten by me, overwritten by other plans, poems, articles, events, then flared up again. In March, I irrevocably decided either to write my “Famir” by August, or to abandon forever this task, which seemed to me either impossible or simply not worth it. I have been drawn to this topic for a long time. Meanwhile, this year, in the spring, my old student wrote a charming fairy tale about this myth called “Famirid”. He dedicated it to me. A year and a half ago, Kondratyev told me about this intention, and I told him that I also had a plan for “Famira” sketched out in my head, but in a completely different way – tragic. And now the reading has already taken place.”

Annensky’s second collection of poems, “The Cypress Casket,” was published after the poet’s death. This book made an extremely strong impression.

“It was on Wallen-Koski. It was raining from smoky clouds, and yellow wet boards were running down the sad steeps... We yawned from the cold night, and tears asked from our eyes; for our joy, they threw the doll that morning for the fourth time... The swollen doll obediently dived into the gray waterfall, and spun for a long time at first, as if it was trying to return... But in vain the foam licked the joints of the pressed hands - its salvation is invariable for new and new torments... Look, the stormy stream is already turning yellow, subdued and sluggish; The Chukhonian was fair, he took half a dollar for the job... And now the doll is on the stone, and then there is a river. This comedy was heavy for me on that gray morning... There is such a sky, such a play of rays, that the heart of a doll resents its pitying resentment... Like leaves then we are sensitive: to us a gray stone, having come to life, has become a friend, and a friend’s voice, like a child’s violin, is false ... And in the heart there is a deep consciousness that only fear was born with it, that in the world it is lonely, like an old doll in the waves ... "

In 1909, The Second Book of Reflections was published.

In March of the same year, art critic S.K. Makovsky and poet M. Voloshin came to Tsarskoe Selo to visit Annensky. They invited the poet to collaborate in the new monthly literary and artistic magazine Apollo, and the poet accepted the offer. “Tall, dry,” Makovsky recalled him, “he held himself unusually straight (as if he had swallowed a yardstick). Straightness depended partly on the lack of cervical vertebrae, which did not allow him to freely rotate his head. As if tied to the neck, the head did not bend, and this was reflected in the movements and in the manner of walking straight and firmly, sitting at attention, legs crossed, and turning to the interlocutor with the whole body, which gave the impression of some kind of bossy pose to people who knew him little . Facial features and the entire everyday appearance emphasized this lack of flexibility. He always wore a frock coat, a black silk tie was tied in the old-fashioned way with a wide, double, “diplomatic” bow. Very high collars propped up the chin with a hint of a prickly beard, and the mustache was trimmed and stiff, sticking out straight above his swollen, capricious mouth. With some arrogance, a straight, although irregular in Russian, nose pointed, deep-set steel-colored eyes looked intently, without changing direction, a thick lock of dark hair with graying hung over a perfectly defined straight forehead. Looks cheerful and fit. But the unnatural flush and puffiness of the cheeks (a sign of heart disease) gave his face a tinge of senile fatigue - for minutes, despite the youthfulness and even youthfulness of his figure, he seemed much more decrepit than his fifty-five years ... "

In the summer of 1909, Annensky wrote a long article “On Modern Lyricism” - a critical review of Russian poetry in recent years. In the first issue of Apollo, along with this review, his original poems appeared. But neither the poems nor the poet’s second article, as planned, were included in the second issue of the magazine - S. Makovsky (for various reasons) withdrew the materials proposed by the poet. Annensky had to explain himself. “My article “On modern lyricism,” he wrote to Makovsky, “gives rise to a lot of bewilderment among the readers of Apollo, as well as his collaborators: thus, the same phrases, in the opinion of others, contain mockery, while for others they are immoderate dithyramb. If the matter concerned only me, then I would refrain from explaining, but since the editors of Apollo are reproached even more than me, I consider it necessary to ask you to publish the following lines in Apollo... I set myself the task of considering our modern lyrics only aesthetically, as one of the plans in the future, regardless of the fact lively, demanding the present of which she is a part. The most close, the most teasing I was deliberately pretending past or, more precisely, indifferently transient; traditions, credo, hierarchy, pride, won and protected position - all this the present either it was not part of my task, or it was only partly part of it. And I did not hide from myself the inconvenience of the position that I was about to occupy, interpreting literary figures so independently of the conditions of the time we were living through. But all the same, it seems to me that modern lyricism is worthy of being considered not only historically, i.e. for the purpose of justification, but also aesthetically, i.e. in relation to the future, in connection with the prospect that opens up behind it. This is what I did - and only this..."

Maximilian Voloshin saw the poet completely in his own way, perhaps more deeply than others: “His (Annensky’s) solemnity hid a childish frivolity; behind the flexible mobility of his ideas lurked a numbness of the soul, which did not dare to cross the known boundaries of knowledge and was afraid of certain concepts; behind his literary modesty hid enormous pride; his skepticism covered up open credulity and a secret inclination towards mysticism, characteristic of minds that think in images and associations; what he called his “cynicism” was one of the forms of the tenderness of his soul; his convinced modernism froze and stopped at a certain point in the early nineties... He was a philologist because he loved the growth of the human word: the new as much as the old. He enjoyed the construction of a modern poet's phrase, like the old wine of the classics; he weighed it, tasted it, listened to the ringing of sounds and the intonation of accents, as if it were a thousand-year-old text whose taiga had to be unraveled. He loved the idea because it spoke about a person, but in the mechanism of the phase there were hidden for him even more intelligible revelations about its author. Nothing in this area could hide from his sophisticated ear, from his clearly seeing observation. And at the same time, he did not know how to see people at all and never understood a single author as a person. In every work, in every consonance, he understood only himself..."

“His last day was very tiring,” recalled the poet’s son. – Morning and afternoon – lectures at the Raev Higher Women’s Courses, Educational District, meeting of the Educational Committee; in the evening - a meeting at the Society of Classical Philology, where his report was scheduled on “The Tauride Priestess in Euripides, Ruccellai and Goethe,” and, finally, the father promised his student students to visit before leaving for the city. Tsarskoe, at their party. In the interval, he was supposed to have dinner with a lady, a close friend of our family, who lived not far from the station. Already there, at O. A. Vasilyeva’s, he felt unwell, and so unwell that he even asked permission to lie down. However, the father categorically refused to see the doctor, took some homemade indifferent drops and, after lying down for a while, left, saying that he felt fine. And a few minutes later he fell dead at the entrance of the station in a wrapped fur coat and with a red briefcase clutched in his hand with a manuscript of a report on the Tauride priestess ... "

This happened on November 30 (XII 13), 1909.