What Balmont wrote. Konstantin Balmont - Air way (Stories). The peak of creativity

Konstantin Balmont is a Russian symbolist poet, essayist, prose writer and translator. Is one of the brightest representatives of Russian poetry Silver Age. In 1923 he was nominated for Nobel Prize on literature.

So in front of you short biography Balmont.

Biography of Balmont

Konstantin Dmitrievich Balmont was born on June 3, 1867 in the village of Gumnishchi, in the Vladimir province. He grew up in a simple village family.

His father, Dmitry Konstantinovich, was first a judge, and then held the position of head of the Zemstvo council.

Mother, Vera Nikolaevna, was from an intelligent family, in which they paid a lot of attention. In this regard, she repeatedly organized creative evenings and staged performances at home.

Childhood and youth

Mother had a serious influence on the formation of Balmont's personality and played a big role in his biography. Thanks to his mother, the boy was well acquainted not only with literature, but also with music and literature.

In addition to Konstantin, six more boys were born in the Balmont family. An interesting fact is that Konstantin learned to read by watching his mother teach his older brothers to read.

Initially, the Balmonts lived in the village, but when it was time to send their children to school, they decided to move to Shuya. During this period of his biography, Konstantin first became interested in poetry.

When Balmont was 10 years old, he showed his mother his poems. After reading them, Vera Nikolaevna insisted that he stop writing poetry. The boy obeyed her and for the next six years did not compose anything.

In 1876, the first significant event took place in the biography of Balmont. He was enrolled in a Russian gymnasium, where he showed himself to be a talented and obedient student. However, he soon got tired of adhering to discipline and obeying teachers in everything.

Konstantin with particular zeal became interested in reading literature, reading the works of not only Russian, but also foreign authors. Interestingly, he read the books of French and German classics in the original.

Later, the negligent student was expelled from the gymnasium for poor academic performance and revolutionary moods.

In 1886 Konstantin Balmont went to Vladimir. There he went to study at one of the local gymnasiums. It is interesting that at that time his poems were first published in one of the capital's publications.

After graduating from high school, Balmont entered the Moscow University at the Faculty of Law. There he became friends with the sixties revolutionaries. He listened with great interest to his comrades and was imbued with revolutionary ideas.

While studying in his second year, Balmont took part in student riots. As a result, he was expelled from the university and sent back to Shuya.

Later, Konstantin Balmont entered universities more than once, but due to a nervous breakdown, he could not graduate from a single institution. Thus, the young man was left without a higher education.

Creativity Balmont

The first collection in creative biography Balmont published in 1890. But later, for some reason, he personally destroyed most of the circulation.

Feeling confident in own forces He continued to engage in writing activities.

During the years of the biography of 1895-1898. Balmont published 2 more collections - "In the vastness of darkness" and "Silence".

These works also aroused admiration from critics, after which his works began to be published in various publishing houses. He was predicted a great future and was called one of the most promising poets of our time.

In the mid-1890s, Konstantin Balmont became better known as a symbolist poet. In his work, he admired natural phenomena, and in some cases touched on mystical topics. Most of all, this can be seen in the collection "Evil Spells", which was banned from publication.

Having received recognition and financial independence, Balmont visited many different countries. He shared his impressions with readers in his own works.

An interesting fact is that Balmont did not like to correct the already written text, because he believed that the first thoughts were the strongest and most correct. In 1905, the collection Fairy Tales was published, which the writer dedicated to his daughter.

It is worth noting that revolutionary ideas never left Konstantin Dmitrievich, which, in fact, he did not hide.

There was a case when Balmont publicly read the poem "Little Sultan", in which listeners easily found the current one. After this, the poet was expelled from for 2 years.

Konstantin Balmont maintained friendly relations with. Like his friend, he was an ardent opponent of the monarchy, in connection with which he met the First Russian Revolution with sincere joy.

In this period of biography, Balmont's poems were more like rhymed slogans than lyrical quatrains.

When the Moscow uprising took place in 1905, Balmont made a speech to the students. However, fearing to be behind bars, he decided to leave his homeland.

During the biography period from 1906 to 1913, the disgraced poet was in. He continued to write, but he heard more and more criticism of his work. The prose writer was accused of writing about the same thing in his works.

Balmont himself best book called "Burning Buildings. Lyrics of the modern soul. It should be noted that in this work, unlike the previous ones, there were many bright and positive poems.

After returning to his homeland in 1913, Konstantin Balmont presented a 10-volume collected works. At this time, he worked hard on translations and visited a lot with lectures.

When it took place in 1917, the poet, like many of his colleagues, met this event with great joy.

Balmont was sure that with the advent of the new government, everything would change for the better. However, when a terrible anarchy engulfed the country, the poet was horrified. He described the October Revolution as "chaos" and "a hurricane of madness."

In 1920, Konstantin Dmitrievich moved to with his family, but did not stay there for long. Soon he, together with his wife and children, again left for France.

At the same time, it is worth noting that Balmont no longer enjoyed authority among representatives of the Russian intelligentsia.

For his biography, Konstantin Balmont published 35 poetry collections and 20 prose books, and also translated the works of many foreign writers.

Personal life

In 1889, Konstantin Balmont married the merchant's daughter Larisa Garelina. Interestingly, the mother was categorically against their wedding, but the poet was adamant.

This marriage was difficult to call happy. The wife turned out to be a very jealous and scandalous woman. She did not support her husband in his work, but rather, on the contrary, interfered with his creative aspirations.

Some biographers of the poet suggest that it was his wife who addicted him to alcohol.

In the spring of 1890, Balmont decided to commit suicide by throwing himself from the 3rd floor. However, the suicide attempt failed and he survived. However, his injuries left him with a limp for the rest of his life.

In union with Garelina, he had two children. The first child died in infancy, and the second, son Nikolai, suffered from nervous disorders. Due to objective reasons, this marriage could not last long, and soon the family broke up.

The second wife in Balmont's biography was Ekaterina Andreeva, whom he married in 1896. Andreeva was a literate, wise and attractive girl. After 5 years, their daughter Nina was born.

Balmont loved his wife and was often next to her. Together with Catherine, he talked about literature, and also worked on translations of texts.

In the early 1900s, on one of the streets, Balmont met Elena Tsvetkovskaya, who fell in love with him at first sight. He began to meet with her secretly from his wife, as a result of which his illegitimate daughter Mirra was born.

However, the double life greatly oppressed Balmont, which soon turned into depression. This led to the fact that the poet decided to jump out of the window again. But, as in the first case, he survived.

After much deliberation, Balmont decided to stay with Elena and Mirra. Soon he moved with them to France. There he met Dagmar Shakhovskaya.

Shakhovskaya also played an important role in the biography of Balmont. The poet began to meet her more and more often, until he realized that he was in love with her.

This led to the birth of two children - a boy, Georges, and a girl, Svetlana.

At the same time, it is worth noting that Tsvetkovskaya loved Balmont so much that she turned a blind eye to his love affairs and never left him.

Death

During emigration to France, Konstantin Balmont yearned for all the time. Every day his health worsened, and material problems arose.

He felt not only physical, but also mental exhaustion, in connection with which he could no longer engage in writing.

Balmont, forgotten by everyone, lived in a modest apartment, and except for the closest people, he hardly communicated with anyone.

In 1937, doctors discovered he had a mental disorder. Last years he lived in the Russian House shelter, where he soon died.

Konstantin Dmitrievich Balmont died on December 23, 1942 from pneumonia at the age of 75.

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Born on June 15, 1867 in the village of Gumnishchi, Vladimir province, where he lived until the age of 10. Balmont's father worked as a judge, then as head of the zemstvo council. The love of literature and music was instilled in the future poet by his mother. The family moved to Shuya when the older children went to school. In 1876, Balmont studied at the Shuya gymnasium, but soon he got tired of studying, and he began to pay more and more attention to reading. After being expelled from the gymnasium for revolutionary sentiments, Balmont transferred to the city of Vladimir, where he studied until 1886. In the same year, he entered the university in Moscow, the department of law. Studying there did not last long, a year later he was expelled for participating in student riots.

The beginning of the creative path

The poet wrote his first poems as a ten-year-old boy, but his mother criticized his undertakings, and Balmont no longer attempted to write anything for the next six years.
For the first time the poet's poems were published in 1885 in the magazine "Picturesque Review" in St. Petersburg.

In the late 1880s, Balmont was engaged in translation activities. In 1890, due to a poor financial situation and an unsuccessful first marriage, Balmont tried to commit suicide - he jumped out of the window, but survived. Having received serious injuries, he lay in bed for a year. This year in the biography of Balmont can hardly be called successful, but it is worth noting that he turned out to be creatively productive.

The debut collection of poems (1890) of the poet did not arouse public interest, and the poet destroyed the entire circulation.

Rise to glory

The greatest flowering of Balmont's work falls on the 1890s. He reads a lot, learns languages ​​and travels.

Balmont often translates, in 1894 he translated Gorn's History of Scandinavian Literature, in 1895-1897 Gaspari's History of Italian Literature.

Balmont published the collection "Under the Northern Sky" (1894), began to publish his works in the publishing house "Scorpio", the magazine "Scales". Soon new books appeared - "In the boundlessness" (1895), "Silence" (1898).

Having married for the second time in 1896, Balmont leaves for Europe. He has been traveling for several years. In 1897 he lectured in England on Russian poetry.

The fourth collection of Balmont's poetry, Let's Be Like the Sun, was published in 1903. The collection became especially popular and brought great success to the author. At the beginning of 1905, Konstantin Dmitrievich again leaves Russia, he travels around Mexico, then goes to California.

Balmont received Active participation in the revolution of 1905-1907, mostly making speeches to students and building barricades. Afraid of being arrested, the poet leaves for Paris in 1906.

Having visited Georgia in 1914, he translated into Russian S. Rustaveli's poem "The Knight in the Panther's Skin", as well as many others. In 1915, returning to Moscow, Balmont travels around the country with lectures.

Last emigration

In 1920, due to the poor health of his third wife and daughter, he left with them for France. He never returned to Russia again. In Paris, Balmont published 6 more collections of his poems, and in 1923 - autobiographical books: "Under the new sickle", "Air way".

The poet yearned for Russia and more than once regretted that he had left. These feelings were reflected in his poetry of that time. Life in a foreign land became more and more difficult, the poet's health deteriorated, there were problems with money. Balmont was diagnosed with a serious mental illness. Living in poverty on the outskirts of Paris, he no longer wrote, but only occasionally read old books.

From the symbolist Konstantin Balmont was for his contemporaries "an eternal disturbing mystery." His followers united in "Balmontov" circles, imitated his literary style and even appearance. Many contemporaries dedicated their poems to him - Marina Tsvetaeva and Maximilian Voloshin, Igor Severyanin and Ilya Ehrenburg. But several people were of particular importance in the life of the poet.

"The First Poets I Read"

Konstantin Balmont was born in the village of Gumnishchi, Vladimir province. His father was an employee, his mother arranged amateur performances and literary evenings, and appeared in the local press. The future poet Konstantin Balmont read his first books at the age of five.

When the older children had to go to school (Konstantin was the third of seven sons), the family moved to Shuya. Here Balmont entered the gymnasium, here he wrote his first poems, not approved by his mother: “On a bright sunny day they arose, two poems at once, one about winter, the other about summer.” Here he joined an illegal circle, which distributed proclamations of the executive committee of the Narodnaya Volya party in the town. The poet wrote about his revolutionary moods as follows: “... I was happy, and I wanted everyone to be just as good. It seemed to me that if it’s good only for me and for a few, it’s ugly.”

Dmitry Konstantinovich Balmont, poet's father. 1890s Photo: P. V. Kupriyanovsky, N. A. Molchanova. "Balmont .. "Sunny Genius" of Russian Literature". Editor L. S. Kalyuzhnaya. M.: Young Guard, 2014. 384 p.

Kostya Balmont. Moscow. Photo: P. V. Kupriyanovsky, N. A. Molchanova. "Balmont .. "Sunny Genius" of Russian Literature". Editor L. S. Kalyuzhnaya. M.: Young Guard, 2014. 384 p.

Vera Nikolaevna Balmont, mother of the poet. 1880s Image: P. V. Kupriyanovsky, N. A. Molchanova. "Balmont .. "Sunny Genius" of Russian Literature". Editor L. S. Kalyuzhnaya. M.: Young Guard, 2014. 384 p.

The Godfather Vladimir Korolenko

In 1885, the future writer was transferred to a gymnasium in Vladimir. He published three of his poems in the Picturesque Review, the then popular St. Petersburg magazine. Balmont's literary debut went almost unnoticed.

During this period, Konstantin Balmont met the writer Vladimir Korolenko. The poet later called him his "godfather". Korolenko was given a notebook containing Balmont's poems and his translations by the Austrian poet Nikolaus Lenau.

The writer prepared a letter for the high school student Konstantin Balmont with a review of his works, noted the “undoubted talent” of the aspiring poet and gave some advice: work with concentration on your texts, look for your own individuality, and also “read, study and, more importantly, live” .

“He wrote to me that I have a lot of beautiful details, successfully snatched from the natural world, that you need to focus your attention, and not chase after every passing moth, that you don’t need to rush your feeling with thought, but you need to trust the unconscious area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe soul, which is imperceptibly accumulates his observations and comparisons, and then all of a sudden it all blooms, like a flower blooms after a long invisible pore of accumulation of its forces.

In 1886, Konstantin Balmont entered the law faculty of Moscow University. But a year later he was expelled for participating in the riots and deported to Shuya.

K. D. Balmont. Portrait by Valentin Serov (1905)

Building of Moscow State University

Vladimir Korolenko. Photo: onk.su

"Russian Sappho" Mirra Lokhvitskaya

In 1889, the aspiring poet married Larisa Garelina. A year later, Konstantin Balmont published his first book, Collection of Poems. The publication aroused no interest either in literary circles or among the poet's relatives, and he burned almost the entire print run of the book. The poet's parents actually broke off relations with him after his marriage, the financial situation of the young family was unstable. Balmont tried to commit suicide by jumping out of the window. After that, he spent almost a year in bed. In 1892, he began to translate (for half a century literary activity he will leave translations from almost 30 languages).

A close friend of the poet in the 1890s was Mirra (Maria) Lokhvitskaya, who was called the "Russian Sappho". They met, most likely, in 1895 in the Crimea (the approximate date was restored from a book with a dedicatory inscription by Lokhvitskaya). The poetess was married, Konstantin Balmont at that time was married for the second time, to Ekaterina Andreeva (in 1901 their daughter Nina was born).

My earthly life is ringing,
The indistinct rustle of reeds,
They lulled the sleeping swan,
My anxious soul
In the distance they flicker hastily
In search of greedy ships,
Quietly in the thickets of the bay,
Where sadness breathes, like the oppression of the earth.
But the sound, born of trembling,
Slip into the rustle of reeds,
And the awakened swan trembles,
My immortal soul
And rush into the world of freedom,
Where the sighs of storms echo the waves,
Where in the changing waters
Looks like eternal azure.

Mirra Lokhvitskaya. "Sleeping Swan" (1896)

White swan, pure swan,
Your dreams are always silent
serene silver,
You slide, giving birth to waves.
Beneath you is a mute depth,
No hello, no answer
But you slide, drowning
In the abyss of air and light.
Above you - bottomless ether
With the bright Morning Star.
You slide, transformed
reflected beauty.
A symbol of impassive tenderness,
unsaid, timid,
Phantom feminine-beautiful
The swan is clean, the swan is white!

Konstantin Balmont. "White Swan" (1897)

For almost a decade, Lokhvitskaya and Balmont had a poetic dialogue, which is often called a "novel in verse." In the work of the two poets, poems were popular that echoed - without direct mention of the addressee - in form or content. Sometimes the meaning of several verses became clear only when they were compared.

Soon the views of the poets began to diverge. This also affected the creative correspondence, which Mirra Lokhvitskaya tried to stop. But the literary romance was interrupted only in 1905, when she died. Balmont continued to dedicate poetry to her and admire her works. He told Anna Akhmatovathat before meeting her he knew only two poetesses - Sappho and Mirra Lokhvitskaya. In honor of the poetess, he will name his daughter from his third marriage.

Mirra Lokhvitskaya. Photo: e-reading.club

Ekaterina Andreeva. Photo: P. V. Kupriyanovsky, N. A. Molchanova. "Balmont .. "Sunny Genius" of Russian Literature". Editor L. S. Kalyuzhnaya. M.: Young Guard, 2014. 384 p.

Anna Akhmatova. Photo: lingar.my1.ru

"Brother of my dreams, poet and sorcerer Valery Bryusov"

In 1894, a collection of poems by Konstantin Balmont “Under the Northern Sky” was published, and in the same year, at a meeting of the Society of Western Literature Lovers, the poet met Valery Bryusov.

“He first discovered in our verse “deviations”, opened up possibilities that no one suspected, unprecedented rehashing of vowels, pouring into one another, like drops of moisture, like crystal chimes.”

Valery Bryusov

Their acquaintance grew into friendship: the poets often met, read new works to each other, shared their impressions of foreign poetry. In his memoirs, Valery Bryusov wrote: “Much, very much became clear to me, it was revealed to me only through Balmont. He taught me to understand other poets. I was one before meeting Balmont and became different after meeting him.

Both poets tried to bring European traditions into Russian poetry, both were symbolists. However, their communication, which lasted a total of more than a quarter of a century, did not always go smoothly: sometimes conflicts that broke out led to long disagreements, then both Balmont and Bryusov again resumed creative meetings and correspondence. Many years of "friendship-enmity" was accompanied by many poems that poets dedicated to each other.

Valery Bryusov "K.D. Balmont"

V. Bryusov. Painting by artist M. Vrubel

Konstantin Balmont

Valery Bryusov

"The tradesman Peshkov. Nickname: Gorky

In the mid-1890s, Maxim Gorky was interested in literary experiments symbolists. During this period, his correspondence with Konstantin Balmont began: in 1900-1901, both of them were published in the journal Life. Balmont devoted several poems to Gorky, wrote about his work in his articles on Russian literature.

The writers met in person in November 1901. At this time, Balmont was again expelled from St. Petersburg - for participating in the demonstration and the poem he wrote "The Little Sultan", which contained criticism of the policies of Nicholas II. The poet went to the Crimea to Maxim Gorky. Together they visited Leo Tolstoy in Gaspra. In a letter to the editor of Zhizn, Vladimir Possa, Gorky wrote about his acquaintance: “I met Balmont. This neurasthenic is devilishly interesting and talented!”

Bitter! You came from the bottom
But with an indignant soul you love the tender, refined.
There is only one sorrow in our life:
We longed for greatness, seeing the pale circle, unfinished

Konstantin Balmont. "Gorky"

Since 1905, Konstantin Balmont actively participated in political life country, collaborated with anti-government publications. A year later, fearing arrest, he emigrated to France. During this period, Balmont traveled and wrote a lot, published the book "Songs of the Avenger". The communication of the poet with Maxim Gorky practically ceased.

The poet returned to Russia in 1913, when an amnesty was announced in honor of the 300th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty. The poet did not accept the October Revolution of 1917, in the book “Am I a revolutionary or not?” (1918) he argued that the poet should be outside the parties, but expressed a negative attitude towards the Bolsheviks. At this time, Balmont was married for the third time - to Elena Tsvetkovskaya.

In 1920, when the poet moved to Moscow with his wife and daughter Mirra, he wrote several poems dedicated to the young Union. This made it possible to go abroad, allegedly on a creative business trip, but the family did not return to the USSR. At this time, relations with Maxim Gorky are entering a new round: Gorky writes a letter to Romain Rolland, in which he condemns Balmont for pseudo-revolutionary poetry, emigration and the complicated situation of those poets who also wanted to go abroad. The poet responds to this with the article “The tradesman Peshkov. By pseudonym: Gorky”, which was published in the Riga newspaper “Today”.

Konstantin Balmont

air way

MARCH THIRTEENTH

What, Vanya, is not white, not blush,

Where, Vanya, did you lose your blush?

Ali dropped on the track?

Did Ali give the red girl?

folk song

It couldn't go on like this anymore. Anything is better than this. The last degree of fall and weakness. Better death. And death is desired. I waited for deliverance from every day and every hour, but it did not come. I was waiting for some news, some coming. I thought that the door would open and my torment would end. Nothing, no one. Nothing.

And where to expect deliverance, when the pain and horror inside?

Melitta came up to me.

Do you have a headache again?

Yes, again.

What do we do? It will never end.

She spoke with pain, and that pain was about me. And I secretly translated: if this does not end, you need to end it.

Of course you do. Life pushed me to the decision. Every person who walked along the corridor of this hotel, every person who walked along the street, knew where he was going and why. He did his job and I couldn't do anything. It has been many months since I lost the ability to work. Yes, and what to work? Is reading books a job? And if I could read. But from reading two pages, sometimes from reading a few lines, I began to headache, the cobweb enveloped the brain, I helplessly began a long phrase for the fifth time, became frightened in the middle of it, began to think about one of her words, again returned to the beginning of the phrase and could not finish reading it to the end. Gradually, the pain in my left temple became stronger, and all the objects on the table started a secret war with me. I couldn't help but look at the inkwell and not think that there was little ink there and that it was covered with dust. But there was no way I could go to the window where the bottle of ink stood and pour fresh ink into the inkwell. The pencil was blunt on one end and gnawed on the other. Why gnawed? And who put all those books upside down again? I can neither read nor write if the books are lying on the table in disorder. And then we got up late. In an hour and a half you have to go to dinner. What can be done in an hour and a half, when it is painful to read one page? And behind the walls again scales, and the violinist will never stop playing. “Neurasthenia, my dear, neurasthenia,” the doctor told me and ordered me to come every day to his hydrotherapy establishment. But I walked in vain for two months. It didn't help me, on the contrary, it got worse. And I quit treatment. And there was no money for it. I already felt, except that nothing could help me. Deafly, but convincingly, I felt the same thing that the beast in the forest feels, which the roundup surrounded by a ring. The raid is still far away, but the beast knows that the ring is inevitably narrowing. I stopped even for myself to define certain sensations in exact words. Every thing spoke to me wordlessly, and I spoke wordlessly to everything around me. The soul exchanged with all things - secret signs, but only destroying instructions came from everything.

Well, let's go to dinner, - said Melitta.

We went outside.

That year was early spring. The winter blizzards had wept to the end back in February, and now it was the beginning of March. The snow melted. It was sunny.

We walked, and each metal pedestal irresistibly attracted my attention. It seemed to me that if you hit her chest with a running start, you would break your chest and death would be instantaneous. Reason immediately began to contradict, and said that this was impossible. But the very next pedestal attracted the eye, and it seemed that it was extremely desirable - to run up and hit the metal ledge with all your might.

We entered a passageway. Melitta entered the store to buy something. I stayed outside. And while she was there, I realized with relentlessness that if she did not return, then I could still live and wait, that perhaps time would restore my former clarity of thought and I would read my favorite books again, prepare for the future, because I felt that I had a whole world of images in me. I felt that it was either me or her. Why? I couldn't explain myself. She loved me and I loved her. But since we got married, something has come down on me like a curse, everything clear has become confusing, everything previously possible has become impossible. And this inability to work, which alone I could somehow endure, now because I was with her, was completely unbearable.

Some minutes passed. Few - and endless. Tense, lengthy. I looked with a superstitious feeling at the shop door and waited. My fate was being decided. I have to do something. Either she or me. The shop door opened and Melitta stepped out. She was silent, her eyes were lowered, her beautiful face was pale. Something sad and stubborn made her expression harden.

How I loved that face. It was Botticelli, and she dressed like one of the Botticelli women. And that was a long time ago, when Botticelli was not yet known in Russia and they were not talking about him. Neither did I, an ignorant provincial and unfinished student. Large gray eyes, with a longitudinal slit, a white prominent forehead, blond curly hair, patterned red lips. How they kissed and how they loved to kiss, those patterned lips. And after the kiss they left sadness in the heart. We got married against my parents' wishes, and now I was at odds with them. I was also at odds with most of my comrades after marrying her. She laughed aptly and devastatingly at our revolutionary designs, and I gradually moved away from the circle to which I had previously belonged. My peers, the keepers of the Narodnaya Volya relics, as she called them, considered me almost a traitor or even a traitor. After all, just then I began to write poetry and published a whole book of them, and there were absolutely no social tendencies in them at all. My comrades rejoiced that the book did not have the slightest success, and saw in this a worthy punishment for my apostasy.

Only two remained faithful to me: Petka, the son of a blacksmith, a medical student, my fellow countryman, and a Mephistopheles nature, a law student Fomushka, a Siberian who, in his short life, had seen many tight-fisted people and therefore was always doubly moved by my naivety and inconsistency. And I was, it is true, timid and dreamy, and much was impossible for me, which is possible now. During these two days, March 12 and 13, I saw them both, and they strangely intertwined themselves in the story of my life.

When I returned home with Melitta after dinner, we wandered along the corridor, and she, like a child, was delighted at the window that had just been put up there. The large window that ended our long corridor, on the third floor, overlooked the hotel's paved courtyard, and opposite was another building of the hotel. We walked up to the window, hugging each other, and looked down for a long time. Some formless thought entered my brain in foggy layers, and everything - I was at the window, the opposite building, and this courtyard there, below - everything merged into one indefinable wholeness. I didn't say a word or make any movement as we stood at the window like that. But the souls hear each other - or was it just an accident? Melitta said: "That's high, and if you throw yourself, you still won't kill yourself, you'll only be disfigured." I didn't answer. I was even surprised, and there was a movement in me helplessly: “What does this have to do with me?”

Konstantin Dmitrievich Balmont was born on June 3 (15), 1867 in the village of Gumnishchi, Shuisky district, Vladimir province. Father, Dmitry Konstantinovich, served in the Shuisky district court and zemstvo, having gone from a small employee in the rank of collegiate registrar to a magistrate, and then to the chairman of the district zemstvo council. Mother, Vera Nikolaevna, nee Lebedeva, was an educated woman, and greatly influenced the future outlook of the poet, introducing him to the world of music, literature, history.
In 1876-1883, Balmont studied at the Shuya gymnasium, from where he was expelled for participating in an anti-government circle. He continued his education at the Vladimir Gymnasium, then at the University of Moscow, and at the Demidov Lyceum in Yaroslavl. In 1887 he was expelled from Moscow University for participation in student unrest and exiled to Shuya. Higher education never got it, but thanks to his diligence and curiosity, he became one of the most erudite and cultured people of his time. Balmont annually read a huge number of books, studied, according to various sources, from 14 to 16 languages, in addition to literature and art, he was fond of history, ethnography, and chemistry.
Poems began to write in childhood. The first book of poems "Collection of Poems" was published in Yaroslavl at the expense of the author in 1890. The young poet, after the release of the book, burned almost the entire small print run.
The decisive time in the formation of Balmont's poetic worldview was the mid-1890s. Until now, his poems have not stood out as something special among late populist poetry. Publication of the collections "Under the Northern Sky" (1894) and "In the Vastness" (1895), translation of two scientific papers Gorn-Schweitzer's "History of Scandinavian Literature" and Gaspari's "History of Italian Literature", acquaintance with V. Bryusov and other representatives of the new trend in art, strengthened the poet's faith in himself and his special destiny. In 1898, Balmont released the collection "Silence", which finally marked the author's place in contemporary literature.
Balmont was destined to become one of the founders of a new direction in literature - symbolism. However, among the “senior symbolists” (D. Merezhkovsky, Z. Gippius, F. Sologub, V. Bryusov) and among the “younger” ones (A. Blok, Andrei Bely, Vyach. Ivanov), he had his own position, associated with a wider understanding of symbolism as poetry, which, in addition to concrete meaning, has a hidden content, expressed with the help of hints, mood, musical sound. Of all the symbolists, Balmont most consistently developed the impressionist branch. His poetic world- this is the world of the thinnest fleeting observations, fragile feelings.
Balmont's forerunners in poetry were, in his opinion, Zhukovsky, Lermontov, Fet, Shelley and E. Poe.
Widespread fame came to Balmont rather late, and in the late 1890s he was rather known as a talented translator from Norwegian, Spanish, English and other languages.
In 1903, one of the best collections of the poet "We'll be like the sun" and the collection "Only Love" were published. And before that, for the anti-government poem "Little Sultan", read on literary evening in the city duma, the authorities expelled Balmont from St. Petersburg, forbidding him to live in other university cities. And in 1902, Balmont went abroad, being a political emigrant.
In addition to almost all European countries, Balmont visited the United States of America and Mexico, and in the summer of 1905 returned to Moscow, where his two collections Liturgy of Beauty and Fairy Tales were published.
Balmont responds to the events of the first Russian revolution with the collections Poems (1906) and Songs of the Avenger (1907). Fearing persecution, the poet again leaves Russia and leaves for France, where he lives until 1913. From here he makes trips to Spain, Egypt, South America, Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Ceylon, India.
The book The Firebird, published in 1907. Pipe of a Slav", in which Balmont developed national theme, did not bring him success, and from that time the gradual decline of the poet's fame begins. However, Balmont himself was not aware of his creative decline. He remains aloof from the fierce polemic between the Symbolists, which is being conducted on the pages of Libra and The Golden Fleece, disagrees with Bryusov in understanding the tasks facing contemporary art, he still writes a lot, easily, selflessly. One after another, the collections “Birds in the Air” (1908), “Round Dance of Times” (1908), “Green Heliport” (1909) are published. A. Blok speaks of them with unusual harshness.
In May 1913, after an amnesty was announced in connection with the tercentenary of the Romanov dynasty, Balmont returned to Russia and for some time found himself in the center of attention of the literary community. By this time, he is not only famous poet, but also the author of three books containing literary critical and aesthetic articles: "Mountain Peaks" (1904), "White Lightning" (1908), "Sea Glow" (1910).
Before October Revolution Balmont creates two more truly interesting collections, Ash (1916) and Sonnets of the Sun, Honey and Moon (1917).
Balmont welcomed the overthrow of the autocracy, but the events that followed the revolution scared him away, and thanks to the support of A. Lunacharsky, Balmont received permission in June 1920 to temporarily travel abroad. The temporary departure turned into long years of emigration for the poet.
In exile, Balmont published several poetry collections: A Gift to the Earth (1921), Haze (1922), Mine to Her (1923), Parted Distances (1929), Northern Lights (1931), Blue horseshoe "(1935)," Light service "(1936-1937).
He died on December 23, 1942 from pneumonia. He was buried in the town of Noisy le Grand near Paris, where he lived in recent years.