Dmitry Merezhkovsky: biography. Poems, quotations

Merezhkovsky Dmitry Sergeevich was born in 1866 in St. Petersburg. His father served as a small palace official. Dmitry Merezhkovsky began to write poetry at the age of 13. Two years later, as a schoolboy, he visited with the father of FM Dostoyevsky. The great writer found the verses weak, told the beginning author that in order to write well, one must suffer. At the same time Dmitry Merezhkovsky met Nadson. At first, he imitated him in his poems and it was through him that he first entered the literary environment.

The appearance of the first collection of poems

In 1888 the first collection of Merezhkovsky, simply called "Poems", was published. The poet here is a student of Nadson. However, as noted by Vyacheslav Bryusov, Dmitry Merezhkovsky was immediately able to take an independent tone, beginning to talk about joy and strength, unlike other poets who considered themselves to be students of Nadson, who "ached" for their weakness and timelessness.

Education in universities, fascination with the philosophy of positivism

Dmitry from 1884 he studied at the Petersburg and Moscow universities, at the historical and philological faculties. At this time, Merezhkovsky was carried away by the philosophy of positivism, and also became friends with such employees of the "Northern Herald" as G. Uspensky, V. Korolenko, V. Garshin, due to which he began to understand the populist issues facing the society. The hobby, however, was not long. Acquaintance with the poetry of V. Solovyov and European Symbolists significantly changed the world outlook of the poet. Dmitry Sergeyevich refuses "extreme materialism" and passes on to symbolism.

The Marriage of Z. Gippius

Dmitry Merezhkovsky, as contemporaries noted, was a very closed person, reluctantly let into his world of other people. All the more remarkable for him was 1889. It was then that Merezhkovsky got married. The chosen one is the poetess Zinaida Gippius. The poet lived with her for 52 years and never parted for a day. This creative and spiritual union of his spouse described in an unfinished book called "Dmitry Merezhkovsky." Zinaida was a "generator" of ideas, and Dmitry designed and developed them in his work.

Travel, translation and justification of symbolism

In the late 1880's and 1890's. They traveled a lot to different countries in Europe. Dmitry translated from Latin and Greek antique tragedies, and also acted as a critic, published in such publications as Trud, Russkoye Obozrenie, Severny Vestnik.

Merezhkovsky in 1892 gave a lecture in which he gave the first substantiation of symbolism. The poet claimed that Impressionism, the language of the symbol and the "mystical content" could expand the "artistic impressionability" of Russian literature. The collection "Symbols" appeared shortly before this speech. He gave a name to a new direction in poetry.

"New poems"

In 1896 there was a third collection - "New Poems". Since 1899, Merezhkovsky's worldview has changed. He began to be interested in Christianity issues related to the cathedral church. In the article "Merezhkovsky" G. Adamovich recalls that when the conversation with Dmitry was animated, he sooner or later switched to one topic - the meaning and meaning of the Gospel.

Religious and philosophical meetings

Dmitri Merezhkovsky's wife in the fall of 1901 proposed the idea of creating a special society of people of philosophy and religion to discuss issues of culture and the church. So there were religious and philosophical collections, famous at the beginning of the last century. Their main theme was the assertion that only on a religious basis can a revival of Russia be accomplished. Until 1903, these meetings were held, with the permission of K.P. Pobedonostsev, Chief Procurator of the Synod. The priests also took part in them. Although the Christianity of the "Third Covenant" was not accepted, the desire to create a new religious society at a critical stage in the development of our country was understandable and close to contemporaries.

Work on historical prose

Dmitry Merezhkovsky, whose biography interests us, worked hard on historical prose. He created, for example, the trilogy "Christ and Antichrist," the main idea of which was to fight the two principles - the Christian and the pagan, and in the call to a new Christianity, in which "the earth is heavenly" and "the earth is heavenly."

In 1896 appeared the work "The Death of the Gods." Julian the Apostate "- the first novel of the trilogy. The second part was published in 1901 ("The Resurrected Gods, Leonardo da Vinci"). The final novel entitled "Antichrist Peter and Alexei" was born in 1905.

"Collection of poems"

The fourth collection "Collection of Poems" was published in 1909. There were few new poems in it, so this book was, rather, an anthology. However, a certain selection of works, made by Merezhkovsky, gave the collection modernity and novelty. Only works that corresponded to the changed views of the author were included in it. A new meaning found old poems.

Merezhkovsky among poets-contemporaries was sharply isolated. He distinguished himself by expressing general moods in his work, whereas A. Blok, Andrei Bely, K. Balmont, even talking about "topical" social themes, spoke primarily about themselves, about their own attitude towards them. And Dmitry Sergeevich expressed even in the most intimate confessions a universal feeling, hope or suffering.

New works

Merezhkovsky moved to Paris in March 1906 and lived here until the middle of 1908. In co-authorship with D. Filosofov and Z. Gippius Merezhkovsky in 1907 published the book "Le Tsar et la Revolution". He also began the creation of the trilogy "The Kingdom of the Beast" based on the history of Russia in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Dmitry Sergeevich after the release of the first part of this trilogy (in 1908) was prosecuted. In 1913, the second part of it appeared ("Alexander I"). The last novel - "December 14" - in 1918 was published by Dmitry Merezhkovsky.

"Sick Russia" is a book that appeared in 1910. It included historical and religious articles, which were published in 1908 and 1909. In the newspaper "Rech".

The book association of Wolff published in the period from 1911 to 1913. 17-volume collection of his works, and D. Sytin in 1914 released a four-volume. Merezhkovsky's prose was translated into many languages, it was very popular in Europe. In Russia, however, the works of Dmitry Sergeevich were subjected to severe censorship - the writer spoke out against the official church and the autocracy.

Relations with Bolshevism

Merezhkovsky in 1917 still lived in Russia. Therefore, the country was seen on the eve of the revolution in the image of a "future boor". A little later, having lived in Soviet Russia for two years, he established himself in his opinion that Bolshevism is a moral disease that is a consequence of the crisis in the culture of Europe. Merezhkovsky hoped that this regime would be overthrown, however, having learned about the defeat of Denikin in the south and Kolchak in Siberia, they decided to leave Petrograd.

Dmitry Sergeevich at the end of 1919 achieved the right to read his lectures in parts of the Red Army. In January 1920, together with his wife, he moved to the territory that was occupied by Poland. The poet lectured in Minsk for Russian emigrants. Merezhkovsky moved to Warsaw in February. Here they are actively engaged in political activities. When Poland signed a peace treaty with Russia, and the couple were convinced that the "Russian cause" in this country is over, they left for Paris. Merezhkovsky settled in an apartment that belonged to them since the pre-revolutionary times. Here they established old ties and established new acquaintances with Russian emigrants.

Emigration, the foundation of the "Green Lamp"

Dmitry Merezhkovsky was inclined to view emigration as a kind of messianism. He considered himself a spiritual "driver" of the intelligentsia, who turned out to be abroad. Merezhkovsky in 1927 organized the religious-philosophical and literary society "Green Lamp". Its president was G. Ivanov. The "Green Lamp" played a significant role in the intellectual life of the emigration of the first wave, and also united the best representatives of the foreign Russian intelligentsia. When the Second World War began, the society stopped meeting (in 1939).

Merezhkovsky founded the New Deal in 1927, a journal that lasted only a year. They also participated in the first congress of emigre writers from Russia, held in September 1928 in Belgrade (it was organized by the Yugoslav government). Merezhkovsky in 1931 was among the contenders for the Nobel Prize, but received it I. Bunin.

Support for Hitler

Merezhkovsky did not like in the Russian environment. Dislike was largely due to their support of Hitler, whose regime seemed more acceptable to them than Stalin's regime. Merezhkovsky in the late 1930's fascinated fascism, even met with one of its leaders - Mussolini. He saw in Hitler the deliverer of Russia from communism, which he considered a "moral disease". After Germany attacked the USSR, Dmitry Sergeevich spoke on German radio. He delivered a speech "Bolshevism and humanity", in which he compared Hitler with Joan of Arc. Merezhkovsky said that this leader can save mankind from communist evil. After this speech, all turned away from the couple.

Death of Merezhkovsky

10 days before the occupation of Paris by the Germans, in June 1940, Zinaida Gippius and D. Merezhkovsky moved to Biarritz, located in the south of France. December 9, 1941 Dmitry died in Paris.

Collected poetry Merezhkovsky

We briefly talked about which collections of poems Dmitry Merezhkovsky created. These books, however, are worthy of more detail on them. Each of the four collections of poems is very characteristic.

"Poems" (1888) is a book in which Dmitri Merezhkovsky, another disciple of Nadson, still acts. Quotations from it, worthy of attention, include the following:

"Do not despise the crowd! Ruthless and angry

Mockery do not stigmatize their sorrows and needs. "

These are lines from one of the most characteristic poems of this book. Nevertheless, from the very beginning, Dmitry Sergeevich was able to take an independent tone. As we have already noted, he spoke of strength and joy. His poems are pompous, rhetorical, but this is also characteristic, since Nadson's companions were afraid most of all of rhetoric, although they used it in a somewhat different guise, sometimes inappropriately. Merezhkovsky, on the other hand, turned to rhetoric in order to break the soundlessness and brightness of the soundless, colorless fog into which the life of Russian society was wrapped up in the 1880s.

"Symbols" - the second book of poems, written in 1892. It is notable for its versatility. Here the ancient tragedy and Pushkin, Baudelaire and Edgar Poe, Francis of Assisi and ancient Rome, the poetry of the city and the tragedy of everyday life. All that will fill all the books, it will take all the minds in 10-15 years, it was planned in this collection. "Symbols" is a book of premonitions. Dmitry Sergeevich foresaw the onset of a different, more lively era. He gave a titanic appearance to the events that took place around him ("Come, new prophets!").

"New poems" - the third collection of poems, written in 1896. He is considerably narrower in terms of the coverage of the phenomena of life than the previous, but much sharper. Here the calmness of the "Symbols" turned into a constant alarm, and the intensity of poetry passed into intense lyricism. Merezhkovsky considered himself in the "Symbols" minister of "abandoned gods." But by the time of the appearance of the "New Poems" he himself had already renounced these gods, spoke of his companions and himself: "Our speeches are bold ...".

"Collection of poems" - the last, the fourth collection (1909). There are few new poems in it, so the book, as we have already noted, is more of an anthology. Merezhkovsky in it turned to Christianity. He admitted that the blade of "boldness" and the deity-deprived "world culture" were too fragile. However, in Christianity, he wanted to find not only consolation, but also weapons. All the poems of this book are imbued with a desire for faith.