Batyushkov K.N. (1787-1855), poet

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BATYUSHKOV Konstantin Nikolaevich (1787-1855), poet, lieutenant colonel (1818). In 1797-1807 he permanently lived in St. Petersburg: was brought up in private boarding schools, served in the Ministry of People's Education (1802-07). Consequently, visited St. Petersburg briefly. He participated in the Napoleonic Wars (1807, 1813-14), in the Russian-Sweden War (1808-09). He was an assistant manuscript curator (1812), librarian assistant (1817) in the Imperial Public Library in St. Petersburg. He was a member of the Free Society for Lovers of Literature, Sciences and Arts (1812), Arzamas Society (1815), the Free Society for Lovers of Russian Literature (1816). He was a secret foreign Russian diplomat in Italy (1818-20). He was a representative of the so-called light poetry in works of 1809-12 (My Penates, 1811-12 and many others) and master of lyric psychology in works from 1814 to 21 (Elegy, 1815, etc.). He was the author of articles on poetry. As a literary critic he argued for the perfection of language and style, was an adversary of the so-called archaists (Visions on Leta Bank, 1809, etc.). He was published by various Petersburg journals, visited A.N. Olenin's Salon (his residence Priyutino, near St. Petersburg, is described in Batyushkov's verses). Artistic insights of Batyushkov had a great influence on the development of Russian literature. The symbolism of the architectural image of St. Petersburg (A Walk to the Academy of Arts essay, 1814) had an influence on The Bronze Horseman poem of A.S.Pushkin. He introduced into literature themes of the iron age, and the black man. He lived in St. Petersburg in 1802-07 at the apartment of his uncle, M.N. Muravyev (Bolshaya Sadovaya Street, a part of Apraksin Dvor, not preserved); later mainly at 25 Fontanka River Embankment (memorial plaque), in the house of Muravyev's widow E.F. Muravyeva.

References: Кошелев В. А. Константин Батюшков: Странствия и страсти. М., 1987; Литературный Петербург пушкинской эпохи: Адрес. указ. / Сост. В. Ф. Шубин // Дома у Пушкина: [Сб. ст.]. СПб., 1994. С. 100-111. (Арс; № 1).

I. E. Vasilyeva. Batyushkov Konstantin Nikolaevich
Muravyev Alexander Mikhailovich
Muravyev Mikhail Nikitich
Muravyeva Ekaterina Fedorovna
Napoleon I Bonaparte, Emperor
Olenin Alexey Nikolaevich
Pushkin Alexander Sergeevich
Fontanka River Embankment/Saint Petersburg, city, house 25
Sadovaya St./Saint Petersburg, city
Кошелев В. А. Константин Батюшков: Странствия и страсти. М., 1987
Литературный Петербург пушкинской эпохи: Адрес. указ. / Сост. В. Ф. Шубин // Дома у Пушкина: [Сб. ст.]. СПб., 1994 Ministry of Public Education
Russian National Library
Free Society for the Lovers of Literature, Sciences and Arts, Literary and Social Organization
Arzamas, Literary Circle