‘I want to be daring!’ — Konstantin Balmont’s poetry

Konstantin Balmont was born 3 (15) June 1867 at his family’s estate, Gumnishchi village, Shuya county (then Vladimir Governorate). Valery Bryusov while analyzing Balmont’s poetry wrote: ‘Balmont’s poetry glorify and praise all rituals of love, Balmont says himself, that following the path of love he can achieve everything’. 

After his unsuccessful first marriage in 1896 Balmont got married for the second time. His choice was Ekaterina Andreeva, a well-educated and beautiful woman. She came from a rich merchant’s family, related to the well-known Moscow publishers, the Sabashnikovs. Andreyeva and Balmont had much in common; they formed a tandem of translators and worked together. Everything was perfect in their marriage, but in the early 1900s in Paris he met Elena Tzvetkovskaya, daughter of a prominent general and student of of the Faculty of Mathematics at the Sorbonne, she was an ardent fan of his poetry. Every Balmont’s word "sounded like the voice of God" for her. Thus, Konstantin Balmont lived a double life with two families. 

In March 1901 Balmont took part in a student demonstration on the square in front of Kazan Cathedral. The main demand of the protesters was the abolition of the decree on sending unreliable students to military service. Demonstration was disrupted by police and Cossack units. This event had a significant impact on Balmont’s life and works and made him "a true hero of St. Petersburg". 

Konstantin Balmont liked to be in company of noisy and cheerful young people, especially the female half. A lot of young ladies became his fans because of his poem "Let Us Be Like the Sun". Russian writer and translator Boris Zaitsev recalled, how one fine evening Balmont came to visit him in a particularly lyrical mood. He took a book out of his side pocket, looked at everyone with a thoughtful look and read: 

I entered this world to see the sun, 

And if the day should dim, I will sing... 

I will sing of the sun 

Until my dying hour! 

Lecturer 

Nina Shcherbak is Associate Professor in the Department of English Philology and Cultural Linguistics at St Petersburg University, Master of Arts (the United Kingdom), a writer and screenwriter. She is also a scriptwriter for science television shows, author of fifteen monographs, and books on linguistics, literature, language philosophy, and English literature. 

The lecture will be held as part of the events to mark the 300th anniversary of St Petersburg University, the oldest university in Russia.

 The meeting will be held online in Russian with simultaneous interpreting into Spanish.

Registration