Birthday anniversary of Yakov Petrovich Polonsky (1819-1898), Russian poet and prose writer

Yakov Petrovich Polonsky was born on December 6 (18), 1819, in Ryazan. The poet's father, Pyotr Grigorievich Polonsky, was a clerk in the office of Ryazan Governor-General A. D. Balashov. In 1819, he married Natalya Yakovlevna Kaftyreva, a descendant of an ancient noble family. Yakov Petrovich Polonsky was the eldest child in the family.

Yakov Polonsky recalled: "My official birthday is December 7, 1819, but I was born earlier than midnight on the evening of St. Nicholas Day. It was decided to celebrate my birthday on December 6, not 7, when I received a name and enlisted the parish register for the first time. My godmother and my maternal aunt Vera Yakovlevna Kaftyreva repeatedly told me a story about how she and her sisters learned about my birth on St. Nicholas Day during a ball of Governor-General Balashov. They suddenly left the ball and came to congratulate my mother at night in ball dresses.

Yakov Polonsky studied at the Ryazan First Male Gymnasium. Here his interest in literature arose. He began to write still shy, imitative, student poems. In 1837, Tsarevich Alexander Nikolaevich, the future Emperor Alexander II, visited the Gymnasium. Yakov Polonsky recalled: "Director Semyonov called me and told me to write a poem with one verse for declamation, and the other for singing in a voice "God Save the Tsar!". I accepted this challenge gladly and took many pains writing these verses".

At night, Polonsky was justly rewarded for his poem at the apartment of the Gymnasium dDirector N. N. Semyonov. "So, I saw a tall, stout, slightly round-shouldered, stranger approaching me... This gentleman was Vasily Andreevich Zhukovsky. He told me that he liked my poems very much, that the heir praised me and gave me a gold watch... On the next day of the royal prince's departure, some paper was read in the assembly hall of the new Gymnasium. Then I received a box with small gold watches covered with enamelled flowers, mostly forget-me-nots", wrote Yakov Polonsky.

In 1838, graduated from the gymnasium, Yakov Polonsky entered the Law Department of Moscow University. Among his university friends were such prominent contemporaries as poets A. A. Grigoriev, A. A. Fet, historians S. M. Soloviev, K. D. Kavelin, writer A. F. Pisemsky and others. His close friends were: Mikhail Orlov - a retired general, a member of the early Decembrist organizations (with wife and son Nikolai); Mikhail Pogodin; Yury Samarin; Ivan Turgenev (an intimate friend until the end of life); Pavel Chaadaev; Aleksey Khomyakov; Nikolai Yazykov; Mikhail Shchepkin.

Despite a rich circle of friends and a variety of interests, the life of a student Polonsky was difficult - he was poor, he had to earn extra money giving private lessons. In 1840, the Otechestvennye Zapiski (Patriotic Notes) magazine published a Polonsky's poem by The Holy Gospel Sounds Solemnly…, which was highly esteemed by I. I. Davydov, a professor of literature at Moscow University. It is the first poet's publication.

In 1844, the Gammas - the first book by Yakov Polonsky, was issued in Moscow. It was well appreciated by critics. In the same year, Polonsky went to Odessa, where he met Lew Pushkin (brother of Alexander Pushkin), who later wrote about "Polonsky's talent" to the literary critic Pavel Pletnev. In 1846, the Poems of 1845 collection was published in Odessa with the support of friends. Despite these all, Yakov Polonsky continued his tutor activity in rich families. The impressions of Odessa later inspired the autobiographical novel Cheap City.

In the spring of 1846, Yakov Polonsky moved to Tiflis. At first, he took the position of a clerk assistant. Then Polonsky became the special deputy official at the office of the Caucasusian Governor Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov. At the same time, he used to be an assistant editor of the official newspaper Zakavkazsky Vestnik (Transcaucasian Herald). The Tiflis printing house published collections of Yakov Polonsky's poems Sazandar and Several Poems.

In 1851, Yakov Polonsky appeared in Saint-Petersburg. In 1855, he issued the Poems book, which was well appreciated by critics. He became a regular contributor to the Saint-Petersburg magazines Otechestvennye Zapiski (Patriotic Notes) and Sovremennik (Contemporary). However, royalties for literary activity could not ensure the poet's life. Yakov Polonsky became a tutor of the son of the Saint-Petersburg Governor Nikolai Mikhailovich Smirnov. In 1857, the Smirnovs took Polonsky to journey to Baden-Baden. Soon he parted with the Smirnovs and travelled around European cities. In Geneva, he took drawing lessons from the artist Didé, visited Rome, Naples, Paris, where he got acquainted with many Russian and foreign cultural figures. In 1858, in Paris, Yakov Polonsky met Elena Vasilievna Ustyuzhskaya, the 18-year-old daughter of a parish clerk of the Russian Orthodox Church. Soon she became his wife. In the same year, the young couple moved to Saint-Petersburg. However, the poet's happiness did not last for long. In January 1860, his 6-month-old son Andrei died. His beloved wife fell ill and died six months later. Shortly before Yakov Polonsky harshly injured his leg, which made him use crutches.

In the difficult year of 1860, the poet issued the book of poems Prints, which was favourably received by the audience. Then, Yakov Polonsky continued to publish poetry and prose in magazines. He also printed in Saint-Petersburg the book The Musician Grasshopper: A Joke in the Design of a Poem with illustrations by V. A. Hartman.

In 1866, Yakov Polonsky met Josephina Antonovna Ryulman, his second wife. In this marriage, he had three children: Alexander (1868), Natalia (1870) and Boris (1875).

In 1863, Yakov Polonsky was appointed as a junior censor of the Foreign Censorship Committee, where he served until 1896. By the end of his life, he became a member of the Council of the Main Press Directorate. He worked mostly at home, studying French, English, Italian books and magazines.

In the 1860-1870s, Yakov Polonsky published new verses in periodicals, worked on poems Brothers, Mimi, Keliot; novels Confessions of Sergei Chalygin, Cheap City and Steep Hills; published poetry collections. In 1869, there were issued the collected works in four volumes, in 1895-1896, - a five-volume publication of collected works.

In 1872, Yakov Polonsky released a separate edition of the libretto to the opera Vakula the Smith by Pyotr Tchaikovsky (first performance - December 6, 1876, at the Mariinsky Theater in Saint-Petersburg), based on Nikolai Gogol's story Christmas Eve. After revision, the opera was named Cherevichki and staged at the Bolshoi Theater in 1887.

Grand Prince Konstantin Konstantinovich Romanov, who wrote under the pen-name K. R., dedicated to Yakov Polonsky the poem The Immortal Lyre of the Unforgettable Poets.

In 1888, Yakov Polonsky became a member of the Ryazan Scientific Archive Commission. The same year, his landscape paintings were showcased at the academic exhibition, for which he was awarded the title of an Honorary Member of the Imperial Academy of Arts.

The "Fridays" of Yakov Polonsky were as famous as his works. These popular Saint-Petersburg parties were held in his apartment at the corner of Znamenskaya and Basseinaya streets. The poet wanted to bring together writers, artists, musicians in his house to friendly art discussions.

On October 18, 1898, Yakov Polonsky died after a long illness. After the funeral ceremony in Saint-Petersburg, the coffin with his body was taken to Ryazan. It was placed in the church of the Ryazan Gymnasium for several hours. On October 25, the coffin was delivered to the Lgov Monastery and buried. In 1959, the ashes of Yakov Polonsky were moved from Lgov to the Ryazan Kremlin.

Based on the Presidential Library’s materials:

Русский вестник. СПб., 1892. Т. 220. № 5. Май

Соколов Н. М. Лирика Я. П. Полонского: Крит. этюд. СПб., [1898]