Fet's portrait by Ilya Repin.

Afanasy Afanasievich Fet (Афанасий Афанасьевич Фет, December 5, 1820 — December 3, 1892), or Foeth. Was a popular Russian poet who wrote hundreds of poems from 1840 until his death in 1892. For the first fourteen years of his life he went by the surname of his Russian father Shenshin (Шеншин) but was denied the right to keep his father's name because his parents' marriage was not official until after his birth. Image File history File linksMetadata Athanasefet. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Athanasefet. ... Ilyá Yefímovich Répin (Илья́ Ефи́мович Ре́пин) (August 5, 1844 (Julian calendar: July 24) – September 29, 1930) was a leading Russian painter and sculptor of the Peredvizhniki artistic... December 5 is the 339th day (340th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1820 was a leap year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... December 3 is the 337th (in leap years the 338th) day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1892 (MDCCCXCII) was a leap year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ...

Life

Afanasy was the child of a German woman named Charlotta who was initially married to Johann Foeth. She remarried a rich Russian landlord named Shenshin in 1822 after Afanasy's birth in 1820. It is unclear if Afanasy was the son of Foeth or Shenshin, but the decision was made by the Holy Consistory in Orel that he would go by his German father's name because the marriage between his mother and his Russian father was not legitimized soon enough. This was quite traumatic for him as he completely identified himself with Shenshin and not Foeth. He spent his youth studying at the Moscow University, and serving in the army (until 1856). The stigma of illegitimacy haunted him all through his life, and after years of litigation he obtained the right to use the prestigious name Shenshin (1876). Promotion in the army ranks helped him to secure the longed-for admission to Russian nobility as well, just in time when the serfdom was abolished. Moscow State University campus M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University (Московский Государственный Университет име&#1085... Army (from French armée) can, in some countries, refer to any armed force. ... A lawsuit is a civil action brought before a court in order to recover a right, obtain damages for an injury, obtain an injunction to prevent an injury, or obtain a declaratory judgment to prevent future legal disputes. ... The Lords and Barons prove their Nobility by hanging their Banners and exposing their Coats-of-arms at the door of the Lodge of the Heralds. ...

Fet was despised and ridiculed by the radicals as a mean personality of reactionary political views, but this doesn't concern his poetry. He held the view that a poet's lifestyle has little bearing to his art, and that artist doesn't have to be sincere. While in the army, he made friends with another officer, Leo Tolstoy, whom he always admired. Later he settled at the Stepanovka manor in his home district of Mtsensk and visited his illustrious neighbour as often as possible. Among Tolstoy's friends, he was the only professional man of letters. Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy (Russian: , Lev Nikolaevič Tolstoj), commonly referred to in English as Leo Tolstoy, September 9 [O.S. August 28] 1828 – November 20 [O.S. November 7] 1910) was a Russian novelist, philosopher, Christian anarchist, pacifist, educational reformer, vegetarian, moral thinker and an influential member of the Tolstoy... Mtsensk (Russian: Мценск) is a town in the Oryol Oblast in Russia, located on the Zusha River (Okas tributary) 49 km northeast of Oryol. ...

In his later years, he also wrote literary reminiscences and translated the Aeneid and The World as Will and Representation. At an old age, when his suffering became unbearable, Fet attempted to follow Schopenhauer's advice and commit suicide but was stymied by his family. He died from a heart attack during another suicide attempt. For the group of nine Ancient Egyptian deities, see Ennead. ... The World as Will and Representation (original German title, Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung; sometimes translated as The World as Will and Idea) is the central work of Arthur Schopenhauer and one of the most important philosophical works of the 19th century. ... Arthur Schopenhauer Arthur Schopenhauer (February 22, 1788 – September 21, 1860) was a German philosopher born in Gdańsk (Danzig), Poland. ...

Poetry

When Fet first published his poetry in 1842, he was timid enough not to trust his own artistic taste. He therefore submitted his verse to the examination of Ivan Turgenev, whom he respected as an arbiter of literary tastes. This tradition continued for many years, until Fet understood that Turgenev had expurgated from his verse the most personal and original elements of his artistic vision. 1842 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... Ivan Turgenev, photo by Félix Nadar (1820-1910) For other uses, see Turgenev (disambiguation). ...

Subjects of Fet's poetry are far from being original: unhappy love, modest nature of Central Russia, perfection of Greek statuary, and majesty of God. But he treated them in an impressionistic manner, always trying to catch a moment of volatile change. He could write a poem consisting of nouns only and yet making an impression of restless dynamism. Impressionism was a 19th century art movement that began as a loose association of Paris-based artists who began publicly exhibiting their art in the 1860s. ...

His last pieces, arguably influenced by Baudelaire, are intricate and obscure: the images are meant to evoke (rather than to record) subtle associations of half-forgotten memories. He once said that the most important thing in poetry is a thread that would bind all the rambling associations into a tightly structured short poem. Charles Baudelaire Charles Pierre Baudelaire (April 9, 1821–August 31, 1867) was one of the most influential French poets. ...

Fet was never a popular poet during his lifetime. But he had a profound influence on the Russian Symbolists, especially Innokenty Annensky and Alexander Blok, and as such is firmly established among all-time Russian greats. Mikhail Nesterovs painting Vision to Youth Bartholomew (1890) is often taken as a starting point of Russian Symbolism. ... Alexandre Benois Portrait of Innokenty Annensky Innokentiy Fyodorovich Annensky (Russian: , 1855-1909) was a poet, critic and translator, representative of the first wave of the Russian Symbolism. ... Blok in 1907 Alexander Blok Alexander Blok (Александр Александрович Блок, November 16, 1880 - August 7, 1921), was perhaps the most gifted lyrical poet that Russia produced after Alexander Pushkin. ...

Sample

A sample of Fet's poem, with rhymes dropped

When you were reading those tormented lines

In which the heart's resonant flame sends out glowing streams

And passion's fatal torrents rear up,-

Didn't you recall a single thing?

I can't believe it! That night on the steppe

When, in the midnight mist a premature dawn,

Transparent, lovely as a miracle,

Broke in the distance before you

And your unwilling eye was to this beauty drawn

To that majestic glow beyond the realm of darkness,-

How could it be that nothing whispered to you then:

A man has perished in that fire!

15 February 1887

External links

• Afanasy Fet. Poems