The fate of the poet Annensky Inokenty Fedorovich (1855-1909) is unique in its kind. He published his first poetry collection (and only during his lifetime) at the age of 49 under the pseudonym Nick. To-o.
At first, the poet was going to title the book “From the Cave of Polyphemus” and choose the pseudonym Utis, meaning “nobody” in Greek (Odysseus introduced himself to Cyclops Polyphemus). Later, the collection was called "Quiet Songs". Alexander Blok, who did not know who the author of the book was, considered such anonymity doubtful. He wrote that the poet seemed to bury his face under a mask that made him get lost among many books. Perhaps in this modest confusion one should look for too "painful anguish"?
The origin of the poet, young years
The future poet was born in Omsk. His parents (see photo below) soon moved to St. Petersburg. Innocent Annensky in his autobiography reported that his childhood passed in an environment in which landowner and bureaucratic elements were united. From a young age he loved to engage in literature and history, he felt antipathy to everything banal, clear and elementary.
First poems
Innocent Annensky began to write poetry rather early. Since the concept of "symbolism" in the 1870s was still unknown to him, he considered himself a mystic. Annensky was attracted to the “religious genre” of B.E. Murillo, a 17th-century Spanish artist. He tried this genre "to make out words."
The young poet, following the advice of his older brother, who was a well-known publicist and economist (N.F. Annensky), decided that up to 30 years should not be published. Therefore, his poetic experiments were not intended for printing. Innokenty Annensky wrote poems in order to hone his skills and declare himself as a mature poet.
University studies
The study of antiquity and ancient languages in the university years temporarily supplanted writing. As Innokenty Annensky admitted, in these years he wrote nothing but dissertations. "Pedagogical and administrative" activities began after the university. According to colleagues-antiquaries, she distracted Innocent Fedorovich from scientific studies. And sympathizers of his poetry believed that it interfered with creativity.
Debut as a critic
Innocent Annensky made his debut in print as a critic. He published a number of articles in the 1880-1890s, mainly devoted to Russian literature of the 19th century. In 1906, the first “Book of Reflections” appeared, and in 1909 the second. This is a collection of criticism that is distinguished by impressionistic perception, Wilde subjectivism and associative-figurative moods. Innokenty Fedorovich emphasized that he was only a reader, and not a critic at all.
Translations of French poets
The Annensky poet considered the French Symbolists to be his forerunners, who he willingly and much translated. In addition to enriching the language, he also saw their merit in increasing aesthetic sensitivity, in that they increased the scale of artistic sensations. A significant section of Annensky's first collection of poems was composed of translations of French poets. Of the Russians, the closest to Innocent Fedorovich was K. D. Balmont, who caused awe from the author of "Quiet Songs". Annensky highly appreciated the musicality and “new flexibility” of his poetic language.
Symbolist Press Publications
Innocent Annensky led a rather secluded literary life. During the period of onslaught and storms, he did not defend the right to the existence of "new" art. Annensky did not participate in further intrasymbolistic disputes.
The first publications of Innocent Fedorovich in the symbolist press (the magazine "Pass") date back to 1906. In fact, his entry into the symbolist environment took place only in the last year of his life.
Last years
The critic and poet Innokenty Annensky delivered lectures at the Poetry Academy. He was also a member of the Society of Adherents of the Artistic Word, which operated under the journal Apollo. On the pages of this magazine, Annensky published an article that can be called a program article, "On Modern Lyricism."
Posthumous Cult, "Cypress Casket"
A wide resonance in the circles of the Symbolists caused his sudden death. At Tsarskoye Selo station Innokenty Annensky died. His biography ended, but the creative fate after death was further developed. Among the young poets close to Apollo (mainly Acmeist orientation, who reproached the Symbolists for inattention to Annensky), his posthumous cult began to take shape. 4 months after the death of Innocent Fedorovich, a second collection of his poems was published. The poet’s son, V. I. Annensky-Krivich, who became his biographer, commentator and editor, completed the preparation of the Cypress Casket (the collection was named so because Annensky’s manuscripts were kept in a cypress box). There is reason to believe that he did not always follow the father’s copyright will punctually.
Innokenty Annensky, whose poems were not very popular during his lifetime, gained the deserved fame with the release of The Cypress Casket. Blok wrote that this book penetrates deep into the heart and explains to him a lot about himself. Bryusov, who had earlier drawn attention to the “freshness” of turns, comparisons, epithets and even just the words that were chosen in the collection “Quiet Songs”, noted already as an undoubted merit the impossibility of guessing Innokenty Fedorovich’s two following stanzas on the first two verses and the end works at its beginning. Krivich in 1923 published in the collection entitled "Posthumous Poems by John Annensky", the remaining texts of the poet.
Originality
His lyrical hero is a man who unravels the "hateful rebus of being." Annensky thoroughly analyzes the self of a person who would like to be the whole world, to spill, dissolve in it, and who is tormented by the consciousness of an inevitable end, hopeless loneliness and aimless existence.
The verses of Annensky are given a unique originality by "crafty irony." According to V. Bryusov, she became the second person of Innocent Fedorovich as a poet. The style of writing of the author of the Cypress Casket and Quiet Songs is sharply impressionistic. Associative symbolism called her Vyacheslav Ivanov. Annensky believed that poetry does not portray. It only hints to the reader that cannot be expressed in words.
Today, the work of Inokenty Fedorovich gained well-deserved fame. A poet such as Innocent Annensky is included in the school curriculum. "Among the worlds", the analysis of which they are asked to conduct for schoolchildren, is perhaps his most famous poem. We also note that in addition to poetry, he wrote four plays in the spirit of Euripides on the plots of his lost tragedies.