Anna Kern was born with the surname Poltoratskaya in 1800. Her parents were wealthy official noblemen. The father of the family happened to be a Poltava landowner and court counselor. Her mother, Ekaterina Ivanovna, can be described as a kind, but painful and weak character. So the father was the main one in the family.
Adolescence and growing up
The whole family lived on the territory of the estate, which belonged to the maternal grandfather. Then parents and Anna Petrovna Kern moved to the territory of the county town Lubny. Here the young years of the girl passed, and Bernovo, the estate her family owned, also managed to visit her home. The girl really enjoyed reading. Anna Kern went to social events. Enthusiastic glances turned to her. And all because of her charming appearance.
The father, a business man, took care of the family life of his daughter, so the bridegroom for the girl was chosen by him. It was General Yermolay Fedorovich Kern. The wedding took place when the girl was 17 years old. The sixth already went to her groom, however, Anna Kern was not able to go against her father’s will.
Life as a general
Anna Petrovna Kern married in 1817. In her memoirs, she mentions that she does not love her husband and does not seem possible to penetrate him with a bright feeling. Even respect for him is not available. Hidden hatred takes place in this union.
When the children appeared, this did not particularly correct the situation. Anna Kern did not show them warmth. She had two daughters. Life was not calm, because I constantly had to move in connection with the service of my husband-general. I had to visit Pskov, Riga, Elizavetgrad, Old Bykhov and Derpt.
Once in Kiev, the girl makes friends - Raevskih. She likes these people and their society. In every city she found like-minded people. In one of the houses of St. Petersburg, she met with Alexander Pushkin.
Rich personal life
From the records of the woman you can understand that she met a man whom she liked. Anna Kern briefly describes this man and calls her “dog rose”.
Was her lover and landowner Arkady Rodzianko. June 1825 brought her back to Pushkin when she was in Trigorsky.
The poet served time of exile on the territory of the Mikhailovsky estate. Anna had another affair when Alexey Wulf shared happy days with her. Her family life ended when, after moving to St. Petersburg, she left the family, for which she was considered an indecent woman.
They whispered about her at secular evenings. However, she did not care too much about the opinion of the world, but lived a full life.
As already mentioned, Anna Kern was a very beautiful woman. Her portrait is proof of that. With age, she did not lose her charm, but only acquired its new shades. When she was 36 years old, she had a love affair with a 16-year-old cadet, moreover, this young man was her second cousin. Truly, there are no barriers to love!
However, her fervor was a little extinguished when Anna Kern happened to become a calm homebody in connection with the appearance of an illegitimate son from Alexander Markov-Vingradsky. When the year 1841 took the life of General Kern, Anna became a woman free from past marriage obligations.
Second marriage
In connection with the solid situation of the deceased spouse, Anna was entitled to good retirement benefits. After General Kern, she had another husband, who became Alexander Markov-Wingranovsky. For the sake of official life with him, a woman sacrifices money received by her as a widow.
She had been ill with tuberculosis. So in the absence of significant financial resources, the family went through hard times. The couple held on tightly to each other and courageously went through all the trials until stomach cancer took Alexander from the living world.
Pushkin in her life
St. Petersburg was the first meeting place where Anna Kern, Pushkin's muse, first appeared to the poet. It was the year 1819. The great poet did not sink into her soul at first sight and made an impression of a very mediocre. She was not encouraged by the rudeness of a literary genius. However, when she read his poems, he appeared before her in a completely different light. I liked almost every poem read by Anna Kern.
In 1825 they meet again. Then the woman was in Trigorsk. It was then that Pushkin’s creative mind gives birth to the well-known work “I remember a wonderful moment ...”. Yes, yes, she was the one who appeared and prompted him to create these wonderful lines.
The heart of Anna at that moment was occupied by Alexey Wulf. Although she did not deny herself the pleasure and flirt with a landowner named Rokotov, who lived nearby.
Correspondence
At that time, a woman began to communicate with the poet. He writes a letter to Anna Kern, using French. He has invested a lot in his lines: there is playfulness and seriousness. Pushkin was always distinguished by a sharp tongue, and this only impressed the woman. You certainly could not get bored with him, so she was glad to talk with him.
Two years later they meet again. This is Petersburg again. Pushkin wrote about this in a letter that his friend Sergei Sobolevsky received from him. In the text of the letter, the poet does not particularly choose an expression, roughly speaking about an intimate relationship with Anna. Then he quickly translates the topic into monetary matters that he had with a friend. As we can see, there is no need to talk about a tender love affair.
Relations
The memories of Anna Kern about Pushkin, as we already understood, were very diverse: sometimes negative, then positive. It is interesting that he once jokingly called her the Babylonian harlot in the letter that Alexey Wulf received from him. This was such a strange sympathy, tinged with notes of sarcastic humor, which was so characteristic of Pushkin.
The poet himself had a rather extensive list of lovers. Pushkin did not rank Anna among his most beloved women. He just got carried away with her.
During the period of Pushkin’s life together with Natalia Goncharova, Kern asked him for help. She needed him to help promote the book she translated, George Sand, to the publishing house of Alexander Smirnov. The poet’s response to the request was rather harsh. Despite his sharpness, Anna was good to Pushkin, and this was mutual.
Farewell "meeting"
Rumor has it that the last "meeting" of the woman with the poet took place. At the moment when her coffin was carried in a funeral procession along Tversky Boulevard, a statue of Pushkin was established there. He was then brought into the territory of Moscow along the Tver Highway. A poem and ballad of other Russian poets was written about this fateful moment.
Although the relationship between Pushkin and Kern can be called romantic, it’s one thing that the poet wrote in her honor, the very thing that all schoolchildren teach and all adults know, that touches everyone’s soul, was the result of this somewhat peculiar union.
So the spark, and quite strong, in the soul of Alexander Sergeyevich still flared up, and for just a brief moment he could throw everything at her feet. At some point, she seemed unearthly to him. And that very moment her appearance was really wonderful. What happened in the soul of an emotional and temperamental poet then is another matter. Life, as you know, is changeable.
In any case, we can be grateful to fate for bringing these people together in due time, due to which such a wonderful verse about a wonderful moment was born.