Apollon Maykov
Apollon Nikolayevich Maykov was a Russian poet, best known for his lyric verse showcasing images of Russian villages, nature, and history. His love for ancient Greece and Rome, which he studied for much of his life, is also reflected in his works. Maykov spent four years translating the epic The Tale of Igor's Campaign into modern Russian. He translated the folklore of Belarus, Greece, Serbia and Spain, as well as works by Heine, Adam Mickiewicz and Goethe, among others. Several of Maykov's poems were set to music by Russian composers, among them Rimsky-Korsakov and Tchaikovsky.
Maykov was born into an artistic family and educated at home, by the writer Ivan Goncharov, among others. At the age of 15, he began writing his first poetry. After finishing his gymnasium course in just three years, he enrolled in Saint Petersburg University in 1837.
He began publishing his poems in 1840, and came out with his first collection in 1842. The collection was reviewed favorably by the influential critic Vissarion Belinsky. After this, he traveled throughout Europe, returning to Saint Petersburg in 1844, where he continued to publish poetry and branched out into literary criticism and essay writing.
He continued writing throughout his life, wavering several times between the conservative and liberal camps, but maintaining a steady output of quality poetical works. In his liberal days he was close to Belinsky, Nikolay Nekrasov, and Ivan Turgenev, while in his conservative periods he was close to Fyodor Dostoyevsky. He ended his life as a conservative. Maykov died in Saint Petersburg On 8 March 1897.
Biography
Apollon Maykov was born into an artistic family. His father, Nikolay Maykov, was a painter, and in his later years an academic of the Imperial Academy of Arts. His mother, Yevgeniya Petrovna Maykova, loved literature and later in life had some of her own poetry published. The boy's childhood was spent at the family estate just outside Moscow, in a house often visited by writers and artists. Maykov's early memories and impressions formed the foundation for his much lauded landscape lyricism, marked by what biographer Igor Yampolsky calls "a touchingly naive love for the old patriarchal ways."In 1834 the family moved to Saint Petersburg. Apollon and his brother Valerian were educated at home, under the guidance of their father's friend Vladimir Solonitsyn, a writer, philologist and translator, known also for Nikolay Maykov's 1839 portrait of him. Ivan Goncharov, then an unknown young author, taught Russian literature to the Maykov brothers. As he later remembered, the house "was full of life, and had many visitors, providing a never ceasing flow of information from all kinds of intellectual spheres, including science and the arts." At the age of 15 Apollon started to write poetry. With a group of friends the Maykov brothers edited two hand-written magazines, Podsnezhnik and Moonlit Nights, where Apollon's early poetry appeared for the first time.
Maykov finished his whole gymnasium course in just three years, and in 1837 enrolled in Saint Petersburg University's law faculty. As a student he learned Latin which enabled him to read Ancient Roman authors in the original texts. He later learned Ancient Greek, but until then had to content himself with French translations of the Greek classics. It was at the university that Maykov developed his passionate love of Ancient Greece and Rome.
Literary career
Apollon Maykov's first poems were published in 1840 by the Odessa Almanac and in 1841 by Biblioteka Dlya Chteniya and Otechestvennye Zapiski. He also studied painting, but soon chose to devote himself entirely to poetry. Instrumental in this decision was Pyotr Pletnyov, a University professor who, acting as a mentor for the young man, showed the first poems of his protégé to such literary giants as Vasily Zhukovsky and Nikolai Gogol. Maykov never became a painter, but the lessons he received greatly influenced his artistic worldview and writing style.In 1842 his first collection Poems by A.N. Maykov was published, to much acclaim. "For me it sounds like Delvig's ideas expressed by Pushkin," Pletnyov wrote. Vissarion Belinsky responded with a comprehensive essay, praising the book's first section called "Poems Written for an Anthology", a cycle of verses stylized after both ancient Greek epigrams and the traditional elegy. He was flattered by the famous critic's close attention. Maykov paid heed to his advice and years later, working on the re-issues, edited much of the text in direct accordance with Belinsky's views.
After graduating from the university, Maykov joined the Russian Ministry of Finance as a clerk. Having received a stipend for his first book from Tsar Nicholas I, he used the money to travel abroad, visiting Italy, France, Saxony, and Austria. In Paris Apollon and Valerian attended lectures on literature and fine arts at the Sorbonne and the Collège de France. On his way back Maykov visited Dresden and Prague where he met Václav Hanka and Pavel Jozef Šafárik, the two leaders of the national revival movement. The direct outcome of this voyage for Apollon Maykov was a University dissertation on the history of law in Eastern Europe.
In 1844 Maykov returned to Saint Petersburg to join the Rumyantsev Museum library as an assistant. He became actively involved with the literary life of the Russian capital, contributing to Otechestvennye Zapiski, Finsky Vestnik and Sovremennik. He also debuted as a critic and published several essays on literature and fine art, reviewing works by artists like Ivan Aivazovsky, Fyodor Tolstoy and Pavel Fedotov.
In 1846 the Petersburg Anthology published his poem "Mashenka", which saw Maykov discarding elegy and leaning towards a more down-to-Earth style of writing. Again Belinsky was impressed, hailing the arrival of "a new talent, quite capable of presenting real life in its true light." The critic also liked Two Fates. A "natural school" piece, touched by Mikhail Lermontov's influence, it featured "a Pechorin-type character, an intelligent, thinking nobleman retrogressing into a low-brow philistine," according to Alexander Hertzen's review. In the late 1840s Maykov was also writing prose, in a Gogol-influenced style known as the "physiological sketch". Among the short stories he published at the time were "Uncle's Will" and "The Old Woman – Fragments from the Notes of a Virtuous Man".
In the late 1840s Maykov entered Belinsky's circle and became friends with Nikolai Nekrasov and Ivan Turgenev. Along with his brother Valerian he started to attend Mikhail Petrashevsky's 'Secret Fridays', establishing contacts with Fyodor Dostoyevsky and Aleksey Pleshcheyev. Later, having been interrogated about his involvement, Maykov avoided arrest, but for several years was kept under secret police surveillance. In the years to come Maykov, who never believed in the ideas of socialism, often expressed embarrassment over his involvement in the Petrashevsky affair. In an 1854 letter to M. A. Yazykov he confessed: "At the time I had very vague political ideas and was foolish enough to join a group where all the government's actions were criticized and condemned as wrong a priory, many of applauding every mistake, according to the logic of 'the worse they rule, the quicker they'll fall'. In the 1850s Maykov, now a Slavophile, began to champion 'firm' monarchy and strong Orthodox values. Writing to Aleksandr Nikitenko he argued: "Only a form of political system which had been proven by the test of history could be called viable". In 1852 Maykov moved into the office of the Russian Committee of Foreign censorship, where he continued working for the rest of his life, becoming its chairman in 1882.
In 1847 Maykov's second collection of poems, Sketches of Rome, the artistic outcome of his earlier European trip, was published. Informed with Belinsky's criticism, some poems were built on the juxtaposition of the majestic ruins and lush landscapes of 'classic' Rome with the everyday squalor of contemporary Italy. This homage to the "natural school" movement, though, did not make Maykov's style less flamboyant; on the contrary, it was in Sketches of Rome that he started to make full use of exotic epithets and colorful imagery.
In 1848–1852 Maykov wrote little, but became active during the Crimean War. First came the poem "Claremont Cathedral", an ode to Russia's historical feat of preventing the Mongol hordes from devastating European civilization. This was followed by the compilation Poems, 1854. Some of the poems, like those about the siege of Sevastopol were welcomed by the literary left. Others were seen as glorifying the monarchy and were deemed 'reactionary'. The last 1854 poem, "The Harlequin", was a caricature on a revolutionary keen to bring chaos and undermine centuries-old moral principles. Now a 'patriarchal monarchist', Maykov started to praise the Nikolai I regime. Another poem, "The Carriage", where Maykov openly supported the Tsar, was not included in 1854, but circulated in its hand-written version and did his reputation a lot of harm. Enemies either ridiculed the poet or accused him of political opportunism and base flattery. Some of his friends were positively horrified. In his epigrams, poet Nikolay Shcherbina labeled Maykov 'chameleon' and 'servile slave'. While social democrats saw political and social reforms as necessary for Russia, Maykov called for the strengthening of state power.
After Russia's defeat in the war the tone of Maykov's poetry changed. Poems like "The war is over. Vile peace is signed...", "Whirlwind", "He and Her" criticized corrupt high society and weak, inadequate officials who were indifferent to the woes of the country and its people. Now openly critical of Nikolai I, Maykov admitted to having been wrong when professing a belief in the monarch.
In 1858 Maykov took part in the expedition to Greece on board the corvette Bayan. Prior to that he read numerous books about the country and learned the modern Greek language. Two books came out as a result of this trip: The Naples Album and Songs of Modern Greece. The former, focusing on contemporary Italian life, was coldly received by Russian critics who found it too eclectic. In retrospect it is regarded as a curious experiment in breaking genre barriers, with images and conversations from foreign life used to express things which in Russia could not be commented on publicly at the time. In the latter, the author's sympathy for the Greek liberation movement is evident.
The early 1860s saw Maykov's popularity on the rise: he often performed in public and had his works published by the leading Russian magazines. In the mid-1860s he once again drifted towards the conservative camp, and stayed there for the rest of his life. He condemned young radicals, and expressed solidarity with Mikhail Katkov's nationalistic remarks regarding the Polish Uprising and Russian national policy in general. In poems like "Fields", "Niva" and "The Sketch" he praised the 1861 reforms, provoking sharp criticism from Saltykov-Schedrin and Nikolay Dobrolyubov. Adopting the Pochvennichestvo doctrine, Maykov became close to Apollon Grigoriev, Nikolai Strakhov, and Fyodor Dostoyevsky; his friendship with the latter proved to be a particularly firm and lasting one.
In the 1860s and 1870s Maykov contributed mainly to Russky Vestnik. One of the leading proponents of Russian Panslavism, he saw his country as fulfilling its mission in uniting Slavs, but first and foremost freeing the peoples of the Balkans from Turkish occupation. "Once you've seen Russia in this perspective, you start to understand its true nature and feel ready to devote yourself to this life-affirming cause," wrote Maykov in a letter to Dostoyevsky. The mission of art, according to the poet, was to develop the national self-consciousness and revive the 'historical memory' of Russians. The Slavic historic and moral basis on which it stood became the major theme of Maykov's poetry cycles "Of the Slavic World", "At Home", and "Callings of History". Well aware of the darker side of Russia's historic legacy, he still thought it necessary to highlight its 'shining moments'. Maykov was not a religious person himself but attributed great importance to the religious fervor of the common people, seeing it as the basis for 'moral wholesomeness'. His religious poems of the late 1880s differed radically from his earlier odes to paganism. In them Maykov professed a belief in spiritual humility and expressed the conviction that this particular feature of the Russian national character would be its saving grace.