Konstantin Dmitriyevich Balmont (; – 23 December 1942) was a Russian symbolist poet and translator who became one of the major figures of the Silver Age of Russian Poetry.
Balmont's early education came from his mother, who knew several foreign languages, valued literature and theater, and exerted a strong influence on her son. He then attended two gymnasiums, being expelled from the first for political activities and graduating from the second. He started studying law at the Imperial Moscow University in 1886 but was quickly expelled for taking part in student unrest. He tried again at the Demidov Law College from 1889 but dropped out in 1890.
In February 1889, Balmont married Larisa Mikhailovna Garelina. Unhappy in marriage, on 13 March 1890 he attempted suicide by jumping from a third-storey window, resulting in a limp and an injured writing hand for the rest of his life. He became involved in two other common-law marriages and attempted suicide a second time in 1909.
Balmont wrote poetry and prose prolifically and published his works to wide audiences in Imperial Russia. After the Bolshevik revolution he emigrated in 1920 and had a smaller following in exile. He translated the works of other writers, including Edgar Allan Poe. He was thought of among the pre-revolutionary Russian intellectual milieu as an innovative poet and enjoyed friendships with many of his fellow Russian emigrant poets. He died of pneumonia in France in 1942.
Biography Konstantin Balmont was born at his family's estate, Gumnishchi, in Shuya, then part of Vladimir Governorate, the third of seven sons of a Russian nobleman, lawyer, and senior state official, Dmitry Konstantinovich Balmont, and Vera Nikolayevna (née Lebedeva) who came from a military family. The latter knew several foreign languages, was enthusiastic about literature and theater, and exerted a strong influence on her son. Balmont learned to read at the age of five and cited Alexander Pushkin, Nikolay Nekrasov, Aleksey Koltsov, and Ivan Nikitin as his earliest influences. Later he remembered the first ten years of his life spent at Gumnishchi with great affection and referred to the place as 'a tiny kingdom of silent comfort'.Balmont, K.D. At Sunrise. Autobiography. — From K.D.Balmont's Autobiographical prose. Moscow, 2001, P. 570.
In 1876, the family moved to Shuya where Vera Nikolayevna owned a two-story house. At age ten Konstantin joined the local gymnasium, an institution he later described as "the home of decadence and capitalism, good only at air and water contamination."Makogonenko, Darya. Life and Fate (Zhizn i sudba). // Balmont, К. The Selected Works. Poems, translations, essays. Compiled by Darya Makogonenko. Moscow. Pravda Publishers, 1990. It was there that he became interested in French and German poetry and started writing himself. His first two poems were criticized by his mother in such a way that for the next six years he made no further attempt at writing poetry. At the gymnasium Balmont became involved with a secret circle (formed by students and some teachers) which printed and distributed Narodnaya Volya proclamations. "I was happy and I wanted everybody to be happy. The fact that only a minority, myself included, were entitled to such happiness, seemed outrageous to me," he later wrote.Balmont, K.D. A Revolutionary: Am I, or Am I Not? / Революционер я или нет?, p. 452. On 30 June 1886, he was expelled from the Shuya gymnasium for his political activities.
Vera Nikolayevna transferred her son to a Vladimir gymnasium, but here the boy had to board with a Greek language teacher who took upon himself the duty of a warden. In late 1885, Balmont made his publishing debut: three of his poems appeared in the popular Saint Petersburg magazine Zhivopisnoe obozrenie. This event (according to biographer Viktor Bannikov) "was noticed by nobody except for his [tor]mentor" (his mother) who forbade the young man to publish anything further.
In 1886, Balmont graduated from the much hated gymnasium ("It completely ruined my nervous system." he remembered in 1923). and enrolled in Moscow State University to study law. There he became involved with a group of leftist activists and was arrested for taking part in student unrest. He spent three days in jail, was expelled from the university, and returned home to Shuya. In 1889, Balmont returned to the university but soon quit again after suffering a nervous breakdown. He joined the Demidov Law College in Yaroslavl but dropped out in September 1890, deciding he'd had enough formal education. "I simply couldn't bring myself to study law, what with living so intensely through the passions of my heart," he wrote in 1911.The Morning of Russia (Utro Rossii). 1911. — December 23. In February 1889, he married Larisa Mikhailovna Garelina; unhappy in marriage, on 13 March 1890 Balmont attempted suicide by jumping from a third-story window, leaving him with a limp and an injured writing hand for the rest of his life.Balmont, K. "Vozdushnyi put',Russkaya Mysl, No. 11, 1908). The year he spent recuperating from his suicide attempt became a turning point for Balmont, who, in his words, experienced 'extraordinary mental agitation' and envisaged his 'poetic mission.'
Debut
In 1890, Balmont released a self-financed book called Collection of Poems (Sbornik stikhotvoreny), which included some of the pieces published in 1885. Instrumental in helping the publication was Vladimir Korolenko, by then an established writer, who had received a handwritten notebook (sent to him by Konstantin's classmates) and sent back detailed and favorable critical analysis. He praised the schoolboy's eye for detail, warned against the occasional lapse of concentration, and advised him to "trust that unconscious part of the human soul which accumulates momentary impressions."Balmont, K.D. At The Dawn (Na zare). Autobiographical prose. P. 572. "Should you learn to concentrate and work methodically, in due time we'll hear of your having developed into something quite extraordinary," were the last words of this remarkable letter. Balmont was greatly impressed with the famous writer's magnanimity and later referred to Korolenko as his 'literary godfather'. The book, though, proved to be a failure. Disgusted with it, Balmont purchased and burnt all the remaining copies. "My first book, of course, was a total failure. People dear to me have made this fiasco even less bearable with their negativism," he wrote in 1903,К. Balmont. Autobiographical letter, 17/V/1903 // S.A.Vengerov. Critical and biographical dictionary of Russian writers and scientists. Vol. 6. St.P., 1904 meaning apparently Larisa, but also his university friends who considered the book 'reactionary' and scorned its author for 'betraying the ideals of social struggle'. Again, Korolenko came to Balmont's aid: "The poor guy is very shy; more editorial attention to his work would make great difference," he wrote to Mikhail Albov, one of the editors of Severny Vestnik, in September 1891.Korolenko, V.G. — Selected letters. Vol. 3. Moscow, 1936. p. 68.
In 1888–1891, Balmont published several poems he translated from German and French. For a while, none of the literary journals showed interest in Balmont's own work.
Some crucial practical help came from Moscow University professor Nikolai Storozhenko. "Were it not for him, I would have died of hunger" Balmont later remembered. The professor accepted his essay on Percy Bysshe Shelley and in October 1892 introduced him to the authors of Severny Vestnik, including Nikolai Minsky, Dmitry Merezhkovsky, and Zinaida Gippius, as well as the publisher Kozma Soldatyonkov, who commissioned him to translate two fundamental works on the history of European literature. These books, published in 1894–1895, "fed me for three years, making it possible for me to fulfill all my poetic ambitions," Balmont wrote in 1922.Seeing Eyes (Vidyaschyie glaza). Fragments from K. D. Balmont's memoirs. Latest News newspaper, Revel, March 17, 1922. All the while he continued to translate Shelley and Edgar Allan Poe. The lawyer and philanthropist, Prince Alexander Urusov, an expert in Western European literature, financed the publication of two of Poe's books, translated by Balmont. These translations are still held to be exemplary by modern Russian literary scholars. In 1894, Balmont met Valery Bryusov, who, impressed by the young poet's "personality and his fanatical passion for poetry," soon became his best friend.Bryusov, Valery. Autobiography. Russian literature of the ХХ century. Ed. S.A. Vengerov. Vol. 1, Moscow, 1914. P. 111
1893–1899 In December 1893, Balmont informed Nikolai Minsky in a letter: "I've just written a series of my own poems and I am planning to start the publishing process in January. I anticipate my liberal friends will be outraged, for there's not much liberalism in this, while there are 'corrupting influences' aplenty."Balmont, K.D. Poems. Leningrad, 1969. P. 23. Under the Northern Sky () came out in 1894 and marked the starting point in his literary career, several critics praising the young author's originality and versatility. The second collection, In Boundlessness (, 1895) saw Balmont starting to experiment with the Russian language's musical and rhythmical structures. Mainstream critics reacted coolly, but the Russian cultural elite of the time hailed the author as gifted innovator. Around this time, Balmont met and became close friends with Sergei Poliakov, Knut Hamsun's Russian translator and an influential literary entrepreneur (who in 1899 would launch the Scorpion publishing house). He also became a close friend of Bryusov, who had a formative influence on the development of Balmont's poetic and critical voice. In 1896, Balmont married Ekaterina Alekseyevna Andreeva, and the couple went abroad that year to travel through Western Europe. All the while Balmont was engaged in intensive self-education: he learned several languages and became an expert in various subjects like the Spanish art and Chinese culture. In the spring of 1897, Oxford University invited Balmont to read lectures on Russian poetry. "For the first time ever I've been given the opportunity to live my life totally in accord with my intellectual and aesthetic interests. I'll never get enough of this wealth of arts, poetry, and philosophical treasures", he wrote in a letter to critic Akim Volynsky.Volynsky, Akim. Severny Vestnik. 1898, Nos. 8–9 These European impressions formed the basis for Balmont's third collection Silence (, 1898).
1900–1905 After two years of continuous traveling, Balmont settled at Sergey Polyakov's Banki estate to concentrate on his next piece of work. In late 1899, he informed the poet Lyudmila Vilkina in a letter: