Sergei Yesenin is who his father wanted him to be. Poet Sergei Yesenin
Before finding out who Yesenin’s parents were, we must honestly admit that the whole story will ultimately come down to the life and work of the poet himself. And you can write about him endlessly, because fans have always been interested in the people who influenced the formation of his personality, and the environment in which this unique Russian nugget grew up, close in size to Pushkin and Lermontov, the path of love for whom to this day is not overgrown .
Motherland
Yesenin's birthday took place in a picturesque corner of Russia on October 3, 1895. This magnificent Yesenin region today receives a huge number of visitors every day. The future poet was born in Konstantinovo (Ryazan region), in an ancient village, which was freely spread out among forests and fields on the right bank of the Oka. The nature of these places is inspired by God, it is not for nothing that a genius with a devoted Russian soul was born here.
Yesenin's house in Konstantinovo has long become a museum. Wide carpets of flooded meadows and picturesque lowlands near the river became the cradle of the great poet’s poetry. The homeland was the main source of his inspiration, to which he constantly fell, drawing the strength of Russian love for his father’s home, the Russian spirit and his people.
Yesenin's parents
The poet's father, Alexander Nikitich Yesenin (1873-1931), sang in a church choir from his youth. He was a peasant, but he was not at all suitable for peasant work, since he could not properly harness a horse. That’s why he went to work in Moscow with the merchant Krylov, who ran a butcher shop. Alexander Yesenin was very dreamy. He could sit thoughtfully by the window for a long time, very rarely smiled, but at the same time he could tell such funny things that everyone around him rolled with laughter.
The poet's mother, Tatyana Fedorovna Titova (1873-1955), was also from a peasant family. She lived almost her entire life in Konstantinovo. The Ryazan region practically captivated her. Tatyana Fedorovna gave her son Sergei strength and confidence in his talent, without this he would never have decided to go to St. Petersburg.
Yesenin’s parents were not happy in their marriage, but his mother lived all her life with a heavy heart and terrible pain in her soul, and there were serious reasons for this.
Brother Alexander Razgulyaev
Not everyone knows, but next to the poet’s grave at the Vagankovskoye cemetery there is also the grave of Yesenin’s maternal half-brother, Alexander Ivanovich Razgulyaev. The whole point is that Tatyana Fedorovna, while still very young, did not marry Alexander Nikitich for love. Yesenin’s parents somehow didn’t get along right away. Immediately after the wedding, the father returned to Moscow, to the butcher shop of the merchant Krylov, where he had previously worked. Tatyana Fedorovna was a woman of character and did not get along with either her husband or her mother-in-law.
She sent her son Sergei to be raised by her parents, and in 1901 she herself went to work part-time in Ryazan and there she met, as it seemed to her then, her great love. But the obsession quickly passed, and from this sinful love a son, Alexander (1902-1961), was born.
Tatyana Fedorovna wanted to get a divorce, but her husband did not give it. She had to give the boy to the nurse E.P. Razgulyaeva and write it down in her last name. From that moment on, her life turned into a nightmare, she suffered and missed the baby, sometimes visited him, but could not take him away. Sergei Yesenin found out about him in 1916, but they met only in 1924 in the house of his grandfather, Fyodor Titov.
Alexander Nikitich Yesenin wrote to his eldest daughter Ekaterina, who was then living with Benislavskaya, so that they would not accept Alexander Razgulyaev, since it was very painful for him to endure this. The poet also had resentment towards his mother. Although he understood that brother Alexander was not to blame for anything, they did not have a warm relationship either.
Alexander Ivanovich Razgulyaev, of course, was proud of his brother. He lived the life of a humble railroad worker who raised four children. He described all his terrible memories of his orphan childhood in his Autobiography.
Sisters
Yesenin also had two beloved sisters: Ekaterina (1905-1977) and Alexandra (1911-1981). Catherine followed her brother from Konstantinovo to Moscow. There she helped him in literary and publishing matters, and then after his death she became the custodian of his archives. Catherine married Yesenin’s close friend, Vasily Nasedkin, who was repressed and executed by the NKVD in 1937 in the fabricated “case of writers.” She herself received a two-year sentence. She died of a heart attack in Moscow.
The second sister's name was Alexandra. She also put a lot of work and effort into creating Yesenin museums, providing photographs, manuscripts and other valuable family heirlooms and exhibits. She was 16 years apart from her brother. He affectionately called her Shurenka. At the end of 1924, returning from abroad, he took her to Moscow with him. Her mother blessed her with the Tikhvin Icon of the Mother of God, which is now in the Yesenin Museum in Moscow. The poet adored his sisters and received great pleasure from communicating with them.
Grandfather and grandmother
Yesenin was raised for a long time by his mother’s parents. The grandmother's name was Natalya Evtikhievna (1847-1911), and the grandfather's name was Fyodor Andreevich (1845-1927). In addition to their granddaughter Seryozha, their three more sons lived in their family. It was thanks to his grandmother that Yesenin became acquainted with folklore. She told him many fairy tales, sang songs and ditties. The poet himself admitted that it was his grandmother’s stories that pushed him to write his first poems. Grandfather Fyodor was a believer who knew church books well, so every evening there were readings in their house.
Moving to my father's place
After graduating from the Spas-Klepikovskaya church-teacher school in 1912 and receiving a diploma as a teacher of the literacy school, Yesenin immediately moved to his father in Moscow on the street. Pinch to Bolshoi Strochenovsky Lane, 24 (now the Yesenin Museum is located there).
Alexander Yesenin was glad of his arrival and thought that his son would be a reliable assistant, but he was very upset when he told him that he wanted to become a poet. At first he helped his father, but then he began to bring his ideas to life and got a job in the printing house of I. D. Sytin. And then we will not once again retell his entire biography, which is already quite well known, but rather we will try to understand what kind of person he was.
Bawdy and brawler
Many unpleasant things were often said about him. Debauchery and drunkenness were indeed not uncommon in the poet’s life, but he took his talent and service to poetry quite seriously and with great respect. According to the poet himself and from the words of people close to him, for example, such as Ilya Shneider, he did not write while drunk.
As a poet of conscience, he could not remain silent and, feeling pain for the country, which was plunging into complete chaos, devastation and hunger, he began to use his poems as a weapon against the authorities (“The golden grove dissuaded me.”, “We are now leaving little by little.”, “Rus.” Soviet" and "Rus''s passing").
His last work bore a symbolic title - “Country of Scoundrels.” After writing it, Yesenin’s life changed dramatically; they began to persecute him and accuse him of rowdyism and drunkenness. The poet was repeatedly interrogated by people from the GPU, who “sewed up” a case for him. At first they wanted to convict him of anti-Semitism, then there were some other developments. Leo Tolstoy's granddaughter Sophia helped him escape persecution in the winter of 1925 by agreeing with the head of the hospital, Professor Gannushkin, to provide the poet with a separate room. But informants were found, and Yesenin was again “at gunpoint.” On December 28, he is brutally killed under the guise of suicide.
Yesenin family
Since 1914, Yesenin lived in a civil marriage with proofreader Anna Romanovna Izryadnova (1891-1946). She gave birth to his son Yuri, who, after graduating from the Moscow Aviation College, did military service in Khabarovsk, but he was shot in 1937 on false charges. The mother died without knowing the fate of her son.
In 1917, the poet married Zinaida Reich, a Russian actress and future wife of director V. E. Meyerhold. Yesenin's family acquired two more children: Tatyana (1918-1992), who later became a writer and journalist, and Konstantin (1920-1986), who became a journalist and football statistician. But things didn’t work out for the couple again, and in 1921 they officially divorced.
Almost immediately, Yesenin met with the American dancer Isadora Duncan, whom he married six months later. Together they traveled around Europe and the USA. But upon returning home, unfortunately, they separated.
A dramatic story played out with Yesenin’s secretary Galina Benislavskaya, who was his true and faithful friend in the most difficult moments for him. He met with her and sometimes lived with her. They met in 1920. After the poet’s death in 1926, she shot herself at his grave at the Vagankovskoye cemetery. She was buried next to him.
Yesenin also had an illegitimate son from the poetess Nadezhda Davydovna Volpin - Alexander. He was born on May 12, 1924, emigrated to the United States as an adult and became a mathematician. Alexander died quite recently - in March 2016 in Boston.
Yesenin built his last family relationship with Sofia Tolstoy. He wanted to start a new life, but death cut short all plans. On Yesenin’s birthday, October 3, 2015, the whole country celebrated 120 years. This talented poet would have reached that age.
Epilogue
During the Leningrad blockade, Yesenin’s son Konstantin, who fought at the front and asked for leave, appeared on one of the gloomy days of 1943 at the intersection of Nevsky and Liteiny Prospekts. A soldier in a cap pulled down and a frayed and burnt overcoat suddenly saw that the Old Book store was open, and without any purpose he simply walked into it. He stood and looked at smart books. After the stinking swamps and slimy trenches, being among books was almost bliss for him. And suddenly a man approached the saleswoman, whose face was very tired and bore traces of hunger and difficult experiences, and asked her if they would have a volume of Yesenin. She replied that now his books are very rare, and the man immediately left. Konstantin was surprised that during the blockade, in a harsh and desperate life, someone needed Yesenin. And what’s surprising is that at that very moment soldier Konstantin Yesenin, the poet’s son, appeared in the store in bandages and dirty boots.
The father of the Poet Sergei Yesenin is Alexander Nikitich Yesenin (1873 - 1931).
Photo - 1910
Alexander Nikitich had a wonderful voice as a child and sang in church as a boy. In his adult life, for some time, he worked as a clerk in a butcher shop on Shchipok Street in Moscow. In 1912, he decided to bring his son Sergei (he was 17 years old) “into the people” and gave him a job, who had just arrived from Konstantinovo, as a clerk there.
Sergei did not last long at this job. For some time they lived together in Moscow, in the hostel of “single clerks”, in Bolshoi Strochenovsky Lane - in Krylov’s house, 24. Sergei Yesenin had been creating poetry since his adolescence, by that time a lot of them had already been written.
Sergei Yesenin - early poems
The bird cherry tree is pouring snow
The bird cherry tree is pouring snow,
Greenery in bloom and dew.
In the field, leaning towards escape,
Rooks walk in the strip.
Silk herbs will disappear,
Smells like resinous pine.
Oh, meadows and oak groves, -
I'm besotted with spring.
Secret news pleases me,
Shine into my soul.
I'm thinking about the bride
I only sing about her.
Rash you, bird cherry, with snow,
Sing, you birds, in the forest.
Unsteady run across the field
I will spread the color with foam.
Sergei Yesenin, 15 years old, 1910.
Tanyusha was good
Tanyusha was good, there was no more beautiful woman in the village,
Red frilly on white sundress at the hem.
Tanya walks behind the fences by the ravine in the evening,
The moon in the cloudy fog plays with the clouds.
A guy came out and bowed his curly head:
“Farewell, my joy, I’ll marry someone else.”
She turned pale like a shroud, cold like dew.
Her braid developed like a snake-killer.
"Oh, blue-eyed guy, no offense, I'll say
I came to tell you: I’m marrying someone else.”
Not morning bells, but wedding echoes,
The wedding party rides on carts, the riders hide their faces.
It’s not the cuckoos who are sad - Tanya’s relatives are crying,
Tanya has a wound on her temple from a dashing flail.
A scarlet halo of blood caked on the brow, -
Tanyusha was beautiful, there was no more beautiful person in the village.
Sergei Yesenin, 16 years old, 1911.
Parents of Sergei Yesenin:
father Alexander Nikitich Yesenin (1873 - 1931),
mother - Tatyana Fedorovna Yesenina, nee Titova (1875 - 1955).
On her knees is Alexandra's daughter
Photo - 1912-1913?
Parents and relatives of Sergei Yesenin’s mother:
Fyodor Andreevich (1845-1927) and Natalya Evtikhievna (1847-1911) Titovs -
Yesenin's maternal grandfather and grandmother (Tatiana Fedorovna's parents).
Titov Ivan Fedorovich is Yesenin’s maternal uncle.
Titov Alexander Fedorovich is Yesenin’s maternal uncle.
Titov Pyotr Fedorovich is Yesenin’s maternal uncle.
Yesenin Ilya Ivanovich (1902-1942) - the poet’s cousin.
Sergey Yesenin:
“From the age of two, he was given to be raised by his rather wealthy maternal grandfather,
who had three adult unmarried sons,
with whom I spent almost my entire childhood.
My uncles were mischievous and desperate guys.
When I was three and a half years old, they put me on a horse without a saddle and immediately started galloping.
Then I was taught to swim.
Uncle Sasha took me into the boat, drove away from the shore, took off my underwear and threw me into the water like a puppy."
Sergei Yesenin - early poems
Mother in the Bathing Suit
Mother walked through the forest in Bathing Suit,
Barefoot, with pads, she wandered through the dew.
The sparrow's feet pricked her with herbs,
The darling cried in pain from pain.
Without knowing the liver, a cramp seized,
The nurse gasped and then gave birth.
I was born with songs in a grass blanket.
The spring dawns twisted me into a rainbow.
I grew to maturity, grandson of the Kupala night,
The dark witch prophesies happiness for me.
Just not according to conscience, happiness is ready,
I choose to remove the eyes and eyebrows.
Like a white snowflake, I melt into blue
Yes, I’m covering my tracks to the homewrecker fate.
Sergei Yesenin, 17 years old, 1912.
Sergei Yesenin with his sisters Ekaterina and Alexandra (Shura). 1912
Yesenina Ekaterina Alexandrovna (1905 - 1977)
Yesenina Olga Aleksandrovna - died early.
Yesenina Alexandra Alexandrovna (1911 - June 1, 1981),
buried near Sergei Yesenin
Sergei Yesenin - early poems
And above me the star is burning
And the star is burning above me,
But it glows dimly in the fog,
And a wide path lies before me,
But it is overgrown with weeds.
And he sends me smiles all day long,
But only complete contempt,
And fate brings me greetings,
But tears instead of consolation.
Sergei Yesenin, 16 years old, 1911-1912.
Sergei Yesenin, 18 years old, 1913
Sergey Yesenin -
letter to Maria Parmenovna Balzamova:
"My request remained in vain.
I'm probably not worth your attention.
Of course, it was low and perhaps difficult for you to write 2 lines;
Well, I apologize, next time I won’t bother you.
Calm down, goodbye!
S.E."
Sergey Yesenin, 17 years old. Moscow, May 29, 1913
Anna Romanovna Izryadnova (1891 - 1946).
Photo - 1910s.
In the fall of 1913, Sergei Yesenin (18 years old) entered into a civil marriage with Anna Romanovna Izryadnova,
who was four years older than him.
At that time, she worked together with Yesenin as a proofreader in a printing house.
On December 21, 1914, their son Yuri (George) was born.
Anna Romanovna loved Yesenin very much,
but with some kind of sacrificial, maternal love,
she seemed to sense his purpose in Poetry and did not want to tie him down with family concerns,
which, by the way, Yesenin received joyfully and excitedly - he cooked the food himself, washed the floors in the house.
But she consciously and obediently released him, devoting herself to her son.
She let go, even slightly pushed him away, knowing that sooner or later he would leave anyway.
And then events turned out like this:
that they parted sadly and tenderly, without quarrels or scandals.
During his life with Anna Romanovna
Yesenin wrote about 70 famous poems that became Russian classics.
During his life, Yesenin helped Izryadnova financially,
visited my son.
He came just before his death.
Anna Romanovna about Sergei Yesenin:
“At the end of December my son was born.
Yesenin had to mess with me a lot (we lived together).
It was necessary to send me to the hospital and take care of the apartment.
When I returned home, he had an exemplary order:
everywhere is washed, the stoves are heated, and even dinner is ready,
I bought a cake and was waiting.
He looked at the child with curiosity and kept repeating:
"Here I am the father"
Then he soon got used to it, fell in love with him, rocked him, lulled him to sleep,
sang songs over him.”
Alexandra Yesenina with the son of Sergei Yesenin - Yura Yesenin
Yesenin Yuri (George) Sergeevich (December 21, 1914 - August 13, 1937).
Yuri Yesenin was born in Moscow.
He looked like his father, a kind and bright boy,
romantic soul, inherited from his mother - gentleness of character.
Yuri dreamed of flying. Graduated from the Moscow Aviation Technical School.
On April 4, 1937, Yuri Yesenin was arrested in the Far East (where he served in military service),
as "an active participant in a counter-revolutionary fascist-terrorist group",
by order of the deputy People's Commissar of Internal Affairs Y. Agranov.
Arrested on a false denunciation.
Then Yuri Yesenin was taken to Moscow to the Lubyanka on May 18.
There he was subjected to massive, brutal psychological treatment by NKVD officers.
and signed all the charges against him.
On August 13, 1937, at the young age of 23, Yuri Yesenin was shot.
In 1956, Yuri Sergeevich Yesenin was posthumously rehabilitated.
When Eduard Khlystalov, whom I (T.S.) knew, was alive,
he told me that he has information about prisoners,
sitting with Yuri Yesenin. Yuri shared with them his opinion about his father,
asserting and providing evidence that he could not have committed suicide,
that the secret murder of Sergei Yesenin was committed.
Yuri Sergeevich Yesenin -
son of Sergei Yesenin and Anna Romanovna Izryadnova
How much sadness and tragic foreboding of fate is in this young appearance!
So much power and vulnerability!
Yesenin - January, 1914.
Sergei Yesenin - early poems
Black, then smelling howl
Black, then smelly howl!
How can I not caress you, not love you?
I'll go out onto the lake into the blue road,
Evening grace clings to the heart.
The huts stand like gray ropes,
The squelching reeds softly lull.
The red fire bled the tagans,
In the brushwood are the white eyelids of the moon.
Quietly, squatting, in the spots of dawn
The mowers listen to the old man's story.
Somewhere in the distance, on the edge of the river,
The fishermen sing a sleepy song.
The puddle grass glows with tin...
Sad song, you are Russian pain.
Sergey Yesenin, 19 years old. 1914
Sergey Yesenin -
from a letter to Grigory Panfilov:
(talking about a new acquaintance who stole money and tried to become Yesenin’s friend. T.S.)
“It turns out that he is ready for any deal!
I don't have such friends.
I am sending you a children's magazine this week, it contains my poems.
Something is sad, Grisha. Hard.
I am alone, alone around, alone, and there is no one for me to open my soul to,
and people are so petty and wild.
You are far from me, but you can’t express everything in a letter,
oh, how I would like to see you.
I deeply mourn your illness
and I wouldn’t want to remind you of this,
It's too painful to poison your soul. Loving you, S.E."
Sergei Yesenin, 18 years old, end of January 1914. Moscow.
Panfilov Grigory Andreevich -
the closest friend of Sergei Yesenin, with whom he carried on intensive correspondence,
fellow student at the Spas-Klepikovsky Church and Teachers' School.
Grigory received this letter from Sergei Yesenin a month before his death -
died (approximately 20 years old) from tuberculosis on February 25, 1914.
This loss of a friend left an eternal wound in the soul of Sergei Yesenin.
Sergey Yesenin -
letter to Alexander Blok:
"Alexander Alexandrovich!
I wanted to talk to you. This is a very important matter for me.
You don't know me, maybe
where they found my name in magazines.
I'd like to come in at 4 o'clock.
With respect - S. Yesenin."
Sergei Yesenin and writer Mikhail Pavlovich Murashev (1884 - 1958)
Photo - April 10, 1916.
Sergey Yesenin -
letters to Mikhail Murashev:
“Dear Misha! Yesenin looked at you and sadly turned back.
The fact is that Chernyavsky really needs his manuscript.
His older brother recently died in his family.
Now he needs money, and he wants to publish this article. Sergey"
Sergei Yesenin, 1915-1916 Petrograd.
"Dear Michelle!
I'll be with you at 8 o'clock. Let's talk about something, and if you're busy,
then call me No. 448 - 71. Sergey."
Sergei Yesenin, 1915-1916 Petrograd.
Poets - Sergei Yesenin (left) and Nikolai Klyuev
Photo - 1916.
Poets Sergei Yesenin and Nikolai Klyuev (1887 - 1937)
Photo - 1916.
Sergei Yesenin, letter to writer Leonid Andreev:
"Dear Leonid Nikolaevich,
visiting A.M. Remizov, Klyuev and I wanted to see you,
but we didn’t have to, which we deeply regret.
I left you several poems and a book in your apartment.
Be virtuous, let me know whether any of them are suitable or not,
since I am in military service
and I don’t have the ability to handle it personally.
Sincerely respecting and honoring you - Sergei Yesenin."
Poet Sergei Yesenin. Photo - 1917.
Sergei Yesenin, the beginning of a letter to the poet Alexander Shiryaevets:
"He-he-he, well I'll tell you, my friend,
when all the words on my tongue disappeared, like today’s rubles.
There were and there weren't.
We're always close to something, but we'll definitely find something bad,
and in the distance everything looks the same as the past,
and what has passed will be nice, -
Pushkin said a hundred years ago.
God be with them, these St. Petersburg writers,
they swear, they lie to each other,
but still they are people, and therefore they are unscrewed.
There is nothing to judge about their relationship to us, they are different from us,
and it seems to me that they are much smaller than our peasant merchant..."
Poet Sergei Yesenin. Petrograd. Photo - 1917.
Yesenin's wife, actress -
Zinaida Nikolaevna Reich (1894 - 1939)
On July 30, 1917, Yesenin (21 years old) got married to actress Zinaida Reich
in the Church of Kirik and Ulita, Vologda district.
On May 29, 1918, their daughter Tatyana was born, whom Yesenin loved very much.
On February 3, 1920, after Yesenin broke up with Zinaida Reich,
they had a son, Konstantin.
October 2, 1921 People's Court of Orel
made a decision to dissolve Yesenin’s marriage with Reich.
Next, Sergei Yesenin helped Zinaida financially and visited the children.
In 1922, Zinaida Reich got married
for director Vsevolod Emilievich Meyerhold (1874 - 1940), he was 20 years older than her.
On the night of July 14-15, 1939, to the Moscow apartment of Zinaida Reich in Bryusovsky Lane
Unknown people burst in and brutally inflicted seven stab wounds on the actress.
Zinaida Reich died while she was being taken to the hospital.
All this happened 14 days after the arrest of her husband Vsevolod Meyerhold.
The mystery and motives of the murder are still unsolved.
Zinaida Reich is buried at the Vagankovskoye cemetery in Moscow.
Yesenin's wife, actress - Zinaida Nikolaevna Reich (1894 - 1939)
and children from Yesenin - Tatyana and Konstantin.
Children of Sergei Yesenin and Zinaida Reich:
Konstantin Sergeevich Yesenin (02/03/1920, Moscow - 04/26/1986, Moscow),
buried at the Vagankovskoe cemetery.
He was a famous football statistician. Daughter Marina.
Tatyana Sergeevna Yesenina (1918 - 1992).
Member of the Writers' Union. Lived in Tashkent.
Director of the Sergei Yesenin Museum.
Two sons - Vladimir and Sergei.
Sergei Yesenin at the birch tree. Photo - 1918.
Sergei Yesenin with a cane. Photo - 1919.
Sergey Yesenin
and poet Alexander Borisovich Kusikov (Kusikyan) - (1896 - ?)
Sergei Yesenin (left)
Moscow, summer. Photo - 1919.
Nadezhda Davydovna Volpin
and a son from Yesenin - Alexander Sergeevich Yesenin-Volpin.
Yesenin and the poetess Nadezhda Volpin met in 1920.
when she joined the Imaginists.
Nadezhda wrote poetry in her youth, took part in the Green Lamp poetry studio,
which was led by the poet Andrei Bely.
Nadezhda had publications in collections,
she performed her poems in the "Poets Cafe", "Pegasus Stable".
On May 12, 1924, after a break with Yesenin, he was born in Leningrad
the illegitimate son of Sergei Yesenin and Nadezhda Davydovna Volpin - Alexander Yesenin-Volpin.
Later, he was a prominent mathematician and a famous human rights activist.
He periodically publishes poetry (under the name Volpin).
A. Yesenin-Volpin is one of the founders (together with Sakharov) of the Human Rights Committee,
former Soviet political prisoner (total period of stay in prisons, exile and “psychiatric hospitals” is 14 years).
In May 1972, at the suggestion of the Soviet authorities, he emigrated to the United States,
where he worked at the University at Buffalo, then at Boston University.
Author of the theorem in the field of dyadic spaces,
which received his name (Yesenin-Volpin theorem).
Now lives in the USA.
Sergei Yesenin (right)
and Anatoly Borisovich Mariengof (1897 - 1962).
Photo - 1921.
Sergey Yesenin. Photo - 1922.
Isadora's adopted daughter Irma Duncan (1898 - 1978),
Isadora Duncan, Sergei Yesenin.
Moscow. Photo - May, 1922.
Isadora Duncan (May 27, 1877, San Francisco - September 14, 1927, Nice).
American dancer, founder of free dance -
forerunners of modernity.
She used ancient Greek plastic arts, a chiton instead of a ballet costume, and danced barefoot.
In 1921-1924 she lived in Russia and organized a dance studio for children in Moscow.
With Isadora Duncan, who was 18 years older,
Yesenin met in the fall of 1921 in the workshop of G.B. Yakulov.
Yesenin (26 years old) and Duncan were married on May 3, 1922,
and Isadora accepted Russian citizenship.
After the wedding we went to Europe - we were in Germany, France, Belgium, Italy,
and lived for four months in the USA.
The trip lasted from May 1922 to August 1923.
Their marriage, despite the passion of the relationship, was short,
and soon there was a break. They were divorced.
In 1924, Duncan returned to the United States.
Isadora did not survive Yesenin for long - by 1 year and 8 months.
In Nice, having tied his long blood-red scarf,
she went for a walk in the car.
Her last words were: “Farewell, friends! I’m going to glory.”
The scarf wrapped around the wheel and tightened the death noose around the dancer's neck.
The death was instant.
She was buried in the Père Lachaise cemetery.
Sergei Yesenin and Isadora Duncan - Berlin, 1922.
Sergei Yesenin and Isadora Duncan - Paris, 1922.
Sergei Yesenin with a book. Photo - August, 1922.
Sergei Yesenin and Isadora Duncan, on the streets of Venice.
Photo - August 1922.
Sergei Alexandrovich Yesenin and Isadora Duncan.
America. Photo - 1922.
Photo - October 1, 1922.
Sergei Yesenin and Isadora Duncan on the ship "Paris".
Photo (3) - October 1, 1922.
Poet - Sergei Yesenin Photo - 1923.
Poet Ivan Pribludny (1905 - 1939), Poet Sergei Yesenin,
G. Shmerelson, Wolf Izrailevich Erlich (1902 - 1944),
V. Ricciotti,
Semyon Anatolyevich Polotsky - poet and screenwriter (1905 - 1952).
Leningrad, April 1924.
Galina Arturovna Benislavskaya, close friend of Sergei Yesenin,
committed suicide at his grave (1897 - 1926), was buried next to Yesenin.
Galina Benislavskaya
Sergey Yesenin -
letter to Galina Benislavskaya:
"Dear Galya!
forgive me for writing on such paper. No better.
I am very, very sorry that I left without saying goodbye to you.
I left because I was afraid that Petersburg would -
I didn’t stay any further than Crimea. Dear Galya! I love you very much and value you very much.
I value you very much, so don’t understand my departure
like something directed towards friends out of indifference.
Dear Galya! I repeat to you that you are very, very dear to me.
And you yourself know that without your participation
there would be a lot of deplorable things in my fate.
Now I have decided to stay and live in St. Petersburg.
I don’t want to know any Crimea.
Darling, persuade Vardin and Berzina like this,
so that they don’t think that I treated their attention like Rastoplyuev.
Everything was very, very pleasant to me in their concern for me,
but I do not need any treatment at all.
If you have time, come and bring me
a large suitcase or send Pribludny or Rita with it.
Hello to you and my love!
True, it is much better and more,
than I feel for women.
You are so close to me in life without this,
which cannot be expressed.
I look forward to your letter, your arrival and everything else.
Hide the money from Gosizdat under a bushel.
Loving you - Sergei Yesenin.
The evening was amazing. I almost got torn apart.
Suicide note from Galina Benislavskaya:
"December 3, 1926. She committed suicide here,
although I know that after this even more dogs will be blamed on Yesenin...
But both he and I don’t care.
Everything that is most precious to me is in this grave..."
Galina Benislavskaya is buried
at the Vagankovskoye cemetery next to the poet’s grave.
Sergey Yesenin and artist Konstantin Alekseevich Sokolov (1887 - 1963).
Tiflis, 1924.
Sergei Yesenin with his sister Ekaterina. Moscow, Prechistensky Boulevard, 1925.
Sergei Yesenin (right)and Soviet worker Vasily Ivanovich Boldovkin (1903 - ?)
Sergey Yesenin -
the beginning of the letter to Galina Benislavskaya:
“I’m in the hospital. Or rather, I’m resting.
The devil is not as scary as he is painted. Only catarrh of the right lung.
In five days I will come out healthy.
This is the result of the Batumi cold, and then I foolishly took a swim
in mid-April at sea with strong winds.
That's it. The doctors sang in different ways.
Up to transient consumption.
Where did you get the idea, Galya, that I drink?
I only drank three times out of frustration for my health. That's all.
It's a good thing that I have consumption! Whoever you want will feel sad.
Why don't I write? Because there is no time. I’m writing a big thing..."
Sergey Yeseninand his last wife Sofya Andreevna Tolstaya-Yesenina (1900 - 1957).
Photo - 1925.
On March 5, 1925, Sergei Yesenin met
with Leo Tolstoy’s granddaughter Sofia Andreevna Tolstoy, who was five years younger than Yesenin.
At that time, Sofya Tolstaya was in charge of the library of the Writers' Union.
This was another attempt by Yesenin
get rid of personal loneliness, start a calm family.
The marriage was registered on October 18, 1925, Yesenin had just turned 30 years old.
Sophia, according to the recollections of Yesenin’s friends, was very proud,
looked down on everything,
demanded compliance with all etiquette and unquestioning obedience.
This did not coincide with Yesenin’s generosity
and its ease of communication.
It all ended with an unexpected break in the relationship.
Murdered Sergei Yesenin...
hanging from a steam heating pipe.
Funeral of Sergei Yesenin (October 4, 1895 - December 27, 1925)
Lived in this world for 30 years.
Photo - Moscow, December 31, 1925.
Sergei Aleksandrovich Yesenin is a great Russian lyric poet. Most of his works are new peasant poetry and lyrics. Later creativity belongs to Izhanism, as it contains many used images and metaphors.
The date of birth of the literary genius is September 21, 1895. He comes from the Ryazan province, the village of Konstantinovka (Kuzminskaya volost). Therefore, many works are dedicated to love for Rus', there are a lot of new peasant lyrics. The financial condition of the future poet's family could not even be called tolerable, since his parents were quite poor.
All of them belonged to a peasant family, and therefore were forced to work a lot with physical labor. Sergei's father, Alexander Nikitich, also went through a long career. As a child, he was fond of singing in the church choir and had good vocal abilities. When he grew up, he went to work in a meat shop.
Chance helped him get a good position in Moscow. It was there that he became a clerk, and the family's income became higher. But this did not bring joy to his wife, Yesenin’s mother. She saw her husband less and less, which could not but affect their relationship.
Sergei Yesenin with his parents and sisters Another reason for discord in the family was that after his father moved to Moscow, the boy began to live with his own Old Believer grandfather, his mother’s father. It was there that he received a male upbringing, which his three uncles did in their own way. Since they did not have time to start their own families, they tried to pay a lot of attention to the boy.
All the uncles were unmarried sons of Yesenin’s grandfather’s grandmother, who were distinguished by their cheerful disposition and, to some extent, youthful mischief. They taught the boy to ride a horse in a very unusual way: they put him on a horse, which galloped. There was also training in swimming in the river, when little Yesenin was simply thrown naked from a boat directly into the water.
As for the poet’s mother, she was affected by the separation from her husband when he was on long service in Moscow. She got a job in Ryazan, where she fell in love with Ivan Razgulyaev. The woman left Alexander Nikitich and even gave birth to a second child from her new partner. Sergei's half-brother was named Alexander. Later, the parents finally got back together, Sergei had two sisters: Katya and Alexandra.
Education
After such home education, the family decided to send Seryozha to study at the Konstantinovsky Zemstvo School. He studied there from nine to fourteen years old and was distinguished not only by his abilities, but also by his bad behavior. Therefore, in one year of study, by decision of the school administrator, he was left for the second year. But still, the final grades were exceptionally high.
At this time, the parents of the future genius decided to live together again. The boy began to come to his home more often during the holidays. Here he went to the local priest, who had an impressive library with books from various authors. He carefully studied many volumes, which could not but influence his creative development.
After graduating from the zemstvo school, he moved to the parish school, located in the village of Spas-Klepki. Already in 1909, after five years of study, Yesenin graduated from the Zemstvo School in Konstantinovka. His family's dream was for their grandson to become a teacher. He was able to realize it after studying at Spas-Klepiki.
It was there that he graduated from the second-class teacher's school. She also worked at the church parish, as was customary in those days. Now there is a museum dedicated to the work of this great poet. But after receiving his teaching education, Yesenin decided to go to Moscow.
In crowded Moscow, he had to work both in a butcher shop and in a printing house. His own father got him a job in the shop, since the young man had to ask him for help in finding a job. Then he got him a job in an office where Yesenin quickly became bored with the monotonous work.
When he served in the printing house as an assistant proofreader, he quickly became friends with poets who were part of Surikov’s literary and musical circle. Perhaps this influenced the fact that in 1913 he did not enter, but became a free student at the Moscow City People's University. There he attended lectures at the Faculty of History and Philosophy.
Creation
Yesenin’s passion for writing poetry was born in Spas-Klepiki, where he studied at a parish teacher’s school. Naturally, the works had a spiritual orientation and were not yet imbued with notes of lyrics. Such works include: “Stars”, “My Life”. When the poet was in Moscow (1912-1915), it was there that he began his more confident attempts at writing.
It is also very important that during this period in his works:
- The poetic device of imagery was used. The works were replete with skillful metaphors, direct or figurative images.
- During this period, new peasant imagery was also visible.
- One could also notice Russian symbolism, since the genius loved creativity.
The first published work was the poem “Birch”. Historians note that when writing it, Yesenin was inspired by the works of A. Fet. Then he took the pseudonym Ariston, not daring to send the poem to print under his own name. It was published in 1914 by the Mirok magazine.
The first book “Radunitsa” was published in 1916. Russian modernism was also evident in it, as the young man moved to Petrograd and began to communicate with famous writers and poets:
- CM. Gorodetsky.
- D.V. Philosophers.
- A. A. Blok.
In “Radunitsa” there are notes of dialectism and numerous parallels drawn between the natural and the spiritual, since the name of the book is the day when the dead are venerated. At the same time, the arrival of spring occurs, in honor of which the peasants sing traditional songs. This is the connection with nature, its renewal and honoring those who have passed on.
The poet's style also changes, as he begins to dress a little more fabulously and more elegantly. This could also have been influenced by his guardian Klyuev, who supervised him from 1915 to 1917. The poems of the young genius were then listened to with attention by S.M. Gorodetsky, and the great Alexander Blok.
In 1915, the poem “Bird Cherry” was written, in which he endows nature and this tree with human qualities. The bird cherry seems to come to life and show its feelings. After being drafted into the war in 1916, Sergei began communicating with a group of new peasant poets.
Because of the released collection, including “Radunitsa,” Yesenin became more widely known. It even reached the Empress Alexandra Feodorovna herself. She often called Yesenin to Tsarskoe Selo so that he could read his works to her and her daughters.
In 1917, a revolution occurred, which was reflected in the works of the genius. He received a “second wind” and, inspired, decided to release a poem in 1917 called “Transfiguration.” It caused great resonance and even criticism, since it contained many slogans of the International. All of them were presented in a completely different way, in the style of the Old Testament.
The perception of the world and commitment to the church also changed. The poet even stated this openly in one of his poems. Then he began to focus on Andrei Bely and began communicating with the poetry group “Scythians”. Works from the late twenties include:
- Petrograd book “Dove” (1918).
- Second edition “Radunitsa” (1918).
- Series of collections of 1918-1920: Transfiguration and Rural Book of Hours.
The period of Imagism began in 1919. It means the use of a large number of images and metaphors. Sergei enlists the support of V.G. Shershenevich and founded his own group, which absorbed the traditions of futurism and style. An important difference was that the works were of a pop nature and involved open reading in front of the viewer.
This gave the group great fame against the backdrop of bright performances with the use. Then they wrote:
- "Sorokoust" (1920).
- Poem "Pugachev" (1921).
- Treatise “The Keys of Mary” (1919).
It is also known that in the early twenties Sergei began selling books and rented a shop to sell printed publications. It was located on Bolshaya Nikitskaya. This activity brought him income and distracted him a little from creativity.
After communicating and exchanging opinions and stylistic techniques with A. Mariengof Yesenin, the following were written:
- “Confession of a Hooligan” (1921), dedicated to the actress Augusta Miklashevskaya. Seven poems from one cycle were written in her honor.
- "The Three-Ridner" (1921).
- “I don’t regret, I don’t call, I don’t cry” (1924).
- "Poems of a Brawler" (1923).
- “Moscow Tavern” (1924).
- "Letter to a Woman" (1924).
- “Letter to Mother” (1924), which is one of the best lyric poems. It was written before Yesenin’s arrival in his native village and dedicated to his mother.
- "Persian Motifs" (1924). In the collection you can see the famous poem “You are my Shagane, Shagane.”
Sergei Yesenin on the beach in Europe After this, the poet began to travel frequently. His travel geography was not limited to Orenburg and the Urals alone; he even visited Central Asia, Tashkent and even Samarkand. In Urdy, he often visited local establishments (teahouses), traveled around the old city, and made new acquaintances. He was inspired by Uzbek poetry, oriental music, as well as the architecture of local streets.
After the marriage, numerous trips to Europe followed: Italy, France, Germany and other countries. Yesenin even lived in America for several months (1922-1923), after which notes were made with impressions of living in this country. They were published in Izvestia and called “Iron Mirgorod”.
Sergei Yesenin (center) in the Caucasus In the mid-twenties, a trip to the Caucasus was also made. There is an assumption that it was in this area that the collection “Red East” was created. It was published in the Caucasus, after which the poem “Message to the Evangelist Demyan” was published in 1925. The period of imagism continued until the genius quarreled with A. B. Mariengof.
He was also considered a critic and well-known opponent of Yesenin. But at the same time, they did not show hostility publicly, although they were often pitted against each other. Everything was done with criticism and even respect for each other’s creativity.
After Sergei decided to break with imagism, he began to give frequent reasons for criticism of his behavior. For example, after 1924, various incriminating articles began to be published regularly about how he was seen drunk or causing rows and scandals in establishments.
But such behavior was just hooliganism. Due to the denunciations of ill-wishers, several criminal cases were immediately opened, which were later closed. The most notorious of them is the Case of the Four Poets, which included accusations of anti-Semitism. At this time, the health of the literary genius also began to deteriorate.
As for the attitude of the Soviet authorities, they were worried about the poet’s condition. There are letters indicating that Dzerzhinsky is being asked to help and save Yesenin. They say that a GPU employee should be assigned to Sergei to prevent him from drinking himself to death. Dzerzhinsky responded to the request and attracted his subordinate, who was never able to find Sergei.
Personal life
Yesenin's common-law wife was Anna Izryadnova. He met her when he worked as an assistant proofreader in a printing house. The result of this marriage was the birth of a son, Yuri. But the marriage did not last long, since already in 1917 Sergei married Zinaida Reich. During this time, they had two children at once - Konstantin and Tatyana. This union also turned out to be fleeting.
The poet entered into an official marriage with Isadora Duncan, who was a professional dancer. This love story was remembered by many, as their relationship was beautiful, romantic and partly public. The woman was a famous dancer in America, which fueled public interest in this marriage.
At the same time, Isadora was older than her husband, but the age difference did not bother them.
Sergei met Duncan in a private workshop in 1921. Then they began to travel together throughout Europe, and also lived for four months in America - the dancer’s homeland. But after returning from abroad, the marriage was dissolved. The next wife was Sofia Tolstaya, who was a relative of the famous classic; the union also broke up in less than a year.
Yesenin’s life was also connected with other women. For example, Galina Benislavskaya was his personal secretary. She was always by his side, partly dedicating her life to this man.
Illness and death
Yesenin had problems with alcohol, which were known not only to his friends, but also to Dzerzhinsky himself. In 1925, the great genius was hospitalized in a paid clinic in Moscow, specializing in psychoneurological disorders. But already on December 21, the treatment was completed or, possibly, interrupted at the request of Sergei himself.
He decided to temporarily move to Leningrad. Before this, he interrupted his work with Gosizdat and withdrew all his funds that were in government accounts. In Leningrad, he lived in a hotel and often communicated with various writers: V. I. Erlich, G. F. Ustinov, N. N. Nikitin.
Death overtook this great poet unexpectedly on December 28, 1928. The circumstances under which Yesenin passed away, as well as the cause of death itself, have not yet been clarified. This happened on December 28, 1925, and the funeral itself took place in Moscow, where the genius’s grave is still located.
On the night of December 28, an almost prophetic farewell poem was written. Therefore, some historians suggest that the genius committed suicide, but this is not a proven fact.
In 2005, the Russian film “Yesenin” was shot, in which he played the main role. Also before this, the series “The Poet” was filmed. Both works are dedicated to the great Russian genius and received positive reviews.
- Little Sergei was unofficially an orphan for five years, as he was looked after by his maternal grandfather Titov. The woman simply sent the father funds to support his son. My father was working in Moscow at that time.
- At the age of five the boy already knew how to read.
- At school, Yesenin was given the nickname “the atheist,” since his grandfather once renounced the church craft.
- In 1915, military service began, followed by a deferment. Then Sergei again found himself on military lavas, but as a nurse.
Parents
Alexander Nikitich Yesenin(1873-1931) and Tatyana Fedorovna Yesenina (Titova) (1865-1955).
Sergei Yesenin's father Alexander Nikitich sang in church as a boy. He worked as a senior clerk in a butcher shop on Shchipok Street, and where Sergei Yesenin went to work as a clerk in 1912, when he moved from his village of Konstantinovo to Moscow. And he lived with his father not far from Shchipok Street in Bolshoi Strochenovsky Lane, in Krylov’s house, 24, in a hostel for “single clerks”...
Fedor Andreevich(1845-1927) and Natalya Evtikhievna (1847-1911) Titovs- Yesenin’s maternal grandfather and grandmother (parents of Tatyana Fedorovna). Titov Ivan Fedorovich, Yesenin’s maternal uncle. Yesenin Ilya Ivanovich (1902-1942) cousin of the poet.
Here is what Yesenin writes about his childhood: “From the age of two, I was given up to be raised by a rather wealthy maternal grandfather, who had three adult unmarried sons, with whom I spent almost my entire childhood. My uncles were mischievous and desperate guys. Three and a half years old "They put me on a horse without a saddle and immediately started galloping. Then they taught me to swim. Uncle Sasha took me into a boat, drove away from the shore, took off my underwear and threw me into the water like a puppy."
Sisters
The poet's wives and beloved women
Sardanovskaya(married Olonovskaya) Anna Alekseevna(1896-1921), Yesenin’s youthful hobby, teacher, relative of the Konstantinovsky priest Father Ivan (Smirnov). Perhaps Yesenin’s acquaintance with Sardanovskaya dates back to 1906
She died in childbirth on April 7, 1921. It is possible that Yesenin’s story is connected with the news of her death: “I had true love. For a simple woman. In the village. I came to her. I came secretly. I told her everything. No one knew about it.” knows. I've loved her for a long time. I'm sad. I'm sorry. She died. I never loved anyone like that. I don't love anyone else."
Anna Romanovna Izryadnova(1891-1946) - Yesenin entered into a civil marriage with her in the fall of 1913, who worked with Yesenin as a proofreader in a printing house. On December 21, 1914, their son Yuri was born, but Yesenin soon left the family.
Yesenin Yuri (George) Sergeevich was born in 1914 in Moscow. Graduated from the Moscow Aviation Technical School. On April 4, 1937, Yuri Yesenin was arrested in the Far East (where he served in the military) as “an active participant in a counter-revolutionary fascist-terrorist group,” by order of the deputy. People's Commissar of Internal Affairs Y. Agranov. On May 18, Yesenin was taken to Moscow to the Lubyanka. He was subjected to massive psychological treatment by NKVD officers and signed all the accusations against him. On August 13, 1937, Yu. Yesenin was shot. In 1956, Yuri Yesenin was posthumously rehabilitated.
Zinaida Nikolaevna Reich(1894-1939) with children - Tanya and Kostya.
On July 30, 1917, Yesenin married the beautiful actress Zinaida Reich in the Church of Kirik and Ulita, Vologda district. On May 29, 1918, their daughter Tatyana was born. Yesenin loved his daughter, blond and blue-eyed, very much. On February 3, 1920, after Yesenin separated from Zinaida Reich, their son Konstantin was born. On October 2, 1921, the people's court of Orel ruled to dissolve Yesenin's marriage to Reich.
Children: Konstantin Sergeevich (02/03/1920, Moscow - 04/26/1986, Moscow, buried at the Vagankovsky cemetery. He was a famous football statistician. Daughter Marina). Tatyana Sergeevna (1918 - 1992. Member of the Writers' Union. Lived in Tashkent. Director of the Sergei Yesenin Museum. Two sons Vladimir and Sergei)
In 1920, Yesenin met and became friends with the poetess and translator Nadezhda Davydovna Volpin. Nadezhda wrote poetry from her youth and took part in the work of the Green Workshop poetry studio under the leadership of Andrei Bely. In the fall of 1920 she joined the Imagists. Then the friendship with Sergei Yesenin began. She published her poems in collections, read them from the stage in the “Poets Cafe” and “Pegasus Stable” - this is the name of the “coffee” period of poetry. On May 12, 1924, after a break with Yesenin, the illegitimate son of Sergei Yesenin and Nadezhda Davydovna Volpin was born in Leningrad - a prominent mathematician, a famous human rights activist, he periodically publishes poetry (only under the name Volpin). A. Yesenin-Volpin is one of the founders (together with Sakharov) of the Human Rights Committee. Now lives in the USA.
On November 4, 1920, at the literary evening “The Trial of the Imagists,” Yesenin met Galina Arturovna Benislavskaya (1897-1926).
Galina was the daughter of a French student, Arthur Carrier, and a Georgian woman. The parents separated soon after the girl’s birth, the mother became mentally ill, and the girl was adopted by relatives, the Benislavsky family of doctors who lived in the Latvian city of Rezekne. Galina Benislavskaya studied at the women's Preobrazhenskaya gymnasium in St. Petersburg and graduated with a gold medal in 1917.
Their relationship, with varying success, lasted until the spring of 1925. Returning from Konstantinov, Yesenin finally broke up with her. It was a tragedy for her. Insulted and humiliated, Galina wrote in her memoirs: “Because of the awkwardness and brokenness of my relationship with Sergei, I more than once wanted to leave him as a woman, I wanted to be only a friend. But I realized that I couldn’t leave Sergei, I couldn’t break this thread. ..". Galina Benislavskaya shot herself at Yesenin’s grave. She left two notes on his grave. One is a simple postcard: “December 3, 1926. She committed suicide here, although I know that after this even more dogs will be blamed on Yesenin... But he and I don’t care. Everything that is most dear to me is in this grave.. "She is buried at the Vagankovskoye cemetery next to the poet's grave.
In the autumn of 1921, Yesenin became acquainted with the “sandal shoe” Isadora Duncan(1877-1927). According to the memoirs of contemporaries, Isadora fell in love with Yesenin at first sight, and Yesenin was immediately carried away by her. On May 2, 1922, Sergei Yesenin and Isadora Duncan decided to consolidate their marriage according to Soviet laws, since they were about to travel to America. They signed at the registry office of the Khamovnichesky Council. When they were asked what surname they would choose, both wanted to have a double surname - “Duncan-Yesenin”. This is what was written down on the marriage certificate and in their passports.
This page of Sergei Yesenin’s life is the most chaotic, with endless quarrels and scandals. They diverged and came back together many times. Hundreds of volumes have been written about Yesenin’s romance with Duncan. Numerous attempts have been made to unravel the mystery of the relationship between these two such dissimilar people.
In August 1923, Yesenin met with an actress of the Moscow Chamber Theater Augusta Leonidovna Miklashevskaya. Augusta soon became Duncan's happy rival. But despite her passionate passion for the young poet, she was able to subordinate her heart to her mind. Yesenin dedicated 7 poems from the famous cycle “The Love of a Hooligan” to Augusta Miklashevskaya.
In the winter months of 1924/25, when Yesenin lived in Batum, he met a young woman there, then a Russian language teacher - Shagane (Shagandukht) Nersesovna Talyan (married Terteryan)(1900-1976), they met several times, Yesenin gave her his collection with a dedicatory inscription. But with his departure from Batum, the acquaintance was broken off, and in the following months he made no efforts to renew it, although the name Shagane appeared again in poems written in March and then in August 1925.
March 5, 1925 - meeting the granddaughter of Leo Tolstoy Sofia Andreevna Tolstoy(1900-1957). She was 5 years younger than Yesenin, and the blood of the world’s greatest writer flowed in her veins. Sofya Andreevna was in charge of the library of the Writers' Union. On October 18, 1925, the marriage with S.A. Tolstoy was registered. Sofya Tolstaya is another of Yesenin’s unfulfilled hopes of starting a family. Coming from an aristocratic family, according to the recollections of Yesenin’s friends, she was very arrogant and proud, she demanded adherence to etiquette and unquestioning obedience. These qualities of hers were in no way combined with Sergei’s simplicity, generosity, cheerfulness, and mischievous character. They soon separated.
Children
“The sex idol of Russia for all time, he languished from the melancholy of indifference... his women loved him, but he didn’t love them...” Who do you think this is written about? No, this is not about an actor or a stripper. These words, published a year ago, are about Sergei Yesenin. They belong to the editor of one of the literary almanacs - and there is nothing to add here... The poet, both during his life and after his death, was lucky to have this kind of respondents. In their home-grown heads, different reviews were born about him, about his lyre-soul, which in some incomprehensible way blossomed in constant drunkenness, riotous lifestyle and in psychiatric hospitals. How insignificant the crowd is in its understanding of the Genius. What good ground she prepared for the crime of the century to become suicide.
Konstantinovo - the origins of the polyphonic, bright, original Yesenin world. A bright, green, free village on Ryazan land. Church on a hill, chapel, spring. A manor's house with a huge, beautiful garden and rows of neat peasant houses, among them two houses of the poet's grandfathers - Nikita Osipovich Yesenin (on his father's side) and Fyodor Andreevich Titov (on his mother's side), respected and sober people. The latter, as Katya, Yesenin’s sister, recalled, was known by the whole district: “smart in conversation, cheerful in a feast and angry in anger, our grandfather knew how to please people... At the beginning of spring, grandfather left for St. Petersburg and sailed on barges until late autumn... In gratitude to God For a successful voyage, grandfather erected a chapel in front of his house. The icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker always had a lamp burning in the chapel during the holidays. After settling accounts with God, grandfather was supposed to have fun. Barrels of mash and wine were placed near the house.“Drink! Eat! Rejoice, Orthodox Christians! There is no point in saving money, if we die, everything will remain...” In the house of this grandfather, Fyodor Andreevich, Yesenin’s parents, Tatyana Fedorovna and Alexander Nikitich, had a wedding. Sergei lived in the same house as a child when his father and mother had a big disagreement, and before leaving for the city, she brought her two-year-old, restless and very weak son to the parental home. Here they came out and fell in love with him, especially his grandmother Natalya Evtikhievna, who was a “jack of all trades”: she wove canvases, baked pies with lingonberries, kept the house clean and beautiful. And how many fairy tales she knew - she couldn’t listen to them again. “Grandmother loved me with all her might, and her tenderness knew no bounds. On Saturdays they washed me, cut my nails and crimped my head with hot oil, because not a single comb could take curly hair...” - Yesenin recalled about his wonderful five years of life lived in love and affection - from three to eight, so important in life everyone. How much warmth and beauty came with that time to Sergei: “...At night, in calm weather, the moon stands upright in the water. When the horses drank, it seemed to me that they were about to drink the moon..." And how many images of Constantine's nature the poet will bring in his pure verses... ("Hey you, slaves, slaves! // You stuck to the ground with your belly. // Today the moon is with water // The horses drank." "Heavenly Drummer", 1918).
In the zemstvo four-year school, the village priest Ivan Yakovlevich Popov shared good guardianship over Sergei with his grandfather. A widower who raised a daughter and several other adopted children, he discouraged him, already grown up and playful, from the street and was the first to notice the unusualness of the student. In the house of Ivan’s father in 1907-1908, the “quiet youth, feeling meekly” read his first poems to the successful metropolitan student Nikolai Sardanovsky, a relative of the village priest. The poems, Nikolai recalled, were about rural nature...
Yesenin graduated from his four-year school in 1909 with honors and, at the request of his father Ivan, was sent to a church-teacher school in Spas-Klepiki, where he began almost adult life, far from home, unfriendly, with a common dormitory for forty beds, with fights among classmates. And here, when Sergei did not know where to lay his head, a kindred spirit appears next to him again - Grisha Panfilov, who also studied at this school, but lived at home, with his parents, in Spas-Klepiki. They got along quickly and communicated as if they had known each other for a long time: about poetry, about literature, about Leo Tolstoy, about the fact that they should go to Yasnaya Polyana and honor his memory, about all their experiences and first hobbies. Sergei often visited Grisha at home and became attached to him with all his soul. When a friend died of consumption in 1914, the land left from under Sergei. Grisha, Grisha... How he supported his precious classmate who had left for Moscow. I sent so many kind letters so that he wouldn’t feel lonely. It was to him, Grisha Panfilov, that Sergei wrote: “Moscow is a soulless city, and everyone who strives for the sun and light mostly runs away from it...”But gradually seventeen-year-old Yesenin began to get used to the capital. A forwarder in the bookselling partnership "Culture", a Surikovite (participant of the Surikov literary and musical circle, in which talents were "discovered"), a subreader, then a proofreader, in Sytin's printing house, a student of the historical and philosophical course at Shanyavsky University and, finally, a young father. In December 1914, his son Yura was born.
Yesenin’s first common-law wife, Anna Izryadnova, worked with the poet in Sytin’s printing house and lived with him for quite a while. But this did not stop her from maintaining a relationship with Yesenin. The doors of her house were always open for him. Anna Romanovna left an interesting verbal portrait of a very young poet: “He had just (in 1913 - editor's note) arrived from the village, but in appearance he did not look like a village guy. He was wearing a brown suit, a high starched collar and a green tie. With golden curls, he was doll-like beautiful...” It must be said that almost all the companions of his life left memories of Sergei Alexandrovich. (Only the diaries of Zinaida Reich, his first official wife, disappeared.) And they were all extremely charming, smart, talented, who played their roles in his personal and creative destiny. So to say that women loved Yesenin, but he didn’t, is somehow unnatural and strange. Perhaps in his love story there is no such sizzling feeling as, for example, Alexander Blok, and he practically did not make dedications to his chosen ones, except perhaps Augusta Miklashevskaya. But the soulful reader does not need to look for feelings in his poems; there are no poems without feelings.
The fact that Yesenin did not love anyone is one of the many stereotypes created about him by his contemporaries. There are famous sayings that the poet had three loves: for Russia, poetry and fame. Yes, and this is understandable, because great feelings arise “when you love your soul to the bottom”...The great subjectivity of contemporaries in their assessments of Yesenin is evidenced by the Yesenin portraits they compiled. Zinaida Gippius saw him like this: “He is 18 years old. Strong, medium height. He sits over a glass of tea a little like a peasant, stooping; the face is ordinary, rather pleasant; low-browed, with a file-shaped nose, and Mongolian eyes slightly squinting...” The literary leader of the proletariat, M. Gorky, saw something else in Yesenin: “Yesenin gave me a dim impression of a modest and somewhat confused boy, who himself feels that there is no place for him in the huge St. Petersburg. Such clean boys are residents of quiet cities, Kaluga, Orel, Ryazan, Simbirsk, Tambov. There you see them as clerks in shopping arcades, apprentice carpenters, dancers and singers in tavern choirs..."
And here is G. Ivanov’s recollection: “... Yesenin comes out onto the stage in a pink silk blouse, with a comb dangling from a gold belt. Cheeks are flushed. In hands is a bouquet of paper cornflowers. He comes out with his arms akimbo, swaying somehow “like a fellow.” A cheeky smile, but embarrassed.” All these reviews refer to approximately the same period - the appearance of Sergei Alexandrovich in St. Petersburg in the spring of 1915, where he went to seek a meeting with Blok, which he had long dreamed of. He hoped that the great poet would somehow help him and tell him what to do next. After all, Yesenin is already published by all the thin Moscow magazines, only the thick ones are not yet welcome, and “Radunitsa” - the first collection of poems - is almost ready.
“During the day I have a guy from Ryazan with poetry. Peasant of the Ryazan province. 19 years. The poems are fresh, clean, verbose. Language. He came to me on March 9, 1915,” Blok noted in his diary, who, having politely met him, sent him to S. Gorodetsky and M. Murashev. The latter worked in the most popular newspaper at that time, Birzhevye Vedomosti.
 Sergey Yesenin. Petrograd, 1916 |
“He read a lot of things... He would finish reading until dawn and, without sleeping, go to study again. He had such a greed for learning, and he wanted to know everything...” - Tatyana Fedorovna, the poet’s mother, recalled about his first universities. “I read all my free time, spent my salary on books, magazines...” wrote Anna Izryadnova. “It was hard to imagine when this “scandalist” worked, but he worked hard at that time,” said N. Poletaev, referring to 1921.
Let's return to the first St. Petersburg period of the poet, which is so rich in events, and not only literary ones. In the spring of 1916, Yesenin was called up for military service - with the Highest permission he was appointed as an orderly on the Tsarskoe Selo military hospital train No. 143, lived in Tsarskoe Selo, not far from Ivanov-Razumnik, was presented to the court, where his poems were listened to, “with bated breath, fearing skip a word." The Empress really liked the poems, she even expressed her deign to dedicate the next collection to her. Of course, this immensely flattered the young poet. But when “free-thinking” colleagues in the shop learned that a dedication to the Empress would appear on the collection “Dove”, Yesenin was pinned against the wall for a “vile act.” He barely managed to remove “I reverently dedicate...” from the set, although several proofs did leak into the hands of bibliophiles.
Here, in Tsarskoe Selo, Sergei Alexandrovich met Rasputin, spent time in the hospital where his appendicitis was removed, and here he experienced another mobilization - already in Soviet times - to fight the whites. Out of fright, as A. Mariengof wrote, the poet ran to the circus commissar - N. Rukavishnikova, since the circus performers were exempted from the honor of defending the republic. She invited him to ride into the arena on horseback and read some poems that corresponded to the spirit of the times, accompanying the pantomime. But during one of the performances, the previously calm horse suddenly shook its head so much that Yesenin, out of surprise, “flew out of the saddle and, having described a dizzying somersault in the air, stretched out on the ground,” later saying that he would rather lay down his head in a fair fight.
Anatoly Mariengof is another milestone in Yesenin’s life. At first glance, they were friends inseparable. But how things turned out not so simply, and much later, “A Novel Without Lies,” written by Mariengof, became another portion in the brew of “memories of the poet.”
 Zinaida Reich with children Kostya and Tanya |
Then, when Galina Benislavskaya wrote these words in her diary, no one from the poet’s entourage could have imagined how the “not seeing the revolution” would echo in his fate, which would divide his life (like the lives of many, but in this case we are talking about Yesenin ) into “before” and “after”. And what happened “after” will gradually begin to bring him closer to the tragedy of 1925.
Immediately after the October revolution, Yesenin found himself not in the party, G. Ivanov recalled, but in close proximity to the “Soviet top”, because it was “psychologically impossible” to imagine him with Denikin, Kolchak or in exile. “From his origin to his mental make-up, everything disposed him to turn away from “Kerensky Russia” and not out of fear, but out of conscience, to support the “worker-peasant” one. Sergei Alexandrovich himself wrote in his 1922 autobiography that he was never a member of the RCP, because he felt much “to the left.” And, finally, the well-known assessment of L. Trotsky: “No, the poet was not alien to the revolution - he was not related to it. Yesenin is intimate, gentle, lyrical - the revolution is public, epic, catastrophic. That is why the poet’s short life ended in disaster.”
Direct proximity to the “Soviet elite” - what this really meant is not easy to understand from reviews. The essence of the poet's relationship with the new world and the new government can only be found in his own confessions and, of course, in poetry. But search carefully, without waving lines taken out of the context of “The Jordanian Dove”: “The sky is like a bell, // The month is a language, // My mother is the homeland, // I am a Bolshevik.” After all, there are other thoughts: “Evil October showers rings // from the brown hands of birches.” Is it possible to judge by one word from an entire phrase? And can all eyewitness testimony be taken on faith or, on the contrary, interpreted as convenient? For example, this episode: in the spring of 1918, at Alexei Tolstoy’s name day, Sergei Alexandrovich, who had returned from St. Petersburg, was courting a certain poetess and suddenly innocently suggested to her: “Do you want to watch how they shoot? I’ll arrange this for you through Blumkin in a minute.” Blumkin was sitting at the same table. What was it? According to V. Khodasevich, Yesenin “showed off” in this way. Most likely so. But there are other points of view.
Or another story - about external panache - with top hats. Whoever pinched Yesenin for them, reproaching him for taking aim at Pushkin. But the cylinder came to the poet himself.
“...It was raining in St. Petersburg. My parting shone like the top of a piano,” Mariengof recalled. - Yesenin’s golden head turned brown, and his curls hung in pitiful clerk’s commas. He was upset to the last degree. They ran from store to store, begging them to sell us a hat without a warrant. In the tenth store, the red-cheeked German at the cash register said:
Without a warrant, I can only release you the cylinders.
We, incredibly delighted, gratefully shook the German’s plump hand. And five minutes later on Nevsky, ghostly St. Petersburg residents rolled their eyes at us, the toffees cackled after us, and the amazed policeman demanded: “Documents!”
Surprisingly, by 1919, the time of the total “reorganization of the world” and the monstrous Red Terror, the poet already had four books: “Radunitsa” (1916), “Dove” (1916), “Transfiguration” (1918) and “Rural Book of Hours” (1918). In this case, it is necessary to take into account the conditions under which he worked. N. Poletaev recalls how Yesenin lived (in 1918) in Proletkult, together with the poet Klychkov. They huddled in the bathroom of the Morozov merchants. One slept on the bed, and the other in the closet. And Yesenin’s friend L. Povitsky talked about how the poet often went hungry and how one day he and Klychkov came to visit him, and while Povitsky was trying to put it on the table, the guests swallowed a large piece of butter in one fell swoop. The owner was surprised: how could they eat it without bread? - “Nothing - delicious!” - the guests answered.Meanwhile, according to V. Mayakovsky, there was one “new trait in the narcissistic Yesenin: he treated with some envy all the poets who were organically united with the revolution, with the class and saw a great optimistic path ahead of them” - there were many such interpretations . And if we add to this: Yesenin’s scandals skillfully provoked by the audience in the “Stable of Pegasus”, his direct participation in the development and publicity of the program of the Imagists, who, according to A. Lunacharsky, maliciously abused modern Russia, the brave correspondence of Sergei Alexandrovich with Lunacharsky, collective requests the imagists let them out of Russia, Yesenin and Mariengof’s visits to “Zoyka’s apartment” - into the so-called “salon” of Zoya Shatova, the detention and bringing of Yesenin to the Lubyanka - then the portrait of the “hooligan” Yesenin begins to acquire distinct, convex features. And try to explain to the public that it is impossible to fit a poet into a general mold. As for imagism, the poet himself said the following to Ivan Rozanov: “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” - that’s where, perhaps, the beginning of my imagism came from.” And is it possible to “place” Yesenin in any artistic movement, literary school? His poetry is outside of schools.
Much of what was happening at that time in the Pegasus Stable can be explained by a shocking state of mind and a desire to “ignite” the audience. Something - mischief. How else to treat, for example, the episode when Yesenin went to ask the member of the presidium of the Moscow Council on duty for a paper for the Imagists, which was under the strictest records. For the visit, he put on a long-skirted undershirt, combed his hair in a peasant style and, standing in front of the responsible person without a hat, bowing, specially asking, “for the sake of Christ,” to do “divine mercy” and give him papers “for peasant poems.” Blond Lel, of course, was not refused.
But there was a lot of other things in this “imagist” period, not just for fun. “...Do you hear? Do you hear a loud knock? // This is the rake of dawn through the forests. // With the oars of severed hands // You are rowing into the land of the future,” the poet read from the cafe stage. (Later, as we know, the “land of the future” will appear - the unfinished play “The Land of Scoundrels.”) Further, from the same poem “Mare Ships”: “Oh, who, who should we sing // In this mad glow of corpses?”
Such lines became the necessary information for those who came to the cafe under the guise of poetry lovers, but the main events of Yesenin’s “anti-Soviet” life were still ahead.
In the meantime - 1921. Meeting with Isadora Duncan. Their romance, starting from their acquaintance, is entirely a love story with all the appropriate comments. “At the end of the dance, he jumped up and on a huge mirror that spanned the entire wall, with the sharp stone of his ring, drew two clear words: “I love Duncan”... The world celebrity, spoiled by constant success, obviously encountered such an expression of delight for the first time in his life ", - recorded from the words of eyewitnesses Vs. Christmas. But here is another story - as if Duncan, who quickly noticed the blue-eyed guy, turned to the “decadent old man” S. Polyakov with a question: Who is this young man with such a vicious face? And they were immediately introduced.
The romance spun quickly. The public went through different versions of such a union: they wanted prosperity, they wanted more fame, a famous person in their biography, etc. Nadezhda Volpin, another common-law wife of the poet, who gave birth to his son Alexander, judged their relationship differently. She believed in Isadora's sincere passionate love and Yesenin's strong attraction. And of course, as befits a woman, she was not without emotions: “Yesenin, I think, imagined himself as Ivan the Fool, conquering the overseas queen.” And so be it. Isadora showed up on time. The poet was not in the best mood, he was tired of his former friends, of literary ups and downs, of the truth of life that came to him with every new day, he closed in on himself and openly admitted: “... I’m very tired, and my last Drunkenness made me completely nervous.” In the same 1921, Yesenin finished the dramatic poem “Pugachev”:
“...No, this is not August, when the oats fall off, // When the wind beats them across the fields with a rough club. // Dead, dead, look, there are dead people all around, // There they are laughing, spitting out rotten teeth”...
The overseas firebird picked up the poet and carried him over the seas and oceans. Berlin, Paris, New York and again - Europe. And on “the other shore” another truth came to him: “...why the hell do people need this soul, which in Russia is measured for pounds. This soul is a completely unnecessary thing, always in felt boots, with dirty hair... With sadness, with fear, but I am already beginning to learn to say to myself: button up your soul, Yesenin, it’s as unpleasant as unbuttoned trousers,” he wrote from New -York A. Mariengof.
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Colonel of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Eduard Aleksandrovich Khlystalov, who worked for many years as an investigator at 38 Petrovka, dealt with the issue of the death of Sergei Yesenin. Here are just a few conclusions from his private investigation: “...In the conclusion on the causes of Yesenin’s death, forensic expert Gilyarevsky wrote: “Based on the autopsy data, it should be concluded that Yesenin’s death resulted from asphyxia caused by compression of the respiratory tract through hanging. The indentation on the forehead could have been caused by the pressure of hanging. The dark purple color of the lower extremities and pinpoint bruises on them indicate that the deceased was hanging for a long time. The wounds on the upper extremities could have been inflicted by the deceased himself and, being superficial, had no influence on death”... Doubt about the authenticity of the act is caused by the following. 1) The act is written on a simple sheet of paper without any details confirming that the document belongs to a medical institution. It does not have a registration number, corner stamp, official seal, signature of the head of the hospital department or examination bureau. It should be added that after 1925 the fate of A.G. Gilyarevsky is unknown, his wife was repressed and also disappeared without a trace. |
And in Moscow, after his departure, the poet’s friend, already mentioned above, Galina Benislavskaya, fell ill - with acute neurasthenia, she arrived for treatment at a sanatorium in Pokrovsky-Streshnevo. She wrote about herself: “It was excruciatingly painful all night... Like a toothache, the thought that E. loves this old woman, and that there is nothing to hope for here.” Galina was very attached to Yesenin, endured all the difficulties of his creative nature and really helped. Suffice it to say that after Yesenin’s quarrel with the Imagists, and most importantly with A. Mariengof, she sheltered him, and then both of the poet’s sisters, Ekaterina and Alexandra. Everyone lived in one room, Benislavskaya took care of the housework, and she herself often slept on the floor under the table - there weren’t enough meters. Her help was invaluable in another matter; it seems that it was she, being associated with the Cheka, who several times solved his problems with arrests. (By the way, it is an interesting fact that in 1924 she had a secret admirer - Trotsky’s son Lev Sedov, that after Yesenin’s death Galina drowned her grief in wine, that on the anniversary of the poet’s death she shot herself at his grave.)
Sergei Aleksandrovich returned to Moscow in August 1923 and plunged deeply, as V. Khodasevich writes, into the NEP swamp, “having felt all the shameful difference between Bolshevik slogans and Soviet reality even in the city, Yesenin fell into anger.” His tavern scandals and performances began, one of which ended in a comradely trial of four poets: S. Yesenin, P. Oreshin, S. Klychkov and A. Ganin. They were accused of insulting a stranger while talking in a pub about the publication of a magazine, calling him a “Jewish face.” Friends assured that the offended man had overheard them. As a result, the prosecutor L. Sosnovsky, a like-minded person of L. Trotsky and one of the organizers of the execution of the royal family, saw in the incident a manifestation of anti-Semitism. And in the newspaper “Working Moscow” dated December 12, 1923, workers’ correspondents wrote that the case of the four poets revealed an ulcer for us, “which needs to be cured or cut off once and for all.” The situation turned out to be more than serious, and L. Sosnovsky knew this, of course. According to the Decree “On the Fight against Anti-Semitism” adopted in 1918, the perpetrators had two options: a camp or execution. V. Polonsky, V. Lvov-Rogachevsky, A. Sobol stood up for the poets, assuring those listening that the accused were not anti-Semites, that an unfortunate misunderstanding had occurred. (After the funeral of S. Yesenin, A. Sobol will be found at the monument to Dostoevsky with a bullet through his head.) As a result, the four were publicly reprimanded. And yet it was the beginning of the end. After a series of events, Alexei Ganin, like Sergei Yesenin, would be dealt with in 1925. Ganin will be shot, and the theses he wrote, “Peace and Free Labor for Nations,” will be added to the case, in which he stated that Russia has been in a state of mortal agony for several years, that the clear spirit of the Russian people has been treacherously killed. Pyotr Oreshin and Sergei Klychkov will not long outlive their friends: the first will be shot in March 1937, the second in October of the same year...
At the end of the friendly trial, Sergei Alexandrovich, of course, realized that this performance was staged for a reason. And yet he responds to all participants in the action with an article entitled “Russians”: “There was no more disgusting and vile time in literary life than the time in which we live. The difficult state of the state over these years in the international struggle for its independence, by chance circumstances, brought into the arena of literature revolutionary sergeants who have merits for the proletariat, but not at all for art...” the poet wrote, further mentioning both Sosnovsky and Trotsky. The latter is also captured in poetic images, in the unfinished play “Country of Scoundrels”, where one of the heroes - the Chekistov commissar (aka Leibman) - arrived, according to the author’s plan, from Weimar to Russia “to tame fools and beasts” and “to rebuild the churches of God in latrines." The prototype of Chekistov is none other than Leiba Trotsky, who lived in exile in the city of Weimar.
Further events brought the poet ever closer to a tragic ending. Former friends and comrades also had a hand in this. The imagists, R. Ivnev, A. Mariengof, V. Shershenevich, not only did not come to the comrades’ courtroom in order to testify with their own presence to the falsity of the charges against Yesenin, but moreover, they wrote a letter to the editor of the magazine “New Spectator”, in every possible way disowning poet. (Why did they need him now? In the Mariengof cafe, in the “Pegasus Stable”, where the public flocked to Yesenin and thereby made good money, he no longer appeared.)
The artist Svarog (V.S. Korochkin), who made a drawing of the deceased Yesenin in a hotel room, told his friend, journalist I.S. Heisin, the following: “It seems to me that this Erlich slipped him something at night, well... maybe not poison, but a strong sleeping pill. It was not for nothing that he “forgot” his briefcase in Yesenin’s room. And he didn’t go home to “sleep” - with Yesenin’s note in his pocket. It was not in vain that he was hanging around all the time nearby; probably, their entire company was sitting and biding their time in the neighboring rooms. The situation was nervous, there was a congress in Moscow, people in leather jackets were walking around in Angleterre all night. They were in a hurry to remove Yesenin, which is why everything was so clumsy, and many traces were left. The frightened janitor, who was carrying firewood and did not enter the room, heard what was happening and rushed to call Commandant Nazarov... And where is this janitor now? First there was a “noose” - Yesenin tried to loosen it with his right hand, and his hand became numb in a cramp. His head was on the armrest of the sofa when Yesenin was hit above the bridge of his nose with the handle of a revolver. Then they rolled him up in a carpet and wanted to lower him from the balcony; a car was waiting around the corner. It was easier to kidnap. But the balcony door did not open wide enough, so they left the corpse by the balcony, in the cold. They drank, smoked, all this dirt remained... Why do I think they rolled it into the carpet? When I was drawing, I noticed a lot of tiny specks on my trousers and a few in my hair... they tried to straighten their arm and slashed the tendons of their right arm with a Gillette razor, these cuts were visible... They took off their jacket, wrinkled and cut, put valuables in their pockets and then they took everything away... They were in a great hurry... They “hung” it in a hurry, already late at night, and it was not easy on a vertical riser. When they fled, Erlich remained to check something and prepare for the version of suicide... He also put this poem on the table, in a prominent place: “Goodbye, my friend, goodbye”... A very strange poem ..." (Published in the newspaper "Evening Leningrad", December 28, 1990).In that letter, colleagues in the workshop stated the following: “After a well-known incident that ended in court... the group developed an internal divergence with Yesenin... Yesenin, in our view, is hopelessly ill physically and mentally...” And the poet at this time, from December 17, 1923 to the end January 1924, stayed in the sanatorium department of the Shumsky psychiatric hospital. Benislavskaya put Yesenin there, fearing for his health and life: he increasingly began to talk about the enemies who were pursuing him. (Case No. 10055 was opened against S.A. Yesenin in the MCCHK for the fight against counter-revolution and crime, transferred to the Council of People's Court on January 27/1920.) After the hospital in January 1924, he was arrested together with Ganin in the Domino cafe. Sergei Alexandrovich was pulled out and put back in the hospital, after which he left for Leningrad, then on a trip to the Caucasus, from September 3, 1924 to March 1, 1925. Apparently, this trip saved him from the fact that he did not end up in the same bunch of charges as Ganin, who was charged with counter-revolutionary activities. Cases were also opened against Yesenin; he was accused under Articles 88, 57 and 176 of the Criminal Code - public insult to government officials, counter-revolutionary actions and hooliganism.
At the end of July 1925, the poet left again. This time, with Sofia Tolstoy, the granddaughter of Lev Nikolayevich, he ends up in Baku... And all these travels, the entire last year of his life, are running. From myself, from my environment, from S. Tolstoy, from the authorities, from illness. "God! I’m telling you for the hundredth time that they want to kill me! I feel it like an animal!” - he said to the Leningrad imagist poet V. Erlich.
Many people then noticed the poet’s alarming behavior. It did not change even after the clinic for nervous patients, from where Yesenin escaped, cherishing the plan to leave for Leningrad and start a new life. He telegraphed V. Erlich in advance to find 2-3 rooms - he wanted to move the sisters later. Before leaving, he dropped in to see Mariengof to make peace, and to see his children, Tanya and Kostya (their mother, Zinaida Reich, was not at home). They say that he was full of plans, he wanted to create his own magazine and work so that no one, not even friends, would interfere. But on December 27, 1925, he died; the poet was found hanged in his room at the Angleterre Hotel. According to the official version, he committed suicide.
According to the unofficial story, he was killed. And there is no reason not to believe this. Everything related to the investigation into the circumstances of his death is still a dark, shameful story with confused, contradictory testimony of “witnesses,” gross violations of the case management on the fact of death, and inadequate documentation. There are several memories of that terrible day in which the thought of murder is obvious. The husband of Yesenin’s sister, Ekaterina, V. Nasedkin (shot, like P. Oreshin, in March 1938), coming home from Angleterre, said that this did not look like suicide, “it seemed like his brains were popping out on his forehead.” Posthumous photographs of Yesenin (including negatives) taken by M. Nappelbaum have also been preserved; some of them clearly show a penetrating wound under the right eyebrow, which was not noted in the forensic medical examination report. Traces of the struggle are also visible in the photograph of the hotel room where Sergei Alexandrovich died: everything in the room is turned upside down, there are blood stains on the carpet and candelabra. The pose of the deceased also seemed unnatural to many: the stiff right arm was bent at the elbow, the “experts” concluded that the poet was grabbing the battery with his hand... But here you don’t need to be an expert to understand that the hanged man will not be able to bend his arms at the elbows, in the moment of strangulation from the noose the body sags like a bag.
Will the truth ever be told?
