"I loved three times - three times hopelessly": Love, revenge and reckoning Mikhail Lermontov

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

As you know, every creator - artist, poet, composer always needs an inspiring muse, dear to his heart and eyes. And by and large, women-muses were supposed to erect monuments next to the monuments to the creators themselves. Indeed, thanks only to their participation, whom poets, writers or artists idolized, for whom they suffered at night, dreaming of meetings, and all that beautiful was created that they left behind to their descendants. Today we will talk about women-muses Mikhail Lermontov, which prompted the poet to create his beautiful love poetry.

A very short life path fell to the lot of the famous poet, filled with many love interests and disappointments - both fleeting and strong. His constant secular courtship and intrigues were no small part of his turbulent life, which led all his women to suffering.

Ekaterina Sushkova

Mikhail met Catherine in 1830 at the house of a relative of the poet Alexandra Vereshchagina. The young 16-year-old boy immediately became imbued with the deepest feeling of love for the girl. And she, possessing a sharp sparkling mind, was a sarcastic girl and did not miss an opportunity to mock him.

By the way, at that time Katya kept in her diary entries about all her intrigues, thanks to which very rare information about the poet has come down to our days. These records eventually grew into memoirs, which contained a lot of valuable information about Lermontov. In 1870, when Sushkova was no longer alive, these memoirs were published …

According to the description of an 18-year-old girl from the capital, the 16-year-old poet was small in stature, nondescript, stocky and clubfoot, the look of black eyes was gloomy, but expressive, his nose was turned up, his smile was caustically unkind, and he was also overly nervous and looked like a spoiled and spiteful child … And of course, a slender, beautiful girl with a beautiful face, big black eyes and luxurious hair - she certainly could not let such an absurd-looking youth close to her, even if he was in love with her without memory. Catherine and Mikhail closely communicated throughout the summer of 1830, and in the fall the poet with a broken heart disappeared from her life.

They met again in 1834 in St. Petersburg. At that time, great changes took place in the lives of both. Lermontov was an officer of the Life Guards of the Hussar Regiment, and Sushkova, having an established reputation as a frivolous coquette, was preparing to marry Alexei Lopukhin, a friend of Mikhail. The groom's parents opposed this marriage as best they could, but it seemed that nothing could be changed.

However, Lermontov decided to save his friend from a rash union. And although there was no trace left of the former youthful feelings in his heart, he decided to hit on the girl Sushkova, who had once rejected him. Playing a calculating game, he courted Catherine with trepidation. And now she was madly in love with the poet, and he only flattered his pride, and relished revenge for her mockery at a time when he loved her so much. It was then that he poured this feeling into the so-called "Sushkovsky cycle": 11 poems dedicated to Katya.

And now he spoke of her behind her back like this:

Undoubtedly, this affair upset Catherine's wedding with Alexei Lopukhin, and the poet immediately left her:

Several years after breaking up with the poet, Catherine jumped out to marry the diplomat A. V. Khvostov and lived in Europe for a long time.

Natalia Ivanova

At the end of 1830, the poet met Natalya Fedorovna Ivanova, who became his sad love, and so much so that she aroused the poet. , consisting of 40 youthful poems, literally pierced with a sense of bitterness and resentment.

He met Natalia while visiting relatives. As soon as he saw her, the young heart began to beat faster: she was so good and charming. Yes, and the girl at first reacted to the young man with interest, and later Lermontov came across incomprehension and coldness. Their only nascent relationship ended before it began. Describing later the portrait of Natalia, Lermontov calls her "an insensitive, cold deity."

And the whole point was that Nikolai Obreskov was in love with Natalia, a man with a tarnished past, deprived of a noble rank, but firmly aware of what he wanted from life. At the same time, he had a pleasant appearance and great conceit. Most likely, it was his determination that conquered Natalia, and she chose him. And young Lermontov was left to suffer alone, for a long time not having the strength to forget her.

Varvara Lopukhina. "Accidentally brought together by fate"

But the most sincere and quivering, tender and deep feelings Lermontov experienced in a relationship with Varvara Lopukhina, the sister of Alexei Lopukhin. She was. It was this dear to the heart that forever became the standard of beauty for the poet.

They met in their teens, when they were both fourteen years old. Immediately experiencing friendly affection and childhood love, they experienced passion, and dislike, and jealousy. Over the years, all this grew into a mature feeling, in which they never had time to confess to each other. True love was not immediately realized by both.

He created his own suffering

It is likely that it was the riotous lifestyle, constantly falling in love with Mikhail and falling into love affairs, that brought Varvara Lopukhina with a completely different man to the altar, who stood unusually sad hand in hand, with the other, saying "yes." So, obeying the fate and will of her parents, Varenka married a wealthy landowner Nikolai Fedorovich Bakhmetev, while burning with love for Lermontov.

And Mikhail, mired in a whirlwind of pleasures and entertainment, at first did not understand that he had lost his love forever. And when he came to his senses, he could not come to terms with the fact that his Varenka had taken a vow of loyalty to another, that she suddenly became Varvara Bakhmeteva.

This happened in 1835. And it is likely that Varenka’s decision to marry Bakhmetyev, who was much older, was influenced by rumors that reached Moscow that Mikhail was openly beating Sushkova. The poet suffered greatly when he learned of this news. So, while he amused himself with his revenge in St. Petersburg, in Moscow he lost the most precious thing that was the meaning of his life.

The tenderness, purity and sincerity of youthful love often remains in memory as a bright memory. And sometimes it happens that passing through trials, passion and jealousy, it is transformed into a "life ray-guide". This is how the poet perceived his love for Varvara Lopukhina.

Oh, if you only knew how much I love you

The following years, Lermontov and Lopukhina still loved each other, although they did not see each other and knew little about each other. Once, while visiting, the poet met Varenka's little daughter, he played with her for a long time, and then, going out into another room, he cried bitterly … The tremulous feelings that Lermontov had for Varvara Lopukhina remained almost until his very last days. They are reflected in many of the poet's works.

And after his tragic death, Varenka, heartbroken, did not even have the opportunity to openly express her bitter feelings. The death of the poet was a strong shock for her, from which she could not recover. She outlived her beloved Varvara Bakhmetyeva by only ten years, during which her elderly husband was unbearably jealous of her even for the memory of the deceased poet.

Ekaterina G. Bykhovets. "I'm not talking to you with my heart"

The last muse in the life of the poet was Ekaterina Grigorievna Bykhovets, his distant relative. Catherine knew for sure that he was not at all in love with her, but with her appearance, so similar to his dear resemblance to Varenka Lopukhina. She sincerely pitied him and was devoted to him. And even in his dedications to her, he honestly admitted that in "her features he is trying to find the features of his beloved," and that he is not so passionately in love with her.

However, the poet needed a wise counselor and a patient listener. This role was assumed by Ekaterina Grigorievna. It was she who had to listen to the poet's stories about his former love for Lopukhina more than once. The personal relationship between Bykhovets and Lermontov was far from amorous. But only with her Lermontov could be real and sincere. And it was she, Catherine, who was with him on the day of his death.

At the age of 27, Lermontov, having already "burned out from all the sufferings experienced by his vulnerable soul," decided to try his luck. He was not afraid to die, it seemed that death was even desirable for him.

Few people know the fact that Mikhail Yurievich, along with his literary talent, had an extraordinary gift for drawing. Read about this: Unknown talents of the great: Picturesque landscapes in watercolors of the poet Mikhail Lermontov.