Young muse of Russian writers and poets

• The young muse of Russian writers and poets

"Love for all ages" - that Pushkin's phrase has long been a maxim, and it could not have been more relevant in times of the poet. A big age difference between the spouses in the XIX century. not considered unnatural - young girls were married to older men, following the patriarchal traditions. But sometimes such a marriage was not for reasons of material gain, but by the dictates of the heart. For some elderly men passion for a young girl to become the fatal and destructive, but for others was a source of inspiration, so there were masterpieces of classical literature.

Left - Karl Bryullov. Portrait of Vasily Zhukovsky, 1838. Right - Shevchenko. Portrait of Vasily Zhukovsky. A copy of the works of K. Bryullov, 1841Co his future wife, Vasily Zhukovsky met when she was just 13 years old. they adored the famous poet, but, nevertheless, when he first wooed their daughter, he refused, even though Elizabeth was at that time already 17. A year later, 58-year-old Zhukovsky again woo, and he was familiar with her parents, that time the girl was given the right to decide their own destiny. She was in love with him and said yes, and in 1841 they were married. It was the first marriage of the poet - before he had for many years was hopelessly in love with the daughter of his half-sister.

Elizabeth A. Zhukovskaya, nee Reitern

This marriage was not a happy one - his wife surrounded by a spouse with care and attention, but after the birth of children, she fell ill from a mental disorder, she had lost her appetite, she suffered from seizures and frequent headaches. wife's illness required treatment at the spa, the family all the time spent abroad. Zhukovsky was very fond of children and was worried that he could not bring them, they will forget the Russian language, and wrote them poems and tales. Poetic lines and he dedicated to his wife: "Oh, I beg you, the creator, / Give me near her heavenly, / Before her heavenly eyes / And burn me and die." These words proved prophetic - after 11 years of marriage, the poet died in the arms of his wife, who survived him by only 4 years.

On the left - S. Alexandrovsky. Portrait FITyutchev, 1876. Right - Elena Denisiev. daguerreotypes

Poet Fedor Tiutchev was older than his lady 23 years. Elena Denisiev was his last love and muse, unwed wife and mother of three children. Before her poet was married twice, and the second marriage has not been dissolved. Elena was friendly with older daughters Tiutchev, and for the sake of his love she sacrificed and friendship, and social status, and the ability to become a maid of honor, and even their parents - said her father cursed behind this illegal connection. Tiutchev she called "my dear God," and he continued to live for two families. Their relationship lasted 14 years, until Denisiev not died of tuberculosis. The so-called "denisevsky" cycle of poems was the most shrill and lyrical works in Tiutchev.

Left - Zinaida Nekrasov. Right - Ge. Portrait of Nikolai Nekrasov, 1872

Nikolai Nekrasov had a stormy personal life, but he had married only once, for 8 months before his death. His choice was 19-year-old concubine Lytkina Petersburg merchant, soldier daughter, and Thecla orphan Viktorov. Nekrasov settled her into his house and called Zinaida Nikolaevna, giving her first name on their behalf. It was his present Galatea. Because she was illiterate, he invited her teachers and started her education. Friends say that "Zina was his joy, cheerfulness, his second youth". According to the driver, "it really lived according to that, and we can not say ... Zinaida looked at Z's not just as a husband, but as a heavenly creature. These verses he took it to the full ... but he learned how it warmed his affection - her only light was that Nikolai ". During the 5 years of their happiness nothing clouded until the poet has not been diagnosed with cancer. Every day it got worse. Presentiment of impending death, he decided to marry with Zina. Wife became a nurse to him, patiently took care of the dying. the poet's relatives of his widow and did not recognize and did not take. Nekrasov left her legacy, but she gave away the Baptists and the rest of my days spent in poverty and loneliness.

Left - Kramskoy. Portrait of Nikolai Nekrasov, 1877. Right - Kramskoy. Nekrasov during the period * * Last Songs, 1877-1878

21-year-old fan of Fedor Dostoevsky Apollinaris Suslov was younger than his 18 years. But the girl does not bother nor the age difference, nor the fact that the writer had a family. She aggressively attacked his letters and tried everywhere to cross his path. And he made his own - they began an affair. Suslov enjoyed the fact that the writer lost his head, demanded that he divorced his wife, he arranged scandals. Its called emansipe, of the girls, "known under the name of short-haired" and "belonging to one of the nihilists." Selfish, severe, heavy-handed and narcissistic, it Dostoevsky brought to a state close to insanity. Divorce, he did not dare, and finally Suslov had left him. It became the prototype of Nastasya Filippovna's "The Idiot" and Polina from "Player".

Left - Apollinaris Suslov. Right - Fyodor Dostoevsky