Nadezhda Volpin is the civil wife of the poet Sergei Yesenin. Biography, creativity

Nadezhda Volpin is a poet and translator who started her career at the dawn of the 20th century. However, the greatest popularity was brought to her not so much by her writings as by an affair with Sergei Yesenin, which began in 1920. The biography of this amazing woman and her work will be devoted to this article.

Nadezhda Volpin: Biography

The future poet was born on February 6, 1900 in Mogilev. Her father, David Samuilovich Volpin, was a graduate of Moscow University and became famous for translating JJ Fraser's book "Folklore in the Old Testament", earned a living as a lawyer for his life. Mother of Hope, Anna Borisovna Zhislina, was a music teacher, largely due to her graduation from the Warsaw Conservatoire.

Volpin Nadezhda Davydovna herself did not follow in the footsteps of any of her parents and, having graduated from the so-called "Khvostovskaya" classical gymnasium in 1917, entered the Moscow University at the Department of Physics and Mathematics Faculty. However, the foreign languages that she later became so useful in life and allowed to become an interpreter, she mastered just in the gymnasium. Moreover, at the university Volpin studied for a little more than a year, then left, realizing that natural physics is not her vocation.

The saturated and bright life of Nadezhda Davydovna as a poetess began in 1919, when she joined the Imagists and began to work in the studio of Andrei Bely "Green Workshop". In the same year, there was another significant event in her life.

The first meeting with Yesenin

Sergei Yesenin and Nadezhda Volpin met in the cafe Stoilo Pegasus, where the second anniversary of October was celebrated. On this occasion, the cafe gathered many poets who read their works from the stage. Yesenin was one of these invited guests, but when his turn came, he answered the entertainer that he was supposed to be "reluctant".

Volpin, who was present at the party, was a passionate admirer of Yesenin 's work, so, having gained courage, she went to the poet and asked me to read the poems. The poet, known for his weakness for the female sex, could not deny the adorable girl. In response to her request, he bowed with the words: "For you - with pleasure."

Since that moment, their frequent meetings began at this cafe, after which Esenin accompanied the girl to the house. On the way, they talked a lot about poetry and literature. Once Yesenin even gave Volpin a book of his poems with the signature "Hope with hope."

Conquest

Nadezhda Volpin, whose memories of Yesenin were not always the most pleasant, wrote about this period of their communication that she constantly had to fight back from the poet's confessions. For three years the girl managed to keep Yesenin at a distance, despite sincere love for him.

In many respects this was due to the fact that at that time the poet was still officially married to Zinaida Raich, who had two children from him. Yesenin had not lived with this woman for a long time, but the very fact of marriage seriously troubled Nadezhda.

Only in 1921 the lovers became really close. However, this did not bring them much joy. They often quarreled, mainly because of the poet's wild life. Yesenin confessed that he was afraid to get too close to Nadezhda, that's why he often disappears.

Yesenin's novel with Isadora Duncan

And in 1922 the scandalous novel of the poet with the famous dancer Isadora Duncan began. Volpin, Yesenin's civil wife, could not interfere with this union, and did not intend to. For her, it was a blow. The situation was aggravated by the fact that everything was happening before her eyes - the circle of communication with them was shared with Yesenin.

Nevertheless, when the poet parted with his next passion and wished to return, Nadezhda Volpin accepted him. Joint visits to friends, joint visits to cafes, and house gatherings were resumed. Gradually, she became the man who brought the quickly-poached poet home. Yesenin got drunk more often, he began to feel that he was being persecuted. He often told Nadezhda about his fears.

Birth of a child

Soon Nadezhda Volpin learned that she was pregnant. Hearing about this, Esenin was not happy, but said that he already has children and he seems to be just enough. To this Volpin replied that she did not need anything from Yesenin, and she did not try to marry him.

After this unpleasant conversation Hope leaves for Petersburg, deciding to break all relations with the poet. Their son, Alexander, was born in 1924, on May 12, in the same place, in the northern capital. Hope in every possible way tried to avoid possible meetings with Yesenin. She did not even settle with the poet's friends, whom he asked to shelter her, but in a small, completely inconvenient little room. Yesenin strongly scolded Hope for this, but she did not back away from her. Volpin always aspired to independence and independence.

The boy was very much like Yesenin. The poet had never seen him, but often asked his friends what he was like. To the answer that he was a spitting Sergei in his childhood, Yesenin answered: "It should be so, because she loved me very much."

After the death of Yesenin

It was hard to live alone with a young child, and Nadezhda Volpin began to earn remittances. Basically, these were works of European classics: Walter Scott, Merimee, Cooper, Conan Doyle and others. She managed to reproduce the individual author's style, and the poet's experience helped translate poetry by Goethe, Ovid and many others.

During the Great Patriotic War, Volpin was evacuated to Turkmenistan, to Ashgabat. Here she quickly mastered the Turkmen language and began to translate national folklore and poetry.

In the years of repression, Alexander Volpin-Yesenin was arrested for anti-Soviet activities. For Hope, this was a severe test, which ended in the migration of a son to the United States.

The life of the poetess ended in 1998, September 9. In recent years, she was courted by Alexander's ex-wife Viktoria Pisak.

Volpin Nadezhda Davydovna: the creative path

As noted above, the poet's creative path began in the 1920s, although she tried to write poetry while still a high school student. Moscow has opened up new opportunities. In particular, the literary cafes Stoylo Pegasa and The Poets Cafe enjoyed great popularity. Here is one of the poems of Volpin of this period:

"Songs from the throat burst,
Bloody sweat on my forehead ...
Your chains, the Revolution,
The heart is holier than freedom! "

However, Volpin is more known as an interpreter. The amount of work done by her is truly colossal - there are thousands of text pages. Nadezhda Davydovna was a very educated person with a broad outlook and an excellent memory. Many verses of poets knew by heart. This same phenomenal ability to remember helped her to master a considerable number of foreign languages. Since 1970, Volpin began work on her memoirs, which described in detail the poetic life of the Silver Age. A lot of attention was paid to the lives of Sergei Yesenin. Many of these works are now published.