page_title: Konstantin Balmont
section_title: 1906–1917
hierarchical_section_title: Konstantin Balmont / Biography / 1906–1917
caption_attribution_description: Konstantin Balmont, caricature by Natan Altman
context_page_description: Konstantin Dmitriyevich Balmont was a Russian symbolist poet and translator. He was one of the major figures of the Silver Age of Russian Poetry.
  Balmont's early education came from his mother, who knew several foreign languages, was enthusiastic about literature and theater, and exerted a strong influence on her son. He then attended two gymnasiums, was expelled from the first for political activities, and graduated from the second. He studied law at Moscow State University, but was quickly expelled for taking part in student unrest. He tried again at the Demidov Law College, but dropped out in 1890.
  In February 1889 he married Larisa Mikhailovna Garelina; unhappy in marriage, on 13 March 1890 Balmont attempted suicide by jumping from a third-story window, leaving him with a limp and an injured writing hand for the rest of his life. He was involved in two other common-law marriages and attempted suicide a second time later in life.
  He wrote poetry and prose prolifically and published his works to wide audiences in Russia, where he emigrated from after the Bolshevik revolution, and to a smaller audience in exile.
context_section_description: Balmont's next two books collected poetry written during and in the wake of the First Russian revolution. Inspired by Walt Whitman, who he was translating at the time, Balmont gathered his civic verse into the collection Poems (Стихотворения,  1906), which was immediately confiscated by the police. Songs of the Avenger (Песни мстителя, 1907), containing direct calls for the assassination of the Tsar, was banned in Russia, and published in Paris. Evil Charms (Злые чары, 1906) was banned for its allegedly anti-religious sentiments.  In 1907–1912 Balmont traveled continuously. Snakes' Flowers (Zmeinye tsvety, 1910) and  The Land of Osiris  (Krai Ozirisa, 1914) collected his travel sketches. Then came the Russian folklore-oriented Firebird. Slav's Svirel (Жар-птица. Свирель славянина, 1907), Birds in the Air (Ptitsy v vozdukhe, 1908), Green Vertograd. Words Like Kisses (Зелёный вертоград. Слова поцелуйные, 1909) and The Glow of Dawns (Zarevo zor', 1912). In Ancient Calls (Зовы древности, 1909) Balmont adapted poems and inscriptions from a variety of ancient sources. Both critics and fellow poets (Bryusov among them) saw these post-1905 books as manifesting a deep creative crisis, of which the poet himself, apparently, remained unaware. Vladimir Markov later argued that Green Vertograd marked the start of a new ascent in Balmont's lyrical poetry, based on the reworking of folkloric material (mostly but not exclusively Russian in origin). A somewhat better reception awaited White Lightning (Белые зарницы, 1908) and Luminous Sea (Морское свечение, 1910), collections of his essays on Russian and foreign authors.
  The outbreak of World War I found Balmont in France, and he had to make a long trip through the United Kingdom, Norway, and Sweden to return home in May 1915. In 1916 he traveled through the entire Empire, giving readings to large audiences and reached Japan, where he was also warmly received. During the war Balmont published Ash. The Vision of a Tree (Ясень. Видение древа, 1916) and 255 sonnets under the title Sonnets of the Sun, Honey, and the Moon (Сонеты Солнца, мёда и Луны, 1917). Both books were received warmly by the public, though the majority of critics found them monotonous and banal. Balmont also composed longer poems, including six garlands of sonnets. He made new friends, including the composers Alexander Skryabin and Sergei Prokofiev, collaborating with the latter on musical works. His 1915 volume Poetry as Magic gave the most coherent and influential statement of his theoretical positions on poetry. White Architect (1914) confirmed Balmont's return as a lyric poet; Markov underscores its more classical qualities of "energy, viritlity, solidity, and finish." In 1914 the publication of Balmont's Complete Works in ten volumes commenced.
caption: Balmont lecturing. Natan Altman's caricature, 1914
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