Fyodor Tyutchev

Fyodor Ivanovich Tyutchev (rus: Фёдор Иванович Тютчев, fyô'dər ēvä'nəvĭch tyū'chĭf) (December 5 1803 – July 27, 1873) was one of the most significant Russian poets. Almost 20 years of his life he spent in Munich and Turin. Tyutchev was a good friend of Heinrich Heine, knew Schelling as well. Tyutchev didn’t want people to know him as a poet. He didn’t take any part in a literary life.

 Works 
He has around 400 of his poems. Russian people quote them very often. His early poems are made in Russian poetic tradition of the XVIII century. In the 1830s we can find an influence of European (especially German) romanticism on Tyutchev’s lyrics. He writes philosophic poems about the universe, nature and human being. In 1840s Tyutchev wrote several articles about relations between Russia and Occidental civilization. In 1850s Tyutchev created several heartfelt poems, in which we can see love as a tragedy. These poems are combined into one cycle, named “Denisievsky”. “Denisievsky” means dedicated to a mistress of Tyutchev – Elena Alexandrovna Denisieva. In 1860s–1870s Tyutchev wrote mainly political poems.

The most famous Tyutchev's poem is “Silentium!”. This is a hard appeal to be silent. Because a man never can understand another person. A line “A word once uttered is untrue” is one of the most popular aphorisms of Tyutchev. As well as “We can't understand Russia by the reason” and “We are not know, what will be the respond for our word”. 

 Other websites 
 Tyutcheviana (in russian)
 Translations of some poems into different languages

Category:1803 births
Category:1873 deaths

Category:Russian writers
Category:Russian poets