The inspiration of Pushkin, the “genius of pure beauty”, the victim of an oppressive husband, the heroine of numerous “novels”, the author of priceless diaries and memoirs, Anna Petrovna Kern (1800-1879) lived a long life, in which there were acquaintances with the smartest people of her time, free love , the languid hopelessness of the first marriage and the later happiness of the second, the condemnation of relatives, poverty, oblivion and - the gift of immortality - Pushkin's lines dedicated to her. The book, written by literary historian and local historian Vladimir Sysoev (1947-2010), tells the story of this “heroine of her time” based on memoirs, correspondence and archival materials. The text is accompanied by numerous illustrations.

PREFACE

Three kilometers from the small ancient town of Torzhok, in the Prutnya churchyard, for almost 130 years now the ashes of the one to whom A.S. Pushkin dedicated his most magical poetic lines have rested:

I remember a wonderful moment...

Anna Petrovna Kern (many know her precisely by the name of her first husband), nee Poltoratskaya, after her second husband Markova-Vinogradskaya... The muse of the greatest Russian poet, the author of priceless memoirs, without quoting which it is now impossible to imagine a single serious work about Pushkin.

Her whole life was devoted to the tireless search for all-consuming love. She needed to feel constant male love, she needed romantic experiences on the highest note like air. Rarely were any of her fans able to withstand such intensity of feelings even for a short time; Anna Petrovna quickly consoled herself and plunged headlong into a new passion. For her, love was the meaning and main shrine of her life, and therefore the assessment of many of her actions and personality as a whole cannot be approached by the standards of generally accepted morality.
Fate gave her the great happiness of close communication with Pushkin, acquaintance and friendship with many famous poets, writers, composers and simply interesting people.
Many literary scholars, historians and writers have tried to scrupulously understand the rather complex relationship between the poet and his muse. The epithets that Pushkin awarded Anna Petrovna at different times are also diametrically opposed: from “pretty woman”, “genius of pure beauty”, “loveliness”, “sweet, divine” and “angel of love” to “Babylonian harlot”, “vile” and "fools".
In the understanding of many researchers, the summer days of June-July 1825, spent by Anna Petrovna in Trigorskoye, at the end of which the poet wrote and presented to her a masterpiece of world love poetry, as well as the subsequent three months of their intense mischievous, witty and passionate correspondence became for Anna Petrovna's peak, the zenith of her rather long life. Yes, they were the ones who brought her immortality. However, did they bring her happiness?
In addition, it was still October of the same 1825, when Anna Petrovna came to Trigorskoye for the second time and had a new meeting with the poet, whom she herself and most researchers mention in passing at best. Soon after this meeting, she finally broke up with her husband, went to St. Petersburg, became close to the poet’s parents and even lived in their apartment for some time, and nine months later gave birth to a daughter, whose godmother was the poet’s sister Olga Sergeevna Pushkina. And upon Pushkin’s return from Mikhailovsky to St. Petersburg there were new meetings, new poems dedicated to her and a rapprochement that this time did not remain their secret... Note that Pushkin rarely returned to the objects of his former passion; For this, this subject needed to be not just a beautiful and attractive woman, but also an extraordinary person.
However, such a rapid, sparkling romance between the greatest poet of Russia and our heroine was for him only a small episode in his stormy life, full of love passions, and for her, the end of relations with Pushkin did not become a life drama.
After the death of the poet, Anna Petrovna lived for more than forty years, finally met her love - the one she had been looking for throughout the first half of her life, gave birth to a son and accomplished one of the main things - she wrote very interesting and, most importantly, quite frank memories - and about herself, and about the wonderful people around her.
Of course, she wrote them already at the end of her long and eventful life, twenty years after Pushkin’s death. This is both good and bad: the view on many events has settled, passions have subsided - but at the same time, some of the most expressive colors have faded, the tart aroma of the most vivid impressions has faded. Nevertheless, Anna Petrovna found such words, such a style of presentation that she was able to very vividly, easily and at the same time tactfully talk about her relationship with the great poet, without offending anyone or belittling her honor. At the same time, she did not openly talk about her feelings for Pushkin; she kept all her emotions to herself.
In communicating with Pushkin, and with other famous contemporaries, Anna Petrovna remembered every episode, every detail, every little thing and then, many years later, she reproduced everything that happened with such details and such language that do honor to her memory and literary abilities.
Considering herself quite knowledgeable in matters of love (“reading and experience allow me to judge this article,” she wrote to one of her fans), she was able to understand Pushkin’s attitude towards women. Anna Petrovna made him directly dependent on the era. According to her testimony, the poet himself almost never expressed feelings, he seemed to be ashamed of them, and in this he was the son of his century, about which he himself said that “the feeling was wild and funny” (italics A.P. Kern. - B . WITH.). In her bitter phrases “He had a low opinion of women” and “Pushkin never really loved anyone,” the tragedy of her personal experiences is felt.
Our contemporaries should be grateful to A.P. Kern not only for the fact that the poet reached the pinnacle of love lyricism, inspired by her, but also for the fact that in her memoirs she conveyed to us the true image of Pushkin - not an icon, but a living person.
Anna Petrovna was the first to tell in her memoirs about many episodes of her life, thereby setting the tone for future stories about her. They began writing about A.P. Kern literally a year after her death. However, most works dedicated to her describe only episodes of her biography related to Pushkin. And already in the first publications her place was clearly defined: in the poet’s closest friendly and family circle.
One of the best works about Anna Petrovna Kern at the beginning of the 20th century was written by the outstanding Pushkinist B. L. Modzalevsky. Since then, so much has been written about her - both good and bad - that it seems difficult to add anything. However, almost every year new studies appear on Kern. Among those who were interested in her life, there were many big names of our cultural figures. N. I. Chernyaev and P. K. Guber, A. I. Nezelenov and V. V. Veresaev, B. V. Tomashevsky and A. I. Beletsky, A. A. Akhmatova and A. M. Gordin, Yu. M. Lotman, L. I. Volpert, L. A. Kraval and others.
But if you carefully re-read her memoirs and letters, the notes of her second husband A.V. Markov-Vinogradsky, the diaries of Alexei Vulf, the memoirs and letters of Anna Petrovna’s contemporaries published and still in manuscript, then it will become clear that everything previously printed illuminated her life is incomplete and one-sided.
The author of this book tried, based on the sources listed above, to present the life of this wonderful woman in the fullest possible spectrum. Due to the fact that some stories, which she herself described with utmost frankness and sometimes with deep emotion, would only fade in retelling, there was no point in depriving the reader of the opportunity to get acquainted with them precisely in her presentation.
Much information about Anna Petrovna’s life after her second marriage was gleaned by the author from the notes of A.V. Markov-Vinogradsky, the full text of which is currently being prepared for publication by the staff of the Pushkin House, and unpublished letters stored there.
Natalya Sergeevna Levitskaya, a descendant and family historian of the Poltoratskys, provided the author with great assistance in understanding the character and many motives of Anna Petrovna’s behavior. Her inspired essay about representatives of this family: A.P. Kern, E.E. Kern and E.V. Poltoratskaya was my reference guide at the final stage of working on the manuscript.
When quoting, the spelling and punctuation of that era are observed whenever possible and the necessary references are given. Translations into Russian of texts written in French are given in parentheses as presented by the publishers; Sometimes several translation options are given if they convey different shades of meaning.
The author expresses gratitude for the assistance in collecting materials for this book and preparing it for publication to the head of the department of genealogy and written sources of the State Museum of A. S. Pushkin, candidate of historical sciences Olga Vladimirovna Rykova, researcher of the State Museum of Fine Arts named after A. S. Pushkin Igor Savvich Sidorov (Moscow), director of the literary museum of the Institute of Russian Literature (Pushkin House) of the Russian Academy of Sciences, candidate of cultural studies Larisa Georgievna Agamalyan, employees of the manuscript department of the Pushkin House, doctor of philological sciences Margarita Mikhailovna Pavlova and Lidia Konstantinovna Khitrovo, employees of the All-Russian Museum of A. S. Pushkin Elena Vladimirovna Prolet and Irina Aleksandrovna Klever (St. Petersburg), former director of the A. S. Pushkin Museum in Torzhok Taisiya Vladimirovna Gorokh, candidate of philological sciences Alexander Mikhailovich Boinikov (Tver), as well as descendants of the Bakunin family Vadim Sergeevich Galenko (Skhodnya) and Alexander Borisovich Moshkov (St. Petersburg) and a descendant of the Poltoratsky family, Natalya Sergeevna Levitskaya (Moscow).

Vladimir Ivanovich Sysoev was born on August 14, 1947 in the village of Papkovo, Lukovnikovsky district, Kalinin region. Since 1959 he lived in Kalinin (now Tver). While still at school, his interest in history showed; in the tenth grade he made reports on the topics: “The Bolshevik faction in the IV State Duma” and “Rzhev partisans during the Great Patriotic War.”

In 1965-1970, V.I. Sysoev studied at the Kalinin Polytechnic Institute (specialty "Hydraulic construction of river structures and hydroelectric power stations"). He visited many “impact Komsomol construction projects” of the USSR, including - in 1969 - the construction of the famous Ust-Ilimsk hydroelectric power station.
In the summer of 1970, he traveled to Pushkin’s places in the Kalinin region, attended the first Pushkin poetry festival in Bernovo and became interested in local history.
After graduating from the institute, he worked in Kazakhstan for 7 years on the construction of the Irtysh-Karaganda canal. He built waterworks, pumping stations, industrial and civil buildings. I did a lot of self-education: I studied history, literature, and art. I started collecting my home library.
At the end of 1977, he returned to Kalinin and for ten years worked as the head of the construction shop and deputy director for construction at the state farm named after the 50th anniversary of the USSR (now Zavolzhsky). He built residential buildings, schools, kindergartens, roads, and livestock farms.
He continued his studies in local history: he began touring the former Tver noble estates with a camera, worked in libraries, met the Torzhok local historian A. A. Suslov, Pryamukhinsky - Ya. A. Moryakov and Talozhensky - A. B. Bogoyavlensky. Gradually he moved from the vast Pushkin theme to the specific one - Bakunin. He often went to the Tver estate of the Bakunins, Pryamukhino.
All this time he was keenly interested in issues of history and local history, and he was especially interested in the Pryamukhino estate. In 1978, he met a researcher of the history of the Bakunin family, the author of books about M.A. Bakunin, Doctor of Historical Sciences Natalya Mikhailovna Pirumova. She gave a new impetus and a specific direction to his local history research, and from that time on, the history of the Pryamukhino estate and the Bakunin family became a priority for V.I. Sysoev. This was expressed in many large and small matters. Thus, he took part in the acquisition of portraits and other Bakunin family heirlooms from the descendants of this family for the Tver Regional Museum. In the early 1990s, the restoration company Presto, which he created, was engaged in the restoration and conservation of the Bakunin manor house in the village of Pryamukhino and the improvement of the park. In 1999, V.I. Sysoev became one of the founders and a member of the board of the Bakunin Foundation, the main task of which is the revival of the estate and the creation of a Bakunin museum in it. Vladimir Ivanovich was one of the organizers of the annual Bakunin holidays, which are held in Pryamukhin on the birthday of M.A. Bakunin.
Vladimir Sysoev’s first attempt at writing was the booklet “Pryamukhino - the Bakunins’ estate” (2001), and his first thorough work as a writer and local historian was the book “The Bakunins” (2002). With its vastness of materials, depth of development, good quality of both content and printing, the book surprised many who did not expect such a magnificent publication from a “techie” by education.
Since then, the name of V.I. Sysoev has been heard by the enlightened Tver public. For the book “Bakunins” in 2002 he was awarded the Literary Prize. Saltykov-Shchedrin in the nomination “For works telling about the life and destinies of our compatriots who left a noticeable mark on the history of the Tver province.” This detailed study immediately attracted the attention of the author not only from Tver scientists and local historians, but also from genealogists in Moscow, St. Petersburg, other Russian cities, as well as foreign scientists.
New books soon followed, similar in theme to the first: about the Tver governor Alexander Pavlovich Bakunin (2004), about the famous figure of the first Russian emigration Tatyana Alekseevna Bakunina-Osorgina (2005), about the first Lyceum love of A. S. Pushkin Ekaterina Pavlovna Bakunina (2006). In 2009, a book was published in the “ZhZL” series about Anna Petrovna Kern, who is related by family ties to the Bakunins and the Poltoratskys. (In February 2010, the second edition of this book was published, recognized by the editors of the Molodaya Gvardiya publishing house as one of the most popular books in the ZhZL series in 2009.)
Since December 2004, V.I. Sysoev was a member of the Writers' Union of Russia.
In 2003, he took an active part in the creation of the Bakunin Museum in Pryamukhin: he collected exhibits,, together with employees of the Tver State United Museum and artists, prepared stands, and resolved financing issues. Provided unique materials and photographs for the museum’s exhibition. The small museum, opened on July 26, has become a landmark of the Tver region. Every year, hundreds of visitors from many cities in Russia and the CIS, as well as near and far abroad, come to plunge into the atmosphere of “Pryamukhin Harmony”.
In April 2009, Vladimir Ivanovich became a nominee for the “Cultural Heritage” award in the “Public Recognition” category for his services in preserving, reviving and popularizing the architectural heritage of Russia and was awarded the Avaev Medal “For Non-Official Distinctions.”
V.I. Sysoev was a member of the Coordination Council of the Tver Regional Local Lore Society, a member of the Tver Historical and Genealogical Society and the All-Russian Society for the Protection of Historical and Cultural Monuments, and since August 2009 he has worked as deputy chairman of the Tver VOOPiK.
After the sudden death of V. I. Sysoev on January 3, 2010, the monograph “The Poltoratskys”, “The Tver Noble Atlantis” - a large work on the history of the estates of the noble families of Novotorzhsky and Kuvshinovsky districts, as well as a book about Ekaterina Mikhailovna Bakunina, one of the first nurses, remained unfinished Russia, and Konstantin Markovich Poltoratsky. In March 2010, in a collection dedicated to the anniversary of the Tver Union of Artists, an article by V. I. Sysoev “Master of Etude” appeared - about the forgotten Tver artist Mitrofanov. The article “Mashuk Estate and its Owners” is awaiting publication. The articles “Talozhnya”, “The Death of Patriarch Tikhon”, “Admirals of Novotorzhsky District”, “Acquaintances of A.S. Pushkin in Novotorzhsky District” and others were being prepared for publication.

Anna Kern is one of Alexander Pushkin’s muses and the most beautiful women of the 19th century, to whom the poem “I Remember a Wonderful Moment” was dedicated.

Alleged portrait of Anna Kern. A. Arefov-Bagaev. 1840s

"I almost hate him"

The history of the relationship between Pushkin and Anna Kern, the wife of General Ermolai Kern, is very confused and contradictory. Despite the fact that their relationship gave birth to one of the poet’s most famous poems, “I Remember a Wonderful Moment,” this novel can hardly be called fateful for both parties.
At the age of 17, a girl of noble origin, Anna Poltoratskaya, a fair-haired fairy with cornflower-blue eyes and unruly blond curls, marries 52-year-old General Ermolai Kern, a participant in the wars against Napoleon, who would later even serve as the prototype for Prince Gremin in Pushkin’s novel Eugene Onegin."

Like many marriages that took place at that time, this one was made out of convenience. Such an alliance was agreed upon by Anna’s dad, court councilor Pyotr Poltoratsky. The girl had to submit to her father’s will, but she did not hide her true attitude towards her husband, and in her diary one could often find such entries: “It is impossible to love him - I am not even given the consolation of respecting him; I’ll tell you straight - I almost hate him.” During their marriage, Anna gave birth to two daughters, but her attitude towards them was more than cool: the girls were placed in the Smolny Institute, and Kern herself openly neglected raising her daughters.

Rude Pushkin

Before her first meeting with Pushkin, which took place in St. Petersburg in 1819, when Anna was visiting her aunt, the first casual connections and fleeting novels began to appear in the life of the young general’s wife: the girl was undeniably beautiful, attracted the attention of brave officers who often appeared in the general’s house , and most importantly, she was notable for that charm that makes beauty especially crushing. The meeting with Pushkin did not make a particular impression on Kern; in some places the poet even seemed rude and shameless to her. She subtly described her feelings in her diary:

“At one of the evenings at the Olenins’, I met Pushkin and did not notice him: my attention was absorbed in the charades that were then being played out and in which Krylov, Pleshcheev and others took part. In the child of Krylov’s enchantment, it was difficult to see anyone other than the culprit of poetic pleasure, and that’s why I didn’t notice Pushkin, although he tried his best to attract attention with flattering exclamations such as, for example: “Is it possible to be so pretty!”

Everything changed during their second meeting, which occurred while Pushkin was serving exile on the Mikhailovskoye estate. Kern was resting nearby, in the Trigorskoye estate, which belonged to the Osipov-Wulf family - mutual friends of Kern and Pushkin.

"I remember a wonderful moment..."

By that time, the poet’s fame had reached the ardent beauty. She became keenly interested in Pushkin and, having received a letter through a mutual friend, full of delight and desire to meet, immediately wrote a response to Pushkin. There is an entry in her diary: “admired by Pushkin, I passionately want to see him...”.

The next evening, Anna’s wish came true: the lovers walked through the garden, talked about a thousand little things, and the next morning Pushkin brought Kern a copy of the first chapter of the novel “Eugene Onegin”, in which he inserted a sheet of paper with the lines “I remember a wonderful moment” written on it. Later, when Kern talked about this, perhaps the most exciting moment in her life, she recalled that when she was about to hide the poetic gift in the box, Pushkin for some reason snatched out the sheet of poetry and for a long time did not want to give it to Anna. She “forcibly begged them again.” Why the poet wanted to take the piece of paper with the poem remains a mystery.

It is known for certain how the relationship between Pushkin and Kern developed after that romantic time. When Kern was getting ready to go with her daughters to Riga, where the old general was at that time, she playfully allowed Pushkin to write letters to her. These messages in French have survived to this day. As much as I would not like to find in them even the slightest hint of the poet’s deep feelings for his fair-haired muse, these letters are mocking and ironic. They are in no way similar to the messages that a person overwhelmed by passion writes.

Anna Petrovna, drawing by Pushkin (1799-1837), Institute of Russian Literature, St. Petersburg

Burnt out wick of love

The next meeting of the poet and his muse happened two years later. Then, remembering the rude and cynical remark Pushkin made in a letter to his friend Sergei Sobolevsky, their relationship moved into another phase: Pushkin no longer calls Anna “a genius of pure beauty,” but refers to her only as “our Babylonian harlot Anna Petrovna” . By that time, Kern had already left her husband, finally moved to St. Petersburg and caused outright gossip in high society, where she was included thanks to her husband’s connections and the favor of Emperor Alexander, whom she met in the first years of her marriage.
After 1827, their life paths diverged forever. Pushkin had new women to whom he dedicated poems and whom he included in the “Don Juan list.” Kern's husband died in 1841, and Anna, finally free, finds her main love: a 16-year-old cadet and her second cousin Alexander Markov-Vinogradsky. With him she begins to lead a quiet family life. It is known that she kept Pushkin’s poems as a relic and even showed them to Ivan Turgenev, who once paid her a visit. However, a precarious financial situation, which turned into poverty, which subsequently reaches its extreme state, forces Kern to say goodbye to her cherished letters. She sold them for five rubles apiece.

Anna Kern outlived Alexander Pushkin by 42 years, preserving in her diaries the eternally young and lively image of the poet, who, thanks to notes and comments, turns from a textbook personality into a real person who fell in love to the point of tightness in his chest, who found inspiration in beauty, and, in Kern’s opinion , “who never really loved anyone.”

The history of the relationship between two people, between whom a spark slipped, is largely unclear, but after them something has been preserved that exalts and makes the connection almost sacred - the poem “I Remember a Wonderful Moment” - a dedication of a poet in love to a beautiful woman, which has become one of the most heartfelt and graceful in history of Russian poetry.

It's good to love! If the heart is dear: there is something to hold tightly
to the heart and in sad times to say: “Darling, I’m sad!”
Even quarreling with someone close to your soul is pleasant! It does not matter
what to quarrel with yourself over something
and convince yourself of this or that! It's generally good to love !
A.P.Kern, 1840

The woman who resurrected for Pushkin “deity, and inspiration, / And life, and tears, and love” was not at all an airy creature who did not know sadness and suffering. On the contrary, in her life she had to drink plenty of both.

Her father, a Little Russian landowner, was, as they say, a fool. His extravagance cost his daughter essentially half her life. He got it into his head that her happiness required a general husband. The latter appeared under the name of Ermolai Fedorovich Kern. He was over fifty, and luxurious epaulettes, coupled with several orders for 1812, constituted his only right to the title of man. The beautiful 17-year-old Annette, who also had a sensitive soul, was sacrificed to these epaulettes.

Her husband was not only rude, but also extremely jealous. He was jealous of her even towards her father. A young woman suffered for eight years in the grip of a hateful marriage. During this time, her husband exhausted all types of insults on her. Finally, Anna lost patience and began to demand a divorce, but could only achieve separation from her husband.

Such a tragic fate was hidden behind the kind smile and charm of the young woman who charmed the poet.

In the summer of 1825, Anna Petrovna came to visit her aunt in Trigorskoye. Pushkin visited there almost every day for a whole month - to listen to her sing, read his poems to her... The day before leaving, Kern, together with her aunt and cousin, visited Pushkin in Mikhailovsky. At night, the two of them wandered around the neglected garden for a long time, but Kern did not remember the details of their conversation, as she claims in her memoirs, or did not want to make it public.

Anna Petrovna also told us how she begged the poet for a sheet of paper with these verses. She had to leave the next day. Pushkin came early in the morning, bringing as a gift the second chapter of “Eugene Onegin” and a poem dedicated to her. When Anna Petrovna was about to hide the piece of paper in her box, the poet suddenly frantically snatched it from her hands and did not want to give it back for a long time. Kern forcibly begged for the gift to be returned to her.

At the time of the creation of the poetic masterpiece dedicated to her, Anna was experiencing an affair with Pushkin’s friend Alexei Wulf.

Only two years later she condescended to become a brilliant admirer. But the novel turned out to be short, the poet quickly lost interest in the subject of his former passion.

Only in 1841 did Anna Kern’s fate change. General Kern died, and she married her distant relative (much younger than her in years) Alexander Vasilyevich Markov-Vinogradsky. This marriage turned out to be long and happy, but her dazzling beauty faded every year.

The writer Altaeva recalled how in the 1870s, in her parents’ house, she listened to the famous tenor Komissarzhevsky singing Glinka’s romance “I Remember a Wonderful Moment.” Among the guests sat a slightly eccentric old woman with a face wrinkled like a baked apple, and tears of delight and happiness flowed uncontrollably down her wrinkled cheeks. It was Anna Petrovna Kern. Life is merciless towards “pure beauty”, and only poetry grants it immortality.

On May 27, 1879, Anna Petrovna died in “furnished rooms” on the corner of Gruzinskaya and Tverskaya. According to legend, when the funeral procession with the coffin passed along Tverskoy Boulevard, the famous monument to the famous poet was just being erected on it.
She was buried in a graveyard near an old stone church in the village of Prutnya, 6 kilometers from Torzhok.

I remember a wonderful moment:
You appeared before me,
Like a fleeting vision
Like a genius of pure beauty.

In the languor of hopeless sadness,
In the worries of noisy bustle,
A gentle voice sounded to me for a long time
And I dreamed of cute features.

Years passed. The storm is a rebellious gust
Dispelled old dreams
And I forgot your gentle voice,
Your heavenly features.

In the wilderness, in the darkness of imprisonment
My days passed quietly
Without a deity, without inspiration,
No tears, no life, no love.

The soul has awakened:
And then you appeared again,
Like a fleeting vision
Like a genius of pure beauty.

And the heart beats in ecstasy,
And for him they rose again
And deity and inspiration,
And life, and tears, and love.
A.S. Pushkin, 1825

Composition

In 1819, Pushkin met the young beauty Anna Petrovna Kern in Olenin’s St. Petersburg house. She made an impression on the young poet. In 1825, in Mikhailovskoye, the young people met again: Kern came to visit the poet’s neighbors in Prigorodsk. The hobby was renewed and continued for some time.

In July 1825, when Anna Petrovna Kern was leaving the village for Riga, she read the poems that Pushkin gave her, putting them in the uncut leaves of the first chapter of Eugene Onegin. The girl recalls that when she “was going to hide a poetic gift in the box,” the young poet looked at her for a long time, “then he frantically snatched it and did not want to return it.” It seemed to Anna that something flashed through the poet’s head.

It can be assumed that this was a fear that the poems would be taken as dedicated to her, as her portrait, and perhaps as the history of their relationship. And so it happened. Delvig published a message in “Northern Flowers”, M.I. Glinka wrote divine music. But the poems are not dedicated to Anna Petrovna Kern, they are addressed to her. K*** is not an ordinary hiding of a specific person. This is an appeal to the heavenly, high.

Pushkin also met Anna Kern in the thirties; she never left the environment of the poet’s parental home...

The poetic image of “the genius of pure beauty” was born by V.A. Zhukovsky, who, after one court holiday in Germany, wrote the poems “Lala Ruk”, which he dedicated to the German princess Frederica, who later became the Russian Grand Duchess Alexandra Feodorovna. In live films she played the role of the Indian princess Lala Rook.

A few months later, Zhukovsky ends up in the Dresden Gallery and looks at the Sistine Madonna for a long time. Vasily Andreevich recalls: “... I began to clearly feel that the soul was spreading; some kind of menacing feeling of greatness came into her; the indescribable was depicted for her, and she was where only life can be in the best moments.” The definition reappears: the genius of pure beauty.

Pushkin remembered these lines and already in verse depicted a miracle, a flying vision:

I remember a wonderful moment:
You appeared before me,
Like a fleeting vision
Like a genius of pure beauty.

In the second stanza of the poem, the motive of separation sounds, and the image seems to go away, blurring:

Hopeless in the languor of sadness,
In the worries of the noisy bustle
A gentle voice sounded to me for a long time
And I dreamed of cute features.

The third stanza develops the theme of life in separation:
Years passed. The storm is a rebellious gust
Dispelled my old dreams, And I forgot your gentle voice,
Your heavenly features.

In the subtext of the poem, the poet talks about exile, disgrace, when there was no time for creativity.

The entire poem is filled with repetitions, but it is unobtrusive and does not hurt the ear.

The theme of separation ends in the next stanza, which tells about the Mikhailovsky exile, when the poet lived “without inspiration.”

The fifth stanza is permeated with the joy of a new meeting:

The soul has awakened:
And then you appeared again,
Like a fleeting vision
Like a genius of pure beauty.

The “vision,” of course, was “fleeting,” but it brought Pushkin back to life.

The last stanza sounds like an enthusiastic affirmation of joy, love, life:

And the heart beats in ecstasy,
And for him they rose again
And deity and inspiration,
And life, and tears, and love.

The fifth stanza almost entirely repeats the first (“ring”). This poetic “game” constitutes the main feature of the musical composition of the poem.

In the address to infinity that K*** became, there could be no specific name. That is why there is a feeling of extraordinary simplicity and lightness. Words should not distract from the main thing; they should be modest and unnoticeable.

Pushkin introduced the processed diamond to the world. Only at a happy moment of awakening of the spirit is this phenomenon possible - the “genius of pure beauty.”

Thanks to Anna Petrovna Kern - everything revolved around my passion for her, a living, genuine feeling arose. She was the occasion that helped to evoke the image of a great vision at the time of the poet’s spiritual awakening. But still, Pushkin could not have it the other way around - first a specific person, then a vision.

Be that as it may, we can talk about Pushkin endlessly. This is exactly the guy who managed to “inherit” everywhere. But this time we have to look at the topic “Anna Kern and Pushkin: a love story.” These relationships could have gone unnoticed by everyone if not for the emotionally tender poem “I Remember a Wonderful Moment,” dedicated to Anna Petrovna Kern and written by the poet in 1825 in Mikhailovskoye during his exile. When and how did Pushkin and Kern meet? However, their love story turned out to be quite mysterious and strange. Their first fleeting meeting took place in the Olenins' salon in 1819 in St. Petersburg. However, first things first.

Anna Kern and Pushkin: a love story

Anna was a relative of the inhabitants of Trigorskoye, the Osipov-Wulf family, who were Pushkin’s neighbors on Mikhailovskoye, the poet’s family estate. One day, in correspondence with her cousin, she reports that she is a big fan of Pushkin’s poetry. These words reach the poet, he is intrigued and in his letter to the poet A.G. Rodzianko asks about Kern, whose estate was located in his neighborhood, and besides, Anna was his very close friend. Rodzianko wrote a playful response to Pushkin; Anna also joined in this playful, friendly correspondence; she added several ironic words to the letter. Pushkin was fascinated by this turn and wrote her several compliments, while maintaining a frivolous and playful tone. He expressed all his thoughts on this matter in his poem “To Rodzianka.”

Kern was married, and Pushkin knew well her not very happy marital situation. It should be noted that for Kern Pushkin was not a fatal passion, just as she was not for him.

Anna Kern: family

As a girl, Anna Poltoratskaya was a fair-haired beauty with cornflower blue eyes. At the age of 17, she was given in an arranged marriage to a 52-year-old general, a participant in the war with Napoleon. Anna had to submit to her father’s will, but she not only did not love her husband, but even hated her in her heart, she wrote about this in her diary. During their marriage, they had two daughters; Tsar Alexander I himself expressed a desire to be the godfather of one of them.

Kern. Pushkin

Anna is an undeniable beauty who attracted the attention of many brave officers who often visited their house. As a woman, she was very cheerful and charming in her interactions, which had a devastating effect on them.

When Anna Kern and Pushkin first met at her aunt Olenina’s, the young general’s wife already began to have casual affairs and fleeting connections. The poet did not make any impression on her, and at some points seemed rude and shameless. He immediately liked Anna, and he attracted her attention with flattering exclamations, something like: “Is it possible to be so pretty?!”

Meeting in Mikhailovsky

Anna Petrovna Kern and Pushkin met again when Alexander Sergeevich was sent into exile to his native estate Mikhailovskoye. It was the most boring and lonely time for him; after the noisy Odessa, he was annoyed and morally crushed. “Poetry saved me, I was resurrected in soul,” he would later write. It was at this time that Kern, who could not have come at a more opportune time, one July day in 1825, came to Trigorskoye to visit her relatives. Pushkin was incredibly happy about this; she became a ray of light for him for a while. By that time, Anna was already a big fan of the poet, she longed to meet him and again amazed him with her beauty. The poet was seduced by her, especially after she soulfully sang the then popular romance “The Spring Night Breathed.”

Poem for Anna

Anna Kern in Pushkin's life for a moment became a fleeting muse, an inspiration that washed over him in an unexpected way. Impressed, he immediately takes up his pen and dedicates his poem “I Remember a Wonderful Moment” to her.

From the memoirs of Kern herself it follows that on the evening of July 1825, after dinner in Trigorskoye, everyone decided to visit Mikhailovskoye. The two crews set off. In one of them rode P. A. Osipova with her son Alexei Wulf, in the other A. N. Wulf, her cousin Anna Kern and Pushkin. The poet was, as ever, kind and courteous.

It was a farewell evening; the next day Kern was supposed to leave for Riga. In the morning, Pushkin came to say goodbye and brought her a copy of one of the chapters of Onegin. And among the uncut sheets, she found a poem dedicated to her, read it and then wanted to put her poetic gift in the box, when Pushkin frantically snatched it and did not want to give it back for a long time. Anna never understood this behavior of the poet.

Undoubtedly, this woman gave him moments of happiness, and perhaps brought him back to life.

Relationship

It is very important to note in this matter that Pushkin himself did not consider the feeling he experienced for Kern to be love. Maybe this is how he rewarded women for their tender caress and affection. In a letter to Anna Nikolaevna Wulf, he wrote that he writes a lot of poems about love, but he has no love for Anna, otherwise he would become very jealous of her for Alexei Wulf, who enjoyed her favor.

B. Tomashevsky will note that, of course, there was an intriguing outbreak of feelings between them, and it served as the impetus for writing a poetic masterpiece. Perhaps Pushkin himself, giving it into the hands of Kern, suddenly thought that it could cause a false interpretation, and therefore resisted his impulse. But it was already too late. Surely at these moments Anna Kern was beside herself with happiness. Pushkin's opening line, “I remember a wonderful moment,” remained engraved on her tombstone. This poem truly made her a living legend.

Connection

Anna Petrovna Kern and Pushkin broke up, but their further relationship is not known for certain. She left with her daughters for Riga and playfully allowed the poet to write letters to her. And he wrote them to her, they have survived to this day, although in French. There were no hints of deep feelings in them. On the contrary, they are ironic and mocking, but very friendly. The poet no longer writes that she is a “genius of pure beauty” (the relationship has moved into another phase), but calls her “our Babylonian harlot Anna Petrovna.”

Paths of destinies

Anna Kern and Pushkin would see each other next two years later, in 1827, when she left her husband and moved to St. Petersburg, which would cause gossip in high society.

After moving to St. Petersburg, Kern, along with her sister and father, will live in the very house where she first met Pushkin in 1819.

She will spend this day entirely in the company of Pushkin and his father. Anna could not find words of admiration and joy from meeting him. It was most likely not love, but great human affection and passion. In a letter to Sobolevsky, Pushkin will openly write that the other day he slept with Kern.

In December 1828, Pushkin met his precious Natalie Goncharova, lived with her for 6 years in marriage, and she bore him four children. In 1837, Pushkin would be killed in a duel.

Liberty

Anna Kern would finally be freed from her marriage when her husband died in 1841. She will fall in love with cadet Alexander Markov-Vinogradsky, who will also be her second cousin. With him she will lead a quiet family life, although he is 20 years younger than her.

Anna will show Pushkin's letters and poem as a relic to Ivan Turgenev, but her poverty-stricken situation will force her to sell them for five rubles apiece.

One by one her daughters will die. She would outlive Pushkin by 42 years and preserve in her memoirs the living image of the poet, who, as she believed, never truly loved anyone.

In fact, it is still unclear who Anna Kern was in Pushkin’s life. The history of the relationship between these two people, between whom a spark flew, gave the world one of the most beautiful, most elegant and heartfelt poems dedicated to a beautiful woman that have ever been in Russian poetry.

Bottom line

After the death of Pushkin’s mother and the death of the poet himself, Kern did not interrupt her close relationship with his family. The poet’s father, Sergei Lvovich Pushkin, who felt acute loneliness after the death of his wife, wrote reverent heartfelt letters to Anna Petrovna and even wanted to live with her “the last sad years.”

She died in Moscow six months after the death of her husband - in 1879. She lived with him for a good 40 years and never emphasized his inadequacy.

Anna was buried in the village of Prutnya near the city of Torzhok, Tver province. Their son Alexander committed suicide after the death of his parents.

Her brother also dedicated a poem to her, which she read to Pushkin from memory when they met in 1827. It began with the words: “How can you not go crazy.”

This concludes our consideration of the topic “Pushkin and Kern: a love story.” As it has already become clear, Kern captivated all the men of the Pushkin family, they somehow incredibly succumbed to her charm.