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Tyutchev Fyodor 1803 - 1873 (70)

The louder the voice, the lower the intellect.


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Fyodor Tyutchev (1803-1873) was an important 19th century Russian poet. He was born on December 5, 1803, into an aristocratic family in Ovstug near the present-day border with Belarus, and he grew up in Moscow. From an early age, having the best teachers, one of whom is a famous poet, he joined the literary circle of the city and at the age of 15 he published a translation of Horace's letters to Mycenae, from Latin into Russian. From 1819 to 1821 he studied Philology at the University of Moscow and in 1922 he was appointed a diplomat in Munich. There he fell in love with the half-sister of a Bavarian aristocrat, Amalie Krüdener, whom her relatives married her to someone else. Tyutchev almost had a dwell for her, eventually he wrote a series of very succesfull poems about their unfortunate love.

In 1826 he married the widow of a Russian diplomat and in 1836 after her death, he had a second marriage, having a total of 5 children. From 1840 he published in political newspapers articles on the relations of the West with Russia, but mainly he wrote poems with basic themes of love, nature, human destiny. He wrote more than 400 poems which were very successful and many excerpts of them became proverbs of the Russian people. Tuchev lived abroad for 22 years (mainly in Munich and Turin) and returned to Russia as a recognized poet where he continued to serve in government positions and to write poetry.

He died on July 27, 1873. A few days before, he had a visit by his youthful unfulfilled love from Germany, whom he had not seen for nearly 50 years. He wrote about her to his daughter: "Yesterday I felt a passionate emotion because of my meeting with Amalie who wanted to see me for the last time in this world. In her face, the past and the best years of my life came to me and gave me a farewell kiss ".