Sergei Alexandrovich Yesenin, a poet from the Ryazan province, played a significant role in Russian literature. Who were Yesenin's close friends? Who helped him pave the way for literature? With whom did the poet cease to communicate, and who was up to the grave-board with him? Who was Esenin's friend, and who was nearby because of the benefits? Consider the relationship of the famous poet with other equally famous personalities. Indeed, among the friends of Sergei Yesenin there were many famous writers, poets and other creative people.
This is not a complete list of Yesenin's friends, but at different times these people were very close to the poet, helped him become who he was, to reveal his creative potential.
- Grigory Panfilov.
- Alexander Blok.
- Sergey Gorodetsky.
- Nikolay Klyuyev.
- Vsevolod Ivanov.
- Anatoly Mariengof.
- Sergey Konenkov.
- Vsevolod Meyerhold.
- Andrey Bely.
Friendship of Sergey Yesenin and Grigory Panfilov
Perhaps the first best friend of Yesenin can be called Grigory Panfilov. Young people studied together at a seminary in Spas-Klepiky. Despite the fact that Panfilov was older than Yesenin, young people quickly found a common language. It was Gregory Sergey who showed his first poems and listened to all the advice of his comrade. Panfilov died early from tuberculosis. Yesenin was very homesick for him.
Acquaintance of Sergey Yesenin with Alexander Blok
Then, a still little-known nineteen-year-old boy Sergei Yesenin handed a simple note to Alexander Blok asking for a meeting, to which he agreed. This was a decisive event in the life of a young talent. Blok could not remain indifferent to the poet's work, his thoughts. Alexander personally selected several Yesenin's poems and sent a letter of recommendation to Sergey Gorodetsky.
Friendship with Sergey Gorodetsky
Yesenin's poetry attracted Gorodetsky by expressing the poetic ideals of the latter. Gorodetsky helped many Esenin: he poisoned letters of recommendation to familiar magazines, invited him to literary evenings, and even settled for a while. The discord between the poets occurred when Gorodetsky left the Strada society because of a quarrel with Yasinsky, and Yesenin, already then under the influence of Nikolai Klyuyev, along with the latter sided with Yasinsky. For Sergei Gorodetsky, this was akin to betrayal. However, in 1921, all insults were forgotten and the poets became close again.
The "teacher" of the poet - Nikolay Klyuyev
Klyuyev, being the same peasant poet, quickly found a common language with Yesenin and took over the ideological and artistic leadership and patronage of Sergei. In those days, Sergei and Nikolai practically did not part: Klyuev settled Yesenin in his Petersburg house on the embankment. The question of friendship between men is ambiguous. Klyuyev sought to divide Esenin from Gorodetsky and many other writers, emphasizing that they, peasant poets, have little in common with the lyric poets of the capital. However, Yesenin himself called Klyuev his teacher.
The friendship of Sergei Yesenin and Vsevolod Ivanov
Vsevolod Ivanov was also a creative person - writer. Having met in the twenties, men liked to drink in companies. Of all the friends of Yesenin, Ivanov was one of the few with whom the poet maintained contact until his death.
Sergey Yesenin and Peter Chagin
Chagin met Yesenin in 1924 at a reception with the artist Kachalov. After a noisy party, it turned out that the men had mixed galoshes. Such a curiosity laid the foundation for close friendship. Peter, the second secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Azerbaijan and the editor-in-chief of the local newspaper, invited Sergei to visit him in Baku. The reception turned out to be cordial: the Chagin family loved the poet very much and treated him like a native.
The arrival of the poet fell on the sixth anniversary of the death of 26 commissars. After asking Chagin for the case file, Yesenin wrote "Ballad of 26" overnight. Inspired by the Caucasus, the poet wrote a lot, indulging in dreams of oriental poetry and Persia, into which he was not allowed for safety reasons. In the summer of 1925, the Chagin family was already visiting Yesenin in Moscow. Yesenin’s second visit to Chagin was marked by the poet’s wedding. Together with his newly-married wife Sofia Andreevna Tolstoy Yesenin spent a wonderful honeymoon visiting the family of Peter.
Friendship of Sergei Yesenin and Anatoly Mariengof
Another interesting personality among Yesenin's friends was Anatoly Mariengof. Poets became close in 1918, then they even lived together, shared a budget. Friends-poets, together with Ivnev and Shershenevich, and also soon joined by Gruzinov, Kusikov, Erdman and Roizman, together formed a stronghold of a new direction in Soviet literature - imagism, in which the artistic image was an end in itself of creativity.
At that time, Yesenin and Mariengof owned a cafe, a publishing house and a bookstore. Going abroad, Sergey left all affairs to Anatoly. In 1923, it turned out that things were going badly. Sergei called Anatoly to talk, but there was a discord between friends, and numerous attempts at reconciliation could not save the relationship. In the created tandem, people saw the superiority of Yesenin's talents over Marienhof, which really hurt the latter. After Yesenin’s death, Mariengof wrote A Novels Without Lies, telling the story of a friendship with Yesenin. Critics met the book with indignation, calling it "jam without a novel": Anatoly spoke about Sergei very unflattering.
Sergey Konenkov and Yesenin
The poet came to the studio of the sculptor Konenkov , accompanied by the writer Klychkov. Acquaintance with the sculptor in 1915 became a friendship, after Esenin returned to the capital in 1918, the men became even closer. Konenkov liked to listen to Yesenin reading poetry, and the poet liked Konenkov's sculptures and the performance of folk songs in harmony and harp. At the end of 1918, friends, enlisting the support of other pen masters, tried to create a peasant circle.
In the same year, the sculptor makes a memorial to the fallen fighters of the revolution and asks Klychkov and Yesenin to create a poem for the opening of the memorial. The poets agreed to the proposal, thus the "Cantata" appeared.
In 1923, the sculptor moved to the United States, and the friends did not see each other again. The death of the poet simply stunned Konenkova. Like many of Esenin's other friends, Konenkov admitted that the poet’s latest works were filled with drama and foreshadowed the approaching tragedy.
Friendship of Sergey Yesenin and Vsevolod Meyerhold
Vsevolod Meyerhold was the head of the theater. When he had the idea to create a tragedy, he entrusted the plot to Yesenin, who took it with pleasure. From this began the friendship of the poet and Meyerhold. Knowing about Vsevolod’s love for Zinaida Reich, Sergey without regrets lost to her friend.
Later, together with his new wife Zinaida, Vsevolod Meyerhold took part in a civil funeral service for the poet. In the photo Yesenin's friends - Vsevolod and Zinaida.
Sergey Yesenin and Andrey Bely
The two poets met in 1917 in Tsarskoye Selo. Yesenin always noticed that Andrei had an extraordinary influence on him, not only in his works, but also in his conversations. White, in turn, highly appreciated the work of Yesenin. In 1918, poets organized a publishing house. A proof of close friendship is the fact that Andrei Bely became the godfather of Sergei Yesenin's son.
The poet wrote: "Bely gave me a lot in terms of form, and Blok and Klyuyev taught me lyricism."
Despite the large number of Yesenin’s friends, who later, after rereading the poet’s last dramatic works, expressed the opinion that Sergei was in a difficult life situation, the tragedy could not be prevented.