Alexander Alexandrovich Blok ( rus, Алекса́ндр Алекса́ндрович Бло́к, p=ɐlʲɪˈksandr ɐlʲɪˈksandrəvʲɪtɕ ˈblok, a=Ru-Alyeksandr Alyeksandrovich Blok.oga; 7 August 1921) was a Russian lyrical poet, writer, publicist, playwright, translator and literary critic.
Early life
Blok was born in
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...
, into an intellectual family of Alexander Lvovich Blok and Alexandra Andreevna Beketova. His father was a law professor in
Warsaw
Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...
, and his maternal grandfather,
Andrey Beketov
Andrey Nikolayevich Beketov (, 8 December 1825 — 1 July 1902) was a Russian botanist, an Honourable member of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences.
Beketov, the Meritorious Professor of Saint Petersburg University (which he was the head of ...
, was a famous botanist and the rector of
Saint Petersburg State University
Saint Petersburg State University (SPBGU; ) is a public research university in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in Russia. Founded in 1724 by a decree of Peter the Great, the university from the be ...
. After his parents' separation, Blok lived with aristocratic relatives at the manor
Shakhmatovo near
Moscow
Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
, where he discovered the philosophy of
Vladimir Solovyov, and the verse of then-obscure 19th-century poets,
Fyodor Tyutchev
Fyodor Ivanovich Tyutchev (, ; – ) was a Russian poet and diplomat.
Ancestry
Tyutchev was born into an old Russian noble family in the Ovstug family estate near Bryansk (modern-day Zhukovsky District, Bryansk Oblast of Russia). His f ...
and
Afanasy Fet
Afanasy Afanasyevich Fet ( rus, Афана́сий Афана́сьевич Фет, p=ɐfɐˈnasʲɪj ɐfɐˈnasʲjɪvʲɪtɕ ˈfʲɛt, a=Ru-Afanasiy Afanas'yevich Fyet.oga), later known as Shenshin ( rus, Шенши́н, p=ʂɨnˈʂɨn, a=Ru-Afa ...
. These influences would affect his early publications, later collected in the book ''Ante Lucem''.
Career and marriage
In 1903 he married the actress Lyubov (Lyuba) Dmitrievna Mendeleeva, daughter of the renowned chemist
Dmitri Mendeleev
Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev ( ; ) was a Russian chemist known for formulating the periodic law and creating a version of the periodic table of elements. He used the periodic law not only to correct the then-accepted properties of some known ele ...
. Later, she would involve him in a complicated love-hate relationship with his fellow Symbolist
Andrei Bely
Boris Nikolaevich Bugaev (, ; – 8 January 1934), better known by the pen name Andrei Bely or Biely, was a Russian novelist, Symbolist poet, theorist and literary critic. He was a committed anthroposophist and follower of Rudolf Steiner. Hi ...
. To Lyuba he dedicated a cycle of poetry that made him famous, ''Stikhi o Prekrasnoi Dame'' (''Verses About the Beautiful Lady'', 1904).

Blok enthusiastically greeted the
1905 Russian Revolution
The Russian Revolution of 1905, also known as the First Russian Revolution, was a revolution in the Russian Empire which began on 22 January 1905 and led to the establishment of a constitutional monarchy under the Russian Constitution of 1906, th ...
. During the last period of his life, Blok emphasised political themes, pondering the messianic destiny of his country (''Vozmezdie,'' 1910–21; ''Rodina,'' 1907–16; ''Skify,'' 1918). In 1906 he wrote an encomium to
Mikhail Bakunin
Mikhail Alexandrovich Bakunin. Sometimes anglicized to Michael Bakunin. ( ; – 1 July 1876) was a Russian revolutionary anarchist. He is among the most influential figures of anarchism and a major figure in the revolutionary socialist, s ...
. Influenced by Solovyov's doctrines, he had vague apocalyptic apprehensions and often vacillated between hope and despair. "I feel that a great event was coming, but what it was exactly was not revealed to me", he wrote in his diary during the summer of 1917. Quite unexpectedly for most of his admirers, he accepted the
October Revolution
The October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution (in Historiography in the Soviet Union, Soviet historiography), October coup, Bolshevik coup, or Bolshevik revolution, was the second of Russian Revolution, two r ...
as the final resolution of these apocalyptic yearnings.
In May 1917 Blok was appointed as a
stenographer for the Extraordinary Commission to investigate illegal actions ex officio Ministers or to transcribe the (Thirteenth Section's) interrogations of those who knew
Grigori Rasputin
Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin ( – ) was a Russian Mysticism, mystic and faith healer. He is best known for having befriended the imperial family of Nicholas II of Russia, Nicholas II, the last Emperor of all the Russias, Emperor of Russia, th ...
. According to
Orlando Figes
Orlando Guy Figes (; born 20 November 1959) is a British and German historian and writer. He was a professor of history at Birkbeck College, University of London, where he was made Emeritus Professor on his retirement in 2022.
Figes is known f ...
he was only present at the interrogation.
In November 1917, a few days after the October Revolution, the People's Commissar for Enlightenment,
Anatoly Lunacharsky
Anatoly Vasilyevich Lunacharsky (, born ''Anatoly Aleksandrovich Antonov''; – 26 December 1933) was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and the first Soviet People's Commissariat for Education, People's Commissar (minister) of Education, as well ...
invited 120 of the leading writers and other cultural figures to a meeting, which almost all boycotted. Blok was one of five to attend, along with
Vladimir Mayakovsky
Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky ( – 14 April 1930) was a Russian poet, playwright, artist, and actor. During his early, Russian Revolution, pre-Revolution period leading into 1917, Mayakovsky became renowned as a prominent figure of the Ru ...
,
Vsevolod Meyerhold
Vsevolod Emilyevich Meyerhold (; born ; 2 February 1940) was a Russian and Soviet theatre director, actor and theatrical producer. His provocative experiments dealing with physical being and symbolism in an unconventional theatre setting m ...
and two others. When the
Socialist Academy of Social Sciences
The Socialist Academy of Social Sciences (SAON) was an educational establishment created in Russia in October 1918 with "the aim of studying and teaching social studies from the point of view of scientific socialism." The original name of the acade ...
was established in 1918, Blok became a participant.
His poem,
''The Twelve'', written in 1918, describes 12 Red Guards in the violent chaos of the
Russian Civil War
The Russian Civil War () was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire sparked by the 1917 overthrowing of the Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. I ...
, who are likened to the Apostles, while "Ahead of them, Jesus Christ goes."
Because this early show of support, Blok continued to be honoured by the Bolsheviks, despite his pre-revolutionary religious imagery, and his later disillusionment. In 1923,
Leon Trotsky
Lev Davidovich Bronstein ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky,; ; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky'' was a Russian revolutionary, Soviet politician, and political theorist. He was a key figure ...
devoted a whole chapter of his book ''Literature and Revolution'' to Blok, saying that "Blok belonged to pre-October literature, but he overcame this, and entered into the sphere of October when he wrote ''The Twelve''. That is why he will occupy a special place in the history of Russian literature." Given the official report on poetry to the
First Congress of Soviet Writers
The First Congress of Soviet Writers was an all-Union meeting of writers, held in Moscow from August 17 to September 1, 1934, which led to the founding of the Union of Soviet Writers.
It was staged soon after Comintern had switched its popular i ...
,
Nikolai Bukharin
Nikolai Ivanovich Bukharin (; rus, Николай Иванович Бухарин, p=nʲɪkɐˈlaj ɪˈvanəvʲɪdʑ bʊˈxarʲɪn; – 15 March 1938) was a Russian revolutionary, Soviet politician, and Marxist theorist. A prominent Bolshevik ...
praised Blok as "a poet of tremendous power (whose) verse achieves a chiselled monumentality..." but added that "he thought that with the sign of the Cross he could bless and at the same time exorcise the image of the unfolding revolution, and he perished without having spoke his final word."
Decline in health
By 1921 Blok had become disillusioned with the Russian Revolution. He had not written any poetry for three years. He complained to
Maksim Gorky
Alexei Maximovich Peshkov (; – 18 June 1936), popularly known as Maxim Gorky (; ), was a Russian and Soviet writer and proponent of socialism. He was nominated five times for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Before his success as an auth ...
that his "faith in the wisdom of humanity" had ended, and explained to his friend
Korney Chukovsky
Korney Ivanovich Chukovsky ( rus, Корне́й Ива́нович Чуко́вский, p=kɐrˈnʲej ɪˈvanəvʲɪtɕ tɕʊˈkofskʲɪj, a=Kornyey Ivanovich Chukovskiy.ru.vorb.oga; 31 March NS 1882 – 28 October 1969) was one of the most p ...
why he could not write poetry any more: "All sounds have stopped. Can't you hear that there are no longer any sounds?"
Orlando Figes
Orlando Guy Figes (; born 20 November 1959) is a British and German historian and writer. He was a professor of history at Birkbeck College, University of London, where he was made Emeritus Professor on his retirement in 2022.
Figes is known f ...
. ''A People's Tragedy: The Russian Revolution 1891-1924'', 1996, , pp 784-785 Within a few days Blok became sick with
asthma
Asthma is a common long-term inflammatory disease of the airways of the lungs. It is characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and easily triggered bronchospasms. Symptoms include episodes of wh ...
; he had earlier developed
scurvy
Scurvy is a deficiency disease (state of malnutrition) resulting from a lack of vitamin C (ascorbic acid). Early symptoms of deficiency include weakness, fatigue, and sore arms and legs. Without treatment, anemia, decreased red blood cells, gum d ...
as well. His doctors requested that he be sent abroad for medical treatment, but he was not allowed to leave the country.
Gorky pleaded for a visa on Blok's behalf. On 29 May 1921, he wrote to
Anatoly Lunacharsky
Anatoly Vasilyevich Lunacharsky (, born ''Anatoly Aleksandrovich Antonov''; – 26 December 1933) was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and the first Soviet People's Commissariat for Education, People's Commissar (minister) of Education, as well ...
: "Blok is Russia's finest poet. If you forbid him to go abroad, and he dies, you and your comrades will be guilty of his death." A resolution on departure for Blok was signed by members of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee on 23 July 1921. But on 29 July Gorky asked permission for Blok's wife to accompany him, since Blok's health had deteriorated sharply. Permission for Liubov' Dmitrievna Blok to leave Russia was signed by Molotov on 1 August 1921, but Gorky did not receive notification until 6 August. The permission was delivered on 10 August, but Blok had already died on 7 August.
Several months earlier, Blok had delivered a celebrated lecture on
Alexander Pushkin
Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin () was a Russian poet, playwright, and novelist of the Romantic era.Basker, Michael. Pushkin and Romanticism. In Ferber, Michael, ed., ''A Companion to European Romanticism''. Oxford: Blackwell, 2005. He is consid ...
, the memory of whom he believed to be capable of uniting
White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
and
Soviet
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
Russian factions.
Work

The idealized mystical images presented in his first book helped establish Blok as a major poet of the
Russian Symbolism style. Blok's early verse is musical, but he later sought to introduce daring rhythmic patterns and uneven beats into his poetry. Poetical inspiration was natural for him, often producing unforgettable, otherworldly images out of the most banal surroundings and trivial events (''Fabrika'', 1903). Consequently, his mature poems are often based on the conflict between the
Platonic theory of ideal beauty and the disappointing reality of foul industrialism (''The Puppet Show'', 1906).
The description of St Petersburg he crafted for his next collection of poems, ''The City'' (1904–08), was both impressionistic and eerie. Subsequent collections, ''Faina'' and the ''Mask of Snow'', helped augment Blok's reputation. He was often compared with
Alexander Pushkin
Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin () was a Russian poet, playwright, and novelist of the Romantic era.Basker, Michael. Pushkin and Romanticism. In Ferber, Michael, ed., ''A Companion to European Romanticism''. Oxford: Blackwell, 2005. He is consid ...
, and is considered perhaps the most important poet of the
Silver Age of Russian Poetry
Silver Age (Сере́бряный век) is a term traditionally applied by Russian philologists to the last decade of the 19th century and first two or three decades of the 20th century. It was an exceptionally creative period in the history o ...
. During the 1910s, Blok was admired greatly by literary colleagues, and his influence on younger poets was virtually unsurpassed.
Anna Akhmatova
Anna Andreyevna Gorenko rus, А́нна Андре́евна Горе́нко, p=ˈanːə ɐnˈdrʲe(j)ɪvnə ɡɐˈrʲɛnkə, a=Anna Andreyevna Gorenko.ru.oga, links=yes; , . ( – 5 March 1966), better known by the pen name Anna Akhmatova,. ...
,
Marina Tsvetaeva
Marina Ivanovna Tsvetaeva ( rus, Марина Ивановна Цветаева, p=mɐˈrʲinə ɪˈvanəvnə tsvʲɪˈta(j)ɪvə, links=yes; 31 August 1941) was a Russian poet. Her work is some of the most well-known in twentieth-century Russ ...
,
Boris Pasternak
Boris Leonidovich Pasternak (30 May 1960) was a Russian and Soviet poet, novelist, composer, and literary translator.
Composed in 1917, Pasternak's first book of poems, ''My Sister, Life'', was published in Berlin in 1922 and soon became an imp ...
, and
Vladimir Nabokov
Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov ( ; 2 July 1977), also known by the pen name Vladimir Sirin (), was a Russian and American novelist, poet, translator, and entomologist. Born in Imperial Russia in 1899, Nabokov wrote his first nine novels in Rus ...
wrote important verse tributes to Blok.

Blok expressed his opinions about the revolution by the enigmatic poem "
The Twelve” (1918). The long poem exhibits "mood-creating sounds, polyphonic rhythms, and harsh, slangy language" (as the ''
Encyclopædia Britannica
The is a general knowledge, general-knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It has been published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. since 1768, although the company has changed ownership seven times. The 2010 version of the 15th edition, ...
'' termed it). It describes the march of twelve
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...
soldiers (likened to the
Twelve Apostles
In Christian theology and ecclesiology, the apostles, particularly the Twelve Apostles (also known as the Twelve Disciples or simply the Twelve), were the primary disciples of Jesus according to the New Testament. During the life and minist ...
of Christ) through the streets of revolutionary
Petrograd
Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...
, with a fierce winter blizzard raging around them. "The Twelve" alienated Blok from many of his intellectual readers (who accused him of lack of artistry), while the Bolsheviks scorned his former mysticism and asceticism.
Searching for modern language and new images, Blok used unusual sources for the poetry of
Symbolism
Symbolism or symbolist may refer to:
*Symbol, any object or sign that represents an idea
Arts
*Artistic symbol, an element of a literary, visual, or other work of art that represents an idea
** Color symbolism, the use of colors within various c ...
: urban folklore, ballads (songs of a sentimental nature) and ditties ("
chastushka
Chastushka ( rus, частушка, , tɕɪsˈtuʂkə, plural: chastushki) is a traditional type of short Russian humorous folk song with high beat frequency, that consists of one four-lined couplet, full of humor, satire or irony. It may be descr ...
"). He was inspired by the popular
chansonnier
A chansonnier (, , Galician and , or ''canzoniéro'', ) is a manuscript or printed book which contains a collection of chansons, or polyphonic and monophonic settings of songs, hence literally " song-books"; however, some manuscripts are call ...
Mikhail Savoyarov, whose concerts during the years 1915–1920 were visited often by Blok.
Academician
Viktor Shklovsky
Viktor Borisovich Shklovsky ( rus, Ви́ктор Бори́сович Шкло́вский, p=ˈʂklofskʲɪj; – 6 December 1984) was a Russian and Soviet literary theorist, critic, writer, and pamphleteer. He is one of the major figures asso ...
noted that the poem is written in criminal language and in ironic style, similar to Savoyarov's
couplet
In poetry, a couplet ( ) or distich ( ) is a pair of successive lines that rhyme and have the same metre. A couplet may be formal (closed) or run-on (open). In a formal (closed) couplet, each of the two lines is end-stopped, implying that there ...
s, by which Blok imitated the slang of 1918
Petrograd
Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...
.
''Viktor Shklovsky
Viktor Borisovich Shklovsky ( rus, Ви́ктор Бори́сович Шкло́вский, p=ˈʂklofskʲɪj; – 6 December 1984) was a Russian and Soviet literary theorist, critic, writer, and pamphleteer. He is one of the major figures asso ...
'' The Writing Table // The Hamburg Account: articles, memoirs, essays (1914-1933), Moscow, Sovetsky Pisatel
Sovetsky Pisatel (, lit. "Soviet Writer") is a Soviet and Russian book publisher headquartered in Moscow, Russia. It focused on releasing the new works of Soviet authors. It was established in 1934, since 1938 served as the publisher for the Union ...
, 1990. , .
Musical settings
*
Dmitri Shostakovich
Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich, group=n (9 August 1975) was a Soviet-era Russian composer and pianist who became internationally known after the premiere of his First Symphony in 1926 and thereafter was regarded as a major composer.
Shostak ...
wrote a late song cycle for soprano and piano trio, ''
Seven Romances on Poems by Alexander Blok'', Op. 127.
*
Mieczysław Weinberg
Mieczysław Weinberg (December 8, 1919 – February 26, 1996) was a Polish, Soviet, and Russian composer and pianist. Born in Warsaw to parents who worked in the Yiddish theatre in Poland, his early years were surrounded by music. He taught him ...
wrote a song cycle for soprano and piano, ''Beyond the Border of Past Days'', Op. 50.
*
Arthur Lourié
Arthur-Vincent Lourié, born Naum Izrailevich Luria (), later changed his name to Artur Sergeyevich Luriye () (14 May 1892 – 12 October 1966) was a Russian composer,
writer, administrator, and musical agent. Lourié played an important role in ...
wrote a choral cantata, ''In the Sanctuary of Golden Dreams''.
* Alexander Blok was a favourite poet of
Georgy Sviridov
Georgy Vasilyevich Sviridov (; 16 December 1915 – 6 January 1998) was a Soviet and Russian composer. He is most widely known for his choral music, strongly influenced by the traditional chant of the Russian Orthodox Church, as well as his orch ...
; such works as "Petersburg" (a vocal poem), "Nightly Clouds" (cantata) and "Songs From Hard Times" (concerto) were written to Blok's poetry.
*
Yevgania Yosifovna Yakhina Soviet composer Yevgania Yosifovna Yakhina (1918 – 1983) was born in Kharkiv (today part of Ukraine). She studied composition under Vissarion Shebalin at the Moscow Conservatory, graduating in 1945. She taught at the Moscow School of Music from 19 ...
set several of Blok's poems to music.
References
Further reading
*
Kisch, Sir Cecil. ''Alexander Blok: Prophet of Revolution''. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1960.
External links
*
*
* Translations into English
*
The Poemsby Alexander Blok (with Russian originals, also some in German, French, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Bulgarian, etc.)
*
Collection of Alexander Blok's poems in English(with Russian originals)
*
translated by Alex Cigale. University of Albany. Retrieved 2010-10-28
*
(archived at the Wayback Machine)
*
Dark Maiden (Чёрная Дева)*
translation by Dina Belyayeva (archived at the Wayback Machine)
Alexander Blok poetry(Russian texts)
* Reviews, criticism and analysis
*
By Simon Karlinsky. 9 May 1982 ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
''. Retrieved 2010-10-28
*
Essay on Blok's poem "the Twelve", Maria Carlson, University of Kansas Retrieved 2010-10-28
*
by
Leon Trotsky
Lev Davidovich Bronstein ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky,; ; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky'' was a Russian revolutionary, Soviet politician, and political theorist. He was a key figure ...
(Chapter 3 of ''
Literature and Revolution
''Literature and Revolution'' () is a work of literary criticism from the Marxist standpoint written by Leon Trotsky in 1924. By discussing the various literary trends that were around in Russia between the revolutions of 1905 and 1917, Trotsky ...
'', 1907—1923). Retrieved 2010-10-28
**
Rykov A.br>
Politics of Modernism. Nikolay Punin and Alexander Blok**
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blok, Alexander
1880 births
1921 deaths
Male poets from the Russian Empire
Russian male poets
Russian symbolism
Symbolist dramatists and playwrights
Symbolist poets
Russian male dramatists and playwrights
20th-century Russian dramatists and playwrights
20th-century Russian poets
20th-century Russian male writers