His father hated him for his ability to write poetry. For a long time he tried to "save" his son from the bad habit of rhyming, and when nothing helped, he renounced him and hastened his demise.
Contemporaries disliked this man. They did not understand how they could break with their surroundings for the sake of literary creativity. Even enlightened and virtuous gentlemen, having met with him, took the position of patriarchal ethics, which ordered everyone to keep to their circle. He did not pay attention to those who condemned him, composed his own magical world, in which he found salvation.
Childhood
The Koltsov family lived in Voronezh. Its head Vasily was a merchant. He started out as a reseller of livestock, but when he got rich, he began to rent land, where farm laborers grew bread, and started building. His wife Praskovya did not know literacy, but she was a kind woman and made her husband happy with children. In 1809 she gave birth to a son, who was named Alexei.
The father saw his son as the successor of his work and set his biography as an example for him. He believed that Alyosha had enough elementary education. When the boy was 9 years old, a parent began to teach him to read and write. The child quickly studied, therefore it was decided to send him to the district school. The heir to the rich man did not have to need anything, therefore he was often spoiled with pocket money. Lesha spent them on the purchase of books. In 1821, Vasily Koltsov took his son from the school, declaring that great knowledge was not needed for successful trade.
Youth
Instead of attending school, the boy, along with his father, attended fairs and farms of those who were ready to sell livestock. Among the merchants, there were those who noticed the intelligent teenager and appreciated his interest in literature. Senior comrades allowed Alexey to visit their home libraries. The book seller Dmitry Kashkin was known as the most enlightened person in the city. He often invited the young man to visit him and read him poems of his own composition.
In 1825 our hero wrote his first poetry. He clearly imitated his favorite authors, therefore, having introduced the work to his close friends, the young man burned the manuscript. A romantic infatuation made him take up the pen again. Alexei fell in love with the servant Dunya. He dedicated poetry to her and was ready to marry her. Papa found out about this and immediately ordered his son to go to another city on business. When the guy returned, he learned that the girl was hastily married off to a Cossack. The search for his beloved ended tragically - our hero learned that the serviceman soon after the wedding beat his wife to death.
Contrary to fate
Alexey Koltsov did not take his work seriously until the moment he met the seminarian Andrei Srebryansky in 1827. He organized a literary and philosophical circle in his educational institution and invited a new friend to attend the meeting. The poet spoke to his peers and met with approval of his works and bewilderment due to the fact that everything written had never been published anywhere.
A nugget from Voronezh sent his poetry to several popular publications, however, asked to publish them anonymously, and also entered into correspondence with famous literary critics in Moscow and St. Petersburg. In addition to the works of his own composition, Koltsov began to collect folklore. Visiting farms, where he sold livestock, he recorded folk songs and jokes. Rumors about his son's hobby reached the stern father. He was angry - the young man needed to make a career in trade, but he prefers the company of dubious persons, like Srebryansky, who was expelled from the seminary for free-thinking.
Provincial Orpheus
Our hero did not heed the words of the parent. If he sent him on an assignment to the capital, Alexei did not miss the chance to drop in to famous literary critics and poets. They accepted the strange young man, but doubted that he would make any contribution to Russian literature. Some have stooped to remarks about the composer's modest education, his origins, and his tendency to borrow phrases from folklore. The most grateful reader of the works of Alexei Koltsov was Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin. He noted the lyricism of the young poet's poems and welcomed the interest in them on the part of composers and vocalists.
After the debut in 1831, 4 years had to pass for the collection of poems by Alexei Koltsov to see the light. Now his formidable parent could only grumble. The minister of the muses did not pay attention to this, he believed that, having abandoned the beaten path, he would find his happiness. The Voronezh ladies began to stare at the unusual young man.
Fatal passion
Among the ladies of Voronezh, Alexei noticed a certain Varvara Lebedeva. The woman had recently become a widow and, accustomed to luxury, was in dire need of money. She seduced the poet. All the funds that Koltsov received from publishers, he spent on the whims of his beloved. Soon, an officer appeared among admirers of Varya's beauty, whose income was higher than that of a writer, moreover, he promised to take the charming girl to the capital. The merry widow left Voronezh, leaving her former lover.
After the escape of the object of his passion, Alexei fell ill. It turned out that the lady had infected him with syphilis. In addition to an indecent illness, the poet was diagnosed with consumption. The father basically refused to spend money on doctors and medicines for his sick son. He was just arranging the personal life of one of his daughters, so he asked the dying man not to interfere with the preparations for the wedding. The poet died in October 1842.
