The name of Agnia Barto is known all over the world. Her poems are loved and known by both adults and children. More than one generation has grown up on her work. Kind and instructive poems by Barto are easy to remember and remain in memory for a long time as a bright symbol of childhood.
Biography
Agniya Lvovna Barto was born in the spring of 1906 in Moscow into an intelligent and educated family. Her father was a veterinarian, and her mother was a housekeeper.
Some sources have information that at birth the girl was named Getel Leibovna Volova.
Agnia's father was an intelligent and well-read man, he adored Russian literature. From childhood he read the classics to the future poetess, and she learned to read independently from the book of Leo Tolstoy.
It is noteworthy that on her first birthday the girl received the book "How Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy Lives and Works" as a gift from her father.
Agnia received a decent education at home, including French and German lessons. Then she entered and successfully graduated from a prestigious gymnasium.
Almost simultaneously with her studies at the gymnasium, Barto studied at the choreographic school, dreaming of becoming a famous ballerina.
During the October Revolution and the general chaos in the country, the financial situation of the family deteriorated markedly, therefore, having forged documents, namely, increasing her age by one year, Agnia got a job in a clothing store.
Barto wrote her first poems in early childhood. The famous People's Commissar of Education Lunacharsky heard her poems at the graduation party at the choreographic school and strongly advised the girl not to give up this activity.
After completing his studies at the choreographic school in 1924, Barto entered the ballet troupe. However, the girl did not succeed in building a career on the big stage, the troupe emigrated from the country, and Agnia's father categorically refused to let his daughter leave Moscow.
Creative life
Young Barto's early poems were very naive, romantic and devoted to love themes. However, rather quickly they were replaced by sharp epigrams for friends and teachers.
The first works of the poetess were published by the State Publishing House in 1925. Among the "first swallows" were poems and collections:
- "Teddy Bear Thief";
- "Bullfinch";
- "Brothers";
- "Little Chinese Wang Li";
- "Toys" and others.
Barto's books quickly became popular and gave the poetess a good reputation in literary circles.
Her poems are cute humorous images that ridicule human flaws. They were easy to read and understood by both children and adults.
Despite her success and recognition, Agniya Lvovna was a modest and very tactful person. Despite her love for Mayakovsky's work, at a personal meeting, she did not dare to speak with the poet. After some time, their conversation nevertheless took place, and Barto learned a lot from it for herself and her work.
Interesting fact: Korney Chukovsky, having heard Barto's poems, suggested that their author was a small child.
Agnia Lvovna also had ill-wishers from the literary environment. For example, for many years she had a bad relationship with Marshak, who treated her work condescendingly and did not hesitate in harsh statements and teachings.
The poet's career developed very well, her poems were loved and published regularly. In 1937, Barto traveled to Spain as a delegate from the Congress for the Defense of Culture and gave a speech in Madrid.
During the Great Patriotic War, Agniya Lvovna and her family were evacuated to Sverdlovsk. She worked a lot: she wrote poetry, military essays, spoke on the radio.
There she also met Pavel Bazhov, a famous Ural storyteller.
In 1943, she wrote the work "A student is coming." It spoke about the labor feat of adolescents in a difficult wartime. To make the poem realistic, Barto worked with teenagers at a factory for some time.
The post-war period in the life of the poetess
After the end of the war, Agniya Lvovna often went to orphanages and talked with orphans, read her poems to them, and helped financially.
In 1947, one of the most psychologically difficult works of Agnia Barto, the poem "Zvenigorod", was published. It was dedicated to children who became orphans due to the war.
Surprisingly, after the publication, the poetess received a letter from a woman who had lost her daughter during the war. She asked for help with the search for the child. Agniya Lvovna took the letter to a special search organization and fortunately the girl was found.
The case became public and Barto was bombarded with requests for help. Separated during the terrible war years, children and parents prayed for assistance in finding relatives.
The poetess organized and began to broadcast a radio program about the missing people. Barto read letters and search queries on the air, communicated with people. As a result, thanks to the program “Find a Person” and the personal contribution of Agnia Barto, a large number of people found each other and families were reunited.
Despite such a responsible work, the poetess did not forget about her work and continued to write poetry for children. In the post-war period, the following were published in large circulations:
- "Leshenka, Leshenka";
- "First grader";
- "Vovka is a kind soul";
- "Grandfather and Granddaughter" and others.
Barto also wrote scripts for the children's films Alyosha Ptitsyn Develops Character and The Elephant and the Rope. Together with Rina Zelena, Barto worked on the script for the film The Foundling.
Agniya Lvovna has many state awards, including the Stalin and Lenin prizes.
Personal life
The first time Agnia married the poet Pavel Barto in early youth. In marriage, a son, Edgar, was born, but less than ten years later the couple divorced.
The second husband of the poetess was energy scientist Andrei Shcheglyaev. This union became happy. The family loved to receive guests; actors, writers and musicians often visited the house. Barto was close friends with Rina Zelena and Faina Ranevskaya. In this marriage, Barto had a daughter, Tatyana.
The family was well off, Agnia was helped by the housekeeper, and the children had a nanny and a personal driver. They lived right opposite the Tretyakov Gallery in Lavrushinsky Lane.
On May 4, 1945, on the eve of Victory, Barto's son died in a car accident. This was the hardest loss for the mother.
The couple lived together until 1970, until the moment when Andrei Vladimirovich died of cancer.
Agniya Lvovna died in 1981 and was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery in Moscow.
