10 interesting facts about Gavriil Romanovich Derzhavin

Gavriil Romanovich Derzhavin is a famous Russian poet of the Enlightenment, statesman and politician of the Russian Empire, senator and privy councillor. Born in the Kazan province on July 1743, XNUMX in a family of small nobles in the Sokura family estate, not far from Kazan, where he grew up and spent his childhood.

His personality is multifaceted and interesting, he occupied a significant place in Russian literature. He is one of the titans-founders of Russian classical literature of the Enlightenment. He lived at a time when the first Russian universities, libraries, theaters and museums appeared. This is the time of the most influential discoveries and fruitful activities. In the life of Gabriel Romanovich there were ups and downs.

His entire biography is interesting to study. We present you a list of the 10 most interesting facts about Derzhavin Gavriil Romanovich: biography, curious stories from the life of a Russian figure, philanthropist and educator. Some of them are well-known, and some will be a big discovery for you. But they all characterize the personality of this person from an extraordinary side. It is worth getting to know the figure better, so we recommend reading his entire biography. Surely, you will be able to take out a lot of useful and interesting things for yourself.

10 Gambler

Gavriil Romanovich, in addition to many of his hobbies and favorite hobbies, was also known as avid gambler, who on the card table in one evening left an astronomical sum equal to almost forty thousand royal rubles.

In order for the reader to understand the scale of this event, it is worth saying that in the position of Privy Councilor, the highest official at that time, the salary was five hundred rubles, and with this money the whole family could live comfortably for quite a long time. But excitement won over sanity when the great poet was at the gambling table.

9. Participated in the creation of the first explanatory dictionary

Few people know that without difficulty Derzhavin over creation of the first explanatory dictionary the world would not have recognized the monumental work of Vladimir Ivanovich Dal, much more famous to his contemporaries.

From this fact it follows that Gavriil Romanovich was not only a poet, officer and official, but also a real scientist. From the moment of the creation and opening of the Imperial Russian Academy in 1783, Derzhavin was its permanent member and made a contribution to Russian science, culture and education that cannot be overestimated.

8. One of the craters on Mercury is named after the poet

On a distant planet Mercury is one of the craters named after Derzhavin, which emphasizes his merits and speaks not only of all-Russian, but also of world recognition.

The diameter of the crater is one hundred and forty-five, according to other sources, one hundred fifty six kilometers. The name in honor of the outstanding writer, poet, politician, the crater received in 1979 from the International Astronomical Union. Thus the name of the great man was immortalized and thanked for his labors.

7. Good command of German

Derzhavin knew only one foreign language – German, but knew it perfectly, so much so that he could translate complex texts of foreign works into his native language.

Gavrila Romanovich acquired love for a foreign language from childhood, being carried away by German literature. Played a role and his training in a German boarding school. This is an excellent column in the list of achievements of the famous poet. After all, a close acquaintance with German culture gave impetus to many of Derzhavin’s works.

6. I bought bread for the soldiers with my own money

During the Russian-Turkish war, Derzhavin proved himself to be a true patriot and a true philanthropist, having bought bread for soldiers fighting on the fronts with their own savings. This act once again proves to us that Derzhavin was the most worthy son of his fatherland, striving to help everyone he could, both on the fields of education, making a huge contribution to the development of science, language and culture, and on the battlefield, sacrificing everything for which was capable, wanting to help the country and fellow tribesmen in the most difficult and difficult times.

He was able to become a real standard of a Russian person. This is how all people should be: purposeful, talented, honest and disinterested. Each time Derzhavin proved by his actions that the Russian spirit is invincible. Therefore, we know not only his work, but also his ordinary human actions are imprinted in history for a long time.

5. Card losses

Passion for card games appeared to Derzhavin during military service and brought him a lot of trouble and real problems, like any human addiction. At first, Gabriel lost very large sums, got into debt, even lost money that his mother, Fekla Andreevna Derzhavina, sent him.

But the strong character of an intelligent person prevailed over passion and, drawing conclusions from the mistakes of the past, he got out of this “quagmire”, having learned to set limits that he strictly observed in the future and never lost more than he planned and could afford.

Known factthat his second wife refused to marry him until she was convinced of his financial well-being. Everyone knew about his weakness for card games and tried to help in every possible way.

4. Participated in the coup d’état

Palace coups and revolutions are carried out without the demand and knowledge of the people, in the interests of narrow groups of people. And so it happened in 1762, when the power of Peter the Third was replaced by the reign of Catherine II.

Derzhavin, who joyfully met these events on the front line, earned the love of soldiers and officers. Catherine herself highly appreciated this act and generously rewarded her faithful servant with many awards, orders and gifts.

3. Always strived for justice

Gavriil Romanovich Derzhavin is a man of honor. His stubborn desire for the triumph of truth, heightened sense of justice very often it turned out to be sideways to him, cost him his posts and almost deprived him of his freedom. He was even fired from the service with the wording “serving too hard“.

He repeatedly entered into conflicts, trying to defend justice. Unfortunately, at that time this quality was not very appreciated, and Gavriil Romanovich only made enemies for himself.

2. Erotic subtext is guessed in the works

His elevated literary tone attracted the attention of literati. Particularly interested in the “Ode to Felice”, which was dedicated to the queen. In the last years of his life, he became more and more experimented with tragedies in which erotic overtones were captured. But these works did not bring him such success as those that fell on the years of the reign of Catherine II.

Critics treated the writer ambiguously, sometimes praising his works, and sometimes completely denying them. In any case, Derzhavin is a great poet who can be read without additional explanations and comments.

1. Was married twice

Despite the fact that Gavriil Romanovich was married twiceHe had no children in either marriage. The first wife is Ekaterina Yakovlevna Bastidon. They got married when the girl was only 16 years old. The wedding took place at the beginning of 1778. In 1794, the woman died, and six months later Derzhavin married again.

The second wife is Daria Alekseevna Dyakova. In 1800, a family friend died and Gavriil Romanovich took his children to be brought up.