The poet Alexei Koltsov became widely famous throughout Russia. Moreover, he still earned his lifetime glory, which was not possible for many writers. Over the years, his work was partially forgotten, but only partially – his poems have enough admirers even now, these days.
In childhood, he was practically not trained, starting his education only when the future poet was 9 years old. Alexei Koltsov’s mother was illiterate, and his father, a merchant, although he owned a letter, was an extremely strict and severe person. During his life, Alexei Koltsov published only one collection of poems. And he called it very simply and modestly – “Poems”. All his life A. Koltsov has been in conflict with his father over literature. He wanted his son to follow in his footsteps and began to sell livestock, but Koltsov himself wanted to do only literature. However, he still worked for his father, since literature did not bring him any money. My father tried to limit the education of Alexei Koltsov, deciding that the acquired knowledge was enough to master the trading business. However, his son continued to engage in self-education.
Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin spoke warmly about his poems, considering Koltsov one of the best poets of his time. In his youth, a personal tragedy occurred to him. He fell in love with a serf girl owned by his father, but the father sold his beloved. Alexei Koltsov considered the poet Ivan Dmitriev his idol. His first poems were at all imitations of his work, in his own words. At least, the biography of A. Koltsov says so – his early poems have not survived to this day, so we can not judge. Voronezh bookseller D. Kashkin made his contribution to the formation of Alexei Koltsov as a poet. Seeing the young man’s enthusiasm, he allowed him to use books from his store for free.
Vissarion Belinsky, a famous literary critic, noted that in personal communication A. Koltsov made the impression of a person not too educated. A.S. Pushkin spoke highly of Koltsov’s work. He even published one of his poems in his journal Sovremennik . Alexei Koltsov drew inspiration from folklore. Traveling on the affairs of his father’s trading company, he collected legends and legends everywhere. The poet’s life ended prematurely at the age of 33. The exact causes of such an early death are unknown, but researchers in his biography believe that they were tuberculosis and prolonged depression. The composer Rimsky-Korsakov put to music a number of poems by A. Koltsov, turning them into musical works.
