Yesenin, the last poet to understand the Slavic soul
Abstract
Yesenin[1], Sergei Alexandrovich, Russian poet (1895-1925), sang to the ordinary Russian people, to their landscapes, to their unique language, to their popular soul.
He was born in Konstantinovo, in the bosom of a peasant family. His gift for poetry stood out from an early age. He studied in Moscow and participated actively in the revolutionary atmosphere of his time. When the Soviet revolution triumphed, he welcomed it enthusiastically. After the first publication of his poems, he was very successful among his peers, he mixed with the elite of Russian contemporary poetry and was a member of the group of "imaginists".
He married the American artist and dancer Isadora Duncan. The relationship was a stormy one right from the start: she spoke no Russian, nor he any English. But that did not prevent them from living together for a long period and travelling all over Europe where their scandals could be easily heard.
In his last poems Yesenin expresses his disillusionment with the results of the Revolution; he died tragically in Leningrad (today's St. Petersburg). According to some versions, he committed suicide, while others affirm he was murdered.
