Background
Maximilian Alexandrovich Kirienko-Voloshin (commonly known as Max Voloshin) was born on May 28, 1877, in Kiev, Kyyivs'ka Oblast', Ukraine. He spent his early childhood in Sevastopol and Taganrog.
1924
Maximilian Voloshin by Boris Kustodiev
Maximilian Alexandrovich Kirienko-Voloshin (commonly known as Max Voloshin) was born on May 28, 1877, in Kiev, Kyyivs'ka Oblast', Ukraine. He spent his early childhood in Sevastopol and Taganrog.
His schooling included a few years at the Polivanov establishment and a school in the Crimea. After secondary school, Maximilian Alexandrovich entered Moscow University.
His first collection of poetry appeared in 1910, soon followed by others. His collected essays were published in 1914.
During the years of the First World War, Maximilian Alexandrovich, in Switzerland at the time, showed himself to be an author of profoundly insightful poems, engaging in a philosophically- and historically-based exploration of the tragic events of his contemporary Russia. He was known for his humanism, appealing "in the days of revolutions to be a human, not a citizen" and "in the disturbances of wars to realize the oneness. To be not a part, but all: not from one side, but from both."
Eventually, Maximilian Alexandrovich made it back to France, where he stayed until 1916. A year before the February Revolution in Russia, he returned to his home country and settled in Koktebel. He would live there until the end of his life. The ensuing Civil War prompted Maximilian Alexandrovich to write long poems linking what was happening in Russia to its distant, mythologized past.
(A translation of the poem by Maximilian Voloshin. Transla...)
2012Voloshin's integrity and profound ideas made him a non-person in Soviet Union, and not a single poem of his was published in USSR from 1928 to 1961. It has been theorized that "if he had not died in 1932, he would certainly have become another victim of the Great Terror.
Quotes from others about the person
Some critics may note that Voloshin's poetry: "it contains deep philosophical insights and tells us more about Russian history than the works of any other poet."
Maximilian Alexandrovich had a brief affair with Miss Sabashnikova, but they soon broke up, and this had a profound effect on his work.