Background
Kliuev, Nikolai was born in 1884 in the village of Koshtug, Olonetskaia Gouvernement. Son of a peasant.
Kliuev, Nikolai was born in 1884 in the village of Koshtug, Olonetskaia Gouvernement. Son of a peasant.
Studied at the Petrozavodsk Medical School, but after 1 year gave up his studies due to ill health. Studied at the Petrozavodsk Medical School, but after 1 year gave up his studies due to ill health.
His mother was a talented folk singer. Moved with his parents to Vytegra, 1896. Grew up among Old Believers, guardians of old Russian traditions.
Became involved in revolutionary propaganda work. First poems printed in 1904, but gained wider fame after the publication of his first collections in 1911-1912. Became the voice of rural Northern Russia with his very original poetry full of traditional folk motifs.
All his life during visits to cities, he would play the simple peasant, though in fact he was very well informed in modern culture and knew several foreign languages. In 1915, discovered another poet from a similar background, Esenin, and became his tutor. Welcomed the revolution of 1917 as a realization of the traditional peasant dream of universal justice.
Joined the Communist Party, 1918, and started to write revolutionary verse, but soon became disillusioned. His first disagreements with the new rulers in the early 1920s were connected with the religious character of his poetry. Later, during the collectivization, he was accused of being ‘the bard of the kulak’ and was arrested.
For decades his name was banned in Soviet literature, but in recent years he has found his rightful place as one of the genuinely original representatives of the Silver Age of Russian poetry.