Summary of "Есенин за 22 минуты"

Main idea

A 22‑minute biographical sketch of Sergei Alexandrovich Yesenin (1895–1925) covering his origins, literary development, major works and themes, personal life (marriages, children, addictions), travels, death, and legacy — set against the cultural upheavals of early 20th‑century Russia (the Silver Age, revolutionary years).

Chronological life and career (key events)

Birth and childhood
- Born 3 October 1895 in the village of Konstantinovo, Ryazan province.
- Early influences: peasant/family environment, folk religiosity, nature; rough‑and‑tumble boyhood (fistfights, climbing trees, hunting).
- Began composing simple songs and poems as a child.
Education and early literary activity
- Zemstvo primary school (graduated with honors); at 14 sent to Spas‑Klepikovsky school.
- In 1912 moved to Moscow; worked in a butcher’s shop and then in Ivan Sytin’s bookshop/printing house to support himself and buy books.
- Attended evening courses at Shanyavsky People’s University (philosophy, history).
- Early involvement with Social Democratic ideas and proletarian agitation (distributed leaflets, participated in protests, 1913).
Early relationships and family
- First partner referred to in the subtitles as “Anna Ivory”; lived together and had a son, Yuri. Yesenin left after a short time.
Move to Petrograd and rise as a poet
- Moved to Petrograd, met Alexander Blok and Sergei Gorodetsky; letters of recommendation enabled publication of his poems in major magazines.
- Joined peasant writers’ circles; early public readings were successful.
- 1916: first book Radunitsa published — established him as an original lyric poet of the Silver Age.
Literary affiliations and conflicts
- Associated with peasant‑poet circles; briefly experimented with imagism/futurism but later rejected its artificiality.
- Notable friction with Vladimir Mayakovsky (stylistic and personal disagreements).
- Yesenin declared himself simply “a poet” and a people’s poet, rejecting strict school labels.
War, revolution, and later work
- Drafted during World War I; February Revolution (1917) disrupted army orders.
- Wrote revolutionary poems and darker city lyrics (Moscow Tavern cycle) reflecting nightlife, alcoholism, and alienation.
- Wrote the dramatic poem Pugachev (travelled to related regions in 1921); the work received strong praise (Maxim Gorky is quoted praising Yesenin’s expressive power).
Marriages, affairs, children
- Zinaida Reich (met 1917): had children Tatyana and Konstantin; marriage failed; she later married director Vsevolod Meyerhold.
- Isadora Duncan: married 1922; international tours followed; they returned in 1923 and soon separated.
- Affair with Nadezhda Volpin (poet/translator): fathered Alexander Yesenin‑Volpin (born 1924); Yesenin saw him rarely.
- Brief marriage to Sofia Tolstaya (Leo Tolstoy’s granddaughter) — lasted about six months (subtitle dates include a typographical error).
Decline, illness, and death
- Alcoholism, smoking, psychiatric/physical decline; legal troubles (hooliganism charges).
- Recommended for psychiatric treatment; medical help was partial or ineffective.
- December 1925: withdrew money, left Moscow for Leningrad, stayed at the Hotel Angleterre; on 28 December 1925 he died by suicide (official account). Buried at Vagankovo Cemetery, Moscow.
- Later conspiracy theories (perestroika era) suggested possible OGPU involvement; a commission investigated (subtitles give incomplete details).

Themes, style, and artistic stance

Rootedness in rural Russia: strong use of folk imagery, religiosity, and attunement to nature and peasant life.
Lyrical, melodic voice combining tenderness and audacity; frequent nostalgia for the countryside.
Rejected strict avant‑garde programs (imagism/futurism) when found artificial; insisted on authenticity and being “a people’s poet.”
Later work explores urban alienation and self‑destructive motifs (alcoholism, despair).
Poetic persona: Yesenin cultivated a peasant image (dress and manner) that some contemporaries criticized as affectation.

Contemporary critics and writers (e.g., Maxim Gorky, Andrei Bely) praised Yesenin’s sensitivity and force of feeling and emphasized his bond with the peasant soul and Russian nature.

Notable works mentioned

Radunitsa (first collection, 1916)
Cycle of revolutionary poems (titles uncertain in subtitles; one transcription reads “Call of Ocher”)
Moscow Tavern (cycle of city/nihilistic lyrics)
Pugachev (dramatic poem)

Practical / methodological content

The subtitles do not present an explicit methodology or step‑by‑step instructions. The closest practical value is a chronological narrative useful as a timeline for biographical study.

Caveats about the subtitles

The auto‑generated subtitles contain transcription and name‑spelling errors and occasional wrong dates. Examples:
- “Anna Ivory” (likely Anna)
- “Acey Dora Duncan” / “Icy Dora Duncan” (Isadora Duncan)
- “Mir Holdar / Mir‑Holt” (Vsevolod Meyerhold)
- “Gof Vadim Shershenevich” (Vadim Shershenevich)
- dates such as “1991” used where the correct year is 1921 or 1925
Where obvious, likely correct names are known; the summary notes both the subtitle forms and the probable corrections.

Speakers / sources featured or quoted (as they appear or are referred to in the subtitles)

Narrator (unnamed)
Sergei Yesenin (poems and first‑person reminiscences)
Anna (referred to in subtitles as “Anna Ivory”) — early partner, mother of son Yuri
Alexander Blok
Sergei Gorodetsky
Vladimir Mayakovsky
Grigory Rasputin (mentioned)
Maxim Gorky
Vsevolod Meyerhold (appears in subtitles as “Mir Holdar / Mir‑Holt”)
Isadora Duncan (appears as “Acey Dora / Icy Dora Duncan”)
Nadezhda Volpin
Sofia Tolstaya
Nikolai Klyuev
Anatoly Marin (name appears in subtitles)
Vadim Shershenevich (appears as “Gof Vadim Shershenevich”)
Rurik Ivnev
Andrei Bely
Performers who popularized romances of his verses: Alexander Vertinsky, Vladimir Vysotsky, Valery Abazinsky, Muslim Magomayev
Institutions/others: OGPU, Ivan Sytin (publisher), Shanyavsky People’s University

Next steps / offers

If you want, I can: - Produce a clean chronological timeline with exact dates and corrected name spellings. - Extract and clean notable poem excerpts quoted in the subtitles, giving original Russian titles and translations.