30 Facts About Sergei Yesenin

Sergei Yesenin is one of the most popular and well-known Russian poets of the 20th century.

Sergei Yesenin was born in village of Konstantinovo in Ryazan County, Ryazan Governorate of the Russian Empire to a peasant family.

Sergei Yesenin's father was Alexander Nikitich Yesenin, his mother's name was Tatyana Fyodorovna Yesenina, nee Titova,.

Sergei Yesenin started to read aged five, and at nine began to write poetry, inspired originally by chastushkas and folklore, provided mostly by the grandmother whom he remembered as a highly religious woman who used to take him to every single monastery she chose to visit.

Sergei Yesenin had two younger sisters, Yekaterina, and Alexandra.

Sergei Yesenin compiled them into what was supposed to be his first book which he titled "Bolnye Dumy" and tried to publish it in 1912 in Ryazan, but failed.

In 1912, with a teacher's diploma, Sergei Yesenin moved to Moscow, where he supported himself working as a proofreader's assistant at Sytin's printing company.

January 1914, Sergei Yesenin's first published poem "Beryoza" appeared in the children's magazine Mirok.

In December 1914 Sergei Yesenin quit work "and gave himself to poetry, writing continually," according to his wife.

In 1915, exasperated with the lack of interest in Moscow, Sergei Yesenin moved to Petrograd.

Sergei Yesenin was quickly acquainted with fellow-poets Sergey Gorodetsky, Nikolai Klyuev and Andrei Bely who were well known.

Later in 1915, Sergei Yesenin became a co-founder of the Krasa literary group and published numerous poems in the Petrograd magazines Russkaya Mysl, Ezhemesyachny Zhurnal, Novy Zhurnal Dlya Vsekh, Golos Zhizni and Niva.

Sergei Yesenin's rise to fame was meteoric; by the end of the year he became the star of St Petersburg's literary circles and salons.

On 22 July 1916, at a special concert attended by the Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna and her daughters, Sergei Yesenin recited his poems "Rus" and "In Scarlet Fireglow".

In March 1917, Sergei Yesenin was sent to the Warrant Officers School but soon deserted Kerensky's army.

Tatyana became a writer and journalist and Konstantin Sergei Yesenin would become a well-known soccer statistician.

Sergei Yesenin actively participated in the magazine Nash Put, as well as the almanacs Skify and Krasny Zvon.

In September 1918, Sergei Yesenin became friends with Anatoly Marienhof, with whom he founded the Russian literary movement of imaginism.

Sergei Yesenin knew only a dozen words in Russian, and he spoke no foreign languages.

Sergei Yesenin accompanied his celebrity wife on a tour of Europe and the United States.

In 1923, Sergei Yesenin became romantically involved with the actress Augusta Miklashevskaya to whom he dedicated several poems, among them those of the Hooligan's Love cycle.

In early 1925, Sergei Yesenin met and married Countess Sophia Andreyevna Tolstaya, a granddaughter of Leo Tolstoy.

On 28 December 1925,30-year-old Sergei Yesenin was found dead in his room in the Hotel Angleterre in Leningrad.

Sergei Yesenin complained that there was no ink in the room, and he was forced to write with his own blood.

Sergei Yesenin was buried on 31 December 1925, in Moscow's Vagankovskoye Cemetery.

Sergei Yesenin's grave is marked by a white marble sculpture.

In 2005, a TV serial simply titled Sergei Yesenin, based on the novel, was shown on Channel One Russia, with Sergey Bezrukov playing Sergei Yesenin.

Sergei Yesenin's suicide triggered an epidemic of copycat suicides by his mostly female fans.

Nikolai Bukharin's criticism of Sergei Yesenin contributed significantly to the banning.

Today Sergei Yesenin's poems are taught to Russian schoolchildren; many have been set to music and recorded as popular songs.