Poet and classicist Vyacheslav Ivanov (poet)

somov s frontispiece ivanov s book cor ardens (1907).

ivanov s first collection, lodestars, published in 1903. contained many of pieces written decade earlier , praised leading critics new chapter in russian symbolism. poems compared milton s , trediakovsky s on account of detached, calculated archaism.

in 1905, ivanov made triumphant return st petersburg, lionized foreign curiosity. turreted house , zinovieva-annibal settled became fashionable literary salon of era, , frequented poets (alexander blok), philosophers (nikolai berdyayev), artists (konstantin somov), , dramatists (vsevolod meyerhold). latter staged calderon s adoration of cross in ivanov s house. poet exerted formative influence on russian symbolist movement, main tenets formulated in turreted house.

according james h. billington:

viacheslav magnificent crown prince , chef de salon of new society, met in seventh floor apartment tower, overlooking gardens of tauride palace in st. peterburg. walls , partitions torn down accommodate increasing numbers of talented , disputatious people flocked wednesday soirees, in full swing until after supper had been served @ 2 a.m.

future russian orthodox nun maria skobtsova acclaimed poet , frequent guest @ ivanov flat. decades later, while living in paris white emigre, recalled atmosphere @ tower:

we lived in middle of vast country if on unhabited island. russia illiterate, whereas in our milieu concentrated culture of world: greeks quoted heart, welcomed french symbolists, thought of scandinavian literature our own, familiar philosophy, theology, poetry , history of whole wide world, in sense citizens of universe, keepers of mankind s cultural museum. rome in time of decline... played out last act of tragedy concerned rift between intelligentsia , people. beyond stretched out russian empire s snowy desert, country in fetters: ignorant of our delights of our anguish, while own delights , anguish had no effect on us.