Wilhelm Ludwig von Küchelbecker ( rus, Вильге́льм Ка́рлович Кюхельбе́кер, p=kʲʉxʲɪlʲˈbʲekʲɪr, tr. ; in

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

– in

Tobolsk Tobolsk (russian: Тобо́льск) is a town in Tyumen Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Tobol and Irtysh rivers. Founded in 1590, Tobolsk is the second-oldest Russian settlement east of the Ural Mountains in Asian Russia, an ...

) was a Russian Romantic poet and

Decembrist The Decembrist Revolt ( ru , Восстание декабристов, translit = Vosstaniye dekabristov , translation = Uprising of the Decembrists) took place in Russia on , during the interregnum following the sudden death of Emperor Al ...

revolutionary of German descent. Born into a

Baltic German Baltic Germans (german: Deutsch-Balten or , later ) were ethnic German inhabitants of the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, in what today are Estonia and Latvia. Since their coerced resettlement in 1939, Baltic Germans have markedly declined ...

noble family, he spent his childhood in what is now

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

and later attended the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum near

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

together with

Alexander Pushkin Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin (; rus, links=no, Александр Сергеевич ПушкинIn pre-Revolutionary script, his name was written ., r=Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin, p=ɐlʲɪkˈsandr sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈpuʂkʲɪn, ...

and

Anton Delvig Baron Anton Antonovich Delvig (russian: Анто́н Анто́нович Де́львигIn Delvig's day, his name was written Антонъ Антоновичъ Дельвигъ., Antón Antónovich Délʹvig, ɐnˈton ɐnˈtonəvʲɪtɕ ˈdelʲv ...

,For his Küchelbecker made a poem ''O Del'vig, Del'vig!'' which is cited by 9th movement of the Symphony No. 14 of Dmitri Shostakovich. with whom he became friends. In 1821, he went to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

to deliver courses in Russian literature, but his activity was deemed too liberal by the Russian administration and Küchelbecker had to return to Russia. He served in the

Caucasian War The Caucasian War (russian: Кавказская война; ''Kavkazskaya vojna'') or Caucasus War was a 19th century military conflict between the Russian Empire and various peoples of the North Caucasus who resisted subjugation during the ...

under General Yermolov (with whose nephew he fought a duel) before launching the miscellany '' Mnemozina'' along with

Vladimir Odoevsky Prince Vladimir Fyodorovich Odoyevsky (russian: Влади́мир Фёдорович Одо́евский, p=ɐˈdojɪfskʲɪj; Владимир Федорович Одоевский. Библиографический указатель. Энц ...

in 1824. Despite his German name, Küchelbecker was considered an ardent Russian patriot by his contemporaries, and though closely allied with the romanticists, he insisted on calling himself a literary conservative and a classicist. D.S. Mirsky characterizes him as "a

quixotic Quixotic may refer to: * Quixotism, deriving from the novel ''Don Quixote'' * ''Quixotic'' (album), an album by Martina Topley-Bird * Quix*o*tic Quix*o*tic was a rock band active from 1997 to 2002 in the area of Washington, D.C., United States. T ...

figure, ridiculous in appearance and behaviour", but his personal friends had a warm affection for him.

Pushkin Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin (; rus, links=no, Александр Сергеевич ПушкинIn pre-Revolutionary script, his name was written ., r=Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin, p=ɐlʲɪkˈsandr sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈpuʂkʲɪn, ...

, who was one of his principal teasers, dedicated to him one of the most heartfelt stanzas of the ''Lyceum Anniversary'' of 1825. As a poet, Küchelbecker had a

pantheist Pantheism is the belief that reality, the universe and the cosmos are identical with divinity and a supreme supernatural being or entity, pointing to the universe as being an immanent creator deity still expanding and creating, which has e ...

ic vision of the world but did not succeed in giving it a definite expression — his poetry is an inchoate world awaiting a builder. His best-known poem is the noble elegy on the death of Pushkin, a poem closing the

Golden Age of Russian Poetry Golden Age of Russian Poetry (or ''Age of Pushkin'') is the name traditionally applied by philologists to the first half of the 19th century. The most significant Russian poet Pushkin (in Nabokov's words, the greatest poet this world was blessed ...

. In his short prose piece "European Letters" (1820), a 26th-century American travels in Europe, which has fallen back into barbarism. In the satiric fragment "Land of the Headless" (Земля безглавцев, 1824), the protagonist travels to the Moon and finds a dystopian state there. During the doomed Decembrist Uprising, he made an attempt on the life of the tsar's brother Michael. Küchelbecker was sentenced to corporal punishment which was commuted to imprisonment in Sveaborg, Kexholm, and other fortresses for ten years. After that he was exiled to

Kurgan A kurgan is a type of tumulus constructed over a grave, often characterized by containing a single human body along with grave vessels, weapons and horses. Originally in use on the Pontic–Caspian steppe, kurgans spread into much of Central As ...

. He died blind in

from

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, i ...

. His most famous biography, ''Kyukhlya'', was written by Yury Tynyanov; its publication in 1925 marked a resurgence of interest in Küchelbecker and his art.

References

External links

Vilgelm Kyukhelbeker. Poems

Kuchelbecker on www.imwerden.de
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kuchelbecker, Wilhelm 1797 births 1846 deaths Writers from Saint Petersburg People from Sankt-Peterburgsky Uyezd People from Kreis Wierland Baltic-German people Decembrists Russian male poets 19th-century poets from the Russian Empire 19th-century male writers from the Russian Empire Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum alumni 19th-century deaths from tuberculosis Tuberculosis deaths in Russia Russian people who died in prison custody Pantheists Prisoners who died in Russian detention Prisoners of Shlisselburg fortress Prisoners of the Peter and Paul Fortress