What was the name of Yesenin's wife's dancer? Yesenin's favorite women

Sergei Yesenin and Isidora Duncan

First

“I had three thousand women!” - boasted somehowSergey Yeseninto a friend. To the incredulous “Vyatka, don’t make a mistake!” smiled: “Well, three hundred. Well, thirty." It was impossible not to love him...

In 1912, a seventeen-year-old village boy, Seryozha Yesenin, handsome as a willow cherub, came to conquer Moscow and soon got a job at Sytin’s printing house as a proofreader. In his brown suit and bright green tie, he looked like a city guy: he was not ashamed to go to the editorial office and meet a young lady. But the editors did not want to publish his poems, and the young ladies laughed at his speech, tie and independent manners. Only student Anya, Anna Izryadnova, who also served as a proofreader for Sytin, was able to see a real poet in a boy who was four years younger than her. How she understood him! How she loved him!

Anna became his first woman. Sergei felt like a grown man, a husband. Yesenin’s family life begins in the room they rented near the Serpukhov outpost.

Work, home, family, Anna is expecting a child, and she doesn’t have enough energy and time for poetry. For inspiration, Sergei leaves for Crimea. One. I returned full of impressions and inspiration. He quit his job and wrote poetry all day. Anna did not contradict and did not demand anything from him. I just loved it. It was so convenient for him.

In December 1914, Yesenin took his wife to the maternity hospital. I was terribly proud when my son was born. By the time Anna returned from the hospital, he had cleaned the room to a shine and prepared dinner. The 19-year-old father peered in surprise at his son’s tiny face, looking for his own features in it, and could not stop admiring it. He named the baby George, Yurochka.

The joy ended quickly. Baby crying, dirty diapers, sleepless nights. Three months later, Yesenin left for Petrograd: either in search of success, or simply ran away from family happiness. I spent almost a year wandering back and forth. But neither Anya’s love nor the child could hold him back. Helped financially when I could. But soon the capital spun and spun. “Ah, a nugget from Ryazan! Ah, the new Koltsov!” - they talked about him.

And the fashionable poet became in great demand in literary salons. There were always people who wanted to drink with a genius. Probably, then the quiet youth, chanting the golden Rus', turned into a tavern hooligan...

Darling

ONE day in the summer of 1917, Yesenin and a friend went to the editorial office of the newspaper “Delo Naroda”, where Sergei met the secretary Zinochka.Zinaida Reichshe was a rare beauty. He had never seen anything like it before.

Smart, educated, surrounded by fans, she dreamed of the stage. How did he persuade her to go with him to the North?!

They got married in a small church near Vologda, sincerely believing that they would live happily ever after and die on the same day. Having returned, they settled with Zinaida. Her earnings were enough for two, and she tried to create all the conditions for Seryozha to be creative.

Yesenin was jealous. After drinking, he became simply unbearable, causing ugly scandals for his pregnant wife. He loved in the Russian way: first he beat, and then he lay at his feet, begging for forgiveness.

In 1918, the Yesenin family left Petrograd. Zinaida went to Oryol to see her parents to give birth, and Sergei and a friend rented a room in the center of Moscow, where he lived like a bachelor: drinking bouts, women, poetry...

The daughter was born in May 1918. Zinaida named her in honor of Sergei’s mother - Tatyana. But when his wife and little Tanya arrived in Moscow, Sergei greeted them in such a way that the very next day Zinaida went back. Then Yesenin asked for forgiveness, they made peace, and scandals began again. After he beat her, who was pregnant with her second child, Zinaida finally ran away from him to her parents. The son was named Kostya in honor of the village of Konstantinovo, where Yesenin was born.

Subsequently, Zinaida became an actress in the theater of the famous director Vsevolod Meyerhold. In October 1921, Yesenin and Zinaida officially divorced, she married Meyerhold.

The famous director raised Kostya and Tanechka, and Yesenin carried their photograph in his breast pocket as proof of his love for children.

Expensive

ONCE UPON A TIME, the great American ballerina Isadora Duncan, who came to Russia in 1921, was invited to a creative evening... She entered with a flying gait, threw off her fur coat and straightened the folds of her silk chiton. The dancer looked like a living statue of an ancient goddess. They poured her a “penalty” glass of wine. She looked up from her glass and saw Him. He started reading poetry. Isadora didn’t understand a word, but she couldn’t take her eyes off him. And he recited, looking only at her. It seemed like there was no one else in the room. Having finished reading, Yesenin came down from the dais and fell into her arms.

“Isadora! My Isadora! - Yesenin knelt down in front of the dancer. She kissed him on the lips and said: “For-la-taya galava, for-la-taya gal-la-va.” It was love at first sight, seething passion, a hurricane. And it didn’t matter that Isadora hardly spoke Russian, and Sergei did not know English. They understood each other without words, because they were similar - talented, emotional, reckless...

Since that memorable night, Yesenin moved into Isadora’s apartment. Yesenin’s poet friends gladly went to this hospitable house, although they could not believe that the reveler and heartthrob sincerely fell in love with a woman who was almost twice his age. And he, watching Isadora dance for him, losing his head, whispered: “Mine, mine forever!”

The world-famous ballerina was rich and ready to give everything just to make her beloved Yesenin happy. Revelations, champagne, fruits, gifts. She paid for everything.

But after a few months, Yesenin’s passion faded and scandals began. In a drunken stupor, he shouted: “Dunka, dance.” And she danced in front of him and his drinking companions, without words showing her love, humiliation, pride, and indignation. She saw that her beloved was becoming an alcoholic, and in order to save him, she decided to take him abroad.

In May 1922, Yesenin and Duncan registered their marriage and left first for Europe, then for America.

But there he went from a great poet to just Duncan’s husband. This made him angry, he drank, he walked, he beat him, then he repented and declared his love.

Isadora's friends were horrified by her family life.

- How do you allow yourself to be treated like this?! You are a great ballerina!

Isadora made excuses: “He is sick. I can't leave him. It’s like abandoning a sick child.”

It was very difficult for him in Soviet Russia, but without Russia it was impossible. And the Yesenin couple, Duncan, returned back. She felt that the marriage was falling apart, she was incredibly jealous and tormented. Having gone on tour to Crimea, Isadora waited there for Sergei, who promised to come soon. But instead a telegram came: “I love someone else, married, happy. Yesenin."

This other one was his fanGalina Benislavskaya .

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People rarely love as selflessly as Galina loved. Yesenin considered her his closest friend, but did not see her as a woman. Well, what was he missing?! Slender, green-eyed, her braids almost reached the floor, but he didn’t notice this, he talked about his feelings for others.

Galina tore him away from Duncan, tried to get him away from his drinking buddies, and waited at the door at night like a faithful dog. She helped as much as she could, ran around the editorial offices, extorting fees. And it was she who gave the telegram to Isadora in Crimea. Galina considered him her husband, but he told her: “Galya, you are very good, you are my closest friend, but I don’t love you...” Yesenin brought women to her house and immediately consoled her: “I’m afraid myself, I don’t want to, but I know that I will beat. I don’t want to hit you, you can’t be hit. I beat two women - Zinaida and Isadora - and could not do otherwise. For me, love is a terrible torment, it’s so painful.”

Galina was still waiting for him to see in her not only a friend. But she didn’t wait. In 1925 he married... Sonechka Tolstoy.

Darling

AT THE BEGINNING of 1925, the poet met Leo Tolstoy’s granddaughter Sophia. Like most intelligent girls of that time, she was in love with Yesenin’s poetry and a little with the poet himself. 29-year-old Sergei was timid before Sophia’s aristocracy and innocence. One summer, in a linden alley in the park, a gypsy woman approached them:

- Hey, young, handsome, give me some money, you’ll find out your fate!

Yesenin laughed and took out the money.

- You'll have a wedding soon, curly-haired one! - the gypsy laughed.

In July 1925, a modest wedding took place. Sonechka was ready, like her famous grandmother, to devote her whole life to her husband and his work.

Everything was surprisingly good. The poet now has a home, a loving wife, a friend and an assistant. Sophia took care of his health and prepared his poems for his collected works. And I was absolutely happy.

And Yesenin, having met a friend, answered the question: “How is life?” - “I’m preparing a collected works in three volumes and living with an unloved woman.”

Yesenin continued to live a life where there was always room for drunken revelry and love affairs with fans.

"What's happened? What happened to me? Every day I am at other knees,” he wrote about himself. And for some reason I felt my imminent death:

“I know, I know. Soon, soon

Not my fault or anyone else's

Under the low mourning fence

I’ll have to lie down the same way.”

This was written by a 30-year-old handsome man who had recently married a sweet and intelligent girl who adored him, a poet whose collections flew straight out of the printing house.

It all ended on December 28, 1925 at the Angleterre Hotel in Leningrad. Sergei Yesenin was found hanging from a suitcase rope. Nearby was a letter written in blood: “Goodbye, my friend, goodbye...”

All his wives, except Isadora, who was in Paris, attended the funeral.Galina Benislavskaya shot herself at Yesenin's grave.

There were many women who loved him, but there was little love in his life. Yesenin himself explained it this way: “No matter how much I swore mad love to anyone, no matter how much I assured myself of the same, all this is, in essence, a huge and fatal mistake. There is something that I love above all women, above any woman, and that I would not trade for any caresses or any love. This is art..."

The romantic image of Sergei Yesenin has been exciting women for over a century. A short but bright life, undoubted talent, mysterious death - all this attracts the attention of not only researchers, but also ordinary people. What was he like in everyday life, who left a deep mark on his heart, how did this affect his creativity, whose life was sacrificed for love? Let's try to figure it out in our article.

The first love of young Sergei Yesenin

Yesenin spent his childhood and youth in his native village of Konstantinovo near Ryazan. He was close friends with the son of the local priest I. Smirnov. Father liked the capable boy, it was he who insisted on his further education at Spas-Klepiki, and persuaded him not to send him to work to help his father. Every summer, Anna Sardanovskaya’s niece came to stay with the priest’s family.

It is believed that the childhood friendship of Seryozha and Anya grew into something more during the holiday in honor of the Kazan Mother of God - July 21, 1912. The young man was 16 years old, the priest’s niece was a year younger. Youth festivities around the village, songs, dances, poems - everything contributed to the birth of the first and timid feeling. It was the relationship with Anna that awakened in Yesenin the desire to become a poet. The very first publication of the poem “Beyond the Mountains, Beyond the Yellow Valleys...” is dedicated to her, and the feeling itself is described in “My Path” as follows:

At the age of fifteen I fell deeply in love,

And I thought sweetly, I’ll just retire,

What am I on this, the best of the girls,

When I reach age, I will get married.

One day, the lovers ran into the priest’s house and vowed eternal love and future marriage to the nun who was there. But very little time passed, and a break occurred. What caused it? There are several versions on this matter:
Yesenin became interested in Sardanovskaya’s friend, Maria Balzamova. The poems “You cried in the evening silence...” and “Do not wander, do not crush in the crimson bushes...” are dedicated to her. But there is no evidence of a romantic connection; researchers know only letters that are friendly and philosophical in nature.

By the end of 1912, Anna completed her studies and went to work as a teacher at a school in the village of Dedinovo, where she met local teacher Vladimir Olonovsky. Yesenin, having learned about this, decided to break off the relationship, suspecting treason. In the future, Anna will still marry Vladimir, but this will happen only in 1920.
In 1913, Sergei gets a job at Sytin’s printing house (Moscow), where he meets another Anna, Izryadnova. She becomes his first woman, the platonic romance with Sardanovskaya becomes uninteresting to him, and Sergei, blaming her, breaks off the connection.

Anna Izryadnova - the ideal woman of Sergei Yesenin

After graduating from school (1912), Sergei was hired to work in a butcher shop in Moscow, his father was already working there, and the owner agreed to his requests. But already at the age of 16, the rebellious nature of the future poet broke through.

The butcher’s wife demanded that the “boy” get up the moment she entered the room, which he categorically did not like. Sergei went to work in a bookstore, which went bankrupt in early 1913. Soon Yesenin ends up as a messenger at Sytin’s printing house, which prints 25% of the empire’s total book output. He is promoted quite quickly, now he is a sub-teacher, i.e. assistant proofreader

Sergei Yesenin and Anna Izryadnova

One of the proofreaders is the modest and inconspicuous Anna Izryadnova. She is already 23 years old, but she falls in love with an 18-year-old boy with golden curls.

An experienced woman who has living space and admires the talent of the young talent helps him in every way she can. Frees him from everyday life, helps him enroll in the historical and philological department of Shinyavsky University, facilitates his transition to the position of proofreader, and helps him publish his first poem, “Birches.” Soon their son Yuri is born.

The family idyll after the birth of the baby lasted exactly three months. Sergei was not ready for fatherhood, he had already stopped loving Anna, he was tired of fussy Moscow. But, most importantly, at the university he met professor of literature Sakulin, who approved the poems of the aspiring author. Where can you achieve success and recognition? Of course, only in the capital! And Yesenin goes to Petrograd.

What about Anna? She will forever remain a reliable support person to whom you can cry into your vest. The poem “I laid by your bed...” will be dedicated to her.

Is Zinaida Reich the poet’s main love?

And here is Yesenin in revolutionary Petrograd. This is not the poet's first visit to the capital. And although no one yet fully understands the consequences of the February coup, and Sergei seems to be far from politics, peasant ingenuity prompts him not to advertise the patronage of Colonel D. Loman, a confidant of the last empress, during the poet’s very controversial service in the army.

The history of the relationship with the royal family is a special page in the poet’s biography.

Zinaida Reich

The summer of 1917 was a time of troubles, the Bolsheviks had not yet come to power, and there was still a multi-party system in the country. Sergei begins to publish poetry in the Socialist Revolutionary newspaper Delo Naroda.

The secretary is the beautiful Zinaida Reich. Yesenin, together with his friend Alexei Ganin, is a frequent guest of the editorial office and its library. He shows signs of attention to a pretty librarian, Mina Svirskaya, and Alexey plans to marry Zina.

Ganin suggested that the whole company go to his homeland - the Vologda province. But Mina was unable to go, and on the way the unexpected happened: Yesenin confessed his love to Reich and proposed getting married, which they did in a small ancient church near Solovki.

This family life was rocked by scandals, separations, mutual accusations, and fights. Yesenin had already begun to gain popularity, he had fans, and he began to drink. What was the reason? Sergei could not come to terms with the fact that he was not Reich’s first man (although she claimed the opposite). A year later, daughter Tatyana was born, but this did not bring peace to the family. In desperation, Zinaida decides to give birth to another child. But Yesenin does not recognize him at all due to the fact that his son Kostya was born dark and not blond. Soon Sergei asked for a divorce, his request was granted in October 1921.

After the divorce, Zinaida decided to become an actress by enrolling in a theater workshop. The famous director Meyerhold taught there. He fell in love with Reich, broke up with his wife, adopted Yesenin’s children, and even asked his permission to marry!

Zina blossoms, becomes a very famous actress, playing all the leading roles of the theater. Sergei realizes who he has lost. He begins to demand meetings with the children, Reich secretly runs to him on dates, secretly from her husband. Yesenin will describe the whole tragedy of his love and love triangle later in the poem “Letter to a Woman.” Periodic meetings continued almost until the poet’s death.

Lyubov Yesenina under the gun of the NKVD

Yesenin’s relationships with women were not consistent: it is impossible to build a chronology of connections; at the same time he was close to several at once. The meeting with Galina Benislavskaya took place in November 1920. That day there was a poetry evening called “The Trial of the Imagists.” Galya listened to the poems of the golden-haired young man and fell in love - for life.

A difficult biography, active participation in politics, and repeated threats of execution left their mark on the girl’s character and subsequently led to nervous disorders. Their relationship was very difficult. Galya became a guardian angel for Yesenin. She tolerated his affairs with other women, took upon herself all matters related to the poet’s literary activities, took care of his sisters who came from Konstantinovo, settling them in her room, and encouraged his drinking companions. The list goes on.

Did Yesenin love her? It's hard to say. But he respected and appreciated. Lines from “Give, Jim, for good luck…” are dedicated to Gala:

For me, lick her hand gently

For what I was and was not guilty of.

But, most importantly, she regularly pulled Sergei out of very serious scrapes that were not comparable in importance to drunken parties. Over the course of several years, 13 (!!!) criminal cases were opened against the poet. Surprisingly, they never ended in anything, and this was during the period of the “Red Terror”, when one after another the poet’s friends died in dungeons.

Maybe the fact is that Galina was an employee of the NKVD (formerly the Cheka, GPU, OGPU) and covered up her beloved as best she could? There is a version that she regularly reported on the poet with the condition that he would not be touched. But would the Bolsheviks have been stopped by some “conditions”? Most likely, this is speculation. But the fact is that she could not survive the death of Sergei and shot herself at his grave on the anniversary of his death.

Nadya Volpin - Yesenin’s mistress and a smart girl who has ceased to be hope

In 1920, at one of the poetry evenings, Sergei met the aspiring poetess Nadezhda Volpin.

Nadezhda Volpin

A well-educated girl knew six languages and wrote quite good poetry. At this time, Sergei had not yet filed for divorce from Reich, he lives with Galya Benislavskaya, but persistently seeks intimacy with Nadya. When his next book of poems comes out, he gives it with an ambiguous inscription: “To Nadezhda Volpin with the hope that she will no longer be a hope.”

For more than a year, their relationship did not go beyond friendship, but when Sergei achieved what he wanted, he was very surprised that he became her first man. And... I was afraid of responsibility. At the same time, his relationship with Benislavskaya develops, and a little later Isadora Duncan appears.

When Nadezhda said that there would be a child, Sergei protested, saying that he already had children. Volpin was a smart woman; she realized that it would not be possible to build a full-fledged family with a flighty poet. She is leaving for St. Petersburg; Yesenin has not seen her son Alexander.

Isadora Duncan - a world celebrity and a trail of scandals in Yesenin’s life

Isadora was born into a wealthy American family. But soon the father went bankrupt, and the baby did not receive an education (she even dropped out of school at the age of 10). She made her living through music and dancing, going down in history as the founder of barefoot performance. Her unusual approach to art and famous husbands and lovers contributed to her worldwide fame.

But by 1921, Isadora’s financial situation became difficult, and the Bolshevik country wanted to appear civilized in the eyes of a civilized society. People's Commissar of Education A. Lunacharsky invites Duncan to open a dance school.

Isadora Duncan and Sergei Yesenin

The fateful meeting took place on Sergei’s birthday in the studio of the artist Yakulov. It is curious that in the same house there is a “bad apartment” from Bulgakov’s “The Master and Margarita”... Was it love? On her part, no doubt. What about Sergei? And he was always drawn to fame in all its forms. She is already 44, he turned 26 today. But they left the workshop together and went to the mansion provided to the star by the Soviet government.

Isadora intends to show Sergei the world, and the world - Sergei. We need to fill out documents for the trip; the divorce from Reich is finally completed. And Yesenin enters into a new marriage. He goes on a world tour already being the husband of a celebrity. And this is the only way, and not otherwise, that he is perceived by the public abroad. Sergei is amazed and crushed, he constantly gets drunk, destroys hotels, ends up in the police, then in a mental hospital, beats Isadora.

Upon returning to Moscow, nothing changes for the better. Duncan leaves the USSR, and Sergei returns to Galina Benislavskaya, who is always waiting for him. We are left with the poems “Sing, Sing...” about love for Isadora.

Sofya Tolstaya - Yesenin’s last wife

Benislavskaya welcomed all of Sergei’s acquaintances; bohemians regularly gathered at her place.

Sofia Tolstaya - Yesenin's last wife

In June 1925, the writer B. Pilnyak came in, his companion was Sophia Tolstaya, the granddaughter of the famous Elder. When the young people began to disperse, Sergei went to see Sonya off.

A month after meeting, they decide to get married. The novel was reflected in the poem “Apparently, it’s been like this forever...”. Let's ask again the question about feelings. There is no doubt about Sonya's feelings. But Sergei was always drawn to fame, including that of others.

During the same period, he met one of the daughters of the famous singer F. Chaliapin - Irina. And, according to the recollections of friends, he begins to try on the combinations “Yesenin-Chaliapin” or “Yesenin-Tolstaya”? The choice stops at Tolstoy. In less than six months of marriage, Sergei manages to destroy the famous estate, go on several binges, and spend time in a psychiatric clinic.

In December 1925 he would be found hanged in the infamous Angleterre. Sophia will spend her entire life engaged in scientific work and preserving the memory of Yesenin.

Other women in the life of Sergei Yesenin: reflection of love in poetry

The 30 years of Yesenin’s life were difficult in all respects: an unsettled life, a race for fame, regular creative breakdowns and a chaotic personal life. Let us briefly list the women in whose memory we were left with beautiful poems.

The series “Love of a Hooligan” is dedicated to the actress Augusta Miklashevskaya. “Persian Motifs” was written under the impression of a meeting with literature teacher Shagane Talyan. And who is the prototype of the famous “Anna Snegina”? This is a collective image. The name is taken from the poet’s first love, Anya Sardanovskaya. The surname belongs to the fairly well-known writer Olga Sno at that time (Snegina is the pseudonym with which she signed her works), whom Yesenin met during his formative years.

The poet's women

Anna Romanovna Izryadnova
First

In 1912, Sergei Yesenin, at the age of 17, came to conquer Moscow. Considering himself a poet, Yesenin refused to work with his father as a clerk in a butcher shop and chose a place with a tiny salary in a printing house, hoping to print his poems here. In the proofreading room, none of the employees recognize him as a poet (of course, they are preparing works of great Russian poets for publication!), and the editors of newspapers and magazines where the young man shows his poems refuse to publish them. Only student Anya, Anna Izryadnova, who also served as a proofreader for Sytin, was able to see a real poet in a boy who was four years younger than her. How she understood him! How she loved him!
On weekends they go to classes together at Shanyavsky University and talk a lot about poetry and literature. After work, Yesenin accompanies Anna to the house on 2nd Pavlovsky Lane, and then returns to Serpukhovka, where he lives with his father in a small room.
Anna became his first woman. Sergei felt like a grown man, a husband. For Yesenin, this period became the most abundant in his work. He wrote 70 beautiful poems. It was from this time that he established himself as a poet. Undoubtedly, his creative growth was facilitated by living in Moscow, communicating with writers and publishers, studying at Shanyavsky University, working in a proofreading room, but most importantly, his love for Anna. This combination of talent and love in the poet’s life should be considered the “Izryadnovsky” period. And it is no coincidence that the main lines appeared at this time:

If the Holy Army shouts:
"Throw away Rus', live in paradise!"
I will say: “There is no need for heaven.
Give me my homeland."

On March 21, 1914, Anna became pregnant and for several months carefully hid her pregnancy from everyone. Time passed. In the sixth month, Anna could no longer hide her pregnancy from her family. The news of an extramarital relationship and the expectation of a child was difficult to accept in the Izryadnov family. Anna was forced to leave. She rented a room near the Serpukhov outpost and began to live together with Yesenin.
Work, home, family, Anna is expecting a child, and she doesn’t have enough energy and time for poetry. For inspiration, Sergei leaves for Crimea. One. I returned full of impressions and inspiration. He quit his job and wrote poetry all day. Anna did not contradict and did not demand anything from him. I just loved it. It was so convenient for him.

In her memoirs, Anna Romanovna wrote:
...At the end of December my son was born. Yesenin had to fuss a lot with me (we lived only together). It was necessary to send me to the hospital to take care of the apartment. When I returned home, he had an exemplary order: everywhere was washed, the stoves were heated, and even dinner was ready and cake was bought, waiting. He looked at the child with curiosity, and kept repeating: “Here I am the father.” Then he soon got used to it, fell in love with him, rocked him, lulled him to sleep, sang songs over him. He made me rock me to sleep and sing: “Sing him more songs.” In March 1915 he went to Petrograd to seek his fortune. In May of the same year I came to Moscow, a different person. I spent a little time in Moscow, went to the village, wrote good letters. In the fall I stopped by: “I’m going to Petrograd.” He called me with him... He immediately said: “I’ll be back soon, I won’t live there for long.”
But Yesenin did not return to Anna. In the capital he was received enthusiastically. Soon the first book of poems was published. There was a severe world war going on. The poet was drafted into the army. He served on an ambulance train, delivering wounded from the front. Then the February Revolution occurred. The poet deserted from Kerensky's army. In the summer of 1917, with his friend, the poet Alexei Ganin, he decided to leave for the provinces. An acquaintance, Zinaida Reich, got in touch with them.

Zinaida Nikolaevna Reich

Darling

In the summer of 1917, Yesenin and a friend went to the editorial office of the newspaper Delo Naroda, where Sergei met the secretary Zinochka. Zinaida Reich was a rare beauty. He had never seen anything like it before.
Three months after they met, they got married in a small church near Vologda, sincerely believing that they would live long, happily and die on the same day. Having returned, they settled with Zinaida. Her earnings were enough for two, and she tried to create all the conditions for Seryozha to be creative.

The daughter was born in May 1918. Zinaida named her in honor of Sergei's mother - Tatyana. But when his wife and little Tanya arrived in Moscow, Sergei greeted them in such a way that the very next day Zinaida went back. Then Yesenin asked for forgiveness, they made peace, and scandals began again. After he beat her, who was pregnant with her second child, Zinaida finally ran away from him to her parents. In winter, Zinaida Nikolaevna gave birth to a boy. I asked Yesenin on the phone: “What should I call it?” Yesenin thought and thought, choosing a non-literary name, and said: “Konstantin.” After baptism I realized: “Damn it, Balmont’s name is Konstantin.” I didn’t go to see my son. Noticing me on the Rostov platform talking with Reich, Yesenin described a semicircle on his heels and, jumping onto the rail, walked in the opposite direction... Zinaida Nikolaevna asked: “Tell Seryozha that I’m going with Kostya. He hasn’t seen him. Let him come in and take a look.” “If he doesn’t want to meet with me, I can leave the compartment.” Yesenin nevertheless went into the compartment to look at his son. Looking at the boy, he said that he was black, and Yesenins are not black." Later, someone also recalled that Z. Reich, already living with Meyerhold, demanded money from Yesenin for their daughter’s education.

Subsequently, Zinaida became an actress in the theater of the famous director Vsevolod Meyerhold. On October 2, 1921, the people's court of Orel ruled to dissolve Yesenin's marriage to Reich; she married Meyerhold. The famous director raised Kostya and Tanechka, and Yesenin carried their photograph in his breast pocket as proof of his love for children.

Galina Benislavskaya

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There is a lot that is unclear in the life of Sergei Yesenin, except, perhaps, his murder and this, albeit complex, but at the same time sincere love for him by Galina Benislavskaya...

On November 4, 1920, at the literary evening “The Trial of the Imagists,” Yesenin met Galina Benislavskaya. Soon Yesenin and Benislavskaya became close. Galina forgot that outstanding poets have loving hearts. On October 3, 1921, Yesenin’s birthday, a company gathered in the studio of the artist Yakulov. After performing at the concert, the famous American dancer Duncan was brought to Yakulov. 46-year-old Isadora, knowing only 20-30 Russian words, upon hearing Yesenin’s poems, immediately understood the young poet’s extraordinary talent and was the first to call him a great Russian poet. Without hesitation, she took Yesenin to her mansion. He did not come to Benislavskaya’s room.

After almost a year and a half of traveling abroad, Yesenin returned to his homeland, but did not live with the aging and jealous dancer. From the fashionable mansion, the poet again came to Benislavskaya’s room in a crowded communal apartment.

People rarely love as selflessly as Galina loved. Yesenin considered her his closest friend, but did not see her as a woman. Slender, green-eyed, her braids almost reached the floor, but he didn’t notice this, he talked about his feelings for others.

Galina tore him away from Duncan, tried to get him away from his drinking buddies, and waited at the door at night. She helped as much as she could, ran around the editorial offices, extorting fees. And it was she who gave the telegram to Isadora in Crimea. Galina considered him her husband, but he told her: “Galya, you are very good, you are my closest friend, but I don’t love you...” Yesenin brought women to her house and immediately consoled her: “I’m afraid myself, I don’t want to, but I know that I will beat. I don’t want to hit you, you can’t be hit. I beat two women - Zinaida and Isadora - and could not do otherwise. For me, love is a terrible torment, it’s so painful.”
Galina was still waiting for him to see in her not only a friend. But she didn’t wait. In 1925 he married... Sonechka Tolstoy.

On a cold December day in 1926, at the deserted Vagankovskoye cemetery in Moscow, a young woman stood near the modest grave of Sergei Yesenin. A year ago, the life of a thirty-year-old poet was cut short at the Angleterre Hotel in Leningrad. The woman was not at the funeral. Then she took out a piece of paper and quickly jotted down a few lines: “I committed suicide” here, although I know that after this even more dogs will be blamed on Yesenin. But both he and I won’t care. Everything in this grave is most precious to me, so in the end I don’t give a damn about Sosnovsky and the public opinion that Sosnovsky has in mind.” She stood motionless for a while, then took out a pistol.
This is how the life of 29-year-old Galina Benislavskaya, who selflessly loved the poet, ended.

On December 27, 1925, Yesenin’s life was cut short. Benislavskaya ended up in a psychiatric clinic. Life has lost its meaning for her.
The suicide of Galina Benislavskaya shocked everyone. She was buried next to Yesenin on December 7. The words “Faithful Galya” were inscribed on the monument.

Isadora Duncan

Expensive

Isadora Duncan did not speak Russian, Yesenin did not understand English. But this did not interfere with their love.

ONE day, the great American ballerina Isadora Duncan, who came to Russia in 1921, was invited to a creative evening... She raised her eyes from her glass and saw Him. He started reading poetry. Isadora didn’t understand a word, but she couldn’t take her eyes off him. And he recited, looking only at her. It seemed like there was no one else in the room. Having finished reading, Yesenin came down from the dais and fell into her arms.

Since that memorable night, Yesenin moved into Isadora’s apartment. Yesenin’s poet friends gladly went to this hospitable house, although they could not believe that the reveler and heartthrob sincerely fell in love with a woman who was almost twice his age.
The world-famous ballerina was rich and ready to give everything just to make her beloved Yesenin happy. Revelations, champagne, fruits, gifts. She paid for everything.

On May 2, 1922, Yesenin and Duncan registered their marriage. "Now I'm Duncan!" - Yesenin shouted when they left the registry office. Evil tongues claimed that he was in love not so much with Duncan as with her world fame. and went first to Europe, then to America.

But there he went from a great poet to just Duncan’s husband. This made him angry, he drank, he walked, he beat him, then he repented and declared his love.
It was very difficult for him in Soviet Russia, but without Russia it was impossible. And the Yesenin couple - Duncan - returned back. She felt that the marriage was falling apart, she was incredibly jealous and tormented. Having gone on tour to Crimea, Isadora waited there for Sergei, who promised to come soon. But instead a telegram came: “I love someone else, married, happy. Yesenin."
This other was his fan Galina Benislavskaya.

Isadora outlived Sergei by a year and a half - her death occurred in the cheerful resort of Nice. Slipping off her shoulder, the long scarf fell into the spoked wheel of the car in which the dancer was sitting, which was picking up speed, wrapped around the axle and instantly strangled Duncan.

Sofya Andreevna Tolstaya

Yesenin was proud that he became related to Tolstoy by marrying his granddaughter Sophia

March 5, 1925 - acquaintance with Leo Tolstoy's granddaughter Sofia Andreevna Tolstoy. She was 5 years younger than Yesenin, and the blood of the world’s greatest writer flowed in her veins. Sofya Andreevna was in charge of the library of the Writers' Union. Like most intelligent girls of that time, she was in love with Yesenin’s poetry and a little with the poet himself. 29-year-old Sergei was timid before Sophia’s aristocracy and innocence.

In 1925, a modest wedding took place. Sonechka was ready, like her famous grandmother, to devote her whole life to her husband and his work.
Everything was surprisingly good. The poet now has a home, a loving wife, a friend and an assistant. Sophia took care of his health and prepared his poems for his collected works. And I was absolutely happy.

Yesenin continued to live a life where there was always room for drunken revelry and love affairs with fans.
"What's happened? What happened to me? Every day I am at other knees,” he wrote about himself. And for some reason I felt my imminent death:
“I know, I know. Soon, soon
Not my fault or anyone else's
Under the low mourning fence
I’ll have to lie down the same way.”

This was written by a 30-year-old handsome man who had recently married a sweet and intelligent girl who adored him, a poet whose collections flew straight out of the printing house.
Sofya Tolstaya is another of Yesenin’s unfulfilled hopes of starting a family. Coming from an aristocratic family, according to the recollections of Yesenin’s friends, she was very arrogant and proud, she demanded adherence to etiquette and unquestioning obedience. These qualities of hers were in no way combined with Sergei’s simplicity, generosity, cheerfulness, and mischievous character.
She had a bitter lot: to survive the hell of the last months of her life with Yesenin. And then, in December 1925, go to Leningrad to pick up his body.

Share on social networks! Today, October 3, marks the 118th anniversary of the birth of the great Russian poet Sergei Yesenin. He died at thirty, leaving behind hundreds of wonderful poems and hundreds of broken hearts. Today we are talking about the poet’s favorite women.

Shortly before his death, Sergei boasted to one of his friends that he had three thousand women! To this the friend replied, “Don’t make a mistake!” Yesenin smiled and corrected: “Three hundred. Well, okay, thirty.” Perhaps there really were many more women than thirty, because it was impossible not to love Sergei. A cheerful, blond, talented, mischievous guy with big bright eyes was liked by all the girls. It’s no wonder that the poet began his first novels when he was not yet seventeen years old. Most of Yesenin's novels and marriages were fleeting. He didn’t have enough time for anything - he was a man who adored life, and tried to get the most out of it, as if he knew that fate had only given him thirty years...

Anna Izryadnova. Sergei met her after arriving in Moscow, when he was seventeen. Yesenin got a job as a proofreader in a printing house, and Izryadnova also worked there. Despite the four-year age difference, Anna and Sergei began an affair. They say Izryadnova was his first woman. They rented a room in the center of Moscow, and when Anya became pregnant, Yesenin went to Crimea for “inspiration.” When Yesenin's son was born, he was happy, but sleepless nights and dirty diapers quickly helped Yesenin come down to earth. Three months later he “flees” from his wife and son to Petrograd. For a year, Yesenin practically did not live at home, but helped Anna and his son. Moscow life spun the poet, and he soon forgot about his family.
Zinaida Reich. She was a secretary at the newspaper Delo Naroda, where Sergei once went with a friend. Zina dreamed of becoming an actress, and Yesenin fell in love with the beauty at first sight. Soon they got married, and the poet moved into Reich’s tiny apartment. When Zina became pregnant, Sergei changed: he staged scenes of jealousy for his wife, beat her, and then begged her to forgive, on his knees. A year later, the couple separated - Zina returned to her parents in Orel, and Sergei rented a room in Moscow. When Zina’s daughter was born, she came with her to visit Sergei, but the very next day she returned to Orel because Yesenin threw a scandal. Soon the couple reconciled, and Reich became pregnant again, but after another beating, she ran away from the poet forever. Zina had a son, and the official divorce of the poet and Reich took place only in 1921, when Zina was already a famous actress and lived with director Meyerhold.
Isadora Duncan. Also in 1921, dancer Isadora Duncan came to Russia. After the performance, she was invited to a creative evening, where Duncan saw Sergei. He read his poems to her, and Isadora did not understand a word, but the poet and dancer fell in love with each other at first sight. Yesenin settled with Isadora, who decided to stay in Russia and open a dance school. Drunken scandals began a few months later. Duncan forgave Yesenin’s drunken antics and allowed his friends to almost live in her apartment. Realizing that Sergei was a drunkard, Isadora persuaded him to leave for America. They got married, but Duncan's friends were shocked by the way Sergei treated his wife. And Yesenin was irritated by the fact that in a foreign country no one knew him, and they called him “husband Duncan.” The young people decided to return to Russia. Isadora went on tour to Crimea and waited for the poet there, but he did not come, but sent a short telegram in which he said that he loved someone else and would marry her.

Photo: Sergey Yesenin and Isadora Duncan

Galina Benislavskaya. Yesenin’s most devoted and selfless woman, who loved the poet for many years and was by his side when he left his mistresses. Yesenin slept with her, but never saw Benislavskaya as a woman. Their relationship began only on the friendly feelings of the poet. Galina saved Sergei from drunken friends, ran around the editorial offices and demanded fees for the poet. By the way, it was Galya who sent Duncan the telegram. She knew that Yesenin loved Duncan, but was tormented by her feelings, so she decided to become a “consolation” for the poet. One day he told Benislavskaya that she was the nicest woman, but he couldn’t live with her because he didn’t love her. And if he doesn’t love you, then he will beat you. Benislavskaya did not lose hope, but Sergei decided to connect his life with an influential person in order to achieve even greater success. Exactly a year after Yesenin’s death, Galina shot herself at his grave.

Photo: Ekaterina Yesenina, Wolf Ehrlich and Galina Benislavskaya

Sofia Tolstaya. At the beginning of 1925, Sergei met Sophia, the granddaughter of the writer Leo Tolstoy. Sophia had long been in love with the poet, so Yesenin decided not to miss the chance and within a few months he married Sophia. His wife took care of Yesenin like a child. A warm dinner, comfort, and a woman who not only loved him, but was also an assistant in his work, were always waiting for him. However, when asked by friends “How is life?” Sergei replied, “I’m writing another three-volume book and living with an unloved woman.” A few months later, Yesenin was found hanged in a hotel. All the poet's women were present at the funeral, with the exception of Duncan - she was in Paris at that time.

Photo: Sergey Yesenin and Sofya Tolstaya

There were many women in the life of the great Russian poet, but not everyone knows which of them he was in a legal relationship with. What was the name of Sergei Yesenin's wife? Almost everyone can answer this question. The name of the legal wife of the Russian poet is Isadora Duncan. But this woman is not the only one with whom the singer of the Russian land was married in his short and sparkling life.

Anna Izryadnova

The question of what the name of Sergei Yesenin’s wife was is not easy to answer, because he had only three legal spouses, but much more civilian ones. Anna Izryadnova is an employee of the publishing house where the poet worked during the first period of his life in Moscow. This woman was several years older than Yesenin. He lived with her for no more than a year. And it was from Izryadnova that his first child, Yuri, was born. died very young. He was convicted under Article 58. His mother never found out about his fate.

Zinaida Reich

If we are talking about a legal marriage, then in response to the question about what the name of Sergei Yesenin’s wife was, you should first mention the name of this woman. Zinaida Reich was distinguished by incredible strength of character. The young poet left her with two children, because he was not particularly inclined towards family life. But she not only did not lose heart, but was even able to make a small career in publishing one of the newspapers. And later Reich became the wife of the famous director Meyerhold.

Not without the help of her new husband, the mother of two children embarked on the acting path. Yesenin's children - Konstantin and Tatyana - were raised more by Vsevolod Meyerhold than by their own father. In 1939, the husband was arrested. Yesenin's ex-wife died tragically a month after Meyerhold's arrest.

Isadora Duncan

As soon as the conversation comes about what the name of Sergei Yesenin’s wife was, every person remembers first of all this famous name. The marriage of a Russian poet and an American dancer was so scandalous that it turned out to have very unpleasant consequences for the latter. After traveling abroad with her young husband, she lost her US citizenship. Of course, it was not the scandalous poet who was to blame for such harsh measures, but rather Duncan’s extravagant manner of speaking. In particular, at one of the performances in the New World, a dancer once decided to wave a red banner, to which the Americans reacted very painfully.

Sergei Yesenin had an extremely kind disposition. But in her passion for alcoholic beverages, Duncan was not inferior to her talented husband. She did not speak Russian and did not understand a word of his poetry. But she constantly assured everyone that her husband was a genius. He spent her money and did not restrain himself in his expressions. She loved him and forgave him everything for his talent.

Once, at one of the evenings in a famous Moscow establishment, Yesenin read the poem “The Black Man”. There was noise in the hall. When the poet read the first lines, they did not hear him. All that could be heard was the swearing of the cab drivers and the voices of girls of easy virtue. When he finished, there was deathly silence in the hall. And only Duncan’s voice broke it: “And you still doubt that he is a genius?” - the American woman asked a rhetorical question to her interlocutor.

Nadezhda Volpin

This woman was not the poet’s legal wife, but had a son from him. She later became a famous translator. But in those years when her relationship with Yesenin began, she was in great need. The poet helped her, but did not want to connect his life with her. Volpin was distinguished by her independence and selflessness. She raised her son Alexander on her own. He became a well-known human rights activist and passed away in March 2016.

Sofia Tolstaya

The name of Sergei Yesenin's wife, who became the last in his life, is Sophia. This woman was the granddaughter of Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy himself. According to some biographers, the poet married her only because of her surname. But the marriage did not last long. Three months after his marriage, Yesenin died.