# Aleksey Koltsov

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{{Short description|Russian poet}}
[[Image:Koltsov AV.jpg|thumb|250px|Portrait by [Kirill Gorbunov](/source/Kirill_Gorbunov)]]
'''Aleksey Vasilievich Koltsov''' ({{langx|ru|link=no|Алексе́й Васи́льевич Кольцо́в}}; October 15, 1809 – October 29, 1842) was a Russian poet who has been called a Russian [Burns](/source/Robert_Burns). His poems, frequently placed in the mouth of women, stylize peasant-life songs and idealize agricultural labour. Koltsov earnestly collected Russian [folklore](/source/folklore) which strongly influenced his poetry. He celebrated simple [peasant](/source/peasant)s, their work and their lives. Many of his poems were put to music by such composers as [Dargomyzhsky](/source/Alexander_Dargomyzhsky), [Mussorgsky](/source/Modest_Mussorgsky), and [Rimsky-Korsakov](/source/Nikolai_Rimsky-Korsakov).

==Biography==
He was born in [Voronezh](/source/Voronezh) as a son of a cattle merchant. Having studied for less than two years at a local school (1818–1820), Aleksey quit at the insistence of his father who wanted his help with his business. Koltsov moved, bought and sold cattle; and in the meantime, wrote poems secretly from his father.

The first serious introduction of his poetry occurred in 1831, when [Nikolai Stankevich](/source/Nikolai_Stankevich), a poet and philosopher from Moscow, published several poems in "[Literaturnaya gazeta](/source/Literaturnaya_gazeta)" (''Literary newspaper'') with a short introduction. In 1835, his first collection of poetry was published. Koltsov often traveled on business to [St. Petersburg](/source/St._Petersburg) and Moscow, where he met [Belinsky](/source/Vissarion_Belinsky), who became his mentor, as well as [Vasily Zhukovsky](/source/Vasily_Zhukovsky), [Pyotr Vyazemsky](/source/Pyotr_Vyazemsky), [Vladimir Odoevsky](/source/Vladimir_Odoevsky), and [Aleksandr Pushkin](/source/Aleksandr_Pushkin), who published one of Koltsov's poems in his journal "[Sovremennik](/source/Sovremennik)".

Koltsov's father constantly and cruelly controlled his life, suppressing Aleksey's creative writing and his personal life. Weakened by depression and a year-long [tuberculosis](/source/tuberculosis), Koltsov died in 1842 at the age of 33. He was buried in Voronezh.

== References ==
*{{efron|Кольцов}}

==External links==
*{{Commonscat-inline}}
*{{wikisource author-inline|Aleksey Vasilievich Koltsov}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Koltsov, Alexey}}
Category:1809 births
Category:1842 deaths
Category:Writers from Voronezh
Category:People from Voronezhsky Uyezd
Category:Poets from the Russian Empire

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Aleksey Koltsov](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleksey_Koltsov) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleksey_Koltsov?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.