Fyodor Ivanovich Tyutchev

1803: Born at the family estate in Ovstug, Russia.

1813: Semyon Egorovich Raich, poet and translator, becomes Tyutchev's tutor. Tyutchev is first exposed to poetry through the Latin classics.

1817: Encouraged to join the "little academy" of young poets organized by poet, theorist and professor Aleksei Fyodorovich Merzlyakov.

1818: Literary career begins when Merzlyakov reads

1819: Enters the Philological Faculty of the University of Moscow.

1821: Receives a degree as kandidat.

1822: Enrolls in the Collegium of Foreign Affairs in St. Petersburg. Receives an appointment with the Russian legation in Munich. Lives abroad for much of the next 22 years. Begins to write nature poetry.

1826: Marries the Bavarian aristocrat Botmer. Through her, meets Heine, Schelling, other lights of the German Romantic scene. Heavily influenced by Schelling's Idealism. Publishes original poems and translations from Heine, Schiller and Byron in Russian journals

1829-30: Publishes "Videniie," "Tsitseron,' "Kak okean ob''emlet shar zemnoi" in Raich's Galatee.

1833: Writes "Silentium!"

1836-40: Publishes about 40 poems in Pushkin's Sovremmenik under the title Stikhotvoreniia, prislannye iz Germanii. Tiutchev signs them "F. T" and refers to them as "scribblings. "They include "Ne to, chto mnite vy, priroda," "Fontan," "Liubliu glaza tvoi, moi drug. "The reading public does not notice. Meanwhile, his wife has died. Begins publishing political articles in French, as well as political poetry in Russian

1839 Fired from government service for leaving his post in Turin without permission. Remarries, again to a woman who speaks no Russian.

1844 Returns to St. Petersburg. . Acquires a reputation as a political reactionary and brilliant conversationalist (in French).

1850 His poems attract the attention of Nekrasov and Ivan Turgenev. Nekrasov republishes the Sovremennik poems. Meets Elena Aleksandrovna Denisova, an impoverished noblewoman. Their affair over the next 14 years leads to three children, much heartbreak, and the "Denisova cycle" of love poems. These include "O kak ubiistvenno my liubim," "Ne govori: Menia on, kak I prezhde, liubit," "Poslednii liubov'.

1854 Turgenev published the first collection of Tyutchev's verse.

1857 Named chairman of the Committee on Foreign Censorship.

1864 Denisova dies.

1873 Dies June 27, after many strokes.

1910 Briusov writes an article claiming that Tyutchev is an alternative to Pushkin.