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1822
Born to Afanasy Shenshin and Charlotta Foeth, who left her
husband Johann Foeth and married the Russian nobleman. Because
their marriage was not official until 1822, Fet was not able
to assume the name Shenshin, was denied the rights of nobility
and was forced to become a raznochinets, a fact that
rankled Fet his whole life
1838-44
After studying in a boarding school in Estonia, studies
philology at Moscow University where he writes his first
poems
1845
Enters military service in an attempt to reclaim his noble
rights
1840
Publishes his first collection, The Lyrical Pantheon
1842-3
Eighty-five poems appear in Notes of the Fatherland and
Muscovite
1850
Publishes his second collection, including love lyric "Whisper,
timid breathing" which contained much of Fet's lifelong
stylistic tropes: verse composed almost entirely of nouns
and adjectives, limited and unconventional rhymes, natural,
melodic rhythm, and an exceptional sense of mood - these
qualities made him very popular among the later Symbolists
like Bely, Ivanov,
and Annensky
1853
Transferred to the guards, and given the opportunity to
associate with writers in Petersburg, namely Turgenev
1856
Publishes his third collection, with an introduction by
Turgenev; Writes "To Death" his first poem to
make death seem attractive, the verse functions as a death
wish (he writes another poem with this title in 1884)
1857
Marries the sister of Critic V.P. Botkin; writes "Upon
a Haystack on a Southern Night" (Leo Tolstoy's favorite
poem)
1859
Writes on Tyutchev in Russian
Word, an essay that spells out Fet's philosophy on art,
that is, that the artist's duty is only to serve the muse
and the notion of beauty - ideology and social concerns
were of no concern to him. This attitude brought the liberal
critics Chernyshevsky, Dobrolyubov, Pisarev down upon him
1860
Settles on a country estate to live life of squire
1864
Writes "Tortured by life and the perfidy of hope,"
which contains the notion that all human experience is part
of a dream; writes "Life flew by withut leaving a clear
trace," which echoes Verlaine and contains the fallen
leaf, a recurring Fet image
1873
Tsar Aleksandr II rectifies the situation of Fet's nobility
and he is given the rights and privileges of a hereditary
nobleman
1870's
Begins friendship with Tolstoy, who shared Fet's distaste
with the liberal critics; later introduces Tolstoy to the
works of Schopenhauer
1877
Buys a larger estate where he winters
1878
Writes "Death" another of his death wish poems
1881
Translates Schopenhauer into Russian
1889
Awarded the court title of Kammerherr, which went further
in righting the wrongs of having his title denied him
1892
Dies in early winter
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