Apollon Maykov

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Apollon Nikolayevich Maykov (Russian: Аполлон Николаевич Майков, June 4, 1821, Moscow – March 20, 1897, Petersburg) was a Russian poet.

Born into the artistic family of Nikolay Apollonovich Maykov, a painter and an academic. In 1834 the family moved to Petersburg. In 1837-1841 Maykov studied law at the Petersburg University. At first, he was attracted to painting, but soon dedicated his life to poetry. His first publications appeared in 1840 in the "Odessa Almanac".

After Nicholas I gave Maykov a stipend for his first book in 1842, he traveled abroad: Italy, France, Saxony and Austria. Maykov returned to Petersburg in 1844 and began to work as a librarian's assistant in the Rumyantsev Museum. He frequently met with other famous literati of the day: Belinsky, Nekrasov, Turgenev.

His lyric poetry often showcases images of the Russian villages, nature, Russian history. His love for the ancient Greece and Rome, which he studied for the large part of his life, is also reflected in his works. He spent four years translating the epic "The Tale of Igor's Campaign" into a major poetic work (finished in 1870). Translated folklore of Belarus, Greece, Serbia, Spain, and other countries, as well as the works of Heine, Adam Mickiewicz, Goethe, etc. Many of Maykov's poems were put to music by N. Rimsky-Korsakov and P. Tchaikovsky.

He also wrote some prose, which has not gained any significant recognition. After 1880, Maykov wrote almost nothing new, spending his time correcting his prior creations in preparation for the publication of his collected works. In the last years of his life, he was the chairman of the committee for censorship, where he served since 1852.