Alexander Chavchavadze
Encyclopedia
Prince Alexander Chavchavadze (1786 – November 6, 1846) was a notable Georgian
poet, public benefactor and military figure. Regarded as the "father of Georgian romanticism
," he was also known as a preeminent aristocrat of Georgia and a talented general in the Imperial Russian service.
elevated to the princely rank by the Georgian king Constantine II
of Kakhetia in 1726. The family was of Khevsur origin but had intermarried with other Georgian military and noble families.
He was born in 1786, in St Petersburg, Russia
, where his father, Prince Garsevan Chavchavadze
, served as an ambassador of Heraclius II, king of Kartli and Kakheti in eastern Georgia
. Tsarina Catherine II of Russia
became a godmother at the baptism of infant Alexander, showing her benevolence to the Georgian diplomat.
Alexander’s early education was Russian. He first saw his native Georgia at the age of 13, when the family moved back to Tiflis after the Russian annexation of eastern Georgia (1801). Aged 18, Alexander Chavchavadze joined Prince Parnaoz, the member of the dispossessed royal family
, in the 1804 rebellion in the mountainous Georgian province of Mtiuleti
against Russian rule. Following the suppression of the uprising, he was briefly put in prison where he composed his first literary works, including the first radical civic poem in Georgian, Woe to This World and Its Tenants (ვაჰ, სოფელსა ამას და მისთა მდგმურთა). The poem quickly gained popularity, and brought to its young author a remarkable fame, his manuscripts widely circulating, his lyrics of love or protest, in the spirit of the 18th-century Georgian poet Besiki
or of the French
enlightener Jean-Jacques Rousseau
, sung in Tiflis and elsewhere in Georgia.
Following a year’s exile in Tambov
, Chavchavadze reconciled with the new regime and entered a hussar regiment. Ironically, he fought in the Russian ranks under Marquis Paulucci when the next anti-Russian rebellion broke out in 1812 in Kakheti. In the same year, he married a Georgian princess Salome Orbeliani of the prominent noble family with family ties with the Bagrationi royal line.
During the War of the Sixth Coalition
(1813-4) against Napoleon I of France
, he served as an aide-de-camp
to the Russian commander Barclay de Tolly
and was wounded in leg at the Battle of Paris
on March 31, 1814. As an officer in the Russian expeditionary forces, he stayed in Paris for two years and the restored
Bourbon dynasty awarded his service with a Légion d'honneur
. Open to new ideas, in particular to the early French Romanticism, he was impressed by Lamartine and Victor Hugo
, as well as Racine
and Corneille
, who entered Georgian literature through Chavchavadze.
in 1826, his military career reached remarkable achievement during the Russian wars against the Persian and Ottoman
empires in the late 1820s. He was instrumental in the conquest of Iravan
from Persia in 1827 and was appointed, in 1828, a military governor of the Armenian Military District. During the 1828-9 Russo-Turkish war
, with a small detachment, he organized a successful defense of the Yerevan province against the marauding Kurds and surged into Anatolia
, taking control of the whole pasha
te of Bajazet from the Turkish forces from August 25 to September 9, 1828. In 1829, he was dispatched as an administrator of the military board of Kakheti, where his patrimonial estates were located.
Back in Georgia, Alexander enjoyed overwhelming popularity among the Georgian nobility and people. He was highly respected by his fellow Russian and Georgian officers. At the same time, he remained Georgia’s most refined, educated and wealthy 19th-century aristocrat, fluent in several Europe
an and Asia
tic languages and with extensive friendly ties with the cream of Georgian and Russian society who frequented his famous salon in Tiflis. The prominent Russian diplomat and playwright Alexander Griboyedov married his 16-years old daughter Nino
whom the famous Russian poet had tutored in music during his brief stay in Tiflis. Another daughter, Catherine, married David Dadiani, prince of Mingrelia, and inspired in Nicholas Baratashvili
the hopeless love that made him the greatest poet of Georgian Romanticism.
At his Italianate summer mansion in Tsinandali
, Kakheti, he frequently entertained foreign guests with music, wit, and – most especially – the fine vintages made at his estate winery
(marani). Familiar with European ways, Chavchavadze built Georgia’s oldest and largest winery where he combined European and centuries-long Georgian winemaking traditions. The highly regarded dry white Tsinandali
is still produced there.
Despite his loyal service to the Russian crown, Chavchavadze’s nostalgia for Georgia’s lost independence, monarchy, and the autocephalous church once again pushed him into rebellion, joining the 1832 conspiracy aimed at organizing a large-scale uprising against the Russian hegemony. The failed coup plot turned a disaster for the Georgian literature: most of his poetry written between 1820 and 1832, inspired by the pathetic Romanticism and egalitarianism, was burned by the author as possible evidence against him. He was sentenced to the five-year exile to Tambov, but the tsar
, who needed his talents amid the ongoing Caucasian War
, forgave him, however. Chavchavadze eagerly joined the expedition against the rebellious mountaineers of North Caucasus
. Like his many fellow Georgian nobles, he found a good opportunity to take revenge for the permanent marauds
organized by the mountaineers of North Caucasus
on the Georgian marches in the past.
He was promoted lieutenant general
in 1841, and continued his service in the Caucasus
, briefly as head of the civil administration of the region from 1842 to 1843. In 1843, he fought his last war, commanding a successful punitive expedition
against the rebellious Dagestan
i tribes. Later, he was appointed a member of the Council of the Chief Administration of Transcaucasus.
In 1846, Alexander Chavchavadze fell a victim to an accident, under somewhat mysterious circumstances: while going back to his palace in Tsinandali at night, somebody from the near woods approached and splashed hot water while he was galloping on his horse. He lost the control of the horse and crashed into the ditch nearby. He died from severe head injuries on the spot. Although the tragedy was most likely an accident, it has been rumored that he was killed by Russian assassins. He was buried at the Shuamta Monastery in Kakheti, Georgia.
Chavchavadze was survived by a son, David, who was also Lt Gen in the Russian service during the Caucasus Wars, and three daughters, Nino, Catherine, and Sophia.
literature, melody of Persian lyrical poetry, particularly Hafiz
and Saadi
, bohemian
language of the streets of Tiflis and the moods and themes of European Romanticism. The subject of his works varied from purely anacreon
tic in his early period to deeply philosophic in his maturity.
Chavchavadze’s contradictory career – his participation in the struggle against the Russian control of Georgia, on one hand, and the loyal service to the tsar, including the suppression of Georgian peasant revolts, on the other hand – found a noticeable reflection in his writings. The year 1832, when the Georgian plot collapsed, divides his work into two principal periods. Prior to that event, his poetry was mostly impregnated with laments for the former grandeur of Georgia, the loss of national independence and his personal grievances connected with it; his native country under the Russian empire seemed to him a prison, and he pictured its present state in extremely gloomy colors. The death of his beloved friend and son-in-law, Griboyedov, also contributed to the depressive character of his writings of that time.
In his Romantic
poems, Chavchavadze dreamed of Georgia's glorious past, when "the breeze of life past" would "breathe sweetness" into his "dry soul." In poems Woe, time, time (ვაჰ, დრონი, დრონი), Listen, listener (ისმინეთ მსმენნო), and Caucasia (კავკასია), the "Golden Age
" of medieval Georgia was contrasted with its unremarkable present. As a social activist, however, he remained mostly a "cultural nationalist," defender of the native language, and an advocate of the interest of Georgian aristocratic and intellectual elites.
In his letters, Alexander heavily criticized Russian treatment of Georgian national culture and even compared it with the pillaging by Ottomans and Persians who had invaded Georgia in the past. In one of the letters he states: The damage which Russia has inflicted on our nation is disastrous. Even Persians and Turks could not abolish our Monarchy and deprive us of our statehood. We have exchanged one serpent for another.
After 1832, his perception of the national problems became different. The poet unambiguously pointed out those positive results which had been brought about by the Russian annexation, though the liberation of his native land remained to be his most cherished dream. Later his poetry became less romantic, even sentimental, but he never abandoned his optimistic steak that makes his writings so different from those of his predecessors. Some of the most original of his late poems are, Oh, my dream, why have you appealed to me again (ეჰა, ჩემო ოცნებავ, კვლავ რად წარმომედგინე), and The Ploughman (გუთნის დედა) written in the 1840s. The former, a rather sad poem, surprisingly ends with hope for the future in contemplation of the poet. The latter combines Chavchavadze’s elegy for his past years of youth with calm humorous farewell to lost sex-life and potency.
Chavchavadze also composed a historic work, "The Short sketches of the history of Georgia from 1801 to 1831."
Georgia (country)
Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...
poet, public benefactor and military figure. Regarded as the "father of Georgian romanticism
Romanticism
Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...
," he was also known as a preeminent aristocrat of Georgia and a talented general in the Imperial Russian service.
Early life
Alexander Chavchavadze was a member of the noble familyChavchavadze
Chavchavadze is a Georgian noble family, formerly a princely one .The family is first attested in the 15th century, during the reign of Alexander I of Georgia. By the time of Leon of Kakheti they appear in the province of Kakheti , where they produced two lines: one in Telavi and Tsinandali;...
elevated to the princely rank by the Georgian king Constantine II
Constantine II of Kakheti
Constantine II also known as Mahmād Qulī Khān , of the Bagrationi Dynasty, was a king of Kakheti in eastern Georgia from 1722 to 1732....
of Kakhetia in 1726. The family was of Khevsur origin but had intermarried with other Georgian military and noble families.
He was born in 1786, in St Petersburg, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, where his father, Prince Garsevan Chavchavadze
Garsevan Chavchavadze
Prince Garsevan Chavchavadze was a Georgian politician and diplomat primarily known as a Georgian ambassador to Imperial Russia....
, served as an ambassador of Heraclius II, king of Kartli and Kakheti in eastern Georgia
Eastern Georgia
Eastern Georgia commonly refers to the eastern part of the nation of Georgia, which in historic times included the kingdom of Iberia in the Caucasus. The present-day term refers to the territory of Georgia which lies to the east and south of the Likhi and Meskheti Ranges, but excludes the region...
. Tsarina Catherine II of Russia
Catherine II of Russia
Catherine II, also known as Catherine the Great , Empress of Russia, was born in Stettin, Pomerania, Prussia on as Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg...
became a godmother at the baptism of infant Alexander, showing her benevolence to the Georgian diplomat.
Alexander’s early education was Russian. He first saw his native Georgia at the age of 13, when the family moved back to Tiflis after the Russian annexation of eastern Georgia (1801). Aged 18, Alexander Chavchavadze joined Prince Parnaoz, the member of the dispossessed royal family
Bagrationi Dynasty
The Bagrationi dynasty was the ruling family of Georgia. Their ascendency lasted from the early Middle Ages until the early 19th century. In modern usage, this royal line is frequently referred to as the Georgian Bagratids, a Hellenized form of their dynastic name.The origin of the Bagrationi...
, in the 1804 rebellion in the mountainous Georgian province of Mtiuleti
Mtiuleti
Mtiuleti is a historical province in eastern Georgia, on the southern slopes of the Greater Caucasus Mountains. It primarily comprises the White Aragvi Valley, and is bordered by Gudamakari on the east, Khando on the south, Tskhrazma on the west, and Khevi on the north. Mtiuleti occupies parts of...
against Russian rule. Following the suppression of the uprising, he was briefly put in prison where he composed his first literary works, including the first radical civic poem in Georgian, Woe to This World and Its Tenants (ვაჰ, სოფელსა ამას და მისთა მდგმურთა). The poem quickly gained popularity, and brought to its young author a remarkable fame, his manuscripts widely circulating, his lyrics of love or protest, in the spirit of the 18th-century Georgian poet Besiki
Besiki
Besarion Gabashvili , commonly known by his penname Besiki was a Georgian poet, politician and diplomat, known as an author of exquisite love songs and heroic odes as well as for his political and amorous adventures....
or of the French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
enlightener Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer of 18th-century Romanticism. His political philosophy influenced the French Revolution as well as the overall development of modern political, sociological and educational thought.His novel Émile: or, On Education is a treatise...
, sung in Tiflis and elsewhere in Georgia.
Tambov
Tambov is a city and the administrative center of Tambov Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Tsna and Studenets Rivers southeast of Moscow...
, Chavchavadze reconciled with the new regime and entered a hussar regiment. Ironically, he fought in the Russian ranks under Marquis Paulucci when the next anti-Russian rebellion broke out in 1812 in Kakheti. In the same year, he married a Georgian princess Salome Orbeliani of the prominent noble family with family ties with the Bagrationi royal line.
During the War of the Sixth Coalition
War of the Sixth Coalition
In the War of the Sixth Coalition , a coalition of Austria, Prussia, Russia, the United Kingdom, Portugal, Sweden, Spain and a number of German States finally defeated France and drove Napoleon Bonaparte into exile on Elba. After Napoleon's disastrous invasion of Russia, the continental powers...
(1813-4) against Napoleon I of France
Napoleon I of France
Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...
, he served as an aide-de-camp
Aide-de-camp
An aide-de-camp is a personal assistant, secretary, or adjutant to a person of high rank, usually a senior military officer or a head of state...
to the Russian commander Barclay de Tolly
Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly
Prince Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly , was a Russian Field Marshal and Minister of War during Napoleon's invasion in 1812 and War of the Sixth Coalition.-Early life:...
and was wounded in leg at the Battle of Paris
Battle of Paris (1814)
The Battle of Paris was fought during the Napoleonic Wars in 1814. The French defeat led directly to the abdication of Napoleon I.-Background:...
on March 31, 1814. As an officer in the Russian expeditionary forces, he stayed in Paris for two years and the restored
Bourbon Restoration
The Bourbon Restoration is the name given to the period following the successive events of the French Revolution , the end of the First Republic , and then the forcible end of the First French Empire under Napoleon – when a coalition of European powers restored by arms the monarchy to the...
Bourbon dynasty awarded his service with a Légion d'honneur
Légion d'honneur
The Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Consulat which succeeded to the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...
. Open to new ideas, in particular to the early French Romanticism, he was impressed by Lamartine and Victor Hugo
Victor Hugo
Victor-Marie Hugo was a Frenchpoet, playwright, novelist, essayist, visual artist, statesman, human rights activist and exponent of the Romantic movement in France....
, as well as Racine
Jean Racine
Jean Racine , baptismal name Jean-Baptiste Racine , was a French dramatist, one of the "Big Three" of 17th-century France , and one of the most important literary figures in the Western tradition...
and Corneille
Pierre Corneille
Pierre Corneille was a French tragedian who was one of the three great seventeenth-century French dramatists, along with Molière and Racine...
, who entered Georgian literature through Chavchavadze.
Military and political career
In 1817, Prince Chavchavadze became a colonel of the Russian army. Promoted to Major GeneralMajor General
Major general or major-general is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. A major general is a high-ranking officer, normally subordinate to the rank of lieutenant general and senior to the ranks of brigadier and brigadier general...
in 1826, his military career reached remarkable achievement during the Russian wars against the Persian and Ottoman
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
empires in the late 1820s. He was instrumental in the conquest of Iravan
Yerevan
Yerevan is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's oldest continuously-inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerevan is the administrative, cultural, and industrial center of the country...
from Persia in 1827 and was appointed, in 1828, a military governor of the Armenian Military District. During the 1828-9 Russo-Turkish war
Russo-Turkish War, 1828-1829
The Russo–Turkish War of 1828–1829 was sparked by the Greek War of Independence. The war broke out after the Sultan, incensed by the Russian participation in the Battle of Navarino, closed the Dardanelles for Russian ships and revoked the Akkerman Convention....
, with a small detachment, he organized a successful defense of the Yerevan province against the marauding Kurds and surged into Anatolia
Anatolia
Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...
, taking control of the whole pasha
Pasha
Pasha or pascha, formerly bashaw, was a high rank in the Ottoman Empire political system, typically granted to governors, generals and dignitaries. As an honorary title, Pasha, in one of its various ranks, is equivalent to the British title of Lord, and was also one of the highest titles in...
te of Bajazet from the Turkish forces from August 25 to September 9, 1828. In 1829, he was dispatched as an administrator of the military board of Kakheti, where his patrimonial estates were located.
Back in Georgia, Alexander enjoyed overwhelming popularity among the Georgian nobility and people. He was highly respected by his fellow Russian and Georgian officers. At the same time, he remained Georgia’s most refined, educated and wealthy 19th-century aristocrat, fluent in several Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an and Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
tic languages and with extensive friendly ties with the cream of Georgian and Russian society who frequented his famous salon in Tiflis. The prominent Russian diplomat and playwright Alexander Griboyedov married his 16-years old daughter Nino
Nino Chavchavadze
Princess Nino Chavchavadze , was a daughter of the famous Georgian Knyaz and poet Alexander Chavchavadze and wife of Russian diplomat and playwright Alexandr Griboyedov....
whom the famous Russian poet had tutored in music during his brief stay in Tiflis. Another daughter, Catherine, married David Dadiani, prince of Mingrelia, and inspired in Nicholas Baratashvili
Nikoloz Baratashvili
Nik'oloz Baratashvili was a Georgian poet, one of the first Georgians to marry a modern nationalism with European Romanticism and to introduce "Europeanism" into Georgian literature...
the hopeless love that made him the greatest poet of Georgian Romanticism.
At his Italianate summer mansion in Tsinandali
Tsinandali
Tsinandali is a village in Kakheti, Georgia, noted for the estate and its historic winery which once belonged to the 19th-century aristocratic poet Alexander Chavchavadze . It is situated in the district of Telavi, 79 km east of Tbilisi....
, Kakheti, he frequently entertained foreign guests with music, wit, and – most especially – the fine vintages made at his estate winery
Winery
A winery is a building or property that produces wine, or a business involved in the production of wine, such as a wine company. Some wine companies own many wineries. Besides wine making equipment, larger wineries may also feature warehouses, bottling lines, laboratories, and large expanses of...
(marani). Familiar with European ways, Chavchavadze built Georgia’s oldest and largest winery where he combined European and centuries-long Georgian winemaking traditions. The highly regarded dry white Tsinandali
Tsinandali wine
Tsinadali white wine comes from the country of Georgia. It is made from Rkatsiteli and Mtsvane grapes and comes from the Telavi and Kvareli area of Kakheti. Tsinandali is fermented at cool temperatures and matured for two to three years to bring out the complexity. Tsinandali can be aged for a...
is still produced there.
Tsar
Tsar is a title used to designate certain European Slavic monarchs or supreme rulers. As a system of government in the Tsardom of Russia and Russian Empire, it is known as Tsarist autocracy, or Tsarism...
, who needed his talents amid the ongoing Caucasian War
Caucasian War
The Caucasian War of 1817–1864, also known as the Russian conquest of the Caucasus was an invasion of the Caucasus by the Russian Empire which ended with the annexation of the areas of the North Caucasus to Russia...
, forgave him, however. Chavchavadze eagerly joined the expedition against the rebellious mountaineers of North Caucasus
North Caucasus
The North Caucasus is the northern part of the Caucasus region between the Black and Caspian Seas and within European Russia. The term is also used as a synonym for the North Caucasus economic region of Russia....
. Like his many fellow Georgian nobles, he found a good opportunity to take revenge for the permanent marauds
Lekianoba
Lekianoba was the name given to sporadic forays and marauds by Dagestan clansmen into Georgia from 16th to 19th centuries. The term is derived from Leki, by which the Georgians knew Dagestani peoples, with the suffix –anoba which designates attribution.The attacks from Dagestan began with the...
organized by the mountaineers of North Caucasus
North Caucasus
The North Caucasus is the northern part of the Caucasus region between the Black and Caspian Seas and within European Russia. The term is also used as a synonym for the North Caucasus economic region of Russia....
on the Georgian marches in the past.
He was promoted lieutenant general
Lieutenant General
Lieutenant General is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages where the title of Lieutenant General was held by the second in command on the battlefield, who was normally subordinate to a Captain General....
in 1841, and continued his service in the Caucasus
Caucasus
The Caucasus, also Caucas or Caucasia , is a geopolitical region at the border of Europe and Asia, and situated between the Black and the Caspian sea...
, briefly as head of the civil administration of the region from 1842 to 1843. In 1843, he fought his last war, commanding a successful punitive expedition
Punitive expedition
A punitive expedition is a military journey undertaken to punish a state or any group of persons outside the borders of the punishing state. It is usually undertaken in response to perceived disobedient or morally wrong behavior, but may be also be a covered revenge...
against the rebellious Dagestan
Dagestan
The Republic of Dagestan is a federal subject of Russia, located in the North Caucasus region. Its capital and the largest city is Makhachkala, located at the center of Dagestan on the Caspian Sea...
i tribes. Later, he was appointed a member of the Council of the Chief Administration of Transcaucasus.
In 1846, Alexander Chavchavadze fell a victim to an accident, under somewhat mysterious circumstances: while going back to his palace in Tsinandali at night, somebody from the near woods approached and splashed hot water while he was galloping on his horse. He lost the control of the horse and crashed into the ditch nearby. He died from severe head injuries on the spot. Although the tragedy was most likely an accident, it has been rumored that he was killed by Russian assassins. He was buried at the Shuamta Monastery in Kakheti, Georgia.
Chavchavadze was survived by a son, David, who was also Lt Gen in the Russian service during the Caucasus Wars, and three daughters, Nino, Catherine, and Sophia.
Writings
Chavchavadze’s influence over Georgian literature was immense. He moved the Georgian poetic language closer to the vernacular, combining the elements of the formal wealth and somewhat artificial antiquated "high" style inherited from the 18th-century Georgian RenaissanceRenaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
literature, melody of Persian lyrical poetry, particularly Hafiz
Hafez
Khwāja Shamsu d-Dīn Muhammad Hāfez-e Shīrāzī , known by his pen name Hāfez , was a Persian lyric poet. His collected works composed of series of Persian poetry are to be found in the homes of most Iranians, who learn his poems by heart and use them as proverbs and sayings to this day...
and Saadi
Saadi (poet)
Abū-Muḥammad Muṣliḥ al-Dīn bin Abdallāh Shīrāzī better known by his pen-name as Saʿdī or, simply, Saadi, was one of the major Persian poets of the medieval period. He is not only famous in Persian-speaking countries, but he has also been quoted in western sources...
, bohemian
Bohemian
A Bohemian is a resident of the former Kingdom of Bohemia, either in a narrow sense as the region of Bohemia proper or in a wider meaning as the whole country, now known as the Czech Republic. The word "Bohemian" was used to denote the Czech people as well as the Czech language before the word...
language of the streets of Tiflis and the moods and themes of European Romanticism. The subject of his works varied from purely anacreon
Anacreon
Anacreon was a Greek lyric poet, notable for his drinking songs and hymns. Later Greeks included him in the canonical list of nine lyric poets.- Life :...
tic in his early period to deeply philosophic in his maturity.
Chavchavadze’s contradictory career – his participation in the struggle against the Russian control of Georgia, on one hand, and the loyal service to the tsar, including the suppression of Georgian peasant revolts, on the other hand – found a noticeable reflection in his writings. The year 1832, when the Georgian plot collapsed, divides his work into two principal periods. Prior to that event, his poetry was mostly impregnated with laments for the former grandeur of Georgia, the loss of national independence and his personal grievances connected with it; his native country under the Russian empire seemed to him a prison, and he pictured its present state in extremely gloomy colors. The death of his beloved friend and son-in-law, Griboyedov, also contributed to the depressive character of his writings of that time.
In his Romantic
Romanticism
Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...
poems, Chavchavadze dreamed of Georgia's glorious past, when "the breeze of life past" would "breathe sweetness" into his "dry soul." In poems Woe, time, time (ვაჰ, დრონი, დრონი), Listen, listener (ისმინეთ მსმენნო), and Caucasia (კავკასია), the "Golden Age
Golden Age
The term Golden Age comes from Greek mythology and legend and refers to the first in a sequence of four or five Ages of Man, in which the Golden Age is first, followed in sequence, by the Silver, Bronze, and Iron Ages, and then the present, a period of decline...
" of medieval Georgia was contrasted with its unremarkable present. As a social activist, however, he remained mostly a "cultural nationalist," defender of the native language, and an advocate of the interest of Georgian aristocratic and intellectual elites.
In his letters, Alexander heavily criticized Russian treatment of Georgian national culture and even compared it with the pillaging by Ottomans and Persians who had invaded Georgia in the past. In one of the letters he states: The damage which Russia has inflicted on our nation is disastrous. Even Persians and Turks could not abolish our Monarchy and deprive us of our statehood. We have exchanged one serpent for another.
After 1832, his perception of the national problems became different. The poet unambiguously pointed out those positive results which had been brought about by the Russian annexation, though the liberation of his native land remained to be his most cherished dream. Later his poetry became less romantic, even sentimental, but he never abandoned his optimistic steak that makes his writings so different from those of his predecessors. Some of the most original of his late poems are, Oh, my dream, why have you appealed to me again (ეჰა, ჩემო ოცნებავ, კვლავ რად წარმომედგინე), and The Ploughman (გუთნის დედა) written in the 1840s. The former, a rather sad poem, surprisingly ends with hope for the future in contemplation of the poet. The latter combines Chavchavadze’s elegy for his past years of youth with calm humorous farewell to lost sex-life and potency.
Chavchavadze also composed a historic work, "The Short sketches of the history of Georgia from 1801 to 1831."
Honours and awards
- Order of St. AnneOrder of St. AnnaThe Order of St. Anna ) is a Holstein and then Russian Imperial order of chivalry established by Karl Friedrich, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp on 14 February 1735, in honour of his wife Anna Petrovna, daughter of Peter the Great of Russia...
, 1st Class - Order of Vladimir, 2nd Class
- Order of the White Eagle
- Legion of Honour (France)