Anton Delvig

Who was Anton Delvig?

Baron Anton Antonovich Delvig was a Russian poet and journalist who studied in the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum together with Alexander Pushkin, and Wilhelm Küchelbecker with whom he became close friends. Küchelbecker dedicated a poem to him. Delvig commissioned a portrait of Pushkin from Orest Kiprensky which Pushkin bought from Delvig's widow after his friend's death.

In his poetry, Delvig upheld the waning traditions of Russian Neoclassicism. He became interested in Russian folklore and wrote numerous imitations of folk songs. Some of these were put to music by the composers Alexander Alyabyev and Mikhail Glinka.

As a journalist, Delvig edited the periodical Northern Flowers, in which Pushkin was a regular contributor. In 1830–1831, he co-edited with Pushkin the Literaturnaya Gazeta, which was banned by the Tsarist government after information laid by Faddei Bulgarin.