Dmitry Venevitinov is a poet who lived a very short life. He was born in 1805 and died in 1827, only 21 years old.
However, he managed to go down in history with his poems - and his tragic love. Venevitinov fell in love with Princess Zinaida Volkonskaya, a married woman who was 16 years older than him.
The princess, fond of history and traveling a lot, presented the young man with an ancient ring. It was found in 1706 in the ancient city of Herculaneum, covered in ashes in 79 AD after the eruption of Vesuvius.
The poet wrote about him a poem "To my ring" with the words "You were dug in the grave of dusty, herald of age of love." However, the ring was donated by the princess not as a token of love, but as a "pledge of compassion."
Venevitinov swore that he would wear this ring only before his death - or after the wedding with the princess, which was simply impossible. And soon the poet died under unclear circumstances and was buried with the ring. In 1930 Venevitinov's ashes were moved to another place, and his ring ended up in the Literary Museum of Moscow.
Promotional video:
Let me remind you that I also talked about the magic crystal in Pushkin's ring.
Author: Natalia Trubinovskaya