Gymnasium Period

The gymnasium period of Blok’s life has not attracted special attention from researchers. It is generally believed that the gymnasium did not play a significant role in the poet’s creative biography; he himself noted that it had a much smaller influence on him than his home environment — “an old noble atmosphere with literary tastes,” in which his childhood and adolescence passed.

Today, few remember that the building of the modern hotel complex once housed a boys’ gymnasium, and even earlier, a two-story merchant’s house stood on this site. This early 19th-century building was rebuilt many times throughout its history, changed owners and purposes, but from 1891 to 1898, it was here that Alexander Blok studied.

Blok himself, in 1918, in the unfinished story “Confession of a Pagan,” recalled his gymnasium years: “The times were those of Delyanov; the Tolstoy classical teaching system was degenerating and dying (the name of the Minister of Education from 1866-80, Tolstoy, is associated with the introduction of conservative curricula that focused primarily on the study of Latin and Greek), but as it degenerated, as always happens, it raged especially fiercely: they taught almost exclusively grammar, without inspiring it in any way, taught fiercely and relentlessly, year after year, spending endless hours on it. Moreover, the gymnasium was very provincial, the boys mostly came from non-intellectual families, and in many fresh hearts, if desired and skilled, one could write and draw anything. However, none of the teachers even thought of trying to teach the boys anything other than what was written in the textbooks in “large” print (the “small” print was usually allowed to be skipped).”

The Vvedenskaya Gymnasium, where Blok spent seven years, had, as one of its students recalled, “a special reputation among other educational institutions in Petersburg.” It was located on the Bolshoy Prospekt of the Petersburg side, in an area that was distant by the standards of the time from the central parts of the city and inhabited mainly by minor officials, petty bourgeoisie, and military personnel. Moreover, the tuition fee was the lowest among all classical gymnasiums in the capital, and all this largely determined both the composition of the students and the atmosphere of the gymnasium. The poet himself described it as “very provincial” and “terribly plebeian.” “I observe there types of merchants, brutes, drunkards, and so on,” writes eighth-grader Blok to his mother. “And there are many such types, I think more and more diverse than in any other place (in another gymnasium).”

Alexander Blok (standing in the 4th row, 1st from the right) among teachers and students of the Vvedenskaya Gymnasium. St. Petersburg, 1895

By the way, he was never an excellent student but remained among the average pupils. On April 16, 1898, Blok was admitted to the maturity certificate exams, having an “average score from compulsory subjects” of 3.7/11 and the following “successes in gymnasium course subjects”: religious studies — 4, Russian language with Church Slavonic and literature — 4, logic — 4, Latin — 3, Greek — 3, mathematical geography — 5, mathematics — 4, physics — 3, history — 4, geography — 3, French — 4, German — 3. The exams took place from April 28 to May 29. Blok passed them “barely,” receiving a two in oral mathematics and threes in written translations from Latin and Greek, history, and German; he passed the other subjects with fours.

Another famous graduate of the gymnasium was film director Sergey Vasilyev, who, together with his brother, made the film “Chapaev.”

Source:

https://kudago.com/spb/list/peterburg-bloka/

https://www.citywalls.ru/house1786.html

http://www.nasledie-rus.ru/podshivka/11524.php

Report by K. A. Kumpan and A. M. Konechny: ALEXANDER BLOK IN THE VVEDENSKAYA GYMNASIUM