These are great people who left behind great works that teach reason, kindness, values. And the fate of their children is not known to many people. But it is necessary to know about it. Because we, perhaps not by chance, conveniently quote an aphorism in part for everyone. And we say: “For the dead – either good or nothing!” And its full text is: “For the dead – either good or nothing but the truth!” We would add: for the great ones – too!
The philosopher Rousseau gives her five children, one by one, to an orphanage. He had five illegitimate children from his relationship with Thérèse Levasseur, whom he abandoned in an orphanage. Rousseau wrote that he wanted the children to become peasants. To do healthy work in fresh air, simple food, harmony with nature… Their traces are lost, but most likely the children simply died in the orphanage – the conditions in the 18th century were terrifying.
However, Rousseau did not think about this at all. He even wrote a treatise on the proper upbringing of children, which brought him the fame of a great educator and educator…
Lord Byron gives his four-year-old illegitimate daughter Allegra to a convent. Byron’s illegitimate daughter Allegra arrives in Italy, sent by her mother Clare to be with her father. But very soon Byron had enough of his child and he sent her to be educated in a monastery near Ravenna. “She is stubborn as a mule and insatiable as a donkey!” – this is how Byron poetically characterized his child.
The future poet was raised by his mother, who suffered from schizophrenia, and a nurse who had a tendency to violence. These experiences, as well as the fact that he was born with flat feet, probably led to his constant need to be loved. And it is expressed through his many relationships with men and women.
The little girl gets in his way while he lives in a castle. It is hard to imagine how a four-year-old child can interfere in an entire castle…
In the monastery, the little girl begins to wither and shed. “Pale, quiet and delicate” – this is how she is remembered. With the nuns’ help, Allegra wrote a letter to her father. Or rather, the pitiful nuns write on her behalf a request to visit her… Byron says that Allegra was just expecting gifts. No need to go!
At the age of five in 1822, the girl died among strangers…
The poet Marina Tsvetaeva also gave her children to an orphanage in the famine years. It is also ordered that they not say that she is their mother. They said they were orphans.
In the orphanage, her youngest daughter Irina died of hunger and disease at the age of 3. The poet sees with her own eyes the living conditions of the children. Under the guise of being their godmother, she still visits them. He later takes his older daughter home. The younger one dies among strangers. You can read more about this story in The Death of Irochka Efron. Tsvetaeva does not go to her daughter’s funeral. But he wrote a very sad poem about the experience.
One can write heartbreaking poems about love and the soul. And people for years to admire and be inspired by his words. And at the same time, somewhere there, the abandoned child of the author is dying of hunger or longing. Because it is necessary to remember – the child is completely dependent on the parent.
It’s easy to pass it on! It will not be able to protest, nor retaliate, nor reproach. Until the last day, he will hope that they will come for him and save him, take him back…
The poet Percy Bysshe Shelley sees over the sea by Byron’s castle the bright image of little Allegra. She was smiling. She had forgiven everything. Children forgive…
A.V.Kiryanova
Adaptation: Obekti.bg
#Great #thinkers #terrible #parents
