Mysticism, lyricism, and revolution intertwine in the poetry of Alexander Blok, like threads in a mysterious pattern. The first lecture in the series about the Silver Age poet invites you to relive the "unexpected joy" and "desperate grief," feel the spiritual shift of the era, and uncover a poetics full of signs, symbols, and doubts. When five-year-old Sasha Blok wrote a quatrain about a sad kitten, no one could have predicted that these lines contained a premonition of the future poetics of the great poet of the Silver Age. The remarkable combination of naivety, sorrow, and mystery became the leitmotif of all his lyrics. The lecture "Unexpected Joy and Desperate Grief" will open a cycle of reflections on the early Blok and the first Russian revolution through the eyes of the poet. This meeting is a chance to view Blok's poetry not as a school curriculum, but as a living, contradictory, and subtle world. Listeners will be able to trace how from the enthusiastic perception of the first book he arrives at the crisis captured in the second. Why did "Unexpected Joy" turn into "Desperate Grief"? How did internal conflicts and the search for the ideal of Eternal Femininity reflect in his work? Why did the image of the Beautiful Lady seem both divine and unattainable? The lecturer - philosopher and expert in Russian Symbolist poetry Sergey Kruglikov - will not only discuss literary trends but will also take you on a journey into the world of mysticism, mythology, and personal tragedies. Through Blok's poems and diary entries, the atmosphere of a turning point era will come alive, when words transformed into a magical ritual, and the poet became a prophet. The lecture is suitable for those who love to seek depth in words, are interested in the history of Russian culture, and strive to understand how personal experience becomes the voice of a generation. This event is for those who want to feel poetry with their skin - in a hall full of meaning, light, and night violets. All entertainment in St. Petersburg is collected on our website.