He became a member of the circle of "wisdom-lovers" (Lyubomudry), led by Prince Vladimir Odoevsky.

Venevitinov and his friends were the young Idealists who introduced into Russia the cult of Goethe and Schelling's metaphysics.

Venevitinov's poems (of which there are forty) dwell on philosophical subjects.

In one of his better known poems, Venevitinov vainly pleaded Pushkin to address an ode to Goethe.

Venevitinov's early death was lamented by a number of Russian poets and critics.