Alexander Pushkin
Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin (English: /ˈpʊʃkɪn/; Russian: Александр Сергеевич Пушкин, IPA: [ɐlʲɪkˈsandr sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈpuʂkʲɪn] ⓘ; 6 June [O.S. 26 May] 1799 – 10 February [O.S. 29 January] 1837) was a Russian poet, playwright, and novelist of the Romantic era. He is considered by many to be the greatest Russian poet, as well as the founder of modern Russian literature.
Alexander Pushkin Александр Пушкин | |
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Portrait by Orest Kiprensky, 1827 | |
| Born | Александр Сергеевич Пушкин 6 June 1799 Moscow, Russian Empire |
| Died | 10 February 1837 (aged 37) Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire |
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| Language | Russian |
| Alma mater | Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum |
| Period | Golden Age of Russian Poetry |
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| Children | 4 |
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Pushkin was born into the Russian nobility in Moscow. His father, Sergey Lvovich Pushkin, belonged to an old noble family. His maternal great-grandfather was Major-General Abram Petrovich Gannibal, a nobleman of Eritrean origin who was kidnapped from his homeland by Ottomans, then freed by the Russian Emperor and raised in the Emperor's court household as his godson.
He published his first poem at the age of 15, and was widely recognized by the literary establishment by the time of his graduation from the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum. Upon graduation from the Lycée, Pushkin recited his controversial poem "Ode to Liberty", one of several that led to his exile by Emperor Alexander I. While under strict surveillance by the Emperor's political police and unable to publish, Pushkin wrote his most famous play, Boris Godunov. His novel in verse Eugene Onegin was serialized between 1825 and 1832. Pushkin was fatally wounded in a duel with his wife's alleged lover and her sister's husband, Georges-Charles de Heeckeren d'Anthès, also known as Dantes-Gekkern, a French officer serving with the Chevalier Guard Regiment.