Pushkin Alexander Sergeyevich

Russian Russian poet Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin is a great Russian poet, novelist and playwright, the founder of the modern Russian literary language.

Years of life: June 6, 1799, Moscow — February 10, 1837, St. Petersburg‑Petersburg

Childhood and family
Alexander Sergeyevich was born in Moscow into a noble but poor family. Among his ancestors was Abram Hannibal— a native of Ethiopia, a pupil of Peter the Great, who rose to the rank of general. The nanny Arina Rodionovna Yakovleva had a great influence on little Sasha.: She told him folk tales, songs and legends, and this folklore later formed the basis of his own fairy tales. Domestic teachers and tutors from Europe were also involved in education. Already in childhood, Pushkin became addicted to reading — in his father's library he got acquainted with the works of Moliere, Beaumarchais, La Fontaine and Voltaire. At the age of seven, he began composing comedies and fables in French, and later attempted to write a six-part poem.

Lyceum period (1811-1817)

In 1811, the twelve—year-old Alexander was sent to the newly opened Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum, a privileged educational institution for noble children. The Lyceum became for him not only a place of study, but also a space of spiritual freedom, where strong friendships were formed (with Ivan Pushchin, Anton Delvig, Wilhelm Kuchelbecker). His studies were uneven: mathematics and logic were especially difficult for him.

It was at the lyceum that Pushkin began to write actively. In 1814, his first poem, "To a Poet Friend," was published in the journal Vestnik Evropy. And in 1815, at the translation exam, he read "Memoirs in Tsarskoye Selo" in the presence of Gabriel Derzhavin, and he was impressed by the young man's talent. During these years, Pushkin was already developing his own style, combining elements of classicism, sentimentalism and romanticism.

The Petersburg period (1817-1820)

After graduating from the Lyceum (in 1817), Pushkin was sent to serve in the College of Foreign Affairs. He plunged into the vibrant social life of the capital, communicating with like-minded people, including Peter Chaadaev and members of the secret Union of Prosperity. During this period, freedom-loving and political motives intensified in his work. He wrote the ode "Liberty", the poems "To Chaadaev", "The Village", and also worked on the poem "Ruslan and Lyudmila". For a series of sharp epigrams against influential people, Emperor Alexander I became angry, and only the intercession of Nikolai Karamzin and Peter Chaadaev saved the poet from severe punishment (exile to Siberia or the Solovetsky Monastery) — he was transferred to the south.

Southern Exile (1820-1824)

Before being sent to his new duty station, Pushkin visited the Caucasus and Crimea. This period is often called romantic: the poet was strongly influenced by Byron's work. He created a number of "southern poems": "The Caucasian Prisoner", "The Robber Brothers", "The Fountain of Bakhchisarai", "Gypsies". In Chisinau, he began work on the novel in verse "Eugene Onegin". Later, in Odessa (from 1823), Pushkin served in the office of Governor-General Count Mikhail Vorontsov, but the relationship did not work out.: the poet wrote epigrams to the boss, and the count overloaded him with routine work.; The situation was aggravated by Pushkin's secret affair with the count's wife, Elizabeth Vorontsova. As a result, Vorontsov got Pushkin fired.

Exile to Mikhailovskoye (1824-1826)

Pushkin was exiled to his mother's family estate, Mikhailovskoye (Pskov province). At first, he tried to avoid it, but eventually accepted the situation. In solitude, in communion with nature and with his nanny Arina Rodionovna, an important creative transformation took place: Pushkin gradually moved away from romanticism and began to move towards realism. During this period, the tragedy "Boris Godunov" was created (this transition begins with it), the poem "Count Nulin", a number of poems ("Village", "Imitations of the Koran", "The Prophet", "Bacchanalian song", "I remember a wonderful moment...", "I visited again..."), as well as the village heads of "Eugene Onegin". In December 1825, the Decembrist uprising took place; Pushkin was saved from participation, according to some versions, by superstition: the day before he secretly left for St. Petersburg, but a hare ran across the carriage road, and the poet turned back. In the autumn of 1826, the new emperor Nicholas I summoned Pushkin to Moscow and announced that he himself would be his personal censor.

The second half of the 1820s

After returning from exile, the poet's life became more complicated: the fight against censorship intensified, denunciations were written against him, and his name appeared in political investigations. During these years, he wrote "Arion", "Pushchina", "In the depths of Siberian Ores", the novel "Peter the Great's Blackamoor", the poem "Poltava", poems about the poet and poetry ("The Poet", "The Poet and the Crowd", "Anchar"), as well as the autobiographical "Journey to Arzrum". In 1829, Pushkin traveled to the Caucasus, where he even participated in a shootout with Turkish horsemen.

Boldinsky autumn (September—November 1830)

In the autumn of 1830, Pushkin came to his father's family estate, Boldino (Nizhny Novgorod province), to resolve legal issues before marriage. Due to the outbreak of cholera and the quarantine imposed, he was locked up there for three months. This period became the peak of his work. In Boldin, he completed "Eugene Onegin", created "The Stories of the late Ivan Petrovich Belkin" (the first completed prose cycle), "Little Tragedies", the poem "The House in Kolomna", "The Story of the village of Goryukhina", "The Tale of the priest and his employee Balda" and about 30 lyrical poems.

The years 1831-1837

In 1831, Pushkin married Natalia Nikolaevna Goncharova. During these years, he increasingly turned to historical topics. He created The Story of Peter, and then switched to the theme of the Pugachev rebellion: he wrote The Story of Pugachev, the novel The Captain's Daughter, the novella Dubrovsky, the poem The Bronze Horseman, The Queen of Spades, the poem I erected a monument to myself not made with Hands ... In 1833, the emperor awarded Pushkin the title of chamberlain, which the poet considered humiliating. He tried to improve his financial situation: he took out loans, published the magazine Sovremennik (Gogol, Turgenev and others published in it), but there was no profit, debts grew. In the late 1830s, his relations with the upper class worsened: influential enemies appeared. Rumors began to spread about the closeness of the poet's wife with Baron Georges Dantes. This led to the fatal duel.

Duel and death

The duel took place on January 27 (February 8), 1837 on the Black River. The conditions were deadly — shooting from 20 paces. Dantes fired first, and the bullet hit Pushkin in the stomach. The poet found the strength to return fire and lightly wounded Dantes in the arm. The wounded man was brought to an apartment at 12 Moika Street. The best doctors fought for his life for two days, but the peritonitis turned out to be incurable. On February 10 (January 29), 1837, Pushkin died. Before his death, he managed to ask the emperor to take care of his family (Nicholas I agreed and fulfilled his promise), confessed and said goodbye to his family. The funeral was held modestly due to the authorities' concerns about possible unrest. Pushkin was buried near the walls of the Svyatogorsky Monastery, next to Mikhailovsky.

A few touches to the portrait

Pushkin was an avid card player and often lost large sums.
He excelled in several languages (French, English, Italian, Latin, Greek), studied German and Spanish.
Before the duel with Dantes, Pushkin had more than 30 dueling challenges, but most of them were canceled by friends.

Children

A. S. Pushkin and N. N. Goncharova had four children.

The eldest daughter, Maria, became a maid of honor and participated in preserving the memory of her father.
The eldest son, Alexander, made a military career, rose to the rank of lieutenant general and was engaged in the development of education.
The youngest son, Grigory, set up his father's first memorial office in Mikhailovsky and handed over the estate to the state.
The youngest daughter Natalia, nicknamed "the imp Tasha" in the family, gained fame as a beauty and went through a difficult life path.