The Life of Pushkin

Alexander Pushkin, the Golden Age author, is recognized as Russia's greatest poet and the founder of Russian modern literature. Known for his distinct rhythmical pattern he pioneered in his work, Pushkin was the first poet to use vernacular speech in his writing, blending together Old Slavonic with Russian vernacular. He drew his inspiration for his writings from Byron, Goethe, Voltaire and Shakespeare, drawing on their characters and humor and then appropriating them within a distinct Russian context (Liukkonen). Born June 6, 1799 in Moscow, Pushkin began his education at home. From the start Pushkin's interests within school lay specifically with French and Russian literature, and he published his first poem at the age of fourteen (Jacobs). He later attended the prestigious school for writers, the Imperial Lyceum, where he gained much of his inspiration from his fellow classmates, notably poets Baratynsky and Delvig. It was here that he began working on his first narrative poem, Ruslan and Lyudmila--a type of fantasy fable.

In 1820 he was exiled to southern Russia because of his political ideas, namely because of his poem "Ode to Liberty." He was later transferred to his mother's estate in northern Russia, where he wrote Boris Godunov and began working on his masterpiece Eugene Onegin (note drawing of Pushkin with Onegin, sketched by Pushkin) (Jacobs). The Decemberist Revolt of 1825 effected the writing of Pushkin. Below is an example of this with Pushkin's poem Arion, published 1827.

We were a crowd inside the boat 
Some of us trimmed the sails, 
While others gamely plunged 
The mighty oars into the deep. While in the calm, 
Our skillful helmsman, leaning to the wheel, 
Steered the craft without a word;
And I - abrim with carefree hope -  
I sang to all the crew....A sudden gust 
Then roared, and swept the ocean's breast . . . 
The helmsman and the crew were lost! 
And I alone, mysterious bard, 
Was tossed upon the stormy shore 
And sang my anthems as before 
While spreading out my sodden robe 
To dry upon a sunny cliff.

In 183o Pushkin wrote and published his four play series, The Little Tragedies--a compelling and genius compilation of theatrical works, yet incredibly complicated and complex in their staging and production. In 1837, Pushkin was severely injured and later died from a duel with George d'Anthès, a man who had made sexual advances towards his wife Nathalie. Pushkin was survived by three children, some 800 lyrics, and over a dozen narrative poems in his short 37 years (Jacobs).

Just for fun, we have included a fun little video that reminded us of filmmaker and animator Yuri Norstein. Can you find the reference to one of Pushkin's famous works?