Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin

Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin (1799-1837) was a Russian poet, playwright, and novelist of the Romantic era. He is considered by many to be the greatest Russian poet and the founder of modern Russian literature. Born in Moscow, Pushkin was entrusted to nursemaids and French tutors, and spoke mostly French until the age of ten. He became acquainted with the Russian language through communication with household serfs and his nanny, Arina Rodionovna, whom he loved dearly and to whom he was more attached than to his own mother.

He published his first poem at the age of 15. When he finished school, as part of the first graduating class of the prestigious Imperial Lyceum in Tsarskoye Selo, near Saint Petersburg, his talent was already widely recognized on the Russian literary scene. His first long poem was ‘Ruslan and Ludmila,’ with much controversy about its subject and style.

Pushkin was fatally wounded in a duel with his wife's alleged lover and her sister's husband. He was only 37 years old.