Alexander Pushkin

Alexander Pushkin (1799–1837), born in Moscow into a noble family and descended through his mother from Abram Gannibal, Peter the Great's African godson, is regarded as Russia's greatest poet and founder of modern Russian literature. His first poem was printed in 1814, at fifteen.

In 1820 he published his first long poem, Ruslan and Ludmila; that year his verses brought exile under Alexander I to the south and then confinement at Mikhailovskoye. Under police surveillance he wrote Boris Godunov, and his novel in verse Eugene Onegin appeared from 1825 to 1832.

Nicholas I made him a kamer-junker in 1833, a rank for young men, and Pushkin was furious. By 1836 he was deep in debt and facing rumours over his wife and the French officer d'Anthès. In an 1837 pistol duel d'Anthès shot him; he died two days later, and Glinka, Mussorgsky and Tchaikovsky based operas on his works.