MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 06th June, 2019) Russia marks the annual Pushkin Day on June 6, the day when 19th century poet and novelist Alexander Pushkin was born. This year marks Pushkin's 220th anniversary of his birthday.
Pushkin was born in Moscow in 1799. His father was close to prominent culture representatives, including poets Vasily Zhukovsky and Ivan Dmitriev, writer Nikolay Karamzin and others, so Pushkin lived in a special atmosphere, which later served to influence him. His mother was the granddaughter of Russian military engineer Abram Hannibal.
Alexander Pushkin received his Primary education at home. His parents hired tutors and teachers from France, Germany, the United Kingdom and Russia. At the age of seven, Pushkin was already writing comedies.
In 1811, he moved his studies to the Imperial Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum, a special educational institution created by Emperor Alexander I for the elite's children to prepare them for high state careers. During his time there, Pushkin was a member of the so-called Lyceum Circle, a group of novelists and poets. It was also there that he wrote his first poems.
After Pushkin graduated the Lyceum in June 1817 with the rank of collegiate secretary, he was appointed to serve at the Foreign Affairs Collegium in St. Petersburg. He was a member of the Arzamas society and Zelenaya Lampa (Green Lamp) circle, a literature and theater group under the Decembrist Union of Welfare. He wrote several "revolutionary" poems, epigrams about government leaders, which were not published but were widely known. During this same time, he worked on his first long poem, "Ruslan and Ludmila."
The government was concerned about Pushkin's poignant political writings and intended to exile him to Siberia. Thanks to Pushkin's friends, he was exiled to southern Russia under the guise of relocation of officials. In September 1820, after he traveled around the Caucasus and Crimea before coming to Moldova's capital of Chisinau, where he started communicating with members of the Union of Welfare and joined the "Ovid" Masonic lodge. It was there that he wrote his poems "The Prisoner of the Caucasus," "The Song of the Wise Oleg" and others. In May 1823, he started writing his famous verse-novel "Eugene Onegin."
In the summer of 1823, Pushkin moved to Odessa, where he served in the office of Count Vorontsov. A year later, after Vorontsov intercepted a letter from Pushkin to his friend saying that the poet was "taking lessons in pure atheism," Pushkin was sent to his parents' estate in the village of Mikhailovskoye near Pskov, where he was supervised by the local authorities. In this exile, Pushkin continued to work on "Eugene Onegin," and wrote another poem, "The Gypsies," and a play called "Boris Godunov."
Pushkin found out about the Decembrist revolt in 1825 while still in exile. His poems were found among the papers of all his arrested friends. Pushkin was under investigation but eventually cleared after he signed an official document stating that he was not a member of any secret society.
In September 1826, the poet was requested to appear in Moscow for a personal meeting with the new emperor, Nicholas I. The meeting resulted in the end of Pushkin's exile; he was now finally allowed to choose his place of residence. Pushkin was also freed from ordinary censorship, with Nicholas I announcing that he would be his personal censor.
In 1826, Pushkin's first book of poems was published � it was sold out in just a few weeks. In 1829, the poet made a trip to the Caucasus, where he wrote "A Journey to Arzrum," a book of essays and poems.
Pushkin spent the autumn of 1830 at his family estate in the Bolshoe Boldino village, Nizhny Novgorod region. There, he wrote "The Belkin Tales," "The Little Tragedies" and "The Tale of the Priest and of His Workman Balda," and completed "Eugene Onegin."
In 1831, Pushkin entered civil service as a historian to write the history of Peter the Great. While researching the subject, the writer came across rebel Yemelyan Pugachev's biography, with which he became fascinated. He proceeded to collect information about Pugachev in archives and visit the areas of his rebellion, all of which culminated in a book called "A History of Pugachev." During the 1830s, he wrote his famous story "The Queen of Spades," poem "The Bronze Horseman" and novel "The Captain's Daughter."
On March 2, 1831, Pushkin married Natalia Goncharova. They had four children: Maria, Natalya, Alexander and Grigory.
In 1836, rumors about the flirtation between Pushkin's wife and Frenchman Georges d'Anthes, the adopted son of a Dutch ambassador, started to circulate. On February 8, 1837, a duel between Pushkin and d'Anthes took place, in which the poet was mortally wounded. He died on February 10, 1837, at the age of 37.
His death has become a national tragedy.
Pushkin's works are constantly republished, translated into many languages. They have been screened and performed on stages all around the world. Operas, ballets, symphonic and instrumental works, romances, music for dramatic performances, films, television and radio programs have all been written based on Pushkin's works.
In 1997, Pushkin Day was established in Russia.
