Alexander Pushkin

Alexander Pushkin and his wife (http://www.russia.ghazar.com/pushkin.jpg)

I moved to Russia when I was seven years old and I lived there for 6 years. While I lived there all the time in the school, I learned his poems and I started to like them. But now, because I am older and I have been away, I don’t remember all of the poems, but I still remember being little and liking them back then.

Alexander Pushkin was born June 6th 1799 in Moscow Russia. During this time most great literature was being written by the French and English. Pushkin revolutionized Russian literature with narrative poems, poems about love, poems about politics, and short stories.

Of all the poems I can recall from when I was young in the 5th grade, the one that sticks in my mind is “Angel.”

Pushkin's skeptical mind and sense of irony helped him capture what it means to be Russian. He began writing poetry when he was very young and had his first poem published when he was 14. He wrote about 130 poems between 1814 and 1817. Pushkin married his wife Natalie Goncharova in 1831. They had four children from his marriage to Natalie: Maria (b. 1832, touted as a prototype of Anna Karenina), Alexander (b. 1833), Gregory (b. 1835), and Natalie (b. 1836) When the Tsar gave Pushkin the lowest court title, the poet became enraged: he felt this occurred not only so that his wife, who had many admirers—including the Tsar himself—could properly attend court balls, but also to humiliate him.

Although, his life was not perfect I still admire him for all of his poetry and prose. I think he was a talented man and he is well loved by Russians today. I appreciate his poetry!