Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin (Moscow, June 6, 1799 – Saint Petersburg, February 10, 1837) was a Russian writer and poet, widely regarded as Russia’s national poet and the founder of modern Russian literature. He was born into an aristocratic and highly cultured family; his father wrote poetry, while his mother was the granddaughter of an African officer who had served at the court of Peter the Great. Growing up, Pushkin was exposed to the leading writers and intellectuals of his time and began writing poetry at an early age.
After graduating from the Imperial Lyceum in 1817, he entered government service and became involved in literary circles. His liberal views and poems criticizing autocracy led to his exile in 1820. Although originally sentenced to Siberia, influential friends secured his transfer to southern Russia instead. During his travels through the Caucasus and Crimea, he drew inspiration from local folklore, history, and landscapes.
In 1824, Pushkin was confined to his family estate because of his writings and his criticism of religion. There, away from public life, he composed much of his masterpiece, *Eugene Onegin*. In 1826, Tsar Nicholas I allowed him to return to the capital. During a cholera outbreak in 1830, Pushkin again retreated to his estate, where he experienced one of the most productive periods of his career, writing many poems and some of his finest works.
In 1831, he married the celebrated beauty Natalia Goncharova and settled in Saint Petersburg. His social life and financial difficulties increasingly troubled him. In 1837, after rumors spread of a relationship between his wife and a French officer, Georges d'Anthès, Pushkin challenged him to a duel. Severely wounded in the encounter, he died two days later at the age of thirty-seven. His reported last words were: “It is hard to breathe. Something is pulling me down.”
