Mikhail Yuryevich
Lermontov
1814-1841
Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov was a Russian poet, prose writer, playwright, artist and lieutenant of the Life Guards Hussar Regiment. On his mother’s side, Mikhail Yuryevich belonged to the rich aristocratic family of Stolypin. The poet’s father was a retired captain, Yuri Petrovich Lermontov. He was born into a family of poor landowners in the Tula governorate. Mikhail Yuryevich lost his mother at an early age and was taken into the care of his grandmother, E.A. Arsenyeva. The boy spent his childhood in the Penza governorate at his grandmother’s estate, Tarkhany. In 1828 Lermontov was sent to the Noble Boarding School of Moscow University, where he became actively involved in literature, published a handwritten journal “Morning Dawn”, in which he published his first poem “Indian”. In 1828-1829 Lermontov wrote the poems “Corsair”, “Criminal”, “Oleg”, “Two Brothers” (published posthumously), “The Last Son of Freedom”, “Ishmael-Bey”, “Demon”. After the transformation of the boarding school into a gymnasium in 1830, Lermontov left it and entered Moscow University at the moral and political department. At university Mikhail Yurievich studied together with V.G. Belinsky, A.I. Herzen, N.P. Ogaryov. Lyrical cycle of poems by Lermontov belongs to this period (“To Sushkova”, “Beggar”, “Stanzas”, “Night”, “Imitation of Byron”, “I do not love you: passions …”). After 1832 Lermontov turned to ballads (“Reed”, “Desire” – “Open My Prison”, “Rusalka”) and prose. In 1832 Lermontov left the university and entered the School of Guards Corporals and Cavalry Junkers in St. Petersburg, from where he was promoted to Cornet of the Life Guards Hussar Regiment in 1834. One of the first of Lermontov’s works to appear in print was the poem “Khadzhi Abrek”, published in 1835 in the journal “Library for Reading” without the author’s knowledge. The first officer’s leave in January 1836 M.Y. Lermontov spent at his grandmother’s house in Tarkhany, where he immersed himself in the atmosphere of Christmas festivities, carols, fist fights. In the period 1836-1837 Lermontov wrote the first original and mature poem “Boyarin Orsha”, worked on the novel “Vadim” (unfinished), “Princess Ligovskaya” (unfinished) and the drama “Masquerade”. In 1837 the poem “Borodino” was published in the magazine “Sovremennik”, dedicated to the battle of Borodino in September 1812. Lermontov responded to the death of Alexander Pushkin with the poem “Death of a Poet”. The poet showed remarkable bravery in battle, twice being decorated for his participation in a fierce battle on the Valerik River in Chechnya. He wrote one of the most famous Russian novels, “The Hero of Our Time”. He was portrayed by sculptor O.K. Komov as homely, a little relaxed and thoughtful. The original of the author’s work is in the State Lermontov Museum-Reserve “Tarkhany” (Penza region) and the author’s replica is in the park “Museon”.
Address: Moscow, Muzeon Art Park
