Alexander Pushkin
1799-1837
Emily Brinn
Personal Life
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Born in Moscow
Poor family
Studied languages
Began writing poems at a young age
Led an unproductive life while in
the civil service of the department
of foreign affairs
Turned to poetry as a way to make
money and he later became Russia’s
first professional poet
Married Nathalie Goncharova
Had three children
Was killed in a duel (1837)
Literature
• Experimented with
romantic tragedies
• Tested the boundaries
• His works told a story
about society
• Evgenii Onegin (1833)
“I Loved You…”
I loved you, and I probably still do,
And for a while the feeling may remain...
But let my love no longer trouble you,
I do not wish to cause you any pain.
I loved you; and the hopelessness I knew,
The jealousy, the shyness - though in vain Made up a love so tender and so true
As may God grant you to be loved again.
Controversial Works
• Got in trouble for his outspoken
political views
• Pushkin was exiled to the South
of Russia by the czar, Alexander I
• Continued writing poems
• Decembrist Uprising
• Used his poetry as a way of
expressing the agony and
suppression of the Russian
people
“Ode to Liberty”
Let me
Sing to the world of Liberty
And strike the scum that wears a crown!
Reveal to me the noble path
Where that exalted Gaul2 once strode,
When you in storied days of wrath
Inspired in him a dauntless Ode.
Now, flighty Fortune's favored knaves,
Tremble, O Tyrants of the Earth!
But you: take heed now, know your worth
And rise as men, O fallen slaves!
Wherever I cast my gaze, I see
A body flayed, an ankle chained,
The useless tears of Slavery,
The Law perverted and profaned.
Yea, everywhere iniquitous
Power in the fog of superstition
Ascends: Vainglory's fateful passion,
And Serfdom's gruesome genius.
19th Century
• Early 1830s: Russian literature
underwent a golden age
• Romanticism permitted a
pinnacle of poetic talent
• Pushkin shaped the literary
Russian language and
introduced a new level of
creativity to Russian literature
Affect on History
• First professional poet in Russia
• Influenced the cultural development of
Russia
• Great influence on later dramatic
writers
• First to use everyday speech in his
poetry
• Fused Old Slavonic and vernacular
Russian in his writing
• Founder of modern Russian literature
Crime and Punishment
• Published in 1866
• Pushkin established the
foundation for Dostoevsky
• 1880, Fyodor Dostoevsky attended
the dedication of the Pushkin
monument
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jh
vsbQh52Dg
Works Cited
"Aleksandr Pushkin." Www.kirjasto.sci.fi. Web. 30 Nov. 2011. <http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/puskin.htm>.
"Alexander (Aleksandr) Pushkin." TheatreHistory.com. Web. 30 Nov. 2011.
<http://www.theatrehistory.com/russian/pushkin001.html>.
"Alexander Pushkin - Biography and Works. Search Texts, Read Online. Discuss." The Literature Network: Online Classic
Literature, Poems, and Quotes. Essays & Summaries. Web. 30 Nov. 2011. <http://www.onlineliterature.com/alexander-pushkin/>.
"Famous Russian People. Russian Celebrities. Russian Poets, Russian Painters, Russian Artists." Individual Sightseeing
Tours of St. Petersburg, Russia, St.Petersburg Private Guide. Web. 30 Nov. 2011. <http://stpetersburgguide.com/people/pushkin.shtml>.
"Fyodor Dostoyevsky - Pushkin & Dostoevsky." Great Stories, People, Books & Events in Literary History. Web. 30 Nov.
2011. <http://www.todayinliterature.com/stories.asp?Event_Date=6/8/1880>.
Shubnaya, Ekaterina. "Prominent Russians: Aleksandr Pushkin." Russiapedia. Web. 30 Nov. 2011.
<http://russiapedia.rt.com/prominent-russians/literature/aleksandr-pushkin/>.
"Works of Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin: Books: Fiction/Novel,Play,Poem,Short Story." Read Book Online: Literature
Books,novels,short Stories,fiction,non-fiction, Poems,essays,plays,Pulitzer Prize, Nobel Prize. Web. 01 Dec. 2011.
<http://www.readbookonline.net/books/Pushkin/413/>.
"Pushkin's Biography." James Madison University - 'it-educ.jmu.edu' (alias 'educ.jmu.edu', Originally 'peregrin.jmu.edu').
Web. 01 Dec. 2011. <http://educ.jmu.edu/~pleckesg/Pushkin/Bio.html>.
"Alexander Pushkin- Russian of African Descent." Alliance of Professional Africans in the Diaspora. Web. 1 Dec. 2011.
<http://www.allproafricans.com/alexander-pushkin-%E2%80%93-russian-african-descent/>.