Mikhail Lermontov

Mikhail Yur'yevich Lermontov (?????? ??????? ?????????), (October 15, 1814–July 27, 1841), a Russian Romantic writer and poet, sometimes called "the poet of the Caucasus", was the most important presence in the Russian poetry from Alexander Pushkin's death until his own four years later, at the age of 26 - like Pushkin, the casualty of a duel. In one of his best-known poems, written on January 1, 1840 he described his intonations as "iron verse steeped in bitterness and hatred."

Early life

Lermontov was born in Moscow to a respectable family of the Tula government, and grew up in the village of Tarkhany (in the Penza government), which now preserves his remains. His family traced descent from the Scottish Learmounts, one of whom settled in Russia in the early 17th century, during the reign of Michael Fedorovich Romanov.

Related Topics:
Moscow - Tula - Penza - Scottish - Michael Fedorovich Romanov

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The family did not fare well for very long, however, and Lermontov's father, Yuri Lermontov, like his father before him, entered military service. Having moved up the ranks of captain, he married the sixteen year old Mariya Arsenyeva, to the great dismay of her mother, Elizabeth Alekseevna. A year later after the marriage, on the night of October 3rd, 1814, Mariya Arsenieva gave birth to Mikhail Lermontov. Soon after his birth, some discord between Lermontov's father and grandmother had erupted, and being unable to bear it, Mariya Arsenieva fell ill and died in 1817. After her daughter's death, Elizabeth Alekseevna devoted all her care and attention to little Lermontov and his education, all the time fearing that his father might sooner or later run off with him. Either because of this pampering or continuing family tension or both, Lermontov developed a fearful and arrogant temper and love for destruction, which he proceeded to take out on the servants and the bushes in his grandmother's garden.

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As a young child Lermontov listened to stories about the Volga rogues, and his imagination was enraptured by their miraculous bravery and sulking, feral abodes. Unfortunately at ten years of age he fell sick, and to soothe his illness, Elizabeth Alekseevna took him to see Caucasus. There, young Lermontov for the first time loved- a girl he would later describe as having golden hair and a "pair of angelic eyes".

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The intellectual atmosphere which he breathed in his youth differed little from that in which Pushkin had grown up, though the domination of French had begun to give way before the fancy for English, and Lamartine shared his popularity with Byron. In his early childhood Lermontov was educated by a certain Frenchman named Gendrot; but Gendrot was a poor pedagogue, and Elizabeth Alekseevna decided to take Lermontov to Moscow to prepare him better for the gymnasium. In Moscow, Lermontov was introduced to Goethe and Schiller by a German pedagogue, Levy, and a short time after, in 1828, he entered the gymnasium. He showed himself to be an incredibly talented student, once completely stealing the show at an exam by, first, impeccably reciting some poetry, and second, successfully performing a violin piece. At the gimnasium he also became acquainted with the poetry of Pushkin and Zhukovsky, and one of his friends, Catherine Hvostovaya, later described him as "married to a hefty volume of Byron". This friend had at one time been an object of Lermontov's affection, and to her he dedicated some of his earliest poems, one of the most remarkable ones being "? ????? ??????? ??????"(tr?). At that time, together with Lermontov's poetic passion, there also awoke an inclination for poisonous wit and cruel and sardonic humor. His ability to draw caricatures was matched by his ability to shoot someone down with a well aimed epigram or nickname.

Related Topics:
Pushkin - French - English - Lamartine - Byron - Zhukovsky

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From the academic gymnasium Lermontov passed on, in the August of 1830, to the Moscow University. That same summer the final, tragic act of the family discord played out. Having been struck deep by his son's alienation, Yuri Lermontov leaves the Arseniev house for good, only to die a short time later. His father's death on such a note was a terrible loss for Lermontov, as is evidenced by a few of his poems: "Forgive me, Will we Meet Again?" and "The Terrible Fate of Father and Son".

Related Topics:
1830 - Moscow University

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Lermontov's career at the University was very abrupt. While there, he was remembered for his aloofness and arrogant disposition; he attended the lectures rather faithfully, often reading a book in the corner of the auditorium, but rarely took part in student life. What brought his time at the University to an end was a prank a group of students pulled against the obnoxious professor Malov. Once, when the professor commenced the lecture with his favorite phrase, "the man, who," a group of students that had already gathered there from various departments, started to applaud and yell: "Fora! Excellent!" At this, Malov coiled up, crawled off the podium, and quickly walked out onto the street, where the students followed and threw a pair of shoes after him. Lermontov, who had attended this "event", could have dearly paid for it, and thus, some consider this to be the reason for his departure.

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The events at the University led Lermontov to seriously reconsider his career choice. From 1830 to 1834 he attended the school of cadets at Saint Petersburg, and in due course he became an officer in the guards. There Lermontov got a chance to show off his incredible strength and prankish character: he and another junker would tie steel ramrods, as if they were simple ropes, into knots, until they were caught at this task by General Schlippenbach. When he caught them, he yelled out, "What, are you kids, to pull pranks like these?" and since that time Lermontov would laugh:"What kids! to tie steel ramrods into knots!" All this time he was writing much poetry imitative of Pushkin and Byron. He also took a keen interest in Russian history and medieval epics, which would be reflected in the Song of the Merchant Kalashnikov, his long poem Borodino, poems addressed to the city of Moscow, and a series of popular ballads.

Related Topics:
1830 - 1834 - Saint Petersburg - Ramrods - The Song of the Merchant Kalashnikov - Moscow - Ballads

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