Alexander Pushkin

Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin was a Russian poet, playwright, and novelist regarded as the founder of modern Russian literature. Born into Moscow nobility in 1799, he trained at the Imperial Lyceum at Tsarskoye Selo, then served in Saint Petersburg before periods of official exile in the south (Kishinev and Odessa) and internal exile at the family estate of Mikhailovskoye. After his 1826 pardon by Nicholas I he was based in Moscow, where he married Natalia Goncharova in February 1831, before settling in Saint Petersburg later that year. His works include the verse novel "Eugene Onegin," the drama "Boris Godunov," the narrative poem "The Bronze Horseman," and the tale "The Queen of Spades." In January 1837 he was mortally wounded in a duel with Georges d'Anthès and died in Saint Petersburg.