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Pushkin 1799 - 1837 (38)

Empty is the one who tries to be full only with himself.


QUOTES

ONEGIN

“I am in love,” Tatyana’s wailing
whisper repeated to the crone.
“My dearest heart, you’re sick and ailing.”
“I am in love; leave me alone.”
And all the while the moon was shining
and with its feeble glow outlining
the girl’s pale charms, her loosened hair,
her drops of tears, and seated there,
in quilted coat, where rays were gleaming
on a small bench by Tanya’s bed,
the grey-haired nurse with kerchiefed head;
and everything around was dreaming,
in the deep stillness of the night,
bathed in the moon’s inspiring light.”


 Alexander –Sergeyevich- Pushkin (Moscow, June 6, 1799 - Saint Petersburg, February 10, 1837), was a Russian writer, considered to be the national poet of Russia. He was born in an aristocratic and highly-cultivated family, his father was a mayor and wrote poetry, his mother was the granddaughter of an African officer in the Great Peter's court, (from which he had inherited roughly black features). At his house, Alexander met the most important writers of the time and began to write from a young age. After graduating from high school in 1817, he was appointed to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and lived in Moscow for three years. At that time he wrote poems and participated in literary circles. In 1820 his exile to Siberia was decided, because of a poem ode to freedom and some satirical epigraphs that had annoyed Tsar. Finally, with the intervention of many cultural people he was sent in southern Russia instead of Siberia. He stayed two years there and traveled to Caucasus and Crimea, he contacted with local people and collected many popular stories and myths. He then lived in Odessa until 1824 when he was restricted to the patriarchal estates due to his writings, and mainly because of a letter he wrote against religion. The letter was made public by a person after he had discovered that Pushkin had an affair with his wife.

In his family estate he lived away from the intrigue of cosmic life and wrote most of the masterpiece "Eugene Onegin". In 1826 Tsar allowed him to return to the capital, after he assured him that he had no intention to oppose to him. In 1830, because of a cholera outbreak, he went to live in his family estate for a few months, he wrote there more than 50 poems, some of his greatest works. In 1831 he married a famous beauty of his time and moved to Saint Petersburg. With her, he remembered the life that had lived as a young man in Moscow: all night parties, drinks, card playing, conquests. He soon wiped out much of his fortune and found himself bankrupt. In 1837 a scandal broke out with a young man rumored to have a love affair with his wife; Pushkin called him to a duel. He had fought many times until then, for first he wasn’t the offender. He was severely injured in his stomach and died two days later, on February 10, 1837. "I find it difficult to breathe. Something pulls me down" was his last words.