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😉 Hello everyone! Thank you for choosing the article “Mikhail Lermontov: A Brief Biography” on this site! Here are the main stages in the life of the great Russian poet.
Mikhail Yurievich Lermontov: a short biography
Mikhail Lermontov was born in Moscow on October 15, 1814. Father, Yuri Petrovich Lermontov, came from an ancient Scottish family, the founder of which was the semi-mythical bard Thomas Lermont. In 1613 Lieutenant George Lermont was captured and entered the service of the Russian Tsar.
Yuri Petrovich and Maria Mikhailovna Lermontov
Maria Mikhailovna Arsenyeva married at 17 for love. For the groom, it was a brilliant party, since the family was noble, ancient, but impoverished. Maria’s mother, Elizaveta Alekseevna, from the first days was against this marriage, but her efforts were in vain.
Tarkhany
After the wedding, the young people lived in Tarkhany. The grandmother adored her only grandson. And the mother loved to play the piano, holding the baby on her lap. In 1817, 3 weeks before she was 22 years old, Maria died of fleeting consumption.
Yuri Petrovich did not have the means to raise his son as the aristocratic relatives wanted. The grandmother took Misha to her place, assuring her father that the grandson (her heir) would live with her until the age of 16, and she would consult on all issues. However, subsequently, she even forbade father-son visits.
Elizaveta Alekseevna Arsenyeva, nee Stolypin (1773-1845), M. Lermontov’s grandmother
The boy was in poor health and regularly developed symptoms of scrofula. A thin little barcheon with a rash all over his body was often ridiculed. When he was 10 years old, he and his grandmother went to the Caucasian mineral waters.
Misha met a 9-year-old girl and he had a vague but deep feeling that he could not forget. Here he fell in love with the majestic landscapes of the Caucasus.
Classes began in 1825. But the teachers were able to give little to an inquisitive boy. He “swallows” books from the rich library of the estate.
Moscow
In 1829, Elizaveta Alekseevna and her grandson left for Moscow to prepare for entering the 4th grade of the boarding house. The teenager perfectly knows four European languages, reads the works of famous writers in the original, draws well and understands art. The teenager stayed in the boarding house for two years.
1830 The poet falls in love with Varenka Lopukhina. This feeling, gradually turning into a sincere friendship, will remain with him until the last day. He enters the university and writes the famous “Prediction”.
At the exams, after completing the second year, which provided for knowledge of rhetoric, heraldry and numismatics, the young man demonstrates incredible knowledge of these sciences, but does not report anything from the lecture material. The examiners unanimously advised the know-it-all to leave the walls of the educational institution.
Mikhail moved to the capital and entered the School of Junkers, which he graduated in 1834.
Caucasus
In 1837 A.S. Pushkin dies. Lermontov “pours out the bitterness of loss” in the poem “Death of a Poet”, where he angrily denounces the high society. He was arrested. Soon, thanks to Arsenyeva’s connections, he was transferred to a regiment deployed in the Caucasus. He stayed there for less than six months.
This short period of time changed Lermontov. Picturesque nature, life of ordinary highlanders, folklore found their place in his works. The Caucasus seems to renew youthful dreams, and the poet creates “The Demon” and “Mtsyri”.
First duel
At the beginning of 1840, at a ball at the Countess of Laval, there was a conflict between the Frenchman E. Barant and Lermontov. A few days later, a duel took place. Barant missed, and Lermontov fired into the air. In March, Lermontov was arrested, and a month later he was transferred to the Caucasus.
Second duel
The poet had dark forebodings and, unfortunately, they came true. On the way to his place of service, he stopped at Pyatigorsk, where he quarreled with a friend from the cadet school, Nikolai Martynov.
Lermontov seemed to be looking for death himself, he constantly made fun of Martynov about his Circassian coat. And even the latter’s exhortations to stop his jokes in society did not stop the poet’s ridicule. The duel took place on July 15, 1841. Lermontov shot in the air, Martynov – in the chest of the poet.
The poet was buried two days later in Pyatigorsk. Six months later, E. A. Arsenyeva, with the permission of the emperor, transported the body of her beloved grandson to Tarkhany.
An interesting fact is that P. A. Stolypin and M. Yu. Lermontov are second cousins.
Video
In this video, additional information about the biography of M.Yu. Lermontov.
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