Mikhail Yurievich Lermontov is a Russian poet, prose writer and playwright. He spent his whole life looking for someone who would understand his soul and not turn his back on him. A genius and a free singer of freedom, who, contrary to reality, wrote about what he thinks. Contemporaries said that he could surpass Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin, but this, alas, was not allowed to happen. But still, he became the person whose work later poets and writers were oriented on. Lermontov in his works wrote about loneliness and love, about contempt and denial of the established order. The pages of his own life and the history of Russian deeply sunk into the soul of the poet and later used in creativity.
Biography of Lermontov. Chronological table
Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov was born on October 15, 1814 in Moscow, on October 23, 1814 the baby was baptized there. There, his grandmother, Elizabeth Arsenyeva, became his godmother. She did not cherish a soul in her grandson and herself was engaged in his upbringing, pushing father Michael to the side.
From childhood, the young poet was sick with scrofula and, in order to escape from the weakness of the body, was immersed in the games of imagination. And this discord has lived in Michael throughout his life: in reality, he often turned out to be an outside observer, and only in verses did Mikhail be himself. Those who personally knew the poet could not believe that as he appears in his work, this is real. The main events in Mikhail's life and their influence on creativity are described in more detail in the chronological table of Lermontov’s life.
Year | Event | Reflection in creativity |
1824 year | Elizaveta Alekseevna takes her grandson for treatment to Goryachevodsk, where he first falls in love unrequitedly | Two years later, the young classic dedicates the poem “To Genius” to the girl |
1828-1830 | Mikhail Yurievich studies in a noble hostel. Here he instills a love of literature. The poet himself is fond of the works of Schiller and Shakespeare. | At this time, begins the creative journey of Lermontov. The poet himself is trying to be friends with one or the other, but in the end he is disappointed. Poems of this time are filled with loneliness and depression |
Summer 1830 | This summer, Mikhail Yurievich spent in the Stolypin estate near Moscow - Serednikovo. Vereshchagins lived nearby. The poet was friends with Alexandra Vereshchagina. She introduced him to Ekaterina Sushkova. Lermontov fell in love with a girl, but she did not share his feelings. Katya chuckled at Mikhail, but he himself suffered. Sushkova’s notes of this time can be considered a “novel”: Sushkova as a triumphant and mocking heroine, and Lermontov is a cold and terribly vengeful hero. Later, Mikhail brutally avenged Sushkova for all her ridicule | At this time, Lermontov draws attention to Byron's poetry and draws parallels between himself and the English poet. At the same time, Mikhail met with Natalia Ivanova, relations with which are formed differently than with Sushkova. But at first, mutual sympathy at some point gives way to rejection. By the summer of 1831, the themes of betrayal and infidelity prevailed in the poet's poems. All this deeply hurts the soul of a young man |
September 1830 - June 1832 | In this period, Lermontov studied at Moscow University | These years have been extremely fruitful for creativity. Few people familiar with Mikhail considered impetuous poetry impossible with his secular talents. The verses are dominated by demonic moods and disappointment |
1832-1834 | Lermontov, regardless of his desires and plans, enters the School of Guards Warrant Officers | At this time, the poet recalls the past. Lermontov also described the fun of the junkers in his poems. These same poems, in which there were obscene words, brought Lermontov first glory |
November 22, 1834 - 1836 | Lermontov considered it humiliating to appear in front of people kind and loving. On the contrary, he prefers to be merciless in speeches, cruel in actions and tyrant of female hearts. | During this period, Lermontov wrote opposing poems on topics |
1837 year | Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin, whom Mikhail so wanted to meet, dies in a duel, but did not dare to send him a letter, considering his work unworthy | This event shakes Lermontov to the core, and in response immortal lines are born - "The Death of the Poet." For these stanzas he is exiled to the Caucasus. |
1837-1840 | For the first time, Lermontov spent several months in the Caucasus. For the fact that he did not report on the duel and the disagreements that arose with Ernest Barant, Mikhail was again sent to the Caucasus, but this time, according to the order of Nicholas I, the poet was not released from the front and was involved in military operations | At this time, such works as “Demon”, “Mtsyri” are being created. Towards the end of the Hero of Our Time period, which previously existed in separate chapters, it is supplemented by new ones and becomes a completed work |
At the end of 1840 and the beginning of 1841, Mikhail, on vacation in St. Petersburg, tried to resign and completely surrender to literature, but he was unable to go against his grandmother. Therefore, in the spring of 1841, Lermontov returned to the Caucasus. In Pyatigorsk, the poet quarreled with Nikolai Martynov. In public, Michael let out taunts and joked with Martynov. He asked Lermontov not to behave this way, but the poet did not pay attention. On July 27, 1841, the major challenged Michael to a duel, where he killed. So "the one who could replace Pushkin" passed away.
The spiritual heritage of Lermontov
Throughout his life, Mikhail Yurievich wrote many poems, poems and plays. The very first published work was “Haji Abrek,” which was published in 1835 in the journal “Library for Reading,” Volume IX. According to the chronological table of Lermontov, it was written in 1829, while studying at a noble university guesthouse. Later, in the 6th volume of the Sovremennik magazine, the poem Borodino was published. In the collections of "Domestic Notes" go poetry "Duma" and "Sail."
As already mentioned in the Lermontov’s chronological table, since 1837 Mikhail has been seized by demonic moods and contempt for people. The apogee of this state is achieved in the works “Mtsyri” and “Demon”. The difference between them is that the demon lived for many years and watched humanity, and therefore he learned to consciously despise people. Mtsyri perishes young, striving for freedom and happiness, and in this aspiration he rises to the level of a demon.
The Demon was first published in 1857. "Mtsyri" is in 1840. Later, after the poet’s death, various collections and cheap copies of works from different periods of Lermontov’s chronological table came out.
Translations of creativity into foreign languages
Many people have a hard time gaining fame. Geniuses make their way to where, it would seem, never to step. Lermontov, unfortunately, after his death became known abroad. His poems have been translated into German and French. The “Hero of our time” could also be read in German and French, but, besides them, also in English, Polish, Ukrainian. The poem "Demon" was translated into German, French and Serbian; "Mtsyri" - in German and Polish.
About the work of Lermontov
Michael lived a short (he was killed at the age of 26), but an eventful life. All the events of his personal life and world events were reflected in his work. The discord between the poet’s grandmother and father, love and rejection, the search for a soul mate and disappointment in people, and later detached observation and contempt - this is an incomplete list of those that Lermontov raised in his works.
The life of geniuses is hard, but maybe that’s why they become strong, passing through all the hardships and forging their character, like a blacksmith in a forge blade. Carefully studying the chronological table of Lermontov, one can say with confidence that life was not soft for him, but, on the contrary, with all severity tried to take her own. But despite her attempts, Lermontov created and created. All his work influenced the formation of both individual writers, poets, and all literature as a whole.