A. S. Pushkin: life and poems

Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin (1799–1837) was born in Moscow into a noble family. He grew up with his elder sister Olga and younger brother Lev under tutors, his grandmother and his nanny. He learned to read early and read a lot in his father’s library. His grandmother Maria Alekseyevna taught him Russian letters and told him of old times and Peter I, and his nanny Arina Rodionovna knew many folk songs and tales. In 1811 (the book says at eleven; in fact he was twelve) he was taken to Petersburg and studied for six years at the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum, where he made faithful friends. On 8 January 1815, at an exam, he read his own poem in front of the poet Derzhavin. Pushkin wrote over a thousand poems, several long poems, fairy tales for children and the verse novel «Евгений Онегин». According to the book he was mortally wounded in a duel in January 1837 (the dates are old style).