Mikhail Lermontov is widely known as one of the brightest Russian poets.

Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov studied at Moscow University (1830-32). A graduate of Petersburg School of Warrant Officers of the Guard (1834). In 1837 his poem “Death of the Poet” gave cause to his exile to the army in the Caucasus. The young poet was killed at a duel in Pyatigorsk.

Disappointment with the reality, typical of post-Decabrist attitudes, skepticism, and aspiration for the ideal of free and rebellious personality nurtured his early romantic poems, supplemented with dream for spiritual peace in his mature lyrical poetry.

Many of Lermontov’s works are permeated with civic pathos and patriotic feeling. Lermontov introduced to Russian poetry the verse marked with unusual energy ofg thought and tunefulness. His novel A Hero of Our Time (1840), rich in deep social reflection and psychological content is the peak of Lermontov’s realism.