1811-17 Attends Lyce at Tsarskoe Selo near St Petersburg, an academy newly established by Emperor Alexander I for the education of young noblemen and their preparation for government service. During these school years he writes his earliest surviving verse. Pushkin's poetic talent was recognized early and admired by prominent Russian writers, including the poets Derzhavin and Zhukovsky and the historian Karamzin.
1817-20 Appointed to a sinecure in the Department of Foreign Affairs, he leads a dissipated life in St Petersburg.
Writes satirical epigrams and circulates in manuscript form mildly seditious verse that incurs the displeasure of Emperor Alexander I. His first narrative poem, the mock epic Ruslan and Lyudmila, is published in 1820 and enjoys great success. 18204 Arrested for his liberal writings and exiled to service in the south of Russia (Ekaterinoslav, Kishinev, Odessa), he travels in the Caucasus, Crimea, Bessarabia. During this 'Byronic period' he composes his 'southern poems', including The Prisoner of the Caucasus and The Fountain of Bakhchisarai.
1823 Begins Eugene Onegin on 9 May (first chapter published in 1825).
1824 Writes narrative poem The Gypsies. After further conflict with the authorities he is dismissed from the service.
1824-6 Lives in exile for two more years at family estate of Mikhailovskoe.
1825 Writes verse drama Boris Godunov. Decembrist Revolt, in which several of the poet's friends participated, takes place while Pushkin is still absent from the capital.
1826-31 Pardoned by new Czar Nicholas I (September 1826) and allowed to return to Moscow, he resumes dissipated living. Continuing problems with censorship and growing dissatisfaction with the court and autocracy.
1827 Begins prose novel The Moor of Peter the Great (never completed), an account of the life and career of his ancestor Abram Hannibal.
1828 Writes narrative poem Poltava celebrating the victory of Peter the Great over Charles XII of Sweden.
1830 While stranded by a cholera epidemic at his country estate of Boldino he enjoys an especially productive autumn: effectively completes Eugene Onegin; writes The Tales of Belkin (prose stories); finishes 'Little
Tragedies': The Covetous Knight, Mozart and Salieri, The Stone Guest, Feast in Time of Plague.
1831 Marries Natalya Goncharova on 18 February; settles in St Petersburg; appointed official historiographer. Finally abandons work on Eugene Onegin, which has occupied him for more than eight years.
1831-7 Increasing personal and professional difficulties: financial troubles, unhappy married life, dismissal as a literary force by younger generation.
1833 Second 'Boldino autumn'. Writes short story The Queen of Spades, narrative poem The Bronze Horseman; works on A History of the Pugachev Rebellion
1836 Completes historical romance The Captain's Daughter.
1837 Incensed by the attentions paid to his wife by Baron Georges d'Ants, a French adventurer in the Russian service, Pushkin challenges him to a duel and on 27 February is mortally wounded; he dies two days later and his coffin is taken at night to Svyatogorsky Monastery near Mikhailovskoe for burial.
EUGENE ONEGIN
Ptri de vanit il avait encore plus de cette espce d'orgueil qui fait avouer avec la mme indiffrence les bonnes comme les mauvaises actions, suite d'un sentiment de supriorit, peut-tre imaginaire.
Tir d'une lettre particulire*
Dedication*
Not thinking of the proud world's pleasure,
But cherishing your friendship's claim,
I would have wished a finer treasure
To pledge my token to your name
One worthy of your soul's perfection,
The sacred dreams that fill your gaze,
Your verse's limpid, live complexion,
Your noble thoughts and simple ways.
But let it be. Take this collection
Of sundry chapters as my suit:
Half humorous, half pessimistic,
Blending the plain and idealistic
Amusement's yield, the careless fruit
Of sleepless nights, light inspirations,
Born of my green and withered years . . .
The intellect's cold observations,
The heart's reflections, writ in tears.
Chapter 1
To live he hurries and to feel makes haste. Prince Vjazemsky
1
'My uncle, man of firm convictions* . . .
By falling gravely ill, he's won
A due respect for his afflictions
The only clever thing he's done.
May his example profit others;
But God, what deadly boredom, brothers,
To tend a sick man night and day,
Not daring once to steal away!
And, oh, how base to pamper grossly
And entertain the nearly dead,
To fluff the pillows for his head,
And pass him medicines morosely
While thinking under every sigh:
The devil take you, Uncle. Die!'
2
Just so a youthful rake reflected,
As through the dust by post he flew,
By mighty Zeus's will elected
Sole heir to all the kin he knew.
Ludmila's and Rusln's adherents!*
Without a foreword's interference,
May I present, as we set sail,
The hero of my current tale:
Ongin, my good friend and brother,
Was born beside the Neva's span,
Where maybe, reader, you began,
Or sparkled in one way or other.
I too there used to saunter forth,
But found it noxious in the north.*
3
An honest man who'd served sincerely,
His father ran up debts galore;
He gave a ball some three times yearly,
Until he had no means for more.
Fate watched Eugene in his dependence;
At first Madame was in attendance;
And then Monsieur took on the child,
A charming lad, though somewhat wild.
Monsieur l'Abb, a needy fellow,
To spare his charge excessive pain,
Kept lessons light and rather plain;