Birth of Alexander Pushkin

Alexander Pushkin was born on 26 May 1799 in Moscow. A Russian poet, playwright and novelist, Pushkin is regarded as the founder of modern Russian literature and the country's national poet. Born into the nobility, he was exiled from Saint Petersburg for his liberal verses and wrote some of his most important work during years in the south and on his family estate. His verse novel Eugene Onegin, the drama Boris Godunov and the narrative poem The Bronze Horseman showed the range of the literary language. He was mortally wounded in a duel with Georges d'Anthès, who was accused of courting his wife, and died two days later.

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