Who was Alexander Pushkin?
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Alexander Pushkin is Russia's greatest writer. He wrote poems, stories, novels and fairytales and you will find out a bit about him, his family, his writings and what happened to him here.
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Pushkin lived in Russia about 200 years ago but he's still very popular among people of all ages - including children. We asked some children in St Petersburg about that:
This is how Pushkin described himself in a poem he wrote (in French) when he was about 15:
I’m a regular rascal
And I haven’t left school;
Without putting on graces,
I can say I’m no fool.
No Sorbonne professor
Ever lectured his boys
With such world-beating tedium
Or made half as much noise.
My height is not equal
To the bean-poles up there;
I’ve a rosy complexion
And curly fair hair.
I like city bustle,
I hate running brooks;
I loathe arguments, hassle
And even my books.
Balls and plays give me pleasure,
And I’d happily say
What else I would treasure...
If I’d left the Lycée.
Extract from "Mon Portrait", translated from the French by Peter France.
What did his family say about him?
Alexander Pushkin's grandmother - Maria Ganibal
“I don’t know what will become of my eldest grandson. He’s a clever boy and likes reading but he’s not a good scholar, hardly ever does his schoolwork properly. Sometimes you just can’t get him to move or to go and play with the other children – and other times he goes mad and gets so worked up that you just can’t calm him down: he goes from one extreme to the other, he’s never in the middle.”
“I don’t know what will become of my eldest grandson. He’s a clever boy and likes reading but he’s not a good scholar, hardly ever does his schoolwork properly. Sometimes you just can’t get him to move or to go and play with the other children – and other times he goes mad and gets so worked up that you just can’t calm him down: he goes from one extreme to the other, he’s never in the middle.”
Alexander Pushkin's sister Olga Pavlishcheva
"Until he was six Alexander wasn’t special in any way. Quite the opposite – he was clumsy because he was quite fat, and always quiet so our mother was often in despair about him. She had to force him to go out and made him run. That was why he preferred to stay with our Granny, Maria Ganibal. He would go through her workbasket and watch her sewing.”
“When he was seven he became high spirited and full of mischief”
“He was lazy at his schoolwork but he soon discovered that he liked reading and at the age of nine liked to read Plutarch or the 'Iliad' and the 'Odyssey'.”
“His first poems were in French of course, though he was taught Russian too. His grandmother Maria Ganibal taught him and his sister to read and write… Other subjects were taught in French by home tutors and private teachers. When his sister had an English governess he learned English too but wasn’t very good at it.”
“Relying on a good memory he never learned his lessons, but repeated his sister’s answers. When the teacher asked him to answer first he was stuck. Arithmetic seemed impossible to him and the first four rules, especially division, often made him cry.”
"Until he was six Alexander wasn’t special in any way. Quite the opposite – he was clumsy because he was quite fat, and always quiet so our mother was often in despair about him. She had to force him to go out and made him run. That was why he preferred to stay with our Granny, Maria Ganibal. He would go through her workbasket and watch her sewing.”
“When he was seven he became high spirited and full of mischief”
“He was lazy at his schoolwork but he soon discovered that he liked reading and at the age of nine liked to read Plutarch or the 'Iliad' and the 'Odyssey'.”
“His first poems were in French of course, though he was taught Russian too. His grandmother Maria Ganibal taught him and his sister to read and write… Other subjects were taught in French by home tutors and private teachers. When his sister had an English governess he learned English too but wasn’t very good at it.”
“Relying on a good memory he never learned his lessons, but repeated his sister’s answers. When the teacher asked him to answer first he was stuck. Arithmetic seemed impossible to him and the first four rules, especially division, often made him cry.”
Alexander Pushkin's brother Lev Pushkin
“He loved poetry from the very beginning: at the age of eight, when he could already read and write, he composed jokes and little poems about his teachers in French. He didn’t learn much Russian: he heard French all the time – our tutor was French, a very intelligent and educated man, and our father’s books were all French. As a child he didn’t sleep much at night and would secretly go to father’s study and devour books one after the other. Pushkin had an amazing memory and by the time he was eleven he already knew all French literature by heart.”
“He loved poetry from the very beginning: at the age of eight, when he could already read and write, he composed jokes and little poems about his teachers in French. He didn’t learn much Russian: he heard French all the time – our tutor was French, a very intelligent and educated man, and our father’s books were all French. As a child he didn’t sleep much at night and would secretly go to father’s study and devour books one after the other. Pushkin had an amazing memory and by the time he was eleven he already knew all French literature by heart.”
Ivan Pushchin, Pushkin's best friend
“… a very lively boy, curly headed, with quick eyes”
“We all knew that Pushkin was ahead of us, had read a lot of books which we hadn’t even heard of and remembered everything he read. But the best thing was he never showed off about it.”
“… a very lively boy, curly headed, with quick eyes”
“We all knew that Pushkin was ahead of us, had read a lot of books which we hadn’t even heard of and remembered everything he read. But the best thing was he never showed off about it.”
Sergei Komovsky, another schoolfriend
“Most of the time he lived in a fantasy world. But when he was putting his ideas down on paper he’d go off to the furthest corner of the room, chewing his pen with impatience. Then, frowning, blowing through his lips and looking fierce he’d read through what he’d written.”
“Most of the time he lived in a fantasy world. But when he was putting his ideas down on paper he’d go off to the furthest corner of the room, chewing his pen with impatience. Then, frowning, blowing through his lips and looking fierce he’d read through what he’d written.”
Now it's your turn!
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Talk about what you have found out about Pushkin so far:
What was he like as a boy? Can you imagine him at your school? Pushkin loved reading - even when he was meant to be asleep in bed. What do you like to read? Do you know anyone who likes writing poetry? |
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Write a short poem about yourself
What would your family and friends say about you? Imagine that Alexander Pushkin was in your class at school and write a story about that. |
Have a look at the alphabet on the Russian alphabet page and try to write "Pushkin" in Russian letters.
And now find out more about Pushkin - his life, some of his stories and poems, and more.
Send your best pictures and writing to us - we'd like to add them to this website! Email us at info@scotlandrussiaforum.org
Send your best pictures and writing to us - we'd like to add them to this website! Email us at info@scotlandrussiaforum.org