Home » Victorian Authors List » Mikhail Lermontov Biography

Mikhail Lermontov Biography

Mikhail Lermontov is a Russian writer whose original name was Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov. He is known for his romantic poetry and his great novels. He belongs from the golden age of Russian poetry where other poets too got inspired by Mikhail. At the contemporary time, these works were very famous, and even in the post-modern world, his psychological novels are famous for the deep pathos and sensation.
Early Life

Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov was born in 1814, on 15th October. His birthplace is Moscow and he was brought there to a village named Tarkhany. He was the son of a wealthy family this is why he had enough sophistication in his childhood. His family members shifted from Scotland to Russia. Thus, he a Scottish person though he did not bring up in Scotland.

After settled down in Russia her mother Maria gave birth to him. Some of the critics who have studied Mikhail’s biography use to say that there was a problem between his parents. Probably this may hamper Mikhail’s childhood days. Though there is no strong evidence.
One of the scholars Alexander Skabichevsky have studied Mikhail’s life is of the opinion,

“There is no strong evidence as to what had precipitated the quarrels they’ve had. There are reasons to believe Yuri had grown tired of his wife’s nervousness and frail health, and his mother-in-law’s despotic ways,”

It is said that his father had an illicit relationship with a woman and Maria was violated for that. Thus, after some years of Mikhail’s birth, she died because of Tuberculosis. It was 1817 when she died in pain. As the family had money therefore they gave well schooling to Mikhail. He was brought up by his grandparents. During this period, Mikhail learned French and Germany and also learned to play musical instruments. From the very first days, he had an interest in writing, listening to music, speaking languages, etc.

University Life

In 1827 he shifted to Moscow along with his grandparents. There he completed his school life and starts studying at Moscow University. This was a very significant time as he starts writing poetry at that time. Not only writing, but he also starts painting images. In 1828 he published his poem named “Cherkesy” in English “Circassians” and “Kavkazsky plennik” in English “Prisoner of the Caucasus”.

It is said that he took inspiration from Lord Byron. Not only himself but so many contemporary writers have been inspired by the Romantic poet Lord Byron. In this year, he published another of his poem named “Vesna” that means ‘Spring’. In his college life, he has done more social works and an idealistic approach as well. After some years he published another of his novels “Stranny Chelovek” which got very famous at that time and many more university students got inspired by that.

Then he lost his father which gets reflected in some of his poems such as “Forgive Me, We Will Meet Again?” and “The Terrible Fate of Father and son”. Probably he was a bit sad about the loss of his father. In the later years, he published more works called “Menschen und Leidenschaften”.This drama gets ended with the tragic death of the protagonist who kills himself. Mikhail had a great interest in European politics and European Literature. This, he followed the European culture and adopt them in his writings.

Personal Life of Mikhail Lermontov

Mikhail Lermontov is a romantic poet and romantic playwright who have struggled a lot to be a successful man throughout the life. When he was young he falls in love with a woman. He wrote about this girl whom he loved in his poetry.

“o early in life, at ten! Oh, this mystery, this Paradise Lost, it will be tormenting my mind till the very grave. Sometimes I feel funny about it and am ready to laugh at this first love of mine, but more often I’d rather cry,”
Later after her, he falls in love with another lady named Yekaterina Sushkova. This was to an unsuccessful love. Though they meet later in his life. This was 1890 when he again falls in love with Lopukhina and he started writing a drama that remained unwritten. There are other characters named Princess Mary and Vera who got inspired by his love story.

Therefore his writings are more close to his personal life and love affairs.

In the last years of his life, he visited Moscow. Then he writes,
“In the mornings he was writing, but the more he worked, the more need he felt to unwind in the evenings,”
In 1841 he dies and this was a very young age for Mikhail Lermontov. He was buried and there were more than a thousand people. This is how the great power lives for his poetry and dramas.