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Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin, 1799-1837. Russian poet and author, who founded the literature of his language with epic and lyric poems, plays, novels, and short stories.

Pushkin was born in Moscow. In 1817 he joined the ministry of foreign affairs in Saint Petersburg; there he became a member of an underground revolutionary group. In 1820 he was exiled to the Caucasus for his "Ode to Liberty"; nonetheless, Pushkin continued to hold official posts. That same year Pushkin published his long poem Ruslan and Ludmila, which earned him a reputation as one of Russia's most promising poetic talents. He soon followed with the poems, The Prisoner of the Caucasus, The Fountain of Bakhchisarai, and The Gypsies. He began his most famous work, Eugene Onegin, in 1823. The work has been described as the first of the great Russian novels (although in verse). He was dismissed from government service in 1824 and banished to his mother's estate. There he wrote Boris Godunov. In 1826 Czar Nicholas I pardoned him. Pushkin's later work includes two long poems, Poltava and The Bronze Horseman, and his novel The Captain's Daughter.

Pushkin provided a literary heritage for Russians, whose native language had hitherto been considered unfit for literature. His lyric poetry and his simple, vivid prose were invaluable models for the writers who followed him.