The Presidential Library collections illustrate the last day of the cornet Lermontov

July 27 marks M. Lermontov’s Memorial Day, one of the most profound and unsolved poets of Russia. Many researchers of the poet's work and life, whose works are presented in the electronic collection of the Presidential Library "M. Y. Lermontov (1814-1841)", are trying to understand "what a complex, mysterious mental organization Lermontov was possessed of", a young man who stood up in line with the first writers of Russia. Among them there is the work of the historian of literature, Lermontov’s scholar N. Kotlyarevsky "M. Y. Lermontov" (1909), A. Georgievsky's book "Lermontov on the Purpose and Meaning of Life" (1914), "Lermontov’s Life" (1939) by I. Andronikov and other rarities. The collection also included volumes and periodicals containing texts of Lermontov's works, biographical sketches and memoirs, as well as postcards and photographs on which monuments to the poet and places associated with his name are imprinted. Of particular interest are reproductions of paintings and drawings by M. Y. Lermontov - a gifted self-taught artist.

"They talked about Lermontov as a spoilt child from an aristocratic family, like some idler, dying of boredom and satiety. Nobody wanted to see how much this man fought, how much he suffered, before he ventured to express his thoughts", - M. Yanovskaya quotes A. Herzen in the book "M. Y. Lermontov": a collection of materials for schools and out-of-school institutions" (1941).

This rather common judgment does not stand up to criticism: a weak, sickly child, painfully attached to his mother, lost her at the age of three. The ability of Maria Mikhailovna Arsenyeva-Lermontova to deeply and strongly feel was descended by her son: he heard, and not just in a childlike way listened to music. In the album "M. Y. Lermontov" a relative of the poet says: "Maria Mikhailovna was gifted with a musical soul. Putting her baby on her knees, she played the piano, and he, clinging to her head, sat motionless, the sounds seemed to shake his infantile soul, and tears rolled down his face. Mother gave him an extraordinary nervousness".  

A talented young man with naked nerves, sharply reacting to everything that happened around him, became famous after the poem "To the death of the poet" written by him on the day of Pushkin's death and becoming famous throughout Russia.

"A few years ago, looking for materials for the biography of Mikhail Lermontov, I saw in the archive of the military ministry "The case of impermissible verses written by the cornet of the Life Guard Guards Regiment Lermontov", - writes P. Viskovaty in the study "Lermontov to the death of Alexander Pushkin. According to original documents", published in the first volume of the "Herald of Europe" (1887). "Even then, I took copies of the most interesting papers". The author describes the atmosphere that prevailed then in the highest world: "For the relations of the court circle to Pushkin is very characteristic of the recall of the chamberlain, Prince Ts. Hearing the expression "great Pushkin", the prince remarked: "Why is he great?! If you are talking about chamber-junker Pushkin, then I will tell you that he was a preposterous and arrogant man; we did not like him at court".    

"Lermontov was terribly shocked by Pushkin's death", - continues Viskovaty. - He revered before his genius and did not accept the sympathy of high society to Dantes, to whom especially the high society ladies favored, - it irritated the young poet. All this so strongly influenced Mikhail Yurievich, that he fell sick with a nervous breakdown. He even came to the idea of ​​calling a murderer and avenging the death of the Russian talent".   

His grief and resentment Lermontov expressed in the poem "To the death of the poet". In I. Andronikov's book "Lermontov’s Life" (1939) we read: "Lermontov's verses to the death of the poet were copied in tens of thousands of copies, reread and learned by everyone". "They accurately and strongly expressed the indignation that engulfed advanced, cogitative Russia", - explains V. Manuilov in the publication "Mikhail Yurievich Lermontov" (1945).  

The government regarded the poem as a call for revenge, realizing its social significance, and Lermontov, cornet of the Hussars' regiment, was exiled to the Caucasus by ensigns - in the 30s and early 40s of the XIX century the troops were sent there to suppress the uprising of the mountaineers. The fighting in the mountains was cruel. In the Caucasus, Lermontov was talked about as a brave man, as if playing with death.

"I am sure that you received my letters from the active detachment in Chechnya", - Lermontov wrote to his friend A. Lopukhin in a message perpetuated in the album "M. Y. Lermontov". - We were busy every day and one case was quite hot, which lasted 6 hours in a row. We were only 2,000 infantry, and there were up to 6,000 of them; and all the time fighting bayonets ... - Imagine that in the ravine, where there was fun, the hour after the case still smelled of blood".  

But feat of arms did not attract the poet, in the intervals between the struggles glorifying the beauty of the Caucasus in verse, prose and strikingly precise sketches from nature. "I hope, my dear grandmother, that forgiveness will come to me, and I will be able to retire", - wrote the poet to E. Arsenyeva in May 1841. Lermontov dreamed of the founding of his own magazine and often spoke about it with journalist A. Krayevsky.

Yelizaveta Alexeyevna Arsenyeva sent a message requesting assistance to the chief of the gendarmes, General A. Benckendorff. On March 24, 1841, he addressed the Minister of War to Count A. Chernyshev with the following letter: "The grandmother of the cornet Lermontov, distressed by the inability to see him continuously, dares to submit her request to the feet of His Imperial Majesty for the most gracious transfer of her grandson in the Life Guards Gusar regiment, so that she could safely enjoy his company in deep old age (she is already 80 years old ..."). This document is in the "Case", which was thoroughly studied by P. Viskovaty, the author of the study "Lermontov on the death of Alexander Pushkin. According to original documents".  

The petition of Benckendorff was granted. Lermontov returned to Petersburg, where he was vying with each other to invite him to the best houses for lunches and reception. The authorities irritated this attitude to the "unreliable" poet, and it was decided to send him back to the Caucasus.

In N. Kotlyarevsky's book "M. Y. Lermontov" (1909), which by the end of 1915 sustained five reprints, there are such lines: "Of all the people standing in the forefront of society, no one is so unarmed in front of ethical issues of life as a poet, this recognized darling of fortune. He more than anyone has to suffer from the constant discord of the ideal and reality".  

The repeated expulsion of the hero of the war to the Caucasus under the severe pressure of official structures was a blatant injustice. According to A. Herzen, the poet went to the Caucasus "to meet his fatal foresight of an early finale". And it happened in the early morning at the foot of Mashuk Mountain: the brother-soldier of the cornet Lermontov Nikolay Martynov, who summoned the poet to a duel for nothing, made a fatal shot and ... left him die on the path that ran down the hill to the city of Pyatigorsk. The major who was the second to fire did not miss ...