«Borodino» is a poem by the poet Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov. It was written in 1837. It was published in the journal «Sovremennik» in the same 1837 year. It is dedicated to the Battle of Borodino on September 7, 1812, in which the Russian army fought against the French Napoleonic forces.
Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov (1814–1841) was a Russian poet, prose writer, playwright, and artist.
His life was short, but a bright talent developed remarkably early: poems and even long poems (epics) written by Lermontov at the age of 14 have survived. He was endowed with extraordinary musicality—he played the violin, the piano, sang, and composed music to his own lyrics.
Lermontov’s creative legacy includes poetry, prose, and drama: works that are realistic, romantic, and even—satirical.
Everything that the poet created in his short life is a feat in the name of freedom and the Motherland. And it consists not only in extolling the Borodino victory («Borodino», 1837), in the lines “I love my Fatherland...” («Rodina» (The Motherland), 1841), but also in those works where the fate of a generation is discussed, the poet’s calling is considered, an isolated prisoner is portrayed, exile is depicted, and the emptiness of life is examined.
The collection includes poems and long poems by M.Yu. Lermontov written in different years of his life and belonging to different directions of his creative work.