Ismail-Bey

“Ismail Bey” (1832), as Lermontov put it, is an “Eastern tale”—the largest in volume and the most significant of his early Caucasian poems. The plot of “Ismail Bey” is, to some extent, connected with real historical events that took place in the Caucasus in the early 19th century. Some of the facts reflected in the poem coincide with the biography of the Kabardian prince Ismail Bey Atazhukin, who served in the Russian army, took part in the war with the Turks, and was awarded for the assault on Izmail.