Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov , a Russian Romantic writer and poet, sometimes called "the poet of the Caucasus", was the most important presence in Russian poetry after Alexander Pushkin's death until his own four years later, at the age of 26. Like Pushkin, he fell in a duel, with Nikolay Martynov. In one of his best-known poems, written on January 1, 1840 he described his poetry as "iron verse steeped in bitterness and hatred."

Lermontov was born in Moscow to a respectable family of the Tula government, and grew up in the village of Tarkhany (in the Penza government), which now preserves his remains. His family traced descent from the Scottish Learmounts, one of whom settled in Russia in the early 17th century, during the reign of Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov.

The family did not fare well for long, however, and Lermontov's father, Yuri Lermontov, like his father before him, entered military service. Having moved up the ranks to captain, he married the sixteen year old Mariya Arsenyeva, to the great dismay of her mother, Yelizaveta Alekseyevna. A year after the marriage, on the night of October 3rd (Old Style), 1814, Mariya Arsenieva gave birth to Mikhail Lermontov. Soon after his birth, some discord between Lermontov's father and grandmother erupted, and unable to bear it, Mariya Arsenieva fell ill and died in 1817. After her daughter's death,Yelizaveta Alekseyevna devoted all her care and attention to little Mikhail and his education, always in fear that his father might sooner or later run away with him. Either because of this pampering or continuing family tension or both, Lermontov developed a fearful and arrogant temper and love of destruction, which he took out on the servants, and smashed the bushes in his grandmother's garden.

As a young child Lermontov listened to stories about the outlaws of the Volga region, and his imagination was enraptured by their reportedly great bravery and wild country life. Unfortunately, at ten years of age he fell sick, and to soothe his illness, Yelizaveta Alekseyevna took him to the Caucasus region. There, young Lermontov for the first time fell in love with a girl he would later describe as having golden hair and a "pair of angelic eyes".

After the academic gymnasium, in the August of 1830, Lermontov transferred to Moscow University. That same summer the final, tragic act of the family discord played out. Having been struck deep by his son's alienation, Yuri Lermontov left the Arseniev house for good, only to die a short time later. His father's death on such a note was a terrible loss for young Mikhail, and is reflected in several of his poems: "Forgive me, Will we Meet Again?" and "The Terrible Fate of Father and Son".

Lermontov's career at the University was short-lived. While there, he was known for his aloofness and arrogant disposition; he attended lectures faithfully, but would often read a book in the corner of the auditorium, and rarely took part in student life. What brought his time at the University to an end was a prank a group of students pulled against the obnoxious professor Malov. Once, after the professor had begun a lecture with his favorite phrase, "the man, who," a group of students that had already gathered there from various departments started to applaud and yell: "Fora! Excellent!" At this, Malov coiled up, crawled off the podium, and quickly walked out onto the street, where the students followed and threw a pair of shoes at him. Lermontov, who had attended this "event", paid dearly for it, and some consider this to be the reason for his departure.

At that time he began writing poetry imitative of Pushkin and Byron. He also took a keen interest in Russian history and medieval epics, which would be reflected in the Song of the Merchant Kalashnikov, his long poem Borodino, poems addressed to the city of Moscow, and a series of popular ballads.