Russian Romance

1875. 19th century Russian author who is considered to be his country's greatest poet and the founder of modern Russian literature. Two of his major works include the masterpiece, Eugene Onegin, a novel in verse concerning mutually rejected love and his historical tragedy, Boris Godunov. Russian Romance begins: My father, Andrey Petrovitch Grineff, who served in his youth under Count Munich, had retired with the rank of senior major, in the year 17-. He then settled on his property in the government of Simbirsk, where he married Avdotia Vassilievna U-, the daughter of a poor nobleman in the neighborhood. Nine children were born to my parents. All my brothers and sisters died in their infancy. My name had been entered on the strength of the Semionoffsky regiment, thanks to Prince B-, a major in the Guards, and our near relative.