Shakespeare’s Influence on Pushkin’s Dramatic Work

Summary

I admit quite frankly that I would be upset by the failure of my tragedy, for I firmly believe that the popular tenets of Shakespearian drama are better suited to the Russian theatre than the courtly habits of the tragedy of Racine, and any such failure might slow down the reformation of our stage. (Draft preface to Boris Godunov, 1829–30?)

Pushkin was born in 1799. He wrote at a time when Russian secular literature emerged from a period of apprenticeship to one of mastery, a time which saw the composition of most of 'Russia's finest poetry, and finally one in which English literary influence predominated. He had himself an enormous field of creative activity which he was constantly enlarging, for his mind was always alive and receptive to new ideas. He found inspiration in English literature for his poetry, his drama and his prose.