How did Aleksandr Pushkin’s death affect Mikhail Lermontov?

The death of Aleksandr Pushkin in a duel in January 1837 deeply affected Mikhail Lermontov, leaving him profoundly shaken.1

In response, Lermontov wrote an elegy titled "Smert poeta" ("Death of a Poet"), which brought him immediate fame. In this work, he expressed the nation's grief and denounced not only the man who killed Pushkin but also the court aristocracy, whom he held responsible as the true executioners of freedom.12

The political nature of these verses drew the attention of the court of Nicholas I, leading to Lermontov's arrest and subsequent exile to a regiment stationed in the Caucasus. This period of exile significantly broadened his horizons through his exposure to new landscapes, the Georgian intelligentsia, and exiled Decembrists, all of which left a lasting impression on his later literary work.1