Why did Aleksandr Pushkin increasingly write prose during his final years?

During his final years, Aleksandr Pushkin turned increasingly to prose for several reasons, though he never abandoned poetry entirely. His shift in focus was partly driven by a desire to explore historical themes, particularly the reign of Peter the Great and the history of popular peasant uprisings, such as the Pugachov Rebellion.1

Pushkin’s move toward prose also reflected a broader shift in the Russian literary landscape during the 1830s, as the influence of the aristocratic salon waned and the importance of monthly "thick journals" grew. Furthermore, his prose works, such as The Captain's Daughter and The Queen of Spades, allowed him to experiment with complex narrative structures and historical truth, sometimes addressing the same events through both fictional and nonfictional lenses.231

This transition occurred despite the personal and professional difficulties he faced, including the restrictive social life at court and the intense scrutiny of the tsar’s censorship, which made his life increasingly difficult during his final years in St. Petersburg.14