Why did Ruslan and Ludmila cause controversy among literary critics?

Ruslan and Ludmila caused controversy among literary critics because it deliberately flouted the established rules and genres of the time.12

The poem was a mock-heroic work that parodied various literary forms, including the epic, the folk tale, the literary ballad, and romance. By blending these styles with an old Russian setting and elements of folklore, the work challenged the rigid standards held by the two dominant Russian literary schools of the day: classicism and sentimentalism. Consequently, the poem was violently attacked by critics from both schools. Despite this backlash, the work was a significant success that brought Aleksandr Pushkin widespread fame, famously leading the poet Vasily Zhukovsky to acknowledge Pushkin as his superior with the inscription, "To the victorious pupil from the defeated master".312