Mtsyri

Interesting Facts

• The main character of the work is a young man who was captured in childhood and grew up in a monastery, but dreamed all his life of freedom and returning to his homeland.
• The plot is based on real events that happened to a captive Georgian boy whom Lermontov met in a monastery.
• The work is written in the genre of a romantic poem and reflects the main features of Romanticism: the pursuit of freedom, loneliness, and conflict with the surrounding world.
• Mtsyri spends three days in freedom, during which he experiences many adventures and trials, including a fight with a leopard.
• The poem raises themes of national identity, freedom, and the inner struggle of a person.
• The title «Mtsyri» translates from Georgian as «novice» or «newcomer in a monastery».
• The work was written in 1839 and first published in 1840.