Lev Aleksandrovich Mey

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Lev Aleksandrovich Mey (Лев Александрович Мей) (1822-1862) - is a Russian poet.

[edit] Biography

Lev Mey was born on February 13, 1822, in Moscow. His father was a German officer who was wounded in the Battle of Borodino and died young. His mother was Russian. Mey completed his studies in Moscow in 1841 and served in the office of the Governor for 10 years. He became part of the "young editorial staff" of Mikhail Pogodin's "Moskovityanin". For a time, he taught secondary school, but was forced to retire because of conflicts with his colleagues. He moved to Saint Petersburg, where he was active in literary endeavors. It was during this period that he wrote "Reading Library", "Domestic notes", "Son of the Fatherland", "Russian Word", "Russian Peace", and "Svetoch".

Extremely disorderly and childishly extravagant, Mey lived a dissipated and Bohemian life. He had a great fondness for drink, which led to his untimely death on May 16, 1862.