Lermontov had Scottish roots, his family name before being Russified was Learmonth, and he his linked to Thomas the Rhymer. Thomas of Erceldoune, who was also known as Thomas Learmonth (c. 1220 – 1298)

 

Not only was Lermontov a great poet he was also a wonderfully accurate portraitist.

 

However it is for his skills as a wordsmith that he is rightfully referred to as  "the poet of the Caucasus". With Alexander Pushkin's death in 1837 Lermontov quickly became the most important Russian poet. He was, however, much more than that. He was a poet not just for Russia but for his generation.

 

A romantic death at young age, he was killed in a duel against his military cadet classmate Nikolai Solomonovich Martynov in his twenty-seventh year. It is said the Lermontov was going to aim for the sky but that Martynov aimed directly for his adversary’s heart.