Nikolay Petrovich Nikolev (; 21 November 1758 – 5 February 1815), was a Russian poet and

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Readin ...

. He was brought up and educated in the family of Princess

Ekaterina Dashkova Princess Yekaterina Romanovna Dashkova (born Countess Vorontsova; ; 28 March 1743 – 15 January 1810) This source reports that Prince Dashkov died in 1761. was an influential noblewoman, a major figure of the Russian Enlightenment and a close f ...

, his distant relation. As President of the

Russian Academy The Russian Academy or Imperial Russian Academy () was established in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 1783 by Empress Catherine II of Russia and princess Dashkova as a research center for Russian language and Russian literature, following the example ...

, Dashkova secured his admission into the academy and helped popularize his tragedies and folk songs among the Russian elite. The poet went blind at the age of 20, after which his popularity soared and he came to be sentimentally styled a Russian Milton.

Emperor Paul Paul I (; – ) was Emperor of Russia from 1796 until his assassination in 1801. Paul remained overshadowed by his mother, Catherine the Great, for most of his life. He adopted the laws of succession to the Russian throne—rules that lasted ...

also treated Nikolev kindly and referred to him as "L'aveugle clairvoyant". Five volumes of his works were published during Paul's reign. Nikolev had a theatre of serf actors at his estate near

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

, where he staged his own plays.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nikolev Dramatists and playwrights from the Russian Empire Male poets from the Russian Empire Poets from the Russian Empire Members of the Russian Academy 1758 births 1819 deaths Russian blind people Russian male dramatists and playwrights Blind poets