10 + 1 Reasons To Aspire To Be Mikhail Lermontov

1. From a phonetic point of view, he had the coolest Russian name to have

2. The main character of his only finished novel 'A Hero of our Time', is very much a mirror-image of himself.

3. Deservedly, one of the foremost poets of Russia.

4. He represented the typical mid-18th century Russian thinking - that of a true, purposeful rebel.

5. His arrogance, as described by his peers, is scarcely present in his poetry.

6. He was able to pin down anyone with a brilliantly chosen epigram or nickname.

7. In-between sardonically satirising his teachers at school, he was also a skillful violin-player.

8. His paintings are in no way inferior to any French or German Romantic painter.

9. In the army, he would expose his impressive physical strength by tying steel ramrods into knots.

10. He surpasses the eternal-glorification of any rockstar that died prematurely because he died in an actual duel.

11. All the reasons above are made all the more deserving of plaudits with the fact that he lived only to the age of 26.