Alexander Odoevsky

Alexander Ivanovich Odoevsky (, November 26 (December 8), 1802 – October 10 (22) or August 15 (27), 1839) was a Russian poet and playwright, one of the leading figures of the 1825 Decembrist revolt. One of Odoevsky's lines, "Iz iskry vozgoritsa plamya" (Из искры возгорится пламя, One spark will start a flame), has come down in history as a long-lasting slogan of the Russian revolutionary movement. It was chosen as a motto (signed as: the "Decembrists' reply to Pushkin") for the Lenin-founded newspaper Iskra, also giving the newspaper its title, which means "spark".

Biography Alexander Odoevsky was born in Saint Petersburg, to an old family of Russian aristocrats. He received a high quality home education and in 1821 joined the military. One of his best friends and a major influence was his relative, the playwright Aleksander Griboyedov. By 1825 Odoevsky had begun writing poetry, but few of his early works remained, The Ball (1825), a critique of high society life, being one of them.