About Ivan Pnin
Lived 1773 – 1805 (aged 31–32). Ivan Pnin was a Russian poet.
Ivan Petrovich Pnin (; 1773–1805) was a Russian poet and political writer. In accordance with a Russian Illegitimacy custom, Pnin's surname was the abbreviation of that of his father, Prince Nicholas Repnin.
Biography Born out of wedlock, he famously deplored the status of illegitimate children in his 1802 petition to Alexander I of Russia (Pnin's father was rumored to have also illegitimately fathered Poland's Prince Adam Jerzy Czartoryski.)
Pnin's liberal Essay on the Enlightenment in Russia (1804) attacked Russian serfdom and therefore was banned in the Russian Empire.
The titles of Pnin's best-known poems, Man (1804) and God (1805), mirror Derzhavin's on purpose, as he sought to refute the great poet's idealism by taking up the Deist stance of Radishchev, Volney, and d'Holbach.
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Important facts
People in Ivan Pnin's life
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Contemporaries
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Frequently asked questions
Who was Ivan Pnin?
Russian poet
When was Ivan Pnin born?
Ivan Pnin was born in 1773 in Moscow.
When did Ivan Pnin die?
Ivan Pnin died on 17 September 1805 in Saint Petersburg.
What was Ivan Pnin's occupation?
Ivan Pnin was a poet.
What nationality was Ivan Pnin?
Ivan Pnin was Russian.
Sources & further reading
Cite this page
APA: Biography.guide. (2026). Ivan Pnin. https://biography.guide/ivan-pnin/
MLA: "Ivan Pnin." Biography.guide, https://biography.guide/ivan-pnin/.
Chicago: "Ivan Pnin." Biography.guide. https://biography.guide/ivan-pnin/.
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