Alexander Tsaturyan was born in Zakatala on April 11, 1865. He came from a poor family and received his education at a local church-parish school and a three-year district school. Later in life, he moved to Moscow and spent most of his life there. Tsaturyan started writing at a young age and was first published in 1885. His first collection of poems was released in 1891.[1]
In addition to his original works, Tsaturyan was also a translator of Russian and European poets, publishing two volumes of poetic translations titled “Russian Poets” in 1905.[1]
Tsaturyan depicted the labor, suffering and dreams of his native people (cycle “From Songs of Suffering”, 1893), the struggle of workers against oppressors (“Lullaby of a Worker”, 1910). In the collection of satirical poems “Jokes of the Pen” (1901), Tsaturyan ridiculed the vices of the rich and churchmen.[2]
Many of Tsaturyan’s poems became folk songs. He died on March 31, 1917, in Tbilisi and was buried in Tbilisi at the Khojivank Pantheon.[3]
