Alexander Pushkin's The Bronze Horseman was first published in 1837. The poem was written earlier, in 1833, but its complete publication was delayed until after Pushkin's death because censorship restricted the work.
The narrative poem is set in Saint Petersburg and centers on the equestrian statue of Peter the Great. Its story connects the city's imperial ambition with the devastating flood of 1824, following the ordinary clerk Evgenii as personal grief collides with the power symbolized by the statue. That tension between the individual and the state helped make the poem a landmark of Russian literature.
The first publication appeared in the journal Sovremennik, or The Contemporary, in 1837. This explains the common mix-up with 1833: 1833 is the year of composition, while 1837 is the year of first publication. Another date sometimes encountered is 1882, when the poem was first published in English translation. Pushkin's work also helped establish the monument's enduring popular name, “The Bronze Horseman,” although the actual statue is dedicated to Peter the Great.