Alexander Chavchavadze Prince Alexander Chavchavadze ( , " Alek ' sandre Ch ' avch ' avadze " ; , " Aleksandr Garsevanovich Chavchavadze " ) ( 1786 – November 6 , 1846 ) was a notable Georgian poet , public benefactor and military figure . Regarded as the " father of Georgian romanticism " , he was also known as a preeminent aristocrat of Georgia and a talented general in the Imperial Russia n service . Early life . Alexander Chavchavadze was a member of the noble family elevated to the princely rank by the Georgian king Constantine II of Kakhetia in 1726 . The family was of Khevsur origin but had intermarried with other Georgian military and noble families . He was born in 1786 , in St Petersburg , Russia , where his father , Prince Garsevan Chavchavadze , served as an ambassador of Heraclius II , king of Kartli and Kakheti in eastern Georgia . Tsarina Catherine II of Russia became a godmother at the baptism of infant Alexander , showing her benevolence to the Georgian diplomat . Alexander ’ s early education was Russian . He first saw his native Georgia at the age of 13 , when the family moved back to Tiflis after the Russian annexation of eastern Georgia ( 1801 ) . Aged 18 , Alexander Chavchavadze joined Prince Parnaoz , the member of the dispossessed royal family , in the 1804 rebellion in the mountainous Georgian province of Mtiuleti against Russian rule . Following the suppression of the uprising , he was briefly put in prison where he composed his first literary works , including the first radical civic poem in Georgian , " Woe to This World and Its Tenants " ( ვაჰ , სოფელსა ამას და მისთა მდგმურთა ) . The poem quickly gained popularity , and brought to its young author a remarkable fame , his manuscripts widely circulating , his lyrics of love or protest , in the spirit of the 18th - century Georgian poet Besiki or of the French enlightener Jean - Jacques Rousseau , sung in Tiflis and elsewhere in Georgia . Following a year ’ s exile in Tambov , Chavchavadze reconciled with the new regime and entered a hussar regiment . Ironically , he fought in the Russian ranks under Marquis Paulucci when the next anti - Russian rebellion broke out in 1812 in Kakheti . In the same year , he married a Georgian princess Salome Orbeliani of the prominent noble family with family ties with the Bagrationi royal line . During the War of the Sixth Coalition ( 1813 - 4 ) against Napoleon I of France , he served as an aide - de - camp to the Russian commander Barclay de Tolly and was wounded in leg at the Battle of Paris on March 31 , 1814 . As an officer in the Russian expeditionary forces , he stayed in Paris for two years and the restored Bourbon dynasty awarded his service with a Légion d ' honneur . Open to new ideas , in particular to the early French Romanticism , he was impressed by Lamartine and Victor Hugo , as well as Racine and Corneille , who entered Georgian literature through Chavchavadze . Military and political career . In 1817 , Prince Chavchavadze became a colonel of the Russian army . Promoted to Major General in 1826 , his military career reached remarkable achievement during the Russian wars against the Persian and Ottoman empires in the late 1820s . He was instrumental in the conquest of Iravan from Persia in 1827 and was appointed , in 1828 , a military governor of the Armenian Military District . During the 1828 - 9 Russo - Turkish war , with a small detachment , he organized a successful defense of the Yerevan province against the marauding Kurds and surged into Anatolia , taking control of the whole pasha te of Bajazet from the Turkish forces from August 25 to September 9 , 1828 . In 1829 , he was dispatched as an administrator of the military board of Kakheti , where his patrimonial estates were located . Back in Georgia , Alexander enjoyed overwhelming popularity among the Georgian nobility and people . He was highly respected by his fellow Russian and Georgian officers . At the same time , he remained Georgia ’ s most refined , educated and wealthy 19th - century aristocrat , fluent in several European and Asiatic languages and with extensive friendly ties with the cream of Georgian and Russian society who frequented his famous salon in Tiflis . The prominent Russian diplomat and playwright Alexander Griboyedov married his 16 - year - old daughter Nino , whom the famous Russian poet had tutored in music during his brief stay in Tiflis . Another daughter , Catherine , married David Dadiani , prince of Mingrelia , and inspired in Nicholas Baratashvili the hopeless love that made him the greatest poet of Georgian Romanticism . At his Italianate summer mansion in Tsinandali , Kakheti , he frequently entertained foreign guests with music , wit , and – most especially – the fine vintages made at his estate winery ( " marani " ) . Familiar with European ways , Chavchavadze built Georgia ’ s oldest and largest winery where he combined European and centuries - long Georgian winemaking traditions . The highly regarded dry white " Tsinandali " is still produced there . According to his acquaintance , Juan Van Halen , Chavchavadze , " a Georgian prince , educated in Europe . . . though serving in our regiment with the rank of colonel , had succeeded , without neglecting his military duties , in improving his valuable inheritance in such a manner that few Georgian nobles can cope with him in wealth . " Despite his loyal service to the Russian crown , Chavchavadze ’ s nostalgia for Georgia ’ s lost independence , monarchy , and the autocephalous church once again pushed him into rebellion , joining the 1832 conspiracy aimed at organizing a large - scale uprising against the Russian hegemony . The failed coup plot turned a disaster for the Georgian literature : most of his poetry written between 1820 and 1832 , inspired by the pathetic Romanticism and egalitarianism , was burned by the author as possible evidence against him . He was sentenced to the five - year exile to Tambov , but the tsar , who needed his talents amid the ongoing Caucasian War , forgave him , however . Chavchavadze eagerly joined the expedition against the rebellious mountaineers of North Caucasus . Like his many fellow Georgian nobles , he found a good opportunity to take revenge for the permanent marauds organized by the mountaineers of North Caucasus on the Georgian marches in the past . He was promoted lieutenant general in 1841 , and continued his service in the Caucasus , briefly as head of the civil administration of the region from 1842 to 1843 . In 1843 , he fought his last war , commanding a successful punitive expedition against the rebellious Dagestani tribes . Later , he was appointed a member of the Council of the Chief Administration of Transcaucasus . In 1846 , Alexander Chavchavadze fell a victim to an accident , under somewhat mysterious circumstances : while going back to his palace in Tsinandali at night , somebody from the near woods approached and splashed hot water while he was galloping on his horse . He lost the control of the horse and crashed into the ditch nearby . He died from severe head injuries on the spot . Although the tragedy was most likely an accident , it has been rumored that he was killed by Russian assassins . He was buried at the Shuamta Monastery in Kakheti , Georgia . Chavchavadze was survived by a son , David , who was also Lt Gen in the Russian service during the Caucasus Wars , and three daughters , Nino , Catherine , and Sophia . Writings . Chavchavadze ’ s influence over Georgian literature was immense . He moved the Georgian poetic language closer to the vernacular , combining the elements of the formal wealth and somewhat artificial antiquated " high " style inherited from the 18th - century Georgian Renaissance literature , melody of Persian lyrical poetry , particularly Hafiz and Saadi , bohemian language of the streets of Tiflis and the moods and themes of European Romanticism . The subject of his works varied from purely anacreon tic in his early period to deeply philosophic in his maturity . Chavchavadze ’ s contradictory career – his participation in the struggle against the Russian control of Georgia , on one hand , and the loyal service to the tsar , including the suppression of Georgian peasant revolts , on the other hand – found a noticeable reflection in his writings . The year 1832 , when the Georgian plot collapsed , divides his work into two principal periods . Prior to that event , his poetry was mostly impregnated with laments for the former grandeur of Georgia , the loss of national independence and his personal grievances connected with it ; his native country under the Russian empire seemed to him a prison , and he pictured its present state in extremely gloomy colors . The death of his beloved friend and son - in - law , Griboyedov , also contributed to the depressive character of his writings of that time . In his Romantic poems , Chavchavadze dreamed of Georgia ' s glorious past , when " the breeze of life past " would " breathe sweetness " into his " dry soul . " In poems " Woe , time , time " ( ვაჰ , დრონი , დრონი ) , " Listen , listener " ( ისმინეთ მსმენნო ) , and " Caucasia " ( კავკასია ) , the " Golden Age " of medieval Georgia was contrasted with its unremarkable present . As a social activist , however , he remained mostly a " cultural nationalist , " defender of the native language , and an advocate of the interest of Georgian aristocratic and intellectual elites . In his letters , Alexander heavily criticized Russian treatment of Georgian national culture and even compared it with the pillaging by Ottomans and Persians who had invaded Georgia in the past . In one of the letters he states : " The damage which Russia has inflicted on our nation is disastrous . Even Persians and Turks could not abolish our Monarchy and deprive us of our statehood . We have exchanged one serpent for another " . After 1832 , his perception of the national problems became different . The poet unambiguously pointed out those positive results which had been brought about by the Russian annexation , though the liberation of his native land remained to be his most cherished dream . Later his poetry became less romantic , even sentimental , but he never abandoned his optimistic steak that makes his writings so different from those of his predecessors . Some of the most original of his late poems are , " Oh , my dream , why have you appealed to me again " ( ეჰა , ჩემო ოცნებავ , კვლავ რად წარმომედგინე ) , and " The Ploughman " ( გუთნის დედა ) written in the 1840s . The former , a rather sad poem , surprisingly ends with hope for the future in contemplation of the poet . The latter combines Chavchavadze ’ s elegy for his past years of youth with calm humorous farewell to lost sex - life and potency . Chavchavadze also composed a historic work , " The Short sketches of the history of Georgia from 1801 to 1831 . "