Health and Death
Nikolai A. Nekrasov suffered from a chronic lung condition, for which he had to spend months in the warmer climate, mainly in the Mediterranean coast of Italy.
In 1875 Nekrasov, never healthy, was diagnosed with intestinal cancer. His friends paid for the surgery performed by the leading doctor of that time, Dr. Bilroth, who was invited from Vienna. However, the surgery did not cure the illness, but only prolonged his agony, and Nekrasov suffered for another two years. At that time, he wrote his Last Songs, filled with the wisdom and sadness of the dying poet.
Nekrasov's funeral at Novodevichy Cemetery in Saint Petersburg was attended by many. Fyodor Dostoyevsky gave the keynote eulogy, noting that Nekrasov was the greatest Russian poet since Alexander Pushkin and Mikhail Lermontov. A section of the crowd, youthful followers of Chernyshevsky, who connected some verses of the deceased poet with the revolutionary cause, chanted "No, he was greater!"
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