Alexander Pushkin is unanimously acknowledged as the greatest Russian poet, his works considered the foremost paragons of Russian literature, their status similar to that of writings by Dante in Italy or by Goethe in Germany. He can be called the founder of the Russian literature, and even the modern Russian language originates from his works. Already in Pushkin’s lifetime he was publicly titled a genius. From the late 1820s he came to be called “the first Russian poet”, a real cult created by readers around his personality. His most famous works include the verse novel Eugene Onegin, the novel The Captain's daughter, the short stories The Tales of the Late Ivan Petrovich Belkin and The Queen of Spades, and dramas The Little Tragedies, Boris Godunov, and Mozart and Salieri, to name but a few. He is also the author of numerous poems and tales in verse. In various cities of the former Russian Empire and the Soviet Union there are lots of Pushkin monuments and streets. Minor planet 2208 is named after Alexander Pushkin.