Green Lamp

a Russian literary-political circle that existed in St. Petersburg in 1819–20. The group was founded by the Decembrists S. P. Trubetskoi and la. N. Tolstoi, along with the theater and literature enthusiast N. V. Vsevolozhskii. Among the members of the group, which numbered about 20, were F. N. Glinka, A. S. Pushkin, A. A. DeFvig, and A. D. Ulybyshev. At the circle’s meetings poetry, theatrical reviews, historical and political articles (many of which were directed against the tsar), and anacreontic lyrics were read and discussed. The members of the Green Lamp fought for freedom, equality, and the destruction of tyranny. Poems of Pushkin and Glinka and the article of Ulybyshev “Dream” express most vividly the political views of the circle. Green Lamp is immortalized in Pushkin’s letter to la. N. Tolstoi of Sept. 26, 1822.