adolf yanushkevich was born in 1803 in nesvizh, in a poor noble family.ter graduating from the nesvizh dominican school and vinnytsia secondary school , he entered the literary faculty of vilnius university. at the age of 18 , he published his first poem meliton and evelina. many of his poems were published in periodicals. during his studies became friends with adam mickiewicz and became the prototype for the hero of his poem uncle prisoner adolf. after completing his studies, yanushkevich settled in the family estate in kamenets-podolsky . in 1831, he was wounded, captured and sentenced to lifelong exile in siberia. the poet spent the first years of exile in the ishim district, and in 1841 he was allowed to move to omsk, where he began working in the border administration of the siberian kirghiz. during his trips across the steppes, where the ancestors of today's kazakhs lived, yanushkevich began to study the life and culture of this people. his observations shared his impressions in numerous letters to friends and relatives, and also kept diaries. these