Shcherbina studied at the Taganrog Boys Gymnasium (Chekhov Gymnasium), where he fell in love with Greek language lessons and wrote the long poem Sappho at the age of thirteen (which he subsequently destroyed).

[1] In 1838, his work To the Sea was published for the first time in the magazine Syn Otechestva (Son of the Fatherland).

In 1850, a collection of his poems, Grecheskie stikhotvoreniya (Greek Verses), was published in Odessa and was well received by the public.

In March 1855, he moved to Saint Petersburg, where he was appointed Official for Special Missions at the Ministry of Public Education.

In the capital, he published Pchela (Bee), a collection of verses for popular reading, which was approved by the Ministry and improved his financial means.