And today it is believed that Mayakovsky’s satire is one of his most striking poetic sides. He was considered an unsurpassed master of this genre. His works often contained exciting civic pathos, which organically coexisted with soulful lyricism. And also the merciless satire that filled many of his poems.
Features of Mayakovsky's satirical creativity
Speaking about Mayakovsky's satire, many compare it with Swift's mocking laughter. This English writer also shocked his contemporaries in his caustic pamphlets.
Many researchers have long noticed that the purer and higher the poet imagined the ideal of the new Soviet man, which the authorities dreamed of so much, the more mercilessly he attacked with all his might the vulgarity and bad taste that surrounded him. And also base predation and greed.
Critics of those years argued that the philistinism met in the person of the poet Mayakovsky too strong and biting an enemy. Satire in Mayakovsky’s works also often attacks clumsy and thieving officials, general rudeness and sycophancy. The poet categorically did not tolerate spiritual hardness in a person; he called it “mentally lying on the stove.”
menacing laughter
Satire occupied an important place in Mayakovsky's poetry. He himself called it “a menacing laugh.” The poet was sure that his poems helped burn out all kinds of nonsense and rubbish from life.
At the same time, he paid great importance precise and vivid rhyme. He believed that it could be not only a slogan and a caress, but also a whip and a bayonet. All sorts of bureaucrats and slackers, as well as scoundrels and plunderers of people's property, suffered greatly from him. The objects to which Mayakovsky's satire was directed were very diverse. Almost like the reality around him.
The poet's satirical whip was so sophisticated that the enemy got it, no matter where he was, no matter what guise he was hiding under. Mayakovsky denounced sycophants, interventionists, enemies of the Soviet people, officials who received a party card only for the sake of profit and their own benefit.
"Oh crap"
Speaking about Mayakovsky's satire, one can cite the poem "On Rubbish" as a striking example. In it, the author describes a classic tradesman who seems to be sticking out from behind the back of the RSFSR. An inimitable and memorable image of Comrade Nadya.
Mayakovsky describes her as a woman who has emblems on her dress, and without a hammer and sickle one cannot appear in society.
Mayakovsky’s rejection of philistinism is similar to Gorky’s attitude towards this class. He also hates him and ridicules him, exposing him for any reason. This happens in everyday life and in art, as well as among large quantity the youth of his day.
Similar themes can be found in Mayakovsky’s poems “You Give an Graceful Life”, “Love”, “Marusya Poisoned”, “Beer and Socialism”, “Letter to Molchanov’s Beloved”.
Mayakovsky's satirical themes
The relevance of Mayakovsky’s satire at that time was felt, perhaps, by everyone. He did not shy away from touching on the most pressing and problematic issues. It is noteworthy that not only his poems were satirical, but also his dramatic works. For example, the comedies “Bathhouse” and “Bedbug” are still popular.
At the center of the narrative of the play “The Bedbug” is a character named Prisypkin. He doesn’t like this surname, he wants elegance and renames himself Pierre Skripkin. The author characterizes him as a former worker who today became a groom. He marries a girl named Elzevira Renaissance. She also has a lot of grace. She works as a manicurist.
Prisypkin in the future
Prisypkin is carefully preparing for the upcoming wedding. To do this, he buys red ham and red-headed bottles, because there is a red wedding coming up. Next, a whole list of fantastic and incredible events occurs, as a result of which Prisypkin manages to survive in frozen form until the bright future of communist society.
People who meet him in the future unfreeze the hero and look in surprise at a human being who eats vodka, as they note. Around himself, Prisypkin begins to spread the fetid bacilli of alcoholism, begins to infect everyone around him with the worst human qualities that were inherent in many of his contemporaries. Thus, in a satirical form, Mayakovsky ridicules sycophancy, as well as excessive sensitivity, which the author calls “guitar-romance.”
In this society of the future, Prisypkin becomes a unique specimen, for which there is a place in the zoological garden. He is placed there along with the bug, which has been his constant companion all this time. Now he is an exhibit that people specially go to look at.
Play "Bath"
As an example of satire in the works of V. Mayakovsky, many cite another of his plays “Bathhouse”. In it, the poet sharply ridicules the bureaucratic Soviet institution.
Mayakovsky wrote that the bathhouse washes or simply erases bureaucrats of all stripes. The main character of this work is the chief supervisor of coordination management. His job title is abbreviated as chief officer. With this detail, the author caustically notes the passion of the Soviet authorities for such abbreviations and abbreviations. The surname of this character is Pobedonosikov.
The Komsomol members who surround him invent an amazing time machine. on her main character strives to leave for a bright future. In the so-called communist age. In preparation for the trip, he even prepares mandates and corresponding travel certificates, and writes out his own daily allowance.
But the whole plan ultimately fails. The machine sets off, moving through five-year plans, it carries hardworking and honest workers behind it, spitting out Pobedonosikov himself and useless officials like him as it goes.
Set of satirical means
Satire in Mayakovsky's work is one of the popular and widespread techniques. Working with him, the poet uses a wide range of different means. Mayakovsky himself repeatedly called satire his favorite formidable weapon. He had his own cavalry of witticisms, whose heroic raids almost no one could repel.
One of the poet's favorite techniques was extreme hyperbolism. Hyperbolizing everything around him, Mayakovsky created truly fantastic phenomena in his poems. He used these grotesque techniques in his early creations, which are called “Hymns.”
He was also very fond of literary cartoons. In it, he satirically emphasized the shortcomings of the subject being described and condensed the features he exposed. An example of the use of such satire in Mayakovsky's poems is "Nuns".
Hatred of religious bigotry
Mayakovsky, like no one else, ridiculed religious hypocrisy. Also important role All kinds of literary parodies played a role in his work. For example, in the poem "Good!" he brilliantly parodied the text of Pushkin himself.
The witty parody that Mayakovsky presents to our court greatly enhances the effect of satirical exposure, which he achieves by all means. The poet's satire is always sharp, it stings flawlessly and always remains original and unique.
"Sitting Over"
One of the classic examples of this poet’s satire is “The Sitting Ones.” This poem was first published in 1922 in the newspaper Izvestia. Mayakovsky begins with calm and even light irony, gradually increasing his righteous anger towards the bureaucratic apparatus.
In the beginning, he tells how the working day of the “over-sitting” begins. At dawn they rush to their offices, trying to surrender there to the power of “paperwork.”
Already in the second stanza, a petitioner appears, knocking doorsteps in the hope of getting an audience with the leadership and solving his long-standing problem. He has long dreamed of getting to the elusive “Ivan Vanych,” as everyone calls him here. He can't stoop to common man, constantly disappearing from meetings.
Mayakovsky writes mockingly about the imaginary nature of the supposedly important matters in which such an Ivan Vanych is busy. And after that he immediately resorts to hyperbole. It turns out that their concerns, which they are poring over, are the merger of the theater department of the People's Commissariat for Education with the Main Directorate of Horse Breeding, as well as the issue of purchasing ink and other office supplies. They solve such problems instead of really helping people.
Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky created a lot of satirical works. In his early years, the poet collaborated in the magazines "Satyricon" and "New Satyricon" and in his autobiography "I Myself" under the date "1928" (two years before his death) he writes: "I am writing the poem "Bad" as opposed to the 1927 poem "Good" ". But he did not have time to write “Bad,” although he always paid tribute to satire both in poetry and in plays. The original pathos, themes and images of satire, as well as its direction were constantly changing.
IN early poetry V. Mayakovsky's satire is dictated, first of all, by the pathos of anti-bourgeoisism, and pathos that is of a romantic nature. In the poetry of V. Mayakovsky, a conflict traditional for romantic poetry arises creative personality, the author’s “I” - rebellion, loneliness (it’s not without reason that early V. Mayakovsky’s poems are often compared to Lermontov’s), the desire to tease and irritate the rich and well-fed.
This was typical of futurism, the movement to which the young author belonged. The alien philistine environment was portrayed satirically, as soulless, immersed in the world of base interests, in the world of things:
Here you are, man, you have cabbage in your mustache
Somewhere, half-eaten, half-eaten cabbage soup;
Here you are, woman, you have thick white paint on you,
You are looking at things as an oyster.
Already in his early satirical poetry, V. Mayakovsky uses the entire arsenal of traditional poetry, satirical literature, which Russian culture is so rich in, artistic means. Thus, he uses irony in the very titles of a number of works, which the poet designated as “hymns”: “Hymn to the Judge,” “Hymn to the Scientist,” “Hymn to the Critic,” “Hymn to the Dinner.” As you know, the anthem is a solemn song. Mayakovsky's hymns are an evil satire. His heroes are sad people who themselves do not know how to enjoy life and bequeath this to others, they strive to regulate everything, to make it colorless and dull. The poet names Peru as the setting for his anthem, but the real address is quite transparent. Particularly vivid satirical pathos is heard in “Hymn to Lunch.” The heroes of the poem are those well-fed ones who acquire the meaning of a symbol of bourgeoisity. The poem uses a technique that in literary science is called synecdoche: instead of the whole, a part is called. In "Hymn to Lunch" the stomach acts instead of a person:
Stomach in a Panama hat! Will you get infected?
The greatness of death for a new era?!
Nothing can hurt your stomach,
Except for appendicitis and cholera!
There is also an early romantic poet here, and V. Mayakovsky, who put his work at the service of the new government. These relationships - the poet and the new government - were far from simple, this is a separate topic, but one thing is certain - the rebel and futurist V. Mayakovsky sincerely believed in the revolution. In his autobiography, he wrote: “To accept or not to accept? For me (and for other Muscovite futurists) there was no such question. My revolution.”
The satirical orientation of V. Mayakovsky's poetry is changing. Firstly, the enemies of the revolution become its heroes. This topic is on long years became important for the poet, she provided abundant food for his work. In the first years after the revolution, these are the poems that made up the "Windows of ROSTA", that is, the Russian telegraph agency, which produces propaganda posters on the topic of the day. V. Mayakovsky took part in their creation both as a poet and as an artist - many poems were accompanied by drawings, or rather, both were created as a single whole in the tradition of folk pictures - popular prints, which also consisted of pictures and captions for them. In "Windows of GROWTH" V. Mayakovsky uses such satirical techniques as grotesque, hyperbole, and parody. Thus, some inscriptions are created based on famous songs, for example, “Two grenadiers to France...” or “The Flea,” famous from Chaliapin’s performance. Their characters are white generals, irresponsible workers and peasants, bourgeoisie - certainly in top hats and with a fat belly.
Mayakovsky makes maximalist demands for his new life, so many of his poems satirically show its vices. Thus, V. Mayakovsky’s satirical poems “About Rubbish” and “The Satisfied Ones” became very famous. The latter creates a grotesque picture of how new officials sit endlessly, although against the background of what we know about the activities of the then authorities in Russia, this weakness of theirs looks quite harmless. The fact that “half of the people” sit at the next meeting is not only the implementation of the metaphor - people are torn in half in order to get everything done - but also the very price of such meetings.
The former anti-philistine pathos returns to V. Mayakovsky in the poem “About Rubbish.” Everyday details such as harmless canaries or a samovar act as ominous symbols of the new philistinism. The grotesque picture that appears at the end of the work is an image of a portrait coming to life, traditional for literature. This is a portrait of Marx making a very strange call, understandable only in the context of this poem, to turn the heads of the canaries, which have acquired a generalized meaning.
Life changes every day, but Mayakovsky’s satire remains relevant.
Satire occupies a special place in Mayakovsky’s work. The first satirical works were published even before the revolution on the pages of the magazine “New Satyricon”. These were parody “hymns” - “Hymn to Health”, “Hymn to the Judge”, “Hymn to the Scientist”, “Hymn to the Critic”, etc.
After the revolution and during the years civil war Mayakovsky worked at Windows of ROSTA, where he created the genre of signatures - caustic, biting, caustic - under cartoons and satirical pictures. Later, Mayakovsky wrote a whole cycle of satirical poems: “About rubbish”, “The Satisfied”, “Bureaucracy”.
In them he depicts different types Soviet philistines, opportunists, bureaucrats, sycophants. Social vice is concentrated in one hero, whose image, as a rule, is exaggerated and grotesque. In the Mayakov Gallery, satirical portraits are created according to the “social mask” principle. These are portraits of political figures of the capitalist world (“Mussolini”, “Curzon”, “Vandervelde”), and images embodying the typical vices of Soviet society (“Hack”, “Pillar”, “Sneaker”, “Gossip”, “Prudence” " and etc.).
Mayakovsky uses all means of satire - from ironic ridicule and caustic sarcasm to the grotesque that connects the real with the fantastic. In the poem “On Rubbish,” the poet mocks the demands of the new Soviet petty bourgeoisie, which do not extend beyond the desire to have “Pacific riding breeches” and “figure” in a dress “with hammers and sickles” “at a ball in the Revolutionary Military Council.” It reveals the “inside” of Soviet inhabitants, who, having accepted the surroundings, superficial signs of belonging to the new time and the socialist system, essentially remained ordinary bourgeois petty bourgeois and opportunists.
A new vice, born of the Soviet regime, is shown in the poem “The Sitting Ones.” Meetings on any occasion (“About the purchase of a bottle of ink”), which give significance to yesterday’s slave, and today to the official, are ridiculed evilly and caustically, and the “assessors” themselves appear in a grotesque form:
And I see, Half of the people are sitting, Oh, devilry! Where is the other half?
The situation is brought to the point of absurdity to show the absurdity of the phenomenon itself. Mayakovsky’s satirical talent was most clearly expressed in the plays “The Bedbug” and “Bathhouse”. In the comedy “The Bedbug,” the poet satirically reproduced many signs of the NEP period. Former worker, and now a degenerate, Petya Prisypkin replaced his “dissonant” name according to the Western model, becoming Pierre Skripkin. Mayakovsky ridicules the hero's petty-bourgeois, essentially vulgar claims. The pinnacle of his dreams is to marry the daughter of a Nepman wife, Elzevira Renaissance, in order to “relax by a quiet river.” This “new” hero is “not some small fry,” in his own words, he is very interested: “I mirror cabinet come on!” In the play, the hero constantly exposes himself. His claims to be a modern hero fail. Material from the site
The second act of the play, when after 50 years, i.e. in 1979, Prisypkin is unfrozen - this is a metaphor. Residents of the future keep Prisypkin in an isolated cage as a harmful exhibit of a zoo. He is a “terrible humanoid malingerer” - “philistineus vulgaris”, akin to the “common bug”. This convention allowed Mayakovsky to express his optimistic confidence that in the future such “bugs” will die off.
The play “Bath” is directed against bureaucracy, which crushes every living thought. Glavnachpups (chief manager for coordination management) Pobedonosikov is a stupid creature who imagines himself as Napoleon, capable of controlling the destinies of others. Not seeing the opportunity to deal with bureaucracy at that time, Mayakovsky resorted to a conventionally fantastic transfer to the future. The phosphoric woman - the messenger of this future - refuses to take Pobedo-Nosikov and his “faithful squire” Optimistenko into it.
The fight against bureaucracy, vulgarity, and sycophancy is one of the main themes of Mayakovsky’s work. Satirical works Mayakovsky created at all stages of his creativity. In Mayakovsky's early poetry, satire is dictated, first of all, by the pathos of anti-bourgeoisism, and it is of a romantic nature. A traditional conflict for romantic poetry arises between the creative personality and the author’s “I” - rebellion, loneliness (it’s not without reason that early V. Mayakovsky’s poems are often compared to Lermontov’s), the desire to tease and irritate the rich and well-fed. This was typical of futurism - the poetry of the movement to which the young author belonged. The alien philistine environment was depicted satirically. The poet portrays her as soulless, immersed in the world of base interests, in the world of things:
Here you are, man, you have cabbage in your mustache
Somewhere, half-eaten, half-eaten cabbage soup;
Here you are, woman, you have thick white paint on you,
You are looking at things as an oyster.
Note that already in his early poetry Mayakovsky uses the entire arsenal traditional means satires, so rich in Russian literature. Thus, he uses irony in the very titles of a number of works, which the poet designated as “hymns”: “Hymn to the Judge,” “Hymn to the Scientist,” “Hymn to the Critic,” “Hymn to the Dinner.” As you know, the anthem is a solemn song. Mayakovsky's hymns are an evil satire. His heroes are sad people who themselves do not know how to enjoy life and forbid it to others, they strive to regulate everything, to make it colorless and dull.
It would seem that what can be ridiculed in “Hymn to Lunch”? The heroes of the poem are those well-fed ones who acquire the meaning of a symbol of bourgeoisity. The author uses a technique that in literary criticism is called synecdoche: instead of the whole, a part is called. In "Hymn to Lunch" the stomach acts instead of a person:
Stomach in a Panama hat! Will you get infected?
The greatness of death for a new era?!
Nothing can hurt your stomach,
Except for appendicitis and cholera!
If we continue the gastronomic theme, then a peculiar turning point in the satirical work of V. Mayakovsky was the ditty he composed in October 1917:
Eat pineapples, chew hazel grouse,
Your last day is coming, bourgeois.
Here you can still feel the early romantic poet, and you can see Mayakovsky, who put his work at the service of the new government. These relationships - the poet and the new government - were far from simple, this is a separate topic, but one thing is certain - a rebel and a futurist, Mayakovsky sincerely believed in the revolution.
In his autobiography, he wrote: “To accept or not to accept? For me (and for other Muscovite futurists) there was no such question. My revolution.” In the post-revolutionary period, the satirical orientation of Mayakovsky's poetry changed. Firstly, the enemies of the revolution become its heroes. This topic became important for the poet for many years; it provided abundant food for his work. In the first years after the revolution, these were the poems that made up the “Windows of ROSTA” (Russian Telegraph Agency) - propaganda posters on the topic of the day. Mayakovsky took part in their creation both as a poet and as an artist. Many poems were accompanied by drawings, or rather, both were created as a single whole in the tradition of folk pictures - lubok, which also consisted of pictures and captions for them.
“I am a sewer man and a water carrier, mobilized and called up by the revolution...” Mayakovsky wrote about himself. In "Windows of ROSTA" Mayakovsky uses such satirical techniques as grotesque, hyperbole, and parody. Thus, some inscriptions are created based on famous songs, for example, “Two Grenadiers to France” or “The Flea,” famous from Chaliapin’s performance. Their characters are white generals, irresponsible workers and peasants, bourgeoisie.
Mayakovsky makes maximalist demands for his new life, so many of his poems satirically show its vices. The satirical poems “About Rubbish” and “Sitting Around” became very famous. The latter creates a grotesque picture of how new officials sit endlessly, although, knowing today about the activities of the then authorities in Russia, this weakness seems to us quite harmless.
In the poem “About Rubbish,” Mayakovsky’s former anti-philistine pathos seems to return.
Quite harmless details of everyday life, like a canary or a samovar, take on the sound of ominous symbols of the new philistinism. At the end of the poem, a traditional literary image of a portrait coming to life appears, this time a portrait of Marx, who makes a rather strange call to turn the heads of the canaries. This call is understandable only in the context of the entire poem, in which the canaries acquired such a generalized meaning.
Less well known are Mayakovsky’s satirical works, in which he speaks not from a position of militant revolutionism, but from a position of common sense. One of these poems is “A poem about Myasnitskaya, about a woman and about an all-Russian scale.” Here is a revolutionary desire for global remake world comes into direct conflict with the everyday interests of the ordinary person. Baba, whose “snout was covered in mud” on the impassable Myasnitskaya Street, does not care about global all-Russian scales. In this poem one can see a roll call with the common sense speeches of Professor Preobrazhensky from the story by M. Bulgakov " dog's heart".
Mayakovsky’s satirical poems about the passion of the new authorities to give everyone and everything the names of heroes are permeated with the same common sense. In the poem "Terrifying Familiarity" the poet's invented but quite reliable "Meyerhold Combs" or "Dog named Polkan" appear. In 1926, V. Mayakovsky wrote the poem “Strictly Forbidden.” In the poem there is a collision of natural human impulse, feeling, mood with officialdom, with the clerical system in which everything is regulated, strictly subject to rules that complicate people's lives. It is no coincidence that the poem begins with a spring picture, which should and does give rise to a joyful mood; even the most ordinary phenomena, such as a station platform, evoke poetic inspiration. And all this is negated by strict bureaucracy.
The poet, with amazing psychological accuracy, conveys the feeling of a person who becomes the subject of a strict prohibition; he becomes humiliated, no longer laughs, but “giggles, seeking protection.” The lyrical hero of this work is not an orator, not a fighter, but, above all, a man with his natural mood, inappropriate where everything is subject to strict regulations. The satirical poems of V. Mayakovsky still sound modern today.
V. Mayakovsky created satirical works at all stages of his work. It is known that in his early years he collaborated in the magazines “Satyricon” and “New Satyricon”, and in his autobiography “I Myself” under the date “1928”, that is, two years before his death, he wrote: “I am writing the poem “Bad” in counterbalance to the 1927 poem “Good.” True, the poet never wrote “Bad,” but he paid tribute to satire both in poetry and in plays. Its themes, images, focus, and initial pathos changed.
Let's take a closer look at them. In the early poetry of V. Mayakovsky, satire is dictated primarily by the pathos of anti-bourgeoisism, and pathos that is of a romantic nature. In the poetry of V. Mayakovsky, a traditional conflict for romantic poetry arises between the creative personality and the author’s “I” - rebellion, loneliness (it is not without reason that the early poems of V. Mayakovsky are often compared to Lermontov’s), the desire to tease and irritate the rich and well-fed.
For futurism, the movement to which the young author belonged, this was typical. The alien philistine environment was depicted satirically. The poet portrays her as soulless, immersed in the world of base interests, in the world of things:
Here you are, man, you have cabbage in your mustache
Somewhere, half-eaten, half-eaten cabbage soup;
Here you are, woman, you have thick white paint on you,
You are looking at things as an oyster.
Already in his early satirical poetry, V. Mayakovsky uses the entire arsenal of artistic means traditional for poetry, for satirical literature, which is so rich in Russian culture. Thus, he uses irony in the very titles of a number of works, which the poet designated as “hymns”: “Hymn to the Judge,” “Hymn to the Scientist,” “Hymn to the Critic,” “Hymn to the Dinner.” As you know, the anthem is a solemn song. Mayakovsky's hymns are an evil satire. His heroes are sad people who themselves do not know how to enjoy life and bequeath this to others, they strive to regulate everything, to make it colorless and dull. The poet names Peru as the setting for his anthem, but the real address is quite transparent. Particularly vivid satirical pathos is heard in “Hymn to Lunch.” The heroes of the poem are those well-fed ones who acquire the meaning of a symbol of bourgeoisity. The poem uses a technique that in literary science is called synecdoche: instead of the whole, a part is called. In “Hymn to Lunch,” the stomach acts instead of a person:
Stomach in a Panama hat!
Will you get infected?
The greatness of death for a new era?!
Nothing can hurt your stomach,
Except for appendicitis and cholera!
A peculiar turning point in the satirical work of V. Mayakovsky was the ditty he composed in October 1917:
Eat pineapples, chew hazel grouse,
Your last day is coming, bourgeois.
There is also an early romantic poet here, and V. Mayakovsky, who put his work at the service of the new government. These relationships - the poet and the new government - were far from simple, this is a separate topic, but one thing is certain - the rebel and futurist V. Mayakovsky sincerely believed in the revolution. In his autobiography, he wrote: “To accept or not to accept? There was no such question for me (and for other Muscovites-futurists). My revolution."
The satirical orientation of V. Mayakovsky's poetry is changing. Firstly, the enemies of the revolution become its heroes. This topic became important for the poet for many years; it provided abundant food for his work. In the first years after the revolution, these are the poems that made up the “Windows of ROSTA,” that is, the Russian telegraph agency, which produces propaganda posters on the topic of the day. V. Mayakovsky took part in their creation both as a poet and as an artist - many poems were accompanied by drawings, or rather, both were created as a single whole in the tradition of folk pictures - popular prints, which also consisted of pictures and captions for them. In “Windows of GROWTH” V. Mayakovsky uses such satirical techniques as grotesque, hyperbole, parody - for example, some inscriptions are created based on famous songs, for example, “Two Grenadiers to France...” or “The Flea,” famous from Chaliapin’s performance. Their characters are white generals, irresponsible workers and peasants, bourgeoisie - certainly in top hats and with a fat belly.
Mayakovsky makes maximalist demands for his new life, so many of his poems satirically show its vices. Thus, V. Mayakovsky’s satirical poems “About Rubbish” and “The Satisfied Ones” became very famous. The latter creates a grotesque picture of how new officials sit endlessly, although against the background of what we know about the activities of the then authorities in Russia, this weakness of theirs looks quite harmless. The fact that “half of the people” sit at the next meeting is not only the implementation of the metaphor - people are torn in half to get everything done - but also the very price of such meetings.
In the poem “About Rubbish”, V. Mayakovsky’s former anti-philistine pathos seems to return. Quite harmless details of everyday life, like a canary or a samovar, take on the sound of ominous symbols of the new philistinism. At the end of the poem, a grotesque picture again appears - the traditional literary image of a portrait coming to life, this time a portrait of Marx, who makes a rather strange call to turn the heads of the canaries. This call is understandable only in the context of the entire poem, in which the canaries acquired such a generalized meaning. Less well known are the satirical works of V. Mayakovsky, in which he speaks not from the position of militant revolutionism, but from the position of common sense. One of these poems is “A poem about Myasnitskaya, about a woman and about an all-Russian scale.”
Here the revolutionary desire for a global remake of the world comes into direct conflict with the everyday interests of the ordinary person. Baba, whose “snout was covered in mud” on the impassable Myasnitskaya Street, does not care about the global all-Russian scale. This poem echoes the common sense speeches of Professor Preobrazhensky from M. Bulgakov’s story “The Heart of a Dog.” The same common sense permeates the satirical poems of V. Mayakovsky about the passion of the new authorities to give everyone and everything the names of heroes. Thus, in the poem “Terrifying Familiarity,” the poet’s invented but quite reliable “Meyerhold Combs” or “Dog named Polkan” appear.
In 1926, V. Mayakovsky wrote the poem “Strictly Forbidden”:
The weather is such that May is just right.
May is nonsense. Real summer.
You rejoice at everything: the porter, the ticket inspector.
The pen itself raises the hand,
and the heart boils with the gift of song.
The platform is ready to be painted to heaven
Krasnodar.
Here the nightingale-trailer would sing.
The mood is a Chinese teapot!
And suddenly on the wall: - Ask questions to the controller
strictly prohibited! -
And immediately the heart is at the bit.
Soloviev stones from a branch.
I would like to ask:
- Well how are you?
How's your health? How are the kids? -
I walked, eyes down to the ground,
just chuckled, looking for protection,
And I want to ask a question, but I can’t -
the government will be offended!
In the poem there is a collision of natural human impulse, feeling, mood with officialdom, with the clerical system in which everything is regulated, strictly subject to rules that complicate people's lives. It is no coincidence that the poem begins with a spring picture, which should and does give rise to a joyful mood; the most ordinary phenomena, such as a station platform, evoke poetic inspiration, the gift of song. V. Mayakovsky finds an amazing comparison: “The mood is like a Chinese teapot!” Immediately a feeling of something joyful and festive is born. And all this is negated by strict bureaucracy. The poet, with amazing psychological accuracy, conveys the feeling of a person who becomes the subject of a strict prohibition - he becomes humiliated, no longer laughs, but “giggles, looking for protection.” The poem is written in tonic verse, characteristic of V. Mayakovsky’s work, and, which is typical of the artist’s poetic skill, rhymes “work” in it. Thus, the most cheerful word - “teapot” - rhymes with the verb “forbidden” from the wretched official vocabulary. Here the poet also uses a technique characteristic of him - neologisms: treleru, nizya - a gerund from the non-existent “lower”. They actively work to reveal artistic meaning. The lyrical hero of this work is not an orator, not a fighter, but first of all a person with his natural mood, inappropriate where everything is subject to strict regulations.
The satirical poems of V. Mayakovsky still sound modern today.