Mayakovsky's work is brief: main themes and works. V. Mayakovsky

Many Russian poets - Pushkin, Lermontov, Nekrasov and others - paid great attention to the theme of the poet and poetry in their work. Vladimir Mayakovsky was no exception. But this topic was comprehended by the poet at another time, against the background literary development 20s of the XX century. Therefore, in Mayakovsky we find a new understanding of this problem. But much in his understanding of the role of poet and poetry comes precisely from the literary tradition of the 19th century.
Vladimir Mayakovsky was the poet of the revolution, he received it enthusiastically and sang praise for it. Events in the young Soviet Russia, put forward before literature the task of creating a new art. Mayakovsky tried with all his creativity to answer the needs of our time. In the poem "Order No. 2 for the Army of the Arts" he addresses the workers of the pen with an appeal: "Comrades! Give me a new art - such as to drag the republic out of the mud ”. He defined his task as “to shine always, to shine everywhere”. Mayakovsky believed that time demanded from the poet such a exertion of strength and such dedication that he became the luminary of a new life. This expressed the civil position of Mayakovsky. And, despite all the ambiguity of the political events of that time, we can say that this poet served his country. And it was in
This is what we see in Mayakovsky's work as a continuation of the literary tradition of the 19th century.
Let's remember what we said about the role of the poet of the classics. Pushkin called "to burn the hearts of people with a verb" and "he called for mercy to the fallen." Lermontov likened poetry to a military weapon, affirming the effectiveness of the poetic word in transforming society. Nekrasov believed that a poet should first of all be a citizen. Mayakovsky was precisely such a citizen of his socialist republic. Speaking about the continuity of his views with the views of the writers of the previous century, it should be mentioned that the poet was repeatedly reproached for his allegedly disrespectful attitude towards the classics. Most likely, these reproaches were based on the lines of his poem "Jubilee", in which Mayakovsky mentally addresses Pushkin. In it, the poet says to the great classic: "Now you would have to throw a burnt iambic." According to Mayakovsky, the turbulent times in which he lived demanded a different weapon (“bayonet and pitchfork teeth”). The poet claims that "the battles of revolutions are more serious than" Poltava ", and love is more grandiose than Onegin's love." These lines indicate that Mayakovsky believed that new times require new poetry. But this does not mean that he does not recognize the merits of the greatest Russian poet. In the same poem by Mayakovsky we find the following lines:

Alexander Sergeich,
but don't listen to them!
Maybe,
I am
one
really sorry
what today
you are not alive ...
I love you,
but alive
not a mummy.
Brought
textbook gloss.
You, in my opinion,
in life
- I think - they were also raging,
African!

Poetry in Mayakovsky's understanding is work. And to such a poet-toiler in the summer he looks at the dacha ... the sun. This interesting plot is invented by the poet in the poem "An extraordinary adventure that happened with Vladimir Mayakovsky in the summer at the dacha." The allegorical form of this poem helps the poet to vividly and figuratively express his understanding of the role of poetry. The purpose of the sun is to shine on people, to maintain life on earth. The poet should be the same worker. And his mission is just as significant:

Always shine
shine everywhere, until the last days of the bottom,
shine -
and no nails!
This is my slogan - and the sun!

Vladimir Mayakovsky paid great attention to the poet's professionalism. The poem "Conversation with the financial inspector about poetry" is devoted to the problem of poetic mastery. Mayakovsky believed that a real poet, working on a poem, should spend a lot of effort. Only in this case his word will be worthy to be heard (“These words set in motion thousands of years of millions of hearts”). “My labor is related to any labor,” Mayakovsky said. He also wrote such famous lines:

Poetry -
the same extraction of radium, In a gram of extraction,
per year of work. Hassle
one word for the sake of
Thousand tons
verbal ore.

Vladimir Mayakovsky believed that the poet should be the builder of a new life.
In the unfinished poem "With the Whole Voice" the poet sums up his 20-year career. In form, this work is a conversation between the poet of that time and his descendants. Mayakovsky speaks with those who will live after him, "as if alive with the living." The poem "Out loud" in its subject matter echoes Pushkin's "Monument" - in it Mayakovsky, just like Pushkin in his famous poem, evaluates his work, its social significance. Mayakovsky, a poet of his time, believes that only he is worthy to remain in the memory of the people who devoted themselves to building a new, better life.

And that's all
over the teeth of the armed troops that twenty years in victories
flew by, until
I give you the last leaf
proletarian planet.

Mayakovsky's poem and Pushkin's poem "Monument" were written in different historical eras, but both poets expect that their poetry will be needed by people even after their death. So, Mayakovsky writes:

Muffling
poetry flows, I will step
through lyrical volumes, as if alive
with lively speaking.

About Mayakovsky, we can say that he really served people disinterestedly, even despised personal fame:

I do not care
on bronze mnogopudy,
I do not care
on marble slime ...
let us
common monument will
built
in battles
socialism.

The political acuteness of these lines has been muted today. But we can say with confidence that Vladimir Mayakovsky really remained in our memory not only as a brilliant outstanding poet of his time, but also as the creator of an original and unusual poetic style. Many of his poems are still topical today. For example, his satire on bureaucrats and opportunists. His lyrics are also interesting, opening up new facets of human feelings to us. It can be said about Mayakovsky that this man was sincere, he believed in what he wrote, and therefore, I think, it was not in vain that he hoped that his "verse by labor would break through the bulk of the years."

Poets have always thought about the goal of poetry, about the place of the poet in the life of the country and the people. What a poet should write and for whom - these questions arose in ancient times simultaneously with poetry itself. Poet or Citizen? Poet and citizen? Is the poet a citizen? Is it necessary for a poet - God's chosen one - to also be a citizen?
The great Russian poet Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin in the poem "I have erected a monument not made by hands ..." wrote:
And for a long time I will be so kind to the people,
That I awakened good feelings with my lyre,
That in my cruel age I have glorified freedom
And he called for mercy to the fallen.
The fate of the great Russian poet M. Yu. Lermontov, who did not find a place for himself in life among the innumerable "masks", was tragic. Loneliness fell heavily on his poems. About his appointment as a poet, about his poems, he said:
And the recall of noble thoughts
Sounded like a bell on a veche tower
During the days of celebrations and troubles of the people,
The poet-democrat N. A. Nekrasov dedicated his best poems to the people, he carried on his shoulders all the burden of the poet's work and responsibility, so that at the end of his life he could proudly say: “I dedicated my lyre to my people”.
The creativity of Vladimir Mayakovsky presents new stage in the development of Russian poetry. He became one of the best poets of the early 20th century, a century of profound social change. It was a time of breaking not only the political system, but also ethical and aesthetic norms. In his lyrics, the most vivid, perhaps even demonstratively, features of the new human personality. The hero of Mayakovsky's poetry is both the poet himself and the generalized image of the Russian.
The poet did not immediately and not soon determine the place of his poetry in the life of contemporary society. Thinking about the apparent uselessness of the poet among the everyday everyday worries of people, he asks the question:
After all, if the stars are lit, it means -
Does anyone need this?
The poet is the same star, and its light serves as a moral guide to people. Internally convinced of the need for a poetic word for the human soul, Mayakovsky sees the poet's mission in absorbing all the pain of millions of suffering and lonely people and telling the world about it. Addressing others, to future generations, the poet declares:
Here I am, all
pain and bruise. I will bequeath to you an orchard
My great soul!
After the October Revolution, the poet appeals to all artists of the word with an appeal to direct their skills to educating people: “Comrades, on the barricades - barricades of hearts and souls”. Mayakovsky no longer doubts that his art is needed by the people, that the country needs it. As the captain, who is the soul and heart of the ship, so the poet, in the understanding of Mayakovsky, performs a large and responsible task: he controls the hearts and minds of people on one big ship called a country. Hearts are the same motors. The soul is the same cunning engine.
According to Mayakovsky, people need poetry like the sun. And here it is no coincidence that real poetry is compared with a luminary, which has long been considered a symbol of life on earth, without which there would be no heat or light. Poems warm the soul of every person, filling it with the eternal fire of life, making them realize that they are an integral part of the vast world.
And the sun too:
“You and me, there are two of us, comrade!
I will pour my sun, and you - yours,
poetry ".
In the poem "An Unusual Adventure ..." there is a theme of two suns: the sun of light and the sun of poetry. This theme develops in the work and further, finding a very accurate and accurate embodiment in poetic image"double-barreled suns", from one trunk of which sheaves of light burst, and from the other - the light of poetry. Before the force of this weapon, "a wall of shadows, a prison of nights" falls down. The poet and the Sun act together, replacing each other. The poet declares that when he “gets tired” and wants to “lie down” on the Sun, then he “is able to do it all day long - and the day will ring again”.
V. Mayakovsky continues his reflections on the work of poetry in the poem "A Conversation with the Financial Inspector about Poetry". This work of his is one of the key to understanding the deep meaning the author put into the word "poet". The poem is a playful but passionate monologue - an argument where Mayakovsky defends his point of view.
First of all, he speaks of the poet as a worker, a person who eats bread for a reason, but is a useful member of society: "My work is equal to any work." With these words, the author of the lines wants to say that poetry is a difficult, painstaking work requiring the highest skill and qualifications, requiring polishing of each poem, like a precious stone, so that it "sparkles with all facets":
Poetry -
the same extraction of radium. Loot in a gram,
per year of work.
Harassing a single word for a thousand tons
verbal ore.
The work of the poet-master is justified by the deep influence of a well-aimed word on the minds and hearts of people. Like Pushkin, who saw the poet's task in "burning the hearts of people with a verb," ​​so Mayakovsky writes about "the incinerating words of these burning."
What if I
people driver
and at the same time -
people's servant?
An important feature of V. Mayakovsky's poetry was that the range of life phenomena reflected in his works was not limited by anything. The poet believed that he was obliged to write about everything that he sees around him, about everything that worries and torments him, because any topic is the knowledge of something new, every poem is a pioneering discovery, and poetry in general is “ - "known".
Perhaps, Mayakovsky accepted the revolution from a thirst for something new, hitherto unknown, from a desire to keep up with the times, to participate in the creation of a new life, new ideals, and not at all because he deeply believed in the ideas of communism. The revolution is devouring its children. The poet, "stepping on the throat of his own song," turned into a stamp-maker for the singer Mosselprom:
But I myself
humbled, becoming
on the throat
own song.
In the best possible way, these lines show the spiritual struggle of Mayakovsky, his tormenting thoughts. In 1930, not long before his tragic death, the poet wrote the poem “With the Whole Voice”, which is, as it were, his poetic testament. It is in this work that we see the true face and real feelings of the poet, who, through the heads of his contemporaries, turns to future generations, to his descendants, promising to tell "about time and about himself." Starting this story, the author is in no hurry to call himself a poet. "
: I am a flusher
and water carrier, revolution
mobilized and called
The poet fights against the filth and "filth" of life. Why is he a water carrier? Because poetry, like water, is necessary for people, without them no person can develop harmoniously. "Vodovoz" is opposed to those who "scribble romances", who "mandolin from under the walls", creating literary trinkets for the sake of low-grade philistine tastes.
And now, already loudly and clearly calling himself a poet, V. Mayakovsky sharply dissociates himself from all those who consider poetry a purely personal matter. Mayakovsky, with full awareness of his meaning, claims that his poems will be known to posterity:
My verse
labor will break through the bulk of the years and appear
weighty, rough,
visibly
Like these days
the water supply entered,
worked by the slaves of Rome.
The poet turned out to be right: his poems, having passed through time, did not depreciate, and his "sonorous poet power" reminds people of the place that the work of the poet and citizen Vladimir Mayakovsky occupies in our literary heritage.

Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky(7 (19) July 1893, Bagdati, Kutaisi province - April 14, 1930, Moscow) - Russian Soviet poet.

In addition to poetry, he brightly showed himself as a playwright, screenwriter, film director, film actor, artist, editor of the magazines "LEF" ("Left Front"), "New LEF".

Vladimir Mayakovsky was born in the village of Bagdati, Kutaisi province (in Soviet time the village was called Mayakovsky) in Georgia in the family of Vladimir Konstantinovich Mayakovsky (1857-1906), who served as a third-class forester in the Erivan province, from 1889 in the Baghdad forestry. The poet's mother, Alexandra Alekseevna Pavlenko (1867-1954), from a clan of Kuban Cossacks, was born in the Kuban. One of the grandmothers, Efrosinya Osipovna Danilevskaya, is a cousin of the author of historical novels. The future poet had two sisters: Lyudmila (1884-1972) and Olga (1890-1949) and brothers Konstantin (died at the age of three from scarlet fever) and Alexander (died in infancy).

In 1902, Mayakovsky entered the gymnasium in Kutais. In July 1906, his father died of tetanus after pricking his finger with a needle while sewing together papers. Since then, Mayakovsky hated pins and hairpins, bacteriophobia remained lifelong.

After the funeral of his father, Mayakovsky, together with his mother and sisters, moved to Moscow, where he entered the 4th grade, 5th classical gymnasium(now Moscow school number 91), where he studied in the same class with BL Pasternak's brother Shura. In March 1908 he was expelled from the V grade due to non-payment of tuition fees.

The first "semi-poetic" Mayakovsky published in the illegal magazine "Poryv", which was published by the Third Gymnasium. According to him, " it turned out incredibly revolutionary and equally ugly". In Moscow, Mayakovsky met revolutionary-minded students, began to get involved in Marxist literature, and in 1908 joined the RSDLP. He was a propagandist in a commercial and industrial subdistrict, in 1908-1909 he was arrested three times (in the case of an underground printing house, on suspicion of being connected with a group of anarchist expropriators, on suspicion of aiding the escape of women political prisoners from the Novinsky prison). Mayakovsky poet life creative

In the first case, he was released with transfer under the supervision of his parents by court verdict as a minor who acted "without reason", in the second and third cases he was released for lack of evidence. In prison, Mayakovsky "scandalized", so he was often transferred from unit to unit: Basmannaya, Meshchanskaya, Myasnitskaya and, finally, Butyrskaya prison, where he spent 11 months in solitary confinement No. 103.

In prison in 1909, Mayakovsky again began to write poetry, but was dissatisfied with what he had written. In his memoirs, he writes:

It turned out stilted and roaringly. Something like:

The forests were dressed in gold and purple, The sun played on the heads of the churches. I waited: but in months the days were lost, Hundreds of painful days.

I wrote a whole notebook like this. Thanks to the guards - they took it away at the exit. Otherwise I would have printed it! - "I myself" (1922-1928). Despite such a critical attitude, Mayakovsky calculated the beginning of his work from this notebook. After his third arrest, he was released from prison in January 1910.

After his release, he left the party. In 1918 he wrote in his autobiography: “Why not in the Party? The communists worked at the front. In art and education, they are still compromisers. They would send me to fish in Astrakhan. "

In 1911, the poet's friend, the bohemian artist Eugene Lang, inspired the poet to paint. Mayakovsky studied in the preparatory class of the Stroganov School, in the studios of artists S. Yu. Zhukovsky and P. I. Kelin. In 1911 he entered the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture - the only place where he was accepted without a certificate of reliability. Having met David Burliuk, the founder of the futuristic group "Gilea", he entered the poetic circle and joined the cubo-futurists.

The first published poem was called "Night" (1912), it was included in the futuristic collection "Slap in the face of public taste." In 1913, Mayakovsky's first collection of "I" (a cycle of four poems) was published. It was written by hand, supplied with drawings by Vasily Chekrygin and Lev Zhegin, and lithographically reproduced in the amount of 300 copies. As the first section, this collection was included in the poet's book of poems "Simple as a hum" (1916).

Also, his poems appeared on the pages of futurist almanacs "Milk of mares", "Dead Moon", "Roaring Parnassus" and others, began to be published in periodicals. In the same year, the poet turned to drama. The program tragedy "Vladimir Mayakovsky" was written and staged. The scenery for it was written by artists from the "Union of Youth" P.N. Filonov and I.S.Shkolnik, and the author himself acted as a director and performer of the main role.

In February 1914, Mayakovsky and Burliuk were expelled from the school for public performance... In 1914-1915, Mayakovsky worked on the poem "A Cloud in Pants". After the outbreak of the First World War, the poem "War Declared" was published.

In August, Mayakovsky decided to enroll as a volunteer, but he was not allowed, explaining this by political unreliability. Soon, Mayakovsky expressed his attitude to service in the tsarist army in the poem "You!", Which later became a song. In July 1915, the poet met Lilya Yurievna and Osip Maksimovich Briks.

In 1915-1917, Mayakovsky, under the patronage of M. Gorky, passed military service in Petrograd at the Automobile Training School. The soldiers were not allowed to print, but he was saved by Osip Brik, who bought the poems "The Spine-Flute" and "A Cloud in Trousers" at 50 kopecks per line and printed them. Anti-war lyrics: "Mom and the Evening Murdered by the Germans", "Me and Napoleon", the poem "War and Peace" (1915). An appeal to satire. Cycle "Hymns" for the magazine "New Satyricon" (1915). In 1916, the first large collection, "Simple as a Moo", was published. 1917 - “Revolution. Poetochronicle ". On March 3, 1917, Mayakovsky led a detachment of 7 soldiers, who arrested the commander of the Automobile Training School, General P. I. Sekretev. It is curious that shortly before that, on January 31, Mayakovsky received from the hands of Sekretev silver medal For diligence. During the summer of 1917, Mayakovsky vigorously sought to declare him unfit for military service and was released from it in the fall. Mayakovsky in 1918 starred in three films based on his own scripts. In August 1917 he planned to write Mystery Buff, which was completed on October 25, 1918 and staged for the anniversary of the revolution (directed by Vs. Meyerhold, art. K. Malevich)

On December 17, 1918, the poet read the poem "Left March" from the stage of the Sailor Theater for the first time. In March 1919, he moved to Moscow, began to actively collaborate with ROSTA (1919-1921), and designed (as a poet and as an artist) propaganda and satirical posters for ROSTA ("Windows of ROSTA"). In 1919, the first collection of the poet's works was published - “Everything composed by Vladimir Mayakovsky. 1909-1919 ". In 1918-1919 he appeared in the newspaper Art of the Commune. Promotion of the world revolution and the revolution of the spirit. In 1920 he finished writing the poem "150,000,000", which reflects the theme of the world revolution. In 1918, Mayakovsky organized the Komfoot group (communist futurism), in 1922 - the publishing house MAF (Moscow Association of Futurists), which published several of his books. In 1923 he organized the LEF group (Left Front of the Arts), the thick magazine LEF (seven issues were published in 1923-1925). Aseev, Pasternak, Osip Brik, B. Arvatov, N. Chuzhak, Tretyakov, Levidov, Shklovsky and others were actively published. He promoted Lef's theories of industrial art, social order, literature of fact. At this time, the poems "About this" (1923), "To the workers of Kursk who mined the first ore, a temporary monument by Vladimir Mayakovsky" (1923) and "Vladimir Ilyich Lenin" (1924) were published.

Mayakovsky considers the years of the civil war best time in life, in the poem "Good!" happy 1927 nostalgic chapters. In 1922-1923, in a number of works he continued to insist on the need for a world revolution and a revolution of the spirit - "IV International", "Fifth International", "My speech at the Genoese conference", etc. In 1922-1924 Mayakovsky made several trips abroad - Latvia, France, Germany; wrote essays and poems about European impressions: "How does a democratic republic work?" (1922); “Paris (Conversations with Eiffel tower) "(1923) and a number of others.

In 1925, his longest journey took place: a trip to America. Mayakovsky visited Havana, Mexico City and for three months performed in various cities of the United States with the reading of poetry and reports. Later, poems were written (collection "Spain. - Ocean. - Havana. - Mexico. - America") and the essay "My discovery of America."

In 1925-1928, he traveled a lot in The Soviet Union, has performed in a wide variety of audiences. During these years, the poet published such works as "Comrade Nette, the ship and the man" (1926); "Through the cities of the Union" (1927); "The story of the foundry worker Ivan Kozyrev ..." (1928). In 1922-1926 he actively collaborated with Izvestia, in 1926-1929 - with Komsomolskaya Pravda". Published in magazines: “ New world"," Young Guard "," Ogonyok "," Crocodile "," Krasnaya Niva "and others. He worked in agitation and advertising, for which he was criticized by Pasternak, Kataev, Svetlov.

In 1926-1927 he wrote nine screenplays. In 1927 he restored the LEF magazine under the name "New LEF". A total of 24 issues were published. In the summer of 1928, Mayakovsky became disillusioned with LEF and left the organization and the magazine. In the same year, he began to write his personal biography, "I myself". From October 8 to December 8 - a trip abroad, on the Berlin - Paris route. In November, volumes I and II of the collected works were published. The satirical plays Bedbug (1928) and Bathhouse (1929) were staged by Meyerhold. The poet's satire, especially "The Bath", provoked harassment from the Rappian criticism.

In 1929 the poet organized the REF group, but in February 1930 he left it, joining the RAPP. Many researchers of Mayakovsky's creative development liken his poetic life to a five-act act with a prologue and epilogue. The role of a kind of prologue in creative way the poet was played by the tragedy "Vladimir Mayakovsky" (1913), the first act was the poem "A Cloud in Trousers" (1914-1915) and "The Spine-Flute" (1915), the second act was the poem "War and Peace" (1915-- 1916) and "The Man" (1916-1917), the third act - the play "Mystery Buff" (the first version - 1918, the second - 1920-1921) and the poem "150,000,000" (1919-1920 ), the fourth act - the poems "I Love" (1922), "About this" (1923) and "Vladimir Ilyich Lenin" (1924), the fifth act - the poem "Good!" (1927) and the plays "Bedbug" (1928-1929) and "Bath" (1929-1930), epilogue - the first and second introductions to the poem "Out loud" (1928-1930) and the poet's dying letter " Everyone ”(April 12, 1930).

The rest of Mayakovsky's works, including numerous poems, gravitate towards certain parts of this general picture, the basis of which is the poet's major works. In his works, Mayakovsky was uncompromising, and therefore inconvenient. In the works written by him in the late 1920s, tragic motives began to arise. Critics called him only a "fellow traveler" and not the "proletarian writer" he wanted to see himself. In 1929, he tried to hold an exhibition dedicated to the 20th anniversary of his work, but he was hindered in every possible way.

Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky was born July 7 (19), 1893 in with. Baghdadi (now the village of Mayakovski) near the city of Kutaisi, Georgia. Father - forester, Vladimir Konstantinovich Mayakovsky ( 1857-1906 ), mother - Alexandra Alekseevna, nee Pavlenko ( 1867-1954 ).

In 1902-1906... Mayakovsky is studying at the Kutaisi gymnasium. In 1905 participates in demonstrations, in a gymnasium strike. July 1906, after the sudden death of his father, the family moved to Moscow. Mayakovsky enters the 4th grade of the 5th classical gymnasium. Meets Bolshevik students; is fond of Marxist literature; instructs the first party orders. In 1908 joins the Bolshevik Party. Was arrested three times - in 1908 and twice in 1909; the last arrest in connection with the escape of political prisoners from the Novinsky prison. Imprisonment in the Butyrka prison. A notebook of poetry written in prison ( 1909 ), selected by the warders and not yet found, Mayakovsky considered the beginning of literary work. Released as a minor from prison ( 1910 ), he decides to devote himself to art and continue his studies. In 1911 Mayakovsky was admitted to the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. Autumn 1911 he became acquainted with D. Burliuk, the organizer of a group of Russian futurists, and became closer to him in a general feeling of dissatisfaction with the academic routine. In the end December 1912- Mayakovsky's poetic debut: the poems "Night" and "Morning" in the anthology "Slap in the face to public taste" (where Mayakovsky signed the collective manifesto of the same name of the Cubo-Futurists).

Mayakovsky attacks the aesthetics and poetics of symbolism and acmeism, but in his quest he critically assimilates the artistic world of such masters as A. Bely, “breaks out” from the “enchanting lines” of A. Blok, whose work for Mayakovsky is a “whole poetic era” ...

Mayakovsky entered the environment of the cubo-futurists with a rapidly growing tragic-protesting theme, in fact, going back to the humanistic tradition of Russian classics, contrary to the nihilistic declarations of the futurists. From urbanistic sketches to catastrophic insights, the poet's thought about the madness of the proprietary world grows ("From street to street", 1912 ; "Adische of the city", "Nate!", 1913 ). "I AM!" - the title of Mayakovsky's first book ( 1913 ) - was synonymous with pain and indignation of the poet. For participation in public speaking Mayakovsky in 1914 was expelled from the School.

The first World War met by Mayakovsky contradictory. The poet cannot but feel aversion to war ("War is declared", "Mom and the evening killed by the Germans", 1914 ), but for some time he was characterized by the illusion of renewal of humanity, art through war. Soon, Mayakovsky comes to the realization of war as an element of senseless destruction.

In 1914 Mayakovsky first met M. Gorky. In 1915-1919. lives in Petrograd. In 1915 Mayakovsky meets L.Yu. and O.M. Brikami. Many of Mayakovsky's works are dedicated to Lilia Brik. With renewed vigor, he writes about love, which, the more enormous, the more incompatible with the horror of wars, violence and petty feelings (the poem "The Spine Flute", 1915 and etc.).

Gorky invites Mayakovsky to collaborate in the Letopis magazine and the newspaper New life"; assists the poet in the publication of the second collection of his poems "Simple as a moo", published by the "Parus" publishing house ( 1916 ). The dream of a harmonious person in a world without wars and oppression found its own expression in Mayakovsky's poem "War and Peace" (written in 1915-1916 ; separate edition - 1917 ). The writer creates a gigantic anti-war panorama; a utopian extravaganza of universal happiness unfolds in his imagination.

In 1915-1917. Mayakovsky is serving his military service at the Petrograd driving school. Takes part in February revolution 1917 of the year. In August he leaves Novaya Zhizn.

The October Revolution opened new horizons for V. Mayakovsky. She became the second birth of the poet. On the first anniversary of October, it was staged at the Musical Drama Theater, conceived back in August 1917 the play "Mystery-Buff" (staged by V. Meyerhold, with whom Mayakovsky was associated until the end of his life with the creative search for a theater consonant with the revolution).

Mayakovsky connects his innovative ideas with "left-wing art"; he seeks to unite the futurists in the name of the democratization of art (appearances in the "Newspaper of the Futurists", "Order for the Army of Art", 1918 ; belongs to the group of communist futurists ("komfuts"), who published the newspaper "Art of the Commune").

In March 1919 Mayakovsky moved to Moscow, where his collaboration with ROSTA began in October. Mayakovsky's inherent need for mass propaganda activities found satisfaction in artistic and poetic work on posters for "Windows of ROSTA".

In 1922-1924... Mayakovsky makes his first trips abroad (Riga, Berlin, Paris, etc.). The cycle of his essays on Paris - “Paris. (Notes of Ludogus) "," Seven-day review of French painting ", etc. ( 1922-1923 ), which captured Mayakovsky's artistic sympathies (in particular, he notes world significance P. Picasso), and poetry ("How does a democratic republic work?" 1922 ; "Germany", 1922-1923 ; "Paris. (Conversations with the Eiffel Tower) ", 1923 ) were Mayakovsky's approach to a foreign topic.

The transition to a peaceful life is interpreted by Mayakovsky as an internally significant event that makes one think about the spiritual values ​​of the future person (unfinished utopia "The Fifth International", 1922 ). The poem "About this" ( December 1922 - February 1923) with her cleansing theme lyric hero who, through the phantasmagoria of philistine, carries the ineradicable human ideal and breaks into the future. The poem was first published in the first issue of the LEF magazine ( 1923-1925 ), whose editor-in-chief becomes Mayakovsky, who headed the literary group LEF ( 1922-1928 ) and decided to rally around the magazine "left forces" (articles "What is Lef fighting for?", "Who is Lef biting into?", "Who is Lef warning?" 1923 ).

November 1924 Mayakovsky leaves for Paris (he later visited Paris 1925, 1927, 1928 and 1929). He visited Latvia, Germany, France, Czechoslovakia, America, Poland. Opening new countries, he enriched his own poetic "continent". In the lyric cycle "Paris" ( 1924-1925 ) Lef's irony of Mayakovsky is defeated by the beauty of Paris. The contrast of beauty with emptiness, humiliation, ruthless exploitation is the bare nerve of poetry about Paris ("Beauties", "Parisienne", 1929 , and etc.). The image of Paris bears a reflection of Mayakovsky's "bulk-love" ("Letter to Comrade Kostrov from Paris about the essence of love", "Letter to Tatiana Yakovleva", 1928 ). In the foreign topic of Mayakovsky, the central is the American cycle of poems and essays ( 1925-1926 ), written during and shortly after a trip to America (Mexico, Cuba, USA, 2nd half 1925 ).

In verse 1926-1927 biennium... and later (up to the poem "With the Whole Voice") the position of Mayakovsky in art was revealed at a new stage. Making fun of the Rappian vulgarizers with their claim to literary monopoly, Mayakovsky convinces proletarian writers to unite in poetic work for the sake of the future ("Message to Proletarian Poets", 1926; earlier article "Lef and MAPP", 1923 ). The news of the suicide of S. Yesenin ( December 27, 1925) exacerbates thoughts about the fate and vocation of true poetry, evokes grief about the death of "sonorous" talent, anger against rotten decadence and vigorous dogmatism ("Sergei Yesenin", 1926 ).

Late 1920s Mayakovsky again turns to drama. His plays "The Bedbug" ( 1928 , 1st post. - 1929 ) and "Bath" ( 1929 , 1st post. - 1930 ) written for the Meyerhold Theater. They combine a satirical depiction of reality. 1920s with the development of Mayakovsky's favorite motive - resurrection and travel into the future. Meyerhold highly appreciated the satirical talent of Mayakovsky as a playwright, comparing him with the power of irony to Moliere. However, critics of the play, especially "Bath", were perceived extremely unfriendly. And, if in "The Bedbug", as a rule, they saw artistic flaws, artificiality, then they made claims of an ideological nature against the "Bath" - they spoke of exaggerating the danger of bureaucracy, the problem of which does not exist in the USSR, and so on. Harsh articles appeared in newspapers against Mayakovsky, even under the headline "Down with Mayakovsky!" February 1930 after leaving Ref (the Revolutionary Front [of the Arts], a group formed from the remnants of Lef), Mayakovsky joins the RAPP (Russian Association of Proletarian Writers), where he is immediately attacked for "fellow travel." In March 1930 Mayakovsky organized a retrospective exhibition "20 years of work", which presented all areas of his work. (The term of 20 years was apparently counted from the writing of the first poems in prison.) The exhibition was ignored both by the party leadership and former colleagues from Lef / Ref. One of the many circumstances: the failure of the exhibition "20 years of work"; the failure of the play "Bath" at the Meyerhold Theater, prepared by devastating articles in the press; friction with other members of the RAPP; the danger of losing a voice, which would make public speaking impossible; failures in personal life (love boat crashed against everyday life - "Unfinished", 1930 ), or their confluence, became the reason that April 14, 1930 of the year Mayakovsky committed suicide. In many works ("The Spine Flute", "The Man", "About This") Mayakovsky touches upon the theme of the suicide of a lyric hero or his double; after his death, these themes were appropriately reinterpreted by the readers. Soon after the death of Mayakovsky, at active participation members of the RAPP, his work was under an unofficial ban, his works were practically not published. The situation has changed in 1936, when Stalin, in a resolution to L. Brik's letter with a request for assistance in preserving the memory of Mayakovsky, publishing the poet's works, organizing his museum, called Mayakovsky “the best talented poet of our Soviet era". Mayakovsky was practically the only representative of the artistic avant-garde of the early 20th century, whose works remained available to a wide audience throughout the Soviet period.

1893 , July 7 (19) - was born in the village of Baghdadi, near Kutaisi (now the village of Mayakovsky in Georgia), in the family of the forester Vladimir Konstantinovich Mayakovsky. He lived in Baghdadi until 1902.

1902 - enters the Kutaisi gymnasium.

1905 - gets acquainted with underground revolutionary literature, takes part in demonstrations, meetings, gymnasium strike.

1906 - the death of his father, the family moved to Moscow. In August he enters the fourth grade of the Fifth Moscow gymnasium.

1907 - gets acquainted with Marxist literature, participates in the social democratic circle of the Third Gymnasium. First verses.

1908 - joins the RSDLP (Bolsheviks). Works as a propagandist. In March he leaves the gymnasium. Arrested during a search in an underground printing house of the Moscow Committee of the RSDLP (Bolsheviks).

1909 - the second and third (in the case of organizing the escape of thirteen political convicts from the Moscow Novinsky prison) arrests of Mayakovsky.

1910 , January - released from arrest as a minor and placed under police supervision.

1911 - was admitted to the figure class of the School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture.

1912 - D. Burliuk introduces Mayakovsky to the futurists. In autumn Mayakovsky's first poem "Crimson and White" is published.
December. The publication of the collection of futurists "Slap in the face to public taste" with the first printed poems by Mayakovsky "Night" and "Morning".

1913 - the release of the first collection of poems - "I!"
Spring - acquaintance with N. Aseev. Staging of the tragedy "Vladimir Mayakovsky" at the "Luna Park" theater in St. Petersburg.

1914 - Mayakovsky's trip to the cities of Russia with lectures and reading poetry (Simferopol, Sevastopol, Kerch, Odessa, Chisinau, Nikolaev, Kiev). Expelled from the School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture in connection with public appearances.
March – April - the tragedy "Vladimir Mayakovsky" was published.

1915 - moves to Petrograd, which became his permanent place of residence until the beginning of 1919. Reading the poem "You!" (which caused indignation among the bourgeois public) in the artistic basement "Stray Dog".
February - the beginning of cooperation in the magazine "New Satyricon". On February 26, the poem "The Hymn to the Judge" was published (under the title "The Judge").
Second half of February - the almanac "Archer" (No. 1) is published with excerpts from the prologue and the fourth part of the poem "A Cloud in Trousers".

1916 - finished the poem "War and Peace"; the third part of the poem was accepted by the Gorky magazine "Letopis", but prohibited from publication by the military censorship.
February - The poem "The Spine-Flute" was published as a separate edition.

1917 - finished the poem "Man". The poem "War and Peace" was published as a separate edition.

1918 - came out as a separate edition of the poem "Man" and "A Cloud in Trousers" (second, uncensored edition). Premiere of the play "Mystery-Buff".

1919 - The newspaper "Art of the Commune" published "Left March". The collection "Everything Composed by Vladimir Mayakovsky" has been released. Beginning of Mayakovsky's work as an artist and poet at the Russian Telegraph Agency (ROSTA). Works without interruption until February 1922.

1920 - completed the poem "150,000,000". Speech at the First All-Russian Congress of ROSTA Workers.
June – August - lives in a dacha near Moscow (Pushkino). The poem "An Extraordinary Adventure ... ".

1922 - the poem "I Love" was written. "Izvestia" published the poem "Sit down". The collection "Mayakovsky Mocks" has been released. Drive to Berlin and Paris.

1923 - the poem "About this" is finished. No. 1 of the Lef magazine was published, edited by Mayakovsky; with his articles and the poem "About it".

1925 - a trip to Berlin and Paris. Trip to Cuba and America. Gives lectures and readings of poetry in New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Chicago. The magazine "Spartak" (No. 1), dedicated to Mayakovsky, was published in New York.

1926 - the poem "To Comrade Nette - the ship and the man" was written.

1927 - the release of the first issue of the magazine "New Lef" edited by Mayakovsky, with his editorial.

1929 - premiere of the play "Bedbug".
February – April - trip abroad: Berlin, Prague, Paris, Nice.
Premiere of the play "The Bedbug" in Leningrad at the branch of the Bolshoi Drama Theater in the presence of Mayakovsky.

1930 , February 1 - opening of Mayakovsky's exhibition "20 years of work" at the Moscow Writers' Club. Reads the introduction to the poem "With the Whole Voice".
April 14 - committed suicide in Moscow.

Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky is the most famous Russian futurist poet. The time of his creative heyday fell on a dramatic period in the history of Russia, the time of revolutions and the Civil War.

Childhood and adolescence of the poet Mayakovsky

Vladimir Mayakovsky was born on July 7 (19), 1893 in the town of Bagdati (now in the Imereti region, Georgia). His father served as a forester, and his mother came from the Kuban Cossacks. In 1902, Vladimir was sent to the gymnasium of the city of Kutaisi. There he first got acquainted with the propaganda materials of Russian and Georgian revolutionaries. Four years later, Mayakovsky's father died, and the family moved to Moscow. Vladimir transferred to the Moscow gymnasium number 5, but studied there for only about a year and was expelled for non-payment. In 1908 Mayakovsky joined the RSDLP. In the same year, he was arrested for the first time for illegal activities. In subsequent years, the young man was arrested several more times.

The beginning of the poetry of Mayakovsky

While still in the gymnasium, Mayakovsky began to write poetry. But the lines written by him in his early youth have not survived. The poet himself later admitted that he considered his early works to be bad. In 1910, after 11 months of arrest, Mayakovsky left the party to devote himself entirely to poetry. Soon, Mayakovsky's friend Yevgeny Lang prompted him to take up painting as well. For some time, Mayakovsky studied at the MUZHVZ school, but did not complete the training course.

In 1912, Mayakovsky's first publication, the poem Night, was published in the collection A Slap in the Face to Public Taste. The next year, the poet's own collection "I" was published. Makovsky's manuscript was supplied with several drawings and reproduced in a lithographic way. In 1913, the tragedy "Vladimir Mayakovsky" was also staged, in which the young poet played himself.

In 1914, Vladimir Mayakovsky clearly expressed his anti-war position. When the poet was drafted into the army, Maxim Gorky assisted that he was sent not to the front, but to a unit located in St. Petersburg at the Automobile Training School. Despite government restrictions, Mayakovsky continued to publish. In 1915 he met the Brik couple and soon began to live with them. In the summer of 1917, Mayakovsky was discharged.

Perception of the revolution by V. Mayakovsky

Mayakovsky enthusiastically accepted the October Revolution. Later Mayakovsky said that the years Civil war were the best in his life. On the anniversary of the Revolution, according to Mayakovsky's text, the premiere of the play "Mystery-Buff" staged by Meyerhold and costumes by Kazimir Malevich took place in Petrograd. In the post-revolutionary years, recognition came to Mayakovsky. His new poems were published in large editions. The poet's admiration for the Soviet regime is manifested in the "Poems about the Soviet Passport", the poem "Vladimir Ilyich Lenin" and in the "Soviet Alphabet". In 1919-1921, Mayakovsky collaborated with the ROSTA agency (now the TASS agency) and released propaganda posters"Windows of ROSTA", accompanying satirical images with their own poems.

The specifics of the work of V. Mayakovsky

It is generally accepted that Mayakovsky is the most outstanding of the Russian futurists. His works are distinguished by the following features: the use of short verse and line breaks ("ladders"); mixing lyrical and satirical elements; the use of emotionally colored, including obscene, vocabulary; autobiography and identification of the author and the lyrical hero.

The last years and the death of Myakovsky

In the twenties, Mayakovsky's poem "Good", as well as the plays "Bedbug" and "Bath" were published. From 1922 to 1928 he headed the LEF association, which included former futurists. At the end of the twenties, sharp criticism of futurism in general and Mayakovsky's work in particular appeared more and more often on the pages of the government press. In 1928, Mayakovsky finally broke up with Lilya Brik. Other love affairs of the poet were also unsuccessful. By 1930, Mayakovsky was suffering from a deep depression. In early April 1930, the poet began planning suicide.

On April 14, 1930, Mayakovsky shot himself in the heart. Over time, more than once there were suggestions that Mayakovsky was killed. This version is allegedly supported by the conflict between Vladimir Vladimirovich and Stalin. However, the poet's biographers are sure that he took his own life. The poet's funeral was attended by tens of thousands of people. Over time, Mayakovsky became the most recognizable poet of the first years. Soviet power, and his works have been included in the compulsory curriculum for Russian literature for decades.