No other works of Russian poets are so full of irony and ridicule as the work of Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky. The satire of the writer is unusually sharp, topical and mainly socially oriented.
Curriculum Vitae
Mayakovsky's homeland was Georgia. It was there, in the village of Baghdad, that the future poet was born on July 17, 1893. In 1906, after the death of his father, he moved to Moscow with his mother and sisters. For an active political position, he goes to prison several times. Graduates from the Stroganov School. Even in his student days, the futuristic Mayakovsky path begins. Satire - along with shocking and bravado - becomes a hallmark of his poetry.
However, futurism, with its nihilistic protest, could not fully absorb the full power of Mayakovsky’s literary word, and the themes of his poems quickly began to go beyond the chosen direction. More and more they heard the social subtext. The pre-revolutionary period in Mayakovsky’s poetry has two distinct directions: accusatory-satirical, revealing all the shortcomings and vices of Tsarist Russia; disastrous, beyond which terrible reality destroys a person who embodies the ideal of democracy and humanism.
Thus, the satire in the works of Mayakovsky at the very early stages of creativity became the hallmark of the poet among his comrades in the literary workshop.
What is futurism?
The word "futurism" is derived from the Latin futurum, meaning "future." This is the name of the avant-garde direction of the beginning of the 20th century, characterized by the denial of past achievements and the desire to create something radically new in art.
Features of futurism:
- Anarchism and rebellion.
- Denial of cultural heritage.
- The cultivation of progress and industry.
- Shocking and pathos.
- Denial of established norms of versification.
- Experiments in the field of versification with rhyme, rhythm, orientation on slogans.
- Create new words.
All these principles are perfectly reflected in Mayakovsky’s poetry. Satire organically merges into these innovations and creates a unique style inherent in the poet.
What is satire?
Satire is a method of artistic description of reality, the task of which is to expose, ridicule, impartial criticism of social phenomena. Satire most often uses hyperbole and grotesque to create a distorted conditional image that embodies the unsightly side of reality. Its main characteristic is a pronounced negative attitude to the image.
The aesthetic orientation of satire is the cultivation of the main humanistic values: kindness, justice, truth, beauty.
Satire has a deep history in Russian literature, its roots can already be found in folklore, later it moved to the pages of books thanks to A.P. Sumarokov, D.I. Fonvizin and many others. In the 20th century, the power of satire Mayakovsky in poetry is second to none.
Satire in verse
Already in the early stages of creativity, Vladimir Mayakovsky collaborated with the magazines New Satyricon and Satyricon. The satire of this period has a touch of romanticism and is directed against the bourgeoisie. The poet’s early poems are often compared with Lermontov’s because of the opposition of the author’s "I" to the surrounding society, because of the pronounced rebellion of loneliness. Although satire Mayakovsky is clearly present in them too. Poems are close to futuristic settings, very original. Among these can be called: “Nate!”, “Anthem to the scientist”, “Anthem to the judge”, “Anthem to dinner”, etc. Already in the names of the works, especially with regard to “hymns”, one can hear the irony.
The post-revolutionary work of Mayakovsky dramatically changes his focus. Now his heroes are not well-fed bourgeois, but enemies of the revolution. Poems are supplemented by slogans and propaganda posters reflecting the surrounding changes. Here, the poet proved himself as an artist, since many works consisted of a verse and a drawing. These posters were included in the series “GROWTH WINDOWS”. Their characters are irresponsible peasants and workers, White Guards and bourgeois. Many posters denounce the evils of modernity that have remained from a past life, since the post-revolutionary society seems to Mayakovsky as an ideal, and all the bad things in it are remnants of the past.
Among the most famous works, where the satyr Mayakovsky reaches its zenith, are the poems “Passing by”, “About trash”, “The poem about Myasnitskaya, about the woman and about the all-Russian scale”. The poet uses the grotesque to create absurd situations and often speaks from a position of reason and a sound understanding of reality. All the power of satire Mayakovsky is aimed at exposing the shortcomings and deformities of the surrounding world.
Satire in the plays
Satire in Mayakovsky’s work is not limited to poems, it also appeared in plays, becoming for them a meaning-forming center. The most famous of them are Bedbug and Bath.
The play "Bath" was written in 1930, and the author’s irony begins with the definition of its genre: "drama in six acts with a circus and fireworks." Its conflict lies in the confrontation between official Pobedonosikov and inventor Chudakov. The work itself is perceived easily and funny, but it shows a struggle with a meaningless and ruthless bureaucratic machine. The conflict of the play is resolved very simply: a “phosphoric woman” arrives from the future and takes the best representatives of humanity with him, to where communism reigns, and the bureaucrats are left with nothing.
The play "Bedbug" was written in 1929, and on its pages Mayakovsky is at war with the middle class. The main character, Pierre Skripkin, after a failed marriage miraculously falls into the communist future. It is impossible to clearly understand Mayakovsky’s attitude to this world. The poet's satire mercilessly ridicules his shortcomings: machines do the work, love is uprooted ... Skripkin seems to be the most living and real person here. Under his influence, society is gradually beginning to collapse.
Conclusion
Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky becomes a worthy successor of the traditions of M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin and N.V. Gogol. In poems and plays, he manages to accurately identify all the “ulcers” and shortcomings of the modern society writer. Satire in the works of Mayakovsky has a pronounced focus on the struggle against philistinism, the bourgeoisie, the bureaucracy, the absurdity of the world and its laws.