Mayakovsky Vladimir Vladimirovich - Russian poet, playwright. He quickly gained popularity in literary circles, as he had talent, charisma, and was not afraid to express his opinion. From 1912, Mayakovsky energetically began to collaborate with the Futurists, and was soon able to become one of the leading poets of this controversial and complex literary movement.

Satirical works Mayakovsky was characterized by socio-psychological certainty and language expression. He did not try at all to veil the satirical debunking of untruth and insincerity that he observed in the life around him. Both social and civil satire were significant in Mayakovsky’s work.

In his works, Mayakovsky tried to correspond to the spirit of the times, the new language of the streets, modern heroes and fashionable slogans. Trying to respond to the “social order,” Mayakovsky wrote satire “on the topic of the day,” poems and ditties for propaganda posters (“Windows of GROWTH,” 1918-1921), etc. Mayakovsky’s civic position of these years was personified by his poems: “150,000,000” (1921), “Vladimir Ilyich Lenin” (1924), “Okay!” (1927), plays “The Bedbug” (1928), “Bathhouse” (1929) and other works.

The poet’s work reflected the combination of satire and social utopia that was characteristic of Mayakovsky, especially in the post-revolutionary period:

In his arsenal of artistic means, Mayakovsky actively used grotesque imagery, a combination of everyday and fantastic coloring, individual and symbolically generalized, experiments with verbal form, the use of collective images of human “crowds”, “masses” as objects of satirical interpretation.

The affirmation of a new life, its social and moral order became fundamental in his work. But one should not think that Mayakovsky accepted the new system unconditionally, turning a blind eye to the multiple shortcomings of the socialist system. By accepting the revolution, the poet also accepted the new role it offered him, the role of flagellant of the vices of this society. An accurate vision of the problem helped the author to very accurately and sharply describe the phenomena that needed to be fought and eradicated.

By the end of the 1920s, Mayakovsky had a growing sense of the discrepancy between political and social reality and the expectations that the revolution promised. The plays “Bathhouse” (1928) and “The Bedbug” (1929) were written by the poet literally in one breath; in these comedies the poet attacked an embourgeois society that had forgotten the high ideals of the revolution, and the old vices that successfully flourished in the new country. They are topical, each in their own way, but they also have a common feature - they are sharp, the satirical effect is achieved by exaggerating shortcomings and introducing elements of fantasy into the work.

The work is called “Social satire in the works of V.V. Mayakovsky’s “Bedbug” and “Bath””, its goal is to explain the meaning of V. Mayakovsky’s satirical works, the main semantic load that the poet puts into his works. In this regard, a number of problems need to be solved:

• characterize the overall satirical orientation in the works of V.V. Mayakovsky;
• consider the plays “Bedbug” and “Bath” as satirical works through which the poet denounced his contemporary society.

The object for this work was the plays of V.V. Mayakovsky’s “Bedbug” and “Bath”, the subject is those expressive linguistic tools with the help of which the poet exposes the vices of society. The structure of the work is as follows: it consists of three chapters, introduction, conclusion and bibliography.

The first chapter is called “Mayakovsky the Satirist”; this chapter contains a general overview of Mayakovsky’s works with a satirical orientation, in which the poet openly exposed the vices and shortcomings of society. The second chapter is called “The Play “The Bedbug” as an exposure of philistinism in society”; in this chapter we will talk about one of the main vices of Soviet society of the 20s-30s - philistinism, the manifestation of which Mayakovsky did not tolerate, and tried in every possible way to stigmatize. The third chapter, “Bathhouse” - a Soviet satirical comedy about bureaucrats,” which exposes one of the main vices that is inherent in any society and which is almost impossible to eradicate. However, this circumstance does not prevent the poet from ridiculing the manifestation of this phenomenon, which was inherent in society in his time.

The 1920-1930s played an important role in Soviet literature of this time; this period is well studied by researchers who note that the satirical plays “Bedbug” and “Bathhouse” are the most typical examples of this genre of the first post-revolutionary decades. A huge number of works have been devoted to the study of Mayakovsky’s work, in particular I would like to note the following:

The works of B. Milyavsky are characterized by the desire to restore the ideological and artistic atmosphere of the time, a free appeal to periodicals of the second half of the 1920s, and a comparison of satirical works of various genres. The ideological and thematic approach to the author's works made it possible to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the plays and compare them with other characteristic works of his time (L. Leonov, M. Bulgakov).

R. Duganov’s large article on the concept of “Bath” contains a number of particular interesting observations, and the author also argues well for the idea of ​​the play’s end-to-end metaphorical nature and the “concentric” construction of the play. “Concentric” construction means that all the heroes are located, as it were, in a circle, and the more pronounced the negative qualities of the hero, the further he is from the center, and the more vividly he is described by the poet.

The collection “Creativity of V.V.” is interesting for studying Mayakovsky’s work. Mayakovsky at the beginning of the 21st century: New tasks and ways of research”, in this collection much corresponds the latest trends modern lighthouse science. It contains new historical, literary and theoretical approaches to the study of the creative heritage of the great poet of the 20th century, and analysis of specific factual material that contributes to a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of the artistic originality of Mayakovsky’s work, his connections with the era, with the literary movement.

Researchers of creativity V.V. Mayakovsky agree that the poet’s satirical work is clearly oriented toward the future; the poet’s confidence rests on the fact that Russia will get rid of everything bad, and that his works can help expose vices. The study of “The Bedbug” and “Bathhouse” until recently was complicated by the proximity of the time of their creation to the time of the tragic death of the poet, as well as the general assessment in the 1930s of the work of V. Meyerhold, with whom the stage history of Mayakovsky’s plays was firmly connected.

Mayakovsky is a satirist, this phenomenon is bright and unique. His humor was distinguished by harshness and harshness; all manifestations of inhumane, soulless treatment of people were unacceptable to him. The poet had an excellent command of satirical language, and skillfully used in his works the techniques of hyperbole and grotesque, with the help of which it was possible to create a comic effect. A heightened moral sense is what made him a worthy successor to the best traditions of Russian satire, which castigated not only social vices, but, above all, human vices.

The objects and subjects of satirical depiction in Mayakovsky's pre-revolutionary works were various manifestations of the modern world, indifferent to man and his feelings. Such a world is soulless, ugly and terrible in these manifestations. In 1915, several works by Mayakovsky were published in the magazine “New Satyricon” under the title “Hymns”.

The main “heroes” of Mayakovsky’s “Hymns” were common life phenomena: dinner, a bribe, a judge, etc. In these “Hymns” Mayakovsky ironically exposed the foundations of his contemporary world: bureaucratic power (“Hymn to the Judge” and “Hymn to the Bribe”) ; science that does not see man and is indifferent to him (“Hymn to the Scientist”); the philistine essence of the “consumer society” (“Hymn to Lunch”). The images of the recipients of “praise” are constructed in a unique way: moral ugliness is expressed in the categories of physical ugliness.

Mayakovsky worked in the satirical genre even after the revolution. He wrote the satirical plays “The Bedbug” and “Bathhouse” and a number of satirical poems. Some of them are still relevant today, for example, “About Rubbish”, “Sitting Over”, etc. In the twenties, the object of satire for Mayakovsky became Soviet philistinism, which the poet denounces in the poem “About Rubbish”, in the poem “Sitting Over” he castigates Soviet bureaucracy.

In these poems, Mayakovsky’s rejection of all manifestations of lack of spirituality, squalor and vulgarity is clearly visible. Soviet people who become indifferent to problems that do not concern their little world and are interested in meeting their immediate needs become philistines, which is categorically unacceptable for the poet.

The bureaucratic machine, moving steadily and clearly from one meaningless meeting to another, feels like judges drowned under the arches of laws, hiding from life behind letters and paragraphs. The objects of satire became more specific over time, but, as before, the essence of manifestations of philistinism, inertia of mind, posturing, etc., unacceptable for Mayakovsky, was preserved, all that he always ridiculed.

Mayakovsky's satire not only makes you laugh, but you can also learn from it useful tips. By exposing all the abomination and filth to public view, the poet paints pictures of “philistinism” that unfold before the readers’ mind’s eye; they are imbued with humor; without it, these pictures would be too pessimistic.

Using the grotesque and elements of fantasy, Mayakovsky constructs the poem “The Sitting Ones.” main topic, this is the absurdity of the theme of the meetings, the poet creates a strong comic effect, which is supported by a fantastic picture of bifurcated officials, forced, in order to be on time for all meetings, to attend them in a peculiar form - “to the waist here, and the rest there.”

The poet attached great importance to his satirical works. “Terrible Laughter” was the title of a 1929 satirical collection. Another collection was called “Mayakovsky smiles, Mayakovsky laughs, Mayakovsky scoffs.” Bureaucracy, philistinism, loafing, embezzlement - all these manifestations of vices aroused the indignation of the satirical poet. Mayakovsky's gift was that with his caustic words he could literally hit people on the spot.

The satirical plays "The Bedbug" and "The Bath" convey the unhealthy social atmosphere of the 1920s, which needed a good shake-up. In his work, the author often uses lively conversational intonations, which he deliberately distorts, and also invents new words. Mayakovsky's poetry was inextricably linked with the life of his country; it absorbed the difficulties and contradictions of its era, but has not lost its significance today. The petty bourgeois is a constant target of Mayakovsky's satire and sarcasm. He “fought” with the philistinism until the last hour of his life; he looked at this vice as the worst enemy of the revolution.

By philistinism, Mayakovsky sometimes meant purely external manifestations: everyday life, materialism, sentimentality, everyday tastelessness. But for the poet, what was more terrible was not this external side, although he criticized it, but the lack of a spiritual basis, as well as the inability and unwillingness to think broadly, the lack of ideals and the presence of idols. Mayakovsky sang a lot and loudly the hymns of the Revolution, its leaders and ideologists, and he just as skillfully ridiculed its enemies, both external and internal. His satire was often merciless, but he did not try to smooth out the rough edges and speak more softly about this or that “sin.”

Mayakovsky was distinguished from other poets of his time by the fact that he always “hit” at the very heart, at the very essence of the problem, at the most painful place, and his words were also clear and painful for the people whom he criticized. His satire is everywhere: “Hymns”, “The Satisfied”, “About Rubbish”, “Nate”, “Scum”, “Bureaucracy”, “Bedbug”, “Bathhouse” - in these works the paintings painted with the brush of Mayakovsky’s satire appear especially clearly .

The satirical play "The Bedbug" was written in 1928. In this play we see at least three levels: the first is satirical and everyday, the second is associated with the lyrical voice of the author, introducing the third - a built-in theatrical performance. All plans are connected by a common plot beginning, revealing the metaphor contained in the title of the play.

The metamorphoses that occur with the main character Ivan Prisypkin (the transformation of a man into a bug) are read on different levels differently.

At the first, satirical-everyday level, the plot of the comedy is a story about everyday rebirth. With its help, the new Soviet philistinism is exposed and ridiculed, the problem of the dangerous attractiveness of a “cozy” philistine life, focused on everyday life and its conveniences, is raised for the younger generation, who grew up in devastation civil war.

Wanting to arrange for myself " better life“,” the main character, Ivan Prisypkin, “breaks away” from the working class, marries a Nepman daughter, thereby betraying the revolutionary ideals of universal collective happiness, replacing them with the “separate” happiness of the bourgeois family. Mayakovsky shows that the problem of everyday degeneration is largely a matter of lack of culture and taste. At the wedding there is a fight, and then a fire, as a result of which everyone dies, except for Prisypkin himself, who was only frozen and resurrected fifty years later.

There is such a type in comedy - Oleg Bayan, who promotes a “beautiful” life. At the same time, at the very first meeting, a poorly educated person appears before the readers, his speech is not literate, his ideas about “cultural life” are primitive. And it is he who acts as a “teacher-seducer” for Prisypkin, whom he seduces with the “benefits of culture” (dances, clothes, manners), and leads astray.

Bayan's main ideological project is a wedding, which he interprets as an act of transition into new world, a prototype of future life under communism. In the bourgeois world, love and marriage are reduced to mutually beneficial trade, while true love is associated not with marriage, but with life itself, the eternal movement forward.

There is no talk of marriage between Prisypkin and Zoya Berezkina. This is emphasized by the fact that both of them live in a dormitory. Elzevira Renaissance in this value system turns out to be an enemy, an owner, a predator who “has her eye” on Prisypkin. Her very name speaks of a return to the past. Marriage is an act of purchase and sale. A wedding is a symbol of future life. According to Bayan, Prisypkin’s marriage to Elzevira Davidovna Renaissance marks the combination of “Unknown labor with defeated capital.”

The author sees the reason for Prisypkin’s degeneration in depression, confusion caused by the NEP, everything that they had previously fought for was slowly returning, both the previous structure of society and the previous system of relations, but at the same time there was a rejection of everyday goods, conveniences that make a person a person , it becomes unclear which way to move forward in order to achieve a great goal.

One of the forms of replacing spiritual emptiness is the desire to live for today, extracting the maximum of pleasures and pleasures. Prisypkin finds himself in the place of a person who has lost the meaning of life, and Bayan acts as an ideologist of momentary happiness. The metaphor “bug man” takes on a broader meaning; it is not only an ordinary man, but also a man who has forgotten about his high nature, who has betrayed the man in himself. The power of everyday life is conceptualized in Mayakovsky’s poetry as a dynamic force: it is capable of killing love in the world.

In the way Prisypkin perceives Bayan’s teachings and its true value is revealed, the author shows how Prisypkin tries to implement the new skills he has acquired and implement them in a new life. He tries to orchestrate his future life with the help of purchases: the things he buys are a way of transforming life, he even changes his name to a pseudonym, and becomes Pierre Skripkin, wears new clothes and learns to behave differently. Prisypkin, who is now called Skripkin, strives for culture as a guide to another world, still inaccessible to him.

When he finds himself in the world of the future, he sees that everything has changed beyond recognition, the new world is the world of technology and science. Mayakovsky in his pictures of the future embodies everything that he called for in his propaganda poems and poems, this is cleanliness, a culture of communication, and the absence of drunkenness and bureaucracy.

The people of the future whom Skripkin met consider the hero a charged microbe of philistinism, and therefore do not even recognize him as a fully human person; he is considered a representative of an extinct race. The rude, selfish Skripkin among the “ideal” people, for whom drunkenness, sycophancy and other vices have long become relics, looks very unpresentable; for them all these phenomena have become long forgotten.

The society of the future itself is presented by Mayakovsky very intelligently. Many human functions are performed by automata; love has been eradicated as an unnecessary and even harmful feeling.

For people of the future, Skripkin poses a real threat, he is a representative of the philistinism, and they are people of high moral culture, free from all sorts of prejudices and passions; in fact, people of the future, freed from all emotional experiences, become faceless.

In the society of the future there is no way of life, but the question of whether philistinism is possible if there is no way of life still remains. The author shows that philistinism has not gone away, it has changed, transformed, changed its shell, but remains. In the “pure” people of the future, devoid of all the vices of the present, such as drunkenness, lack of culture, etc., there remains main feature philistinism, from which neither external gloss nor the absence of everyday life can save. This is a complete immersion in the material world, the absence of spiritual ideals, in the future you can undergo physical cleansing through a special bath, there is no spiritual cleansing.
Skripkin, being initially a negative character, finds himself in a situation where he is the only one who retains the mental and emotional sphere, and he awakens it in others. Finding himself in a new world, he discovers that this world does not please him at all, and it categorically does not become obsolete that he was unfrozen. After all, the world in which a person finds himself completely deprived of a soul, this significant flaw makes this new world a truly bourgeois world, since there is no desire to go beyond the boundaries of this material world.

The professor unfreezes Prisypkin/Skripkin, observes his revival and adaptation to a new life. But this life is not suitable for Prisypkin. Skripkin, despite his shortcomings, remains the only normal person. Eventually ideal people the future very quickly pick up the “virus of feelings” from Skripkin, and succumb to feelings that seemed to have been eradicated long ago. People of the future begin to be attracted to bourgeois pleasures, everything that they have eradicated from themselves. This leads them to believe that Skripkin is the breeding ground for their disease and needs to be isolated.

Mayakovsky denies the main character, this inveterate tradesman, the right to live in society, he places him in a zoo, where he finds himself in the same cage with a bug that fell into the future from his collar, and which he refused to get rid of, having become emotionally attached to it. The metaphor “bug” here means the degeneration of a representative of the advanced class of builders of the future into a layman and a tradesman.

Critics were inclined to perceive the play “The Bedbug” as anti-philistine agitation. Comedy largely grows out of newspaper facts in which stories of this kind were published.

It is also interesting to observe how Mayakovsky’s satire invents new definitions for the newly born vices of the young Soviet Republic. These are neologisms such as: “philistine”, “NEPists” and many others, which, however, characterize the same phenomenon, or better yet, the class, the so-called middle class.

And although the revolution proclaimed the abolition of all classes, it could not get rid of the class system completely. And it was Mayakovsky, together with his constant companion, satire, who undertook to eradicate it. It is interesting to note that the poet not only denounces, but he also gives specific advice, shows ways out, and tries not to be unfounded.

The last satirical play, Bath, was written in 1929, and it was written in the theater-within-a-theater format. This play showed the society of the new bureaucracy, and it was received rather coldly by contemporaries. One of the main themes of the play is the affirmation of the life-giving power of art. And the metamorphosis of overcoming time by means of art becomes the power of time invented by Chudakov. In the play, the author ridiculed talkers, slackers, and narcissistic bureaucrats. Mayakovsky believed that this work was journalistic and through human images he showed the main trends that were in society at that time.

Mayakovsky defined the play “Bath” as “a drama in six acts with a circus and fireworks,” but in this one can hear the ironic notes of the author, warning the reader that the play is a kind of farce. The main character of the play is “Comrade Pobedonosikov, the chief head of coordination management, Chief Vchups.”

This is a typical pompous official who, between phone calls and mindlessly rearranging government papers, dictates a meaningless and never-ending article to the typist. The drama in the play is based on the conflict between the inventor Chudakov, the cavalryman Velosipedkin, the worker helping the inventor, on the one hand, and his assistant Optimistenko, on the other. Mayakovsky depicts in the play many funny and stupid situations in which his heroes find themselves, but at the same time, the play is a drama, and its drama lies in the fight against bureaucracy, which, according to the poet, is a huge and ossified system

When asked why the play is called “Bathhouse,” Mayakovsky answered in two ways. The first answer: ““Bathhouse” washes (simply erases) the bureaucrats” - seemed to satisfy everyone and for a long time remained the definition of a straightforward “accusatory” perception of the play. Another answer: “Because this is the only thing that doesn’t come across there,” seemed to be Mayakovsky’s usual humorous excuse. Meanwhile, the second answer concerns the essence of the matter much more.

It does not point to an object, but to the method of its perception and thereby to the way of understanding it. “Bath”, of course, is not the only thing that is not in the play, but that’s not the point; the title of the play determines the only correct point of view on it. And from this point of view, what is really most important in “Bath” is what is not objectively “found” there.

On the one hand, the play is called “Bathhouse,” but on the other hand, we don’t find any bathhouse there. On the one hand, this is a “drama”, but on the other hand, it is a circus and fireworks, and not a drama at all. On the one hand, the entire conflict in the play revolves around Chudakov’s “machine,” but on the other hand, this machine is invisible, that is, it is as if it does not exist. On the one hand, Chudakov’s invention is a machine, that is, something spatially material, but on the other hand, it is a time machine, that is, something opposite to all spatiality and materiality.

On the one hand, we seem to have a theater in front of us, but on the other hand, we also see a theater within a theater, so that the first theater is no longer a theater, but reality. On the one hand, Pobedonosikov sees himself in the theater, but on the other hand, he does not recognize himself in this theater, that is, he “does not get caught” by himself. In the entire play as a whole and in each of its individual elements we find a discrepancy between the subject and its meaning. The most abstract concepts here are reduced, reified, materialized, and vice versa, the most concrete objects, phenomena and even people are dematerialized until they completely disappear.

The structure and problematics of “Bath”, its very satirical topicality are such that they inevitably push towards the search for prototypes on which the drama’s characters are oriented. All the characters in the play are both negative and positive, not “Bath” characters or types.

It is easy to notice that the most similar, most realized characters are negative (Pobedonosikov, Optimistenko, Mezalyansova, etc.), neutral characters are less realized (Underton, Polya, Pochkin, etc.), and even less positive (Chudakov, Velosipedkin, workers, Phosphoric woman). The internal topography of the “Bath” can be represented in the form of several concentric circles with a positive center and negative periphery. The further a character is from some absolute center, the more brightly he is illuminated, the more detailed he is outlined, the more animated and realized.

Negative characters are opposed not so much by positive characters, but by the whole idea as a whole, the whole play. In other words, if positive characters assert themselves in their proximity to the central semantic core, then negative ones, on the contrary, deny themselves in their distance from it.

The paradoxical duality of “Bath”, as well as all of Mayakovsky’s dramatic work in general, was a direct consequence of the specific genre design of his basic aesthetic principle. The only thing in “Bath” that does not come across in the characterization, but the most important thing that is there, is the personality of the author. And no matter how strange it may seem, we must admit that “Bath” is nothing more than a lyrical drama or, more precisely, a monodrama. Its dramatic space is the conceptual sphere of internal representation. Hence the special character of its convention and its fantasy.

The time machine in “Bath” is not just Chudakov’s invention, but also a metaphor for invention, innovation, and creativity itself. The time machine is a metaphorical embodiment of the art of the future, its life-giving, creative force. The time machine was created not only by Chudakov, but also by time itself, life itself. It is plotted against another machine, a bureaucratic one, also realized in the aspect of time.

If Chudakov’s machine is “a matter of universal relativity, a matter of translating the definition of time from metaphysical substance, from noumenon into reality,” then in the bureaucratic machine, on the contrary, reality turns into fiction of “circulars, letters, copies, theses, amendments, extracts, certificates, cards, resolutions, reports, protocols and other supporting documents,” and the theory of relativity into “the theory of relationships, connections and agreements.” The institution, like a time machine, seeks to accumulate the experience of humanity. And he does this in his usual bureaucratic way, organizing “anniversaries.”

Here, not only the reality and fiction of two time machines are contrasted, Pobedonosikov himself is given as a verbal machine, grinding reality into nothing. In addition to the bureaucratic machine, Chudakov’s invention is contrasted in the play with many other mechanisms, which all, in the end, turn out to be different implementations of the metaphor of time. This is, first of all, a watch.

Chudakov’s car, the “first train of time,” is contrasted in the play with the train on which Pobedonosikov is going to go “to the heights of the Caucasus.” This is indicated by the coincidence of the cost of the tickets and the amount stolen by the accountant Nochkin to complete Chudakov’s car.

All these antitheses are built using a local technique, according to which even such details as the increase in tram fares should indicate its negative value. By themselves, all these machines are, of course, neutral, but in the system of a bureaucratic mechanism they inevitably acquire regressive functions.

Thus, the plot is realized not only in events, not only in characters, but also in little things, in details, in verbal structures, so that the play, with its end-to-end organization, approaches the structure of a poetic work.

As a result of all this plot mechanics, we have before us a gigantic image of a Machine, which can be a dead machine of space, if it exists as something that has become, completed and unchangeable, and a living creative machine of time, if it exists in continuous formation, change and renewal. A car can be both a fictitious “thing” and a real “idea”. This is the starting point of the whole concept of “Bath”.

But the play itself is in some way a “machine”, and precisely a time machine, with all its progressive and regressive functions, which is clearly represented in the image of a “theatrical machine”. In Act III (theater within a theater), its functional reversibility is parodically exposed. The propaganda theater, “standing in the service of struggle and construction,” is opposed to the theater where “they do something beautiful for us.” In this central image, all the main constructive and semantic plans of the play undoubtedly intersect. Meanwhile, the role of the Phosphoric woman in dramatic intrigue is completely passive, she only represents the future.

In “Bath” the formal difference between theater and life is demonstrated in every possible way. Emphasizing the conventionality of any play (drama, farce, circus) performance, Mayakovsky thereby pointed to the fundamental substantive unity of theater and life. The finale of “Bath” functionally fully corresponds to the “silent scene” of Gogol’s play, with the difference that the “shock” scene is duplicated three times: darkness, then the “silent scene” itself, and, finally, the final explicit remarks of the characters.

Mayakovsky's satire always calls a spade a spade, no matter what happens, and no matter what readers think about it, the poet always has a lot of grotesque in his poems. Mayakovsky increases human vices to gigantic proportions, the voice of his accusatory satire also increases its power. Mayakovsky often acts as a poet describing the everyday side of human life, which many writers seemed boring and uninteresting, which was the hallmark of his satire. He knew how to address in an amazing way not only his contemporaries, but also his descendants.

Mayakovsky is not just a rebel, a judge, an accuser, a prophet, he is also a fighter. Bourgeois society quite easily “tamed” rebels with fame, money, etc., but Mayakovsky was able to resist these temptations. Understanding the inevitability of the fall of the old world, and contributing to the approach of collapse with his creativity, Mayakovsky could not help but connect all his hopes with the socialist revolution. It was believed that from her “purifying fire” would be born new person, new morality, everyday life.

The plays “The Bedbug” and “Bathhouse” are comedies that ridicule the main vices of the society contemporary to the poet. According to the poet, in the future there will be no place for such vices as rudeness, drunkenness, rudeness, vulgarity. In plays, Mayakovsky typifies his heroes, i.e. They are typical representatives of society, these are Nepmen, and workers, and bureaucrats, and journalists. One of the main literary techniques used by the author is giving characters “speaking” surnames: Prisypkin, Pobedonosikov, Chudakov, Mezolyansova, etc.

The plays carry a sharp satirical focus and reveal those shortcomings of the environment that can be found in any society and at any time. These plays reflected the difficult impressions of the discrepancy between real Soviet reality, which did not live up to expectations of a bright future. Mayakovsky’s merit is that he was not afraid to say “no” to these vices, and to say that there is no place for them in the future. Thus, V. Mayakovsky’s satire largely developed in the very mindset of creative thinking

The arsenal of artistic means of satirical depiction includes actively used grotesque imagery, a combination of everyday and fantastic coloring, individual and symbolically generalized, experiments with verbal form, the use of collective images of human “crowds”, “masses” as objects of satirical interpretation.

Moreover, over time, the tragic intensity of Mayakovsky’s poetic satire more and more definitely gives way to hopes for the reorganization of existence, overcoming its eternal disharmony through revolutionary, volitional intervention.

The author of the plays “The Bedbug” and “Bathhouse” believed that neither the bourgeoisie nor the bureaucrats would survive in the new world. The utopian projection of the future in these plays suffers from naivety. Mayakovsky was convinced of the inevitable spiritual improvement of man, which was to come as a result of political reforms. Time has shown the fallacy of such hopes. But the criticism of bureaucracy, the philistine attitude to life, and spiritual existence voiced in the plays is still relevant today.

Composition

In the early 20s, a satirical direction was clearly identified in Mayakovsky’s poetry. Having published two poems simultaneously: “The Last Page of the Civil War” and “About Rubbish,” the poet moves from glorifying the courage of the Red Army soldiers to denouncing philistinism and bureaucracy in Soviet society. The pathetic line of “The Last Page...” becomes a kind of epigraph of the poem “About Rubbish”.

Glory, Glory, Glory to the heroes!!!

However, quite a tribute was paid to them. Now let's talk about trash.

With these words, Mayakovsky begins a major conversation on the topic of shortcomings, which, in his opinion, are incompatible with socialist reality, but coexist perfectly with it. The poet is alarmed by the dangerous trend of introducing the tradesman into the state apparatus:

From all the vast Russian fields, from the first day of Soviet birth, they flocked, hastily changing their feathers, and settled into all institutions.

Having calluses from sitting for five years, their butts, strong as washbasins, live to this day - quieter than water. We built cozy offices and bedrooms.

Satirical motives were clearly heard both in “Mystery-Buff” and in the poem “150,000,000”. But if earlier Mayakovsky’s satire was directed against external enemies, now the poet transfers “the fire onto himself,” onto our internal shortcomings. Excellent knowledge of the object of satire ensured its accuracy, whether it was about major negative phenomena of Soviet reality or about “little things.” “A poem about Myasnitskaya, about a woman and about an all-Russian scale” already in the title itself brings together seemingly incommensurable phenomena. The satirist needs this so that Soviet leaders understand the political significance of “little things.”

And for us, if we roar at a rally, the scope of arithmetic, of course, is narrow - we resolve everything on a global scale. In extreme cases, the scale is all-Russian.

The humorously presented adventure of a woman, who was making her way with a cart to the Yaroslavl station and fell into a pit on Myasnitskaya at night, raises the still relevant problem of the disdainful attitude of local authorities towards the interests of ordinary citizens who suffer from the disrepair of the streets and other similar “trifles”. In this case, their attitude towards managers is quite natural. Therefore, the author completely justifies the injured woman, who, “climbing from floor to floor, is on top of both me and the wing authorities.” Here the satirist also feels his responsibility for these shortcomings, without separating himself from the authorities. Thus, Mayakovsky’s everyday satirical poem actually continues the theme that emerged in the conversation “about rubbish,” where we were talking about those who, while occupying a significant government post, covered up alien or hostile content with Soviet uniforms. Mayakovsky tears off the mask from the dangerous internal enemy of the young Soviet state - the philistinism.

“The revolution is entangled in the threads of philistinism, the philistine way of life is worse than Wrangel. Quickly turn the heads of the canaries so that communism is not beaten by the canaries!”

Mayakovsky saw another terrible evil in modern life - bureaucracy, which was growing into all spheres government activities, slowing down the development of the Soviet country. This is how one of the themes was determined for the poet, which subsequently passed through all of his work. The poem "The Sat" is dedicated to this topic, which is a satirical generalization close-up. A story about a fantastic incident in a certain Soviet institution, where “half of the people are sitting,” reveals the widest scale of bureaucratization state apparatus, causing horror, indignation and excitement of the lyrical hero. But the fantastic lies not even in this wild mystical picture, but in the fact that it does not surprise the secretary at all.

"Killed! Killed!" - I'm rushing around, yelling. From scary picture the mind has gone crazy. and I hear the calmest voice of the secretary: “They are at two meetings at once. On the day of the meetings, we have to be on time for twenty. Involuntarily, we have to tear ourselves apart! Up to the waist here, and the rest there.”

The satirist was shocked by the Olympian calmness of the secretary, for whom, like “comrade Ivan Vanych,” such a life is familiar and acceptable. It was necessary to change what had become our usual way of life. This goal facing the Soviet satirist forced him to turn to drama in order to make evil more visible and concrete, embodied in a comedic stage performance. His two most popular comedies, “The Bedbug” and “Bathhouse,” are dedicated to the fight against bureaucracy.

Narrow-mindedness, poor philistine taste, and the desire for material wealth characterize the hero of Mayakovsky’s play “The Bedbug.” “Former worker, former party member” Pyotr Prisypkin, under the influence of the Nepman element, is reborn into the bourgeois everyman Pierre Skripkin. The playwright invites the reader and viewer to look at this type of modern tradesman from the future. For people of the communist tomorrow, Skripkin is as harmful an insect as a bug, which with its very presence poisons and charges environment. Such vikkins become even more dangerous once they settle in government institutions, because they use the power given to them for evil. If such a harmful insect as a bedbug can be slammed or put in a cage with the inscription “Obyvalitelius vulgaris”, then the Pobedonosikovs and Optimistenkos from “Bath” represent a real threat to society, because they have the power to prohibit an important and useful discovery, to leave people in need without help , sow the seeds of flattery and discord around, create the appearance of vigorous activity with complete idleness. Bureaucracy is dangerous because, without doing anything itself, it actively prevents people from working creatively, inventing, trying to improve their lives.

The poet, using satire, fought against “the web of nepotism, patronage, red tape,” sycophants, flatterers who, in Molchalin’s style, serve “not the cause, but the persons.” Mayakovsky ridiculed cowardly, narrow-minded leaders who did not know how to take a step without instructions from their superiors. Mayakovsky’s satire “mowed down” the “rubbish”, helped the reader to see more clearly the numerous shortcomings in society and in himself and, to the best of his ability, fight them, being critical of his actions.

Thus, through satirical works, the poet educated the reader, teaching him principles and activity. Mayakovsky's satire helps us today to fight against bureaucrats and sycophants, ordinary people and reinsurers. Without overcoming these shortcomings, we will never come to a free democratic society, to a life worthy of a person.

No other works of Russian poets are as replete with irony and ridicule as the work of Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky. 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 his active political position he was imprisoned several times. Finishes While still a student, Mayakovsky’s futuristic path begins. Satire - along with shockingness and bravado - becomes a distinctive feature of his poetry.

However, futurism with its nihilistic protest could not fully accommodate the full power of Mayakovsky’s literary word, and the themes of his poems quickly began to go beyond the boundaries of his chosen direction. More and more social overtones were heard in them. The pre-revolutionary period in Mayakovsky's poetry has two distinct directions: accusatory and satirical, revealing all the shortcomings and vices of the disastrous, behind which the terrible reality destroys the person who embodies the ideal of democracy and humanism.

Thus, satire in Mayakovsky’s work on the most early stages creativity became a distinctive feature 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 given to the avant-garde movement of the early 20th century, characterized by the denial of past achievements and the desire to create something radically new in art.

Features of futurism:

• Anarchy and rebellion.
• Denial of cultural heritage.
• Cultivating progress and industry.
• Shocking and pathos.
• Denial of established norms of versification.
• Experiments in the field of versification with rhyme, rhythm, focus on slogans.
• Creating new words.

All these principles are reflected in the best possible way in Mayakovsky’s poetry. Satire organically flows into these innovations and creates unique style inherent in the poet.

What is satire?

Satire is a way of artistic description of reality, the task of which is to expose, ridicule, and impartial criticism social phenomena. Satire most often uses hyperbole and the grotesque to create a distorted conventional image that personifies the unsightly side of reality. Its main characteristic feature is a pronounced negative attitude towards what is depicted.

The aesthetic orientation of satire is the cultivation of the main humanistic values: kindness, justice, truth, beauty.

In Russian literature, satire has a deep history, its roots can be found already in folklore, later it migrated to the pages of books thanks to A.P. Sumarokov, D.I. Fonvizin and many others. In the 20th century, the power of Mayakovsky’s satire in poetry is unparalleled.

Satire in verse

Already in the early stages of his work, 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 to Lermontov’s because of the opposition of the author’s “I” to the surrounding society, because of the pronounced rebellion of loneliness. Although Mayakovsky’s satire is clearly present in them. The poems are close to futuristic settings and are very original. Among these can be called: “Nate!”, “Hymn to the Scientist,” “Hymn to the Judge,” “Hymn to Lunch,” etc. Already in the titles of the works themselves, especially with regard to “hymns,” irony is heard.

Mayakovsky's post-revolutionary work dramatically changes its direction. Now his heroes are not well-fed bourgeois, but enemies of the revolution. The poems are complemented by slogans and reflect the surrounding changes. Here the poet showed himself as an artist, since many of his works consisted of poetry and drawings. These posters were included in the ROSTA window series. Their characters are irresponsible peasants and workers, White Guards and bourgeois. Many posters expose the vices of modernity that remain from past life, since post-revolutionary society seems to Mayakovsky to be an ideal, and everything bad in it is remnants of the past.

Among the most famous works, where Mayakovsky’s satire reaches its apogee, are the poems “The Satisfied,” “About Rubbish,” “A Poem about Myasnitskaya, about a woman and about an 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 Mayakovsky's satire is aimed at exposing the shortcomings and ugliness of the world around us.

Satire in plays

Satire in Mayakovsky’s work is not limited to poems; it also appeared in plays, becoming a meaning-forming center for them. 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: “a drama in six acts with a circus and fireworks.” Its conflict lies in the confrontation between the official Pobedonosikov and the inventor Chudakov. The work itself is perceived as light and funny, but it shows the struggle against a senseless and ruthless bureaucratic machine. The conflict of the play is resolved very simply: a “phosphorus woman” arrives from the future and takes away best representatives humanity with itself, to where communism reigns, and the bureaucrats are left with nothing.

The play “The Bedbug” was written in 1929, and in its villages Mayakovsky wages war against the philistinism. The main character, Pierre Skripkin, after a failed marriage, miraculously finds himself in a communist future. It is impossible to clearly understand Mayakovsky’s attitude to this world. The poet's satire mercilessly ridicules his shortcomings: the work is done by machines, love is eradicated... Skripkin seems to be the most alive and real person here. Under his influence, society gradually begins to collapse.

Conclusion

Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky becomes a worthy successor to the traditions of M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin and N. V. Gogol. In his poems and plays, he manages to aptly identify all the “ulcers” and shortcomings of the writer’s contemporary society. Satire in Mayakovsky's works has a pronounced focus on the fight against philistinism, the bourgeoisie, bureaucracy, and the absurdity of the world around us and its laws.

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 ruthlessly 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 attached great importance to 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. In it, the 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. All kinds of literary parodies also played an important 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 cannot condescend to become a common man by 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.

V. Mayakovsky created satirical works at all stages of his creative path. It is known that in early years he collaborated in the magazines “Satyricon” and “New Satyricon”, and in his autobiography “I Myself” dated “1928”, i.e. two years before his death, he wrote: “I am writing in the poem “Bad” as opposed to the poem of 1927 "Fine". 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.

In the early poetry of V. Mayakovsky, satire is dictated primarily by the pathos of anti-bourgeoisness, which is also of a romantic nature. In the poetry of V. Mayakovsky, a conflict traditional for romantic poetry arises creative personality, the author’s “I” is a rebellion (it’s not without reason that early V. Mayakovsky’s poems are often compared to Lermontov’s), the desire to tease, irritate the rich and well-fed, in other words, to shock them.

For futurism, the movement in poetry to which the young author belonged, such themes were typical. The alien philistine environment was depicted satirically. The poet paints her (the poem “Nate!”) as soulless, immersed in the world of base interests, in the world of things:

Here you are, man, you have cabbage in your mustache

Here you are, woman, you have thick white on you,

Already in his early poetry, V. Mayakovsky uses the entire arsenal of artistic means traditional for Russian poetry and satirical literature. Thus, irony is introduced into the 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 judges, dull people who themselves do not know how to enjoy life and bequeath this to others, who strive to regulate everything, to make it colorless and boring. 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 the very well-fed ones who acquire the meaning of a symbol of bourgeoisness. The poem 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?

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,

Here there is also an early romantic poet, 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. Ma-yakovsky's poetry is changing. Firstly, the enemies of the revolution become its heroes. This topic became important for the poet for many years. In the first years after the revolution, the poet wrote poems that made up the “Windows of ROSTA,” i.e., 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 ROSTA” V. Mayakovsky uses such satirical techniques as grotesque, hyperbole, and parody. Thus, some inscriptions were created based on famous songs, for example, “Two Grenadiers to France” or “The Flea,” famous from Chaliapin’s performance. Almost always their characters are white generals, irresponsible workers and peasants, bourgeoisie - certainly in a top hat and with a fat belly.

Mayakovsky makes maximalist demands for his new life, which is why many of his poems satirically show its flaws. Thus, V. Mayakovsky’s satirical poems “About Rubbish” and “The Satisfied Ones” became very famous. The latter gives a grotesque picture of endless meetings of new officials. A grotesque picture emerges in “The Sat-Ups.” The fact that “half of the people are sitting” is not only the implementation of the metaphor - people are torn in half to get everything done - but also the assessment of such meetings.

In these works, Mayakovsky is faithful to the traditions of Russian literature, as he continues the theme begun by Fonvizin, Griboedov, Gogol and Saltykov-Shchedrin. Thus, in Mayakovsky’s poems “About Rubbish” and “The Satisfied Ones,” the poet widely uses a whole range of comic techniques to describe bureaucrats and philistines, whose desires do not extend beyond “Pacific breeches” and the desire to “appear” in a new dress “at the ball.” in the Revolutionary Military Council." The poet uses striking epithets, vivid comparisons, and unexpected allegories, but he especially clearly reveals the essence of the vice of hyperbole, sarcasm and grotesque.

As an example, let’s draw a parallel between “The Satisfied” and “The Inspector General”. Both are complete literary works with a beginning, a climax and a denouement. The beginning of both works is hyperbolic: hopeless attempts by officials to get to several meetings at once, where the “purchase of a bottle of ink” is discussed, and in another work, out of horror, officials recognize Khlestakov as an auditor. The climax is grotesque. In "The Sat": And I see:

Half the people are sitting,

Oh, devilishness!

Where is the other half?

In a few lines, Mayakovsky brought the situation to the point of absurdity. The transition to the climax in Gogol’s “The Inspector General” is smoother, but in its absurdity it is not inferior to “The Prosaic” and is characterized, for example, by such situations as a non-commissioned officer who flogged herself, Bobchinsky, asking to be brought to the attention of His Imperial Majesty , that in “such and such a city lives Pyotr Ivanovich Bobchinsky.”

In the development of The Inspector General, Gogol reflected his belief in the strength and justice of the highest authorities, in the inevitability of punishment. The denouement of “Prose-Sitting” is ironic, which probably indicates that Mayakovsky understood the vitality and indestructibility of bureaucracy.

If we talk about Mayakovsky’s poem “On Rubbish,” then here we will find the grotesque in the image of a revived Marx, calling for the heads of the bourgeois canaries, and the hyperbolic epithet “Pacific breeches,” and the sarcastic expression “the purr of a bourgeois,” and the comparison “ butts as strong as washbasins.” The poet without hesitation uses these tropes and stylistic figures, examining everyday life, which is “more terrible than Wrangel.”

This poem can be correlated with the pathos of Saltykov-Shchedrin’s work. In his works, sarcasm, grotesque and hyperbole are found on literally every page, especially in “The Wild Landowner”, “The Tale of How One Man Fed Two Generals”, “The History of One City”. In his works, Saltykov-Shchedrin often used the technique of fiction. Mayakovsky used a similar technique in the play “The Bedbug,” in which Pierre Skripkin is transported into the future.

V.V. Mayakovsky followed the traditions of Gogol and Saltykov-Shchedrin not only in the use of literary techniques, but also in the very themes of his satirical works, directed against the inertia of thinking, bureaucratic, bourgeois life and philistine vulgarity.

Less well known are the satirical works of V. Mayakovsky, 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 the revolutionary desire for a global remaking of the world comes into direct conflict with the everyday interests of the ordinary person. Baba, who was “dragged in mud” on the impassable Myasnitskaya Street, does not care about the global all-Russian scale. In this poem you can see a roll call with 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 completely 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 your hand, and your heart boils with the gift of song.

The platform of Krasnodar is ready to be painted into heaven.

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, my eyes down to the ground, I 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 clash of natural human feelings and moods 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 birth to a joyful mood; the most ordinary phenomena, such as a station platform, evoke poetic inspiration. V. Mayakovsky finds an amazing comparison: “The mood is like a Chinese teapot!” Immediately a feeling of something joyful and festive is born, and such sentiments are erased by strict clericalism. 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 it should be noted that rhymes “work” in it. Thus, the most cheerful word - “teapot” - rhymes with the verb “forbidden” from the wretched official vocabulary. The poet also uses here a characteristic technique for him - neologisms: trainer, nizya - a gerund from the non-existent “lower”. They actively work to reveal the artistic concept. The lyrical hero of this work is not an orator, not a fighter, but simply a man with his natural mood, inappropriate where everything is subject to strict regulations.

The poet Mayakovsky entered our consciousness, our literature as “an agitator, a loudmouth, a leader.” He actually stepped towards us “through the lyrical volumes, as if speaking to the living.” His poetry is loud, irrepressible, frantic. Rhythm, rhyme, step, march - all these words are associated with the poet’s work. This is truly a giant poet. And the true assessment of his work is yet to come, because he is too large, voluminous, his poetry does not fit into the narrow and cramped world of our ideas.

The fight against bureaucracy, vulgarity, and sycophancy is one of the main themes of Mayakovsky’s work. Mayakovsky created satirical works at all stages of his work. 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 on you,

You are looking at things as an oyster.

Let us note that already in his early poetry Mayakovsky uses the entire arsenal of traditional means of satire, 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 is on long years became important for the poet, she 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 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 global all-Russian scales. In this poem one can see a echo of the common sense speeches of Professor Preobrazhensky from M. Bulgakov’s story “The Heart of a Dog.”

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 a 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 B. Mayakovsky, a conflict traditional for romantic poetry arises of the creative personality, the author’s “I” - rebellion, loneliness (it is not for nothing that the poems of the early V. Mayakovsky are often compared with 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 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 names 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 were the poems that made up “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 known from Chaliapin’s performance of “The Flea”. 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.

In the poem “About Rubbish”, V. Mayakovsky seems to return to his former anti-philistine pathos. 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 remaking 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 global all-Russian scales. 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 completely 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 be nonsense. Real summer.

You rejoice in everything: the porter,

To the ticket controller.

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's warbler 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

Seeking 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: “Mood is 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.

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13. Only by her, only by love does life hold and move. I. Turgenev Plan 1. “Love is life.” 2. Rejection of sugary poetry. 3. The element of humanity, stimulating creativity. 4. Love is suffering. Mayakovsky, working on...
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Composition

In the work of V.V. Mayakovsky, satire occupies an extremely important place. Speaking about the main function of his poetry, we must not forget that the new was established in a sharp and irreconcilable struggle with the old. The poet has been fighting the enemies of socialism since he realized that he was part of it, choosing satire as a weapon of struggle. In the pre-revolutionary years, he mainly denounced the old order and ideology, in the post-October years he actively defended the new system.
Discussing the features that define satire, M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin wrote: “In order for satire to be truly satire and achieve its goal, it is necessary, firstly, that it make the reader feel the ideal from which its creator and , secondly, so that she is quite clearly aware of the object against which her sting is directed.” Mayakovsky's satire fully satisfies these requirements: in it one can always feel the social ideal for which the poet is fighting, and the evil against which its edge is directed is clearly defined.
Largest quantity Mayakovsky wrote satirical works after the October Revolution. Their themes are varied and determined by two central tasks - depicting the social contradictions of the bourgeois world (poems written under the influence of the poet’s trips abroad are devoted to this) and denouncing philistinism and bureaucracy.
The first direction in the writer’s satire can be illustrated by the poem “Black and White,” written during the poet’s short stay in the capital of Cuba, Havana. It is dedicated to the topic of racial discrimination. This is already emphasized in the title of the poem, which translated from English means “Black and White.” In the hero of the poem - a simple worker - the Negro Willie, sweeping the Havana streets near the American tobacco company Henry Clay and Bock, Limited, the sad fate of millions of American Negroes, doomed to poverty and lawlessness, is revealed. The poet clearly characterizes the principle that determines the relations of people in the “paradise country”: “... the whites have dollars, the blacks do not.” This principle explains the image of the main character - a victim of capitalism and racism. Before us is a dark, downtrodden man. But this is not Willie’s fault, but his misfortune, the result of the social, economic, and cultural conditions in which he lives. He cannot even imagine rebelling against white oppressors, so he does not react in any way to Mr. Breg's blow after he tried to express his opinion about the distribution of labor between whites and blacks.
These social contradictions become the object of exposure for Mayakovsky, who, in contrast to them, brings to the finale of the poem the image of Moscow as the center of the world communist movement, the city where the headquarters of the Communist International was located in those years. For the poet, the Comintern in Moscow is the ideal place where all the “humiliated and insulted” can turn with full confidence that they will be helped. And although the poet realizes that people like Willie are far from understanding the ways to fight for their rights, he still considers it necessary to push them to action with his instructions.
The second satirical direction of Mayakovsky’s poetry is clearly expressed in the poems “About Rubbish” and “Sitting Around”. These two poems first voiced the theme of denouncing philistinism and bureaucracy. In the first of them, the poet depicts two representatives of the “modernized”: a bourgeois employee who “built” himself a “cozy office” in one of the Soviet institutions, and his wife, “Comrade Nadya.” Mayakovsky showed in him the two most characteristic features of the new philistinism: on the one hand, the dreams of ordinary people do not go beyond personal enrichment, and on the other, the philistine, while remaining an owner, strives to create the appearance of a person in modern Soviet society. The ending of the poem is filled with the poet’s “menacing laughter,” branding philistinism through the lips of the revived K. Marx: “... Quickly turn the heads of the canaries - so that communism is not beaten by the canaries!”
In the poem “The Seated,” the poet exposes the bench bustle of bureaucrats who are simply torn between all kinds of meetings, but in fact do nothing useful. At the end, Mayakovsky calls for another meeting “regarding the eradication of all meetings.”
Mayakovsky's satire is also diverse in terms of genre. In the pre-revolutionary period, it was represented by the so-called “hymns”, denouncing the existing system. After October 1917, the poet developed a new genre - the poetic satirical feuilleton, with its inherent sharpness of images and some of their individualization. Most of the poems of the 20s were written in this genre. The poems of the foreign cycle are a lyric-epic narrative, which is based on an episode from real life. The works of Mayakovsky the playwright, such as his plays such as “Bathhouse” and “Bedbug”, also acquire a satirical sound.
There is no doubt that Mayakovsky’s satire also stands out for its artistic originality. The poet's favorite technique for depicting objects of sarcasm and jokes is the grotesque, based on the extreme hyperbolization of images. In the poem “The Satisfied”, the grotesque picture of a meeting of “people of halves” not only evokes cheerful laughter, but also emphasizes the reality - the infinity of stupid meetings. Grotesqueness is manifested both in the thirty-meter-long tongue of a suck-up, who “licks the hand” of his superiors with this long tongue (the poem “The Suck-Up”), and in the meter-long ear of a coward (the poem “Coward”), which catches all the remarks of the authorities, etc.
Thus, we can conclude that Mayakovsky’s satire is very unique in thematic, artistic and genre terms. Moreover, the communist party spirit with which it is permeated, its frank journalisticism and agitation, combined with the life-like authenticity and significance of the problems that are posed in it, determine the innovative nature of everything satirical creativity poet.

October 1917. “To accept or not to accept? There was no such question for me. My revolution,” Mayakovsky wrote in his autobiography. The affirmation of a new life, its social and moral system becomes the main pathos of his work; the affirmation of socialist realism in literature is associated with his poetry. But one should not be mistaken in thinking that Mayakovsky accepted the new system unconditionally, without noticing its shortcomings. No, by accepting the revolution, the poet also accepted a new role, the role of an exposer of the vices of his contemporary society. His sharp pen of satire described many phenomena that had to be fought and that had to be eradicated. His satire is often poisonous and merciless, we will not find Aesopian language in his poems, he does not try to smooth out the rough edges and speak more softly about this or that “sin”. He always “hits” to the very heart, to the very essence of the problem, to the most painful place, and his words are also clear and painful for those who fall under his pen. This satire is everywhere. But I would especially like to highlight such poems as “The Sitting Ones,” “About Rubbish” and “Bureaucracy,” where the pictures painted with the brush of Mayakovsky’s satire emerge especially clearly.

The very titles of these verses are already offensive. It seems that the poet deliberately uses such words in order to “hit” the bureaucrats harder (remember that in all three works we are talking specifically about bureaucracy). And, I think, he really succeeds, because such accusatory exclamations and such caustic laughter cannot be found in more than one author:

The storms of the revolutionary bosom have calmed down.

The Soviet mess turned into mud.

And it came out

from behind the RSFSR

tradesman,

Mayakovsky's satire always calls a spade a spade, no matter what happens and no matter what readers think about it. There is no “honey” in Mayakovsky’s poems; they are all one big barrel of ointment. That is why there is so much grotesque in poetry. Mayakovsky increases vices to gigantic proportions, but the voice of his accusatory satire also increases its power, because if we see vice within the framework of the entire society, then a huge shovel is needed to clear away all this “rubbish”. And it is no coincidence that Marx “yells with his mouth open” at such unfortunate inhabitants:

"The revolution has been entangled in philistinism

Philistine life is worse than Wrangel.

turn the heads of the canaries -

so that communism

I wasn’t beaten by the canaries!”

Often Mayakovsky is also a writer of everyday life, and this is another sign of the innovation of his satire. His words are always addressed to his descendants; we hear these appeals in every line. The poet seems to be telling us, grinning: “Look, we lived in such a time, and we made fun of it! Are you living better? Probably the answer to this question will be negative. We cannot say with certainty that in our society there are no such “comrades Nadya” and such “philistines”. Therefore, Mayakovsky’s works still remain relevant and timeless.

It is also interesting to observe how Mayakovsky’s satire invents new definitions for the newly born vices of the young Soviet Republic. These are neologisms such as: “philistine”, “NEPists” and many others, which, however, characterize the same phenomenon, or better yet, the class, the so-called middle class. And although the revolution proclaimed the abolition of all classes, it could not completely get rid of the class system. And it was Mayakovsky, together with his constant companion, satire, who undertook to eradicate it. It is interesting to note that the poet not only denounces, but he also gives specific advice, shows ways out, and tries not to be unfounded. Here, for example, are the recommendations we see in the poem “The Satisfied”:

You won't fall asleep with excitement.

It's early morning.

I greet the early dawn with a dream:

"Oh, at least

one meeting

regarding the eradication of all meetings!"

Or for example in “Bureaucracy”:

as is known,

not a clerk.

I have no clerical skills.

But in my opinion

without any tricks

take the office by the pipe

and shake it out.

over the shaken out

sit in silence

choose one and say:

Just ask him:

"For God's sake,

write, comrade, not very much!”

Such is Mayakovsky’s satire, she not only laughs, but also gives practical advice, not only exposes all the filth and dirt to everyone, but also takes a broom and sweeps this dirt out of the corners. There is simply humor in Mayakovsky’s satire. Therefore, probably, his poems are easy and interesting to read. But this humor in no way relieves the “guilty” of responsibility. The functions of humor here are somewhat different. If his pictures of “philistinism”, unfolding before our mind's eye, were not imbued with this humor, they would be too black and gloomy. Then we would not read poetry, but accusatory manifestos, and they would not be worth publishing in satirical magazines, but only sent as complaints to the relevant authorities. Then we would have isolated cases of bribery, bureaucracy and irresponsibility. But Mayakovsky’s satire allows us to look at these cases against the background of the general picture of such vices:

I'm rushing around, yelling.

The terrible picture made my mind go crazy.

“She’s at two meetings at once.

twenty meetings

We need to keep up.

Involuntarily you have to split into two.

Up to the waist here

but other

To prevent such a split into individual cases and the overall picture, Mayakovsky uses his satire. Titles are also used for this when the satirist tries to describe the phenomenon in full, for example, “Bureaucracy,” “Trusts,” “About Poets.” He not only denounces these phenomena, but also gives his resolutions:

In my opinion,

from another barrel -

the famous fairy tale about the white bull.

And there are a great many such tales about the “white bull”. After all, as they will say later: “A poet in Russia is more than a poet.” And it is to Mayakovsky that these words are most applicable. He was truly more than a poet, more than a writer, more than a citizen, more than a patriot. And this is largely due to his satire, sharp and caustic, special, unlike others. After all, Mayakovsky’s poems can be recognized immediately, and this is only thanks to that special style and that special satire that is unique to him:

My butts are calloused from sitting for five years,

strong as washbasins,

still live today

quieter than water.

We built cozy offices and bedrooms

Sometimes, even now, we really miss this satire of the poet to combat the same phenomena that he denounced during his lifetime.