The lyrics of Vladimir Mayakovsky, one of the most original and talented poets of the 20th century, are clearly divided into two periods. His works, written before the 1917 revolution, are distinguished by tremendous energy, power and strength of the lyrical hero. But, at the same time, the poems of this period are filled with loneliness, the hero's longing for love and understanding, for a kindred spirit, which he does not see in the surrounding reality. Hence - protest, riot, shocking, the desire of the hero Mayakovsky to rebuild the whole world, the entire Universe.
Mayakovsky's poem "Here!" (1913) is one of the most striking and characteristic works of the poet's early work. The name itself sets us up in a shocking way. The vernacular and rude "Nate!", Which the hero throws to the soulless and vulgar audience, explains his attitude towards her. The hero, as a handout, throws his poems to this public, no longer hoping for their understanding, let alone a worthy assessment of creativity.
The poem "Nate!" has elements of a specific plot. The lyrical hero in some institution, perhaps in a restaurant, reads his poems to the chewing public. He speaks with these people with the most painful, about what he tears from his heart, about his innermost: "I have opened so many poems of boxes for you, I - the priceless words of a mot and a squander." The epithet "priceless" emphasizes the importance of these words for the lyrical hero.
Why does he call himself "a bastard and a spender?" It seems to me, on the one hand, because the hero realizes the futility of his efforts to open up before the eternally chewing "fat" men and women. On the other hand, these definitions indicate the strength and powerful energy of the hero, who, not sparing himself, will continue to try to do something, change the world with his creativity.
But what about the audience? She does not care:
Here you are, man, you have cabbage in your mustache
somewhere half-eaten, half-eaten cabbage soup;
here you are, woman, white on you thickly,
you look like an oyster from the shells of things.
These people are mired in petty worries from the "world of things." They tightly hid their souls in the shell and are now unable to understand anything that does not touch their stomach. The vivid comparison "look with an oyster from the shells of things" helps us understand this.
In the third quatrain, the boundaries of the poem begin to expand. Now the hero finds himself alone with the entire hostile world, with the crowd. A very strong and vivid metaphor that characterizes these relations:
All of you are on a butterfly poetic heart
perch, dirty, with and without galoshes.
Galoshes here are a very accurate detail that characterizes the "well-fed and vulgar audience." For the hero, she is "dirty", dirty first of all with her soul, because she is deaf to everything beautiful.
Further, the picture unfolds, strengthening its impact. These people in galoshes turn into a crowd that stands up as a powerful wall against the lyrical hero, not wanting to understand and accept him. Comparison "bristling legs of a hundred-headed louse" is evaluative in nature. It contains the attitude of the lyrical hero in the crowd, which causes only disgust.
But the lyric hero considers himself free from the opinions of this crowd. With joy and laughter, he states that at any moment he can simply spit in the face of all this public. What does it mean? It seems to me that Mayakovsky means that he can openly tell these people everything that he thinks about them. His hero can afford any outrageous way to somehow "stir up" the crowd, to make it feel.
The poem ends with a repetition of a line from the first stanza of the poem. In it, the hero once again repeats that he is "a waste of priceless words and a waste". Thus, the composition "Nate!" can be considered circular. Despite all the loneliness of the lyric hero, the poem is positive. It emphasizes the strength, freedom, brightness of the poet, who will "do his job", no matter what.
This work touches on the theme of the poet and the crowd, traditional for Russian poetry, the poet's relationship with the people. This theme is solved in the main also classically, despite all the innovation of artistic means. The poet is not understood by the crowd, rejected and ridiculed by it. But, at the same time, the poet interacts with this crowd, he opposes it, mocks and shocks.
An hour from here to a clean lane
your bloated fat will flow out on the person,
and I opened for you so many verses in boxes,
I - the priceless words mot and spender.
Here you are, man, you have cabbage in your mustache
Somewhere half-eaten, half-eaten cabbage soup;
here you are, woman, white on you thickly,
you look like an oyster from the shells of things.
All of you are on a butterfly poetic heart
perch, dirty, with and without galoshes.
The crowd will go wild, rubbing,
a hundred-headed louse bristles its legs.
And if today to me, a rude Hun,
you will not want to grimace in front of you - and now
I will laugh and happily spit,
spit in your face
I - the priceless words spender and mot.
Analysis of the poem "Nate!" Mayakovsky
The appearance of Mayakovsky in Russian poetic society can be compared to the effect of a bomb exploding. At the beginning of the 20th century, many poets used non-standard images and techniques in their work. But it was Mayakovsky who acquired the most scandalous fame. In 1913 he wrote the poem "Nate!", Which became his program statement to the public.
During this time, the public performance of poets was very popular. This provided a way to make money and gain fame for those who did not have the opportunity to publish their works. The speeches of aspiring authors sometimes took on the character of a humiliated request for a handout from a bored society. This developed a false conceit among wealthy listeners, they began to consider themselves true connoisseurs and connoisseurs of art.
Mayakovsky's contempt for bourgeois society is well known. It was further strengthened by the poet's forced participation in such public readings. The poem "Nate!" became a sharp protest of the author, directed against those who perceived his work as another entertainment. One can imagine the reaction of a person who first came to Mayakovsky's performance with this poem.
The aggressive style and content of the work should immediately cause a negative reaction in the listener. Mayakovsky declares that his poetic gift is wasted in front of "flabby fat." The author snatches from the crowd typical male and female images that personify all the abominations of society. The man has a cabbage in his mustache, and the woman is not even visible because of the cosmetics and the abundance of items belonging to her. Nevertheless, these "subhumans" are respected and revered members of human society.
The main way that Mayakovsky describes the crowd is the "hundred-headed louse". Thanks to money, the human mass claims its rights to the identity of the poet. She believes that having bought his time, she has the power to dispose of the talent at her discretion.
Mayakovsky goes against the rules of a decent society. He, like a "gross Hun", commits an individual revolt. Instead of respectable admiration and antics of the poet, spit flies in the face of the crowd. All the hatred accumulated by the author is concentrated in this spit.
The poem "Nate!" - one of the most powerful works of protest in Russian poetry. No one before Mayakovsky expressed such open contempt for his own listeners. In it one can see the embryo of modern ultra-radical art.
Note: this verse is also called "Hate!", which translated from English means "hatred".
Rejection of existing reality is the main motive of Vladimir Mayakovsky's early lyrics. The poet declares himself to be the herald of new truths and is faced with the alienation of the people around him. The world around the lyric hero Mayakovsky is inhuman, cruel and spiritually wretched. A moral person, noble in soul, is infinitely lonely in such a society. However, he does not so much despair and shy away from his surroundings, as he tries to fight it. The poet mercilessly, fiercely criticizes the existing world order, creating vivid satirical images of well-fed, self-righteous, indifferent people. One of the classic examples of early satire by Vladimir Mayakovsky is the poem "Nate!" The title of the work is already cutting the ear, it expresses the indignation of the creator, whom the spoiled public takes for a slave, ready to fulfill any of its wishes. No, the hero of the poem - the poet - will serve art, and not this crowd, which is wasting life. The creator's monologue is very emotional, every word in it castigates the audience, consisting of vulgar ordinary people:
An hour from here to a clean lane
your bloated fat will flow out on the person,
and I opened for you so many verses in boxes,
I - the priceless words mot and spender.
The first stanza of the work presents us with the environment of the lyric hero in general. The poet depicts people as one solid fat, moreover, "flabby" (an epithet). This metaphor testifies precisely to their excessive satiety, which turned into complacency and stupidity. The poet opposes himself to the whole of such a society, because the essence of the creator is not hoarding, but spiritual generosity. The hero calls his words "priceless" (an epithet) not out of vanity. It's just art, poetry - the most precious thing he has. Poems are "gems" of the poet's heart, and they are stored, apparently, in "boxes". The hero does not hide these "jewels", he is ready to open the caches of his soul to everyone. But the trouble is that his poetry is not needed by society, as, indeed, culture in general. With disgust, the hero describes the representatives of this world:
Here you are, man, you have cabbage in your mustache
somewhere half-eaten, half-eaten cabbage soup;
here you are, woman, white on you thickly,
you look like an oyster from the shells of things.
The poet insults these people for a reason. He wants to be heard, is trying to stir up the philistine "swamp", to awaken the souls of these people, swollen with fat. Most of all, in the second stanza, I like the metaphor "the shell of things." In my opinion, it very accurately reflects the complete immersion of a person in everyday life, killing a person, turning people into some kind of "mollusks", devoid of an inner form and resignedly assuming any guise, even the most terrible. Looking over this vile society with his prophetic glance, the poet realizes one thing: a lot of suffering awaits him ahead:
All of you are on a butterfly poetic heart
Perch, dirty, with and without galoshes
The crowd will go wild, rubbing,
a hundred-headed louse bristles its legs.
And if today to me, a rude Hun,
you will not want to grimace in front of you - and now
I will laugh and happily spit,
spit in your face
I - the priceless words spender and mot.
The outrageous trick of the lyric hero is caused again by the desire to attract attention and be heard at all costs. This is how Mayakovsky bursts into the poetry of the twentieth century as a "rude Hun" to show the world of the well-fed, the seamy side of real life. The imperfection of the world order, the sharp discrepancy between dreams and reality, depressing lack of spirituality and vulgarity gave rise to an angry protest in the poet's soul. And he had only one weapon - the word. Mayakovsky's poems will always be up-to-date. They are directed to the future, because they urge a person to improve. The poet unobtrusively educates us. So, in the satirical work "Nate" he asserts: spiritual death is much more terrible than physical. We must remember this and be vigilant.
It would seem that Mayakovsky's poem "Nate" is only four stanzas, nineteen lines of text, but a full-fledged analysis of a work of art can be made from them. Let's find out how to do it according to all the rules.
Looking back
Today, when the works of Vladimir Vladimirovich are rightfully considered classical and are included in the school curriculum, we have the right to analyze his texts not only as literary scholars, but also as psychologists.
In 1913, when the poem "Nate" was written, Mayakovsky celebrated only his twentieth birthday. His soul, like any talented young man, requires action, a reassessment of values by society, seeks to give everyone what they deserve, at least in verse. The poet calls himself violent, wild, which in reality should be considered not so much as physical aggression, as verbal, directed against injustice. It is thanks to these qualities that the poet will be appreciated by the new government - not ideal, but new, and therefore praised by Mayakovsky.
The emptiness of the aristocracy
The poet is convinced that creativity is perceived by a layer of pseudo-aristocracy as a food product. They do not want to perceive deeper meaning and have one intention - to entertain themselves by listening to rhymed phrases. The author decides to speak directly, without hints, and does so throughout all the years of work, this is evident from the analysis of Mayakovsky's poem "Nate".
In the future, he will call himself a "poet-proletarian", will glorify the development of technology and the movement of society towards a brighter future, while fighting at the same time with those whose consciousness remained in imperial Russia. Already in early work, this struggle takes on a pronounced character.
Words and syllable
Mayakovsky's poems are a cry, these are words spoken into a megaphone. He speaks as if he is hammering nails with a hammer: it is not for nothing that whole stanzas of his works are one-word lines, shifted by tabs in order to perceive the rhythm and meter by the reader.
Mention in the analysis of Mayakovsky's poem "Nate" and the choice of words: "shells of things", "coarse Hun", "bloated fat". Is this vocabulary typical for a poet? Why do you think he chose these particular words and not any others?
Pay attention to the phonetic component, rhymes. Mayakovsky often resorts to alliteration - the repetition of the same sets of consonants in different words. Moreover, the poet's manner of rhyming can be formalized in a separate method invented by him. The whole stanza, in his opinion, should look like a single one, and the words in it should be all interconnected not only by meaning, but also by phonetics.
Literary techniques
Epithets and metaphors, exaggerations and understatements, aggressive sarcasm, which takes the form of accusations, are characteristic of the author's work as a whole. Analysis of Mayakovsky's poem "Nate" provides examples of an uncompromising attitude towards the listener: "your bloated fat ...", "you ... perch, dirty ...", "I will spit in your face ...".
The purpose of such an address is not to offend, but to give thought, to snatch a person out of the cozy world of consumption of the aesthetics of creativity and to show the true meaning of poetry: to raise problems in order to solve them later; to focus public attention on sore spots, thus to step on an old unhealed callus.
Defense of the poet
At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, the role of the poet took on an entertaining character. If during the time of Pushkin, whose work Mayakovsky loved and appreciated, the poet in the public consciousness occupied a somewhat privileged position, then on the eve of the revolution he became an instrument of entertainment for the tavern audience. The poet decides to get away from attempts to revive the prestige of his profession "from a third person" and directly declares to the people listening to him about the injustice. This should be mentioned in his work on the analysis of Mayakovsky's poem "Nate".
Consequences
It is also worth studying a fragment of the poet's biography. How was the studied poem perceived by the society? How did the authorities react, and was there any reaction at all? Did the work contribute to the promotion of Mayakovsky's creativity to the masses and why?
Teachers love it when pupils and students go beyond the required and recommended reading by turning to additional sources. Therefore, it will not be superfluous to show interest when performing the analysis of "Nate" by Mayakovsky, and the teacher will note this by raising the grade or closing his eyes to minor flaws. Intention is commendable in itself, especially if students are usually not enthusiastic in class.
Conclusion
No matter how radical the approach of the proletarian poet to convincing the masses and promoting his point of view on resonant issues, the fact remains: his work had a noticeable influence on the formation of both the image of the new government and the futuristic trend in literature. Mayakovsky's poem "Nate" is one of the first calls to the formation of an important figure in Russian culture, and every student should read his works (even the most famous ones).
As a futurist and modernist, Vladimir Mayakovsky sought not only to challenge his fellow writers, but also to provoke the modern public. His manner of writing and reading poetry aroused surprise among the intelligentsia, which grew into indignation. Actually, it is to such an intelligentsia that the most famous poem of the early period of Mayakovsky's work “Here!” Is addressed.
The name itself, consisting of a vernacular and unacceptable expression for poetry of the early twentieth century, sets the tone for the future poem. It also represents the speech of a lyrical hero, in which the reader easily recognizes the poet - "I have opened so many boxes for you." The hero delivers this speech at one of the poetry evenings, addressing the audience in a very ironic manner.
"Flabby Fat," a man with a mustache, a woman compared to an oyster; dirty, "hundred-headed louse" - it's all about the audience who attended the poetry evening. The hero opposes himself to the public - it turns out the immortal Pushkin antithesis "poet - crowd". The poet in this case is a "rude Hun", but the crowd is not at all like, as one might expect, the graceful inhabitants of Rome, whose culture the Huns, in theory, are destroying. On the contrary, the poet's deliberate rudeness and naturalness is opposed to the tightness, unnaturalness and absolute earthiness of those on whom he spends his poems.
And he is a "spender and a bum" because he allows himself to divulge priceless words to those who - obviously - do not understand them. Such a crowd is a louse in the poet's heart, blackening his poems with their inability to understand, appreciate and love them because of their remoteness from all that is high that is bestowed on the poet. It is not surprising that the reading of this poem at a real literary evening caused a scandal and indignation of the public, which just understood the poem, but, for obvious reasons, did not appreciate it.
Analysis of the poem by V.V. Mayakovsky "Here!"
The poem "Nate!", Written in 1913, belongs to the early works of the poet. This is one of the classic examples of Mayakovsky's early satire. The main topic early lyrics in general and this poem in particular - rejection of existing reality. Here the poet mercilessly, fiercely criticizes the existing world order, creating vivid satirical images of well-fed, self-righteous, indifferent people. In the center of the poem is the traditional conflict poet and crowd. The audience, the crowd, takes the poet for a slave, ready to fulfill her every desire. But he rebelled against her, proclaiming his main goal - the service of art. The first stanza depicts the surroundings of the lyrical hero. The poet depicts people in the form of "bloated fat" (a symbol of satiety that has turned into complacency and stupidity). The hero opposes himself to this society, because his distinguishing feature is spiritual generosity, he is “the priceless words of a mot and a squander”.
In the second stanza, the gap between the poet and the crowd increases: the poet depicts people completely immersed in everyday life and destroyed, morally killed by him:
You look like an oyster from the shell of things.
The third stanza, like the first, is built on the opposition of the fragile, quivering "butterfly of the poetic heart" to the vile "hundred-headed louse", personifying the crowd of ordinary people. The outrageous, cynical and rude behavior of the hero in the final stanza is caused, on the one hand, by the fact that the creator must be strong, be able to defend himself, not give offense. On the other hand, the desire to attract attention and be heard.
Analysis of V. Mayakovsky's poem "Nate"
Rejection of existing reality is the main motive of Vladimir Mayakovsky's early lyrics. The poet declares himself to be the herald of new truths and is faced with the alienation of the people around him. The world around the lyric hero Mayakovsky is inhuman, cruel and spiritually wretched. A moral person, noble in soul, is infinitely lonely in such a society. However, he does not so much despair and shy away from his surroundings, as he tries to fight it. The poet mercilessly, fiercely criticizes the existing world order, creating vivid satirical images of well-fed, self-righteous, indifferent people. One of the classic examples of early satire by Vladimir Mayakovsky is the poem "Nate!" The title of the work is already cutting the ear, it expresses the indignation of the creator, whom the spoiled public takes for a slave, ready to fulfill any of its wishes. No, the hero of the poem - the poet - will serve art, and not this crowd, which is wasting life. The creator's monologue is very emotional, every word in it castigates the audience, consisting of vulgar ordinary people:
I am priceless words a mot and a spender.
The first stanza of the work presents us with the environment of the lyric hero in general. The poet depicts people as one solid fat, moreover, "flabby" (an epithet). This metaphor testifies precisely to their excessive satiety, which turned into complacency and stupidity. The poet opposes himself to the whole of such a society, because the essence of the creator is not hoarding, but spiritual generosity. The hero calls his words "priceless" (an epithet) not out of vanity. It's just art, poetry - the most precious thing he has. Poems are "gems" of the poet's heart, and they are stored, apparently, in "boxes". The hero does not hide these "jewels", he is ready to open the caches of his soul to everyone. But the trouble is that his poetry is not needed by society, as, indeed, culture in general. With disgust, the hero describes the representatives of this world:
Somewhere half-eaten, half-eaten cabbage soup;
The poet insults these people for a reason. He wants to be heard, is trying to stir up the philistine "swamp", to awaken the souls of these people, swollen with fat. Most of all, in the second stanza, I like the metaphor "the shell of things." In my opinion, it very accurately reflects the complete immersion of a person in everyday life, killing a person, turning people into some kind of "mollusks", devoid of an inner form and resignedly assuming any guise, even the most terrible. Looking over this vile society with his prophetic glance, the poet realizes one thing: a lot of suffering awaits him ahead:
Perch, dirty, with and without galoshes
galosh,
I will laugh and happily spit
spit in your face
I - the priceless words spender and mot.
The outrageous trick of the lyric hero is caused again by the desire to attract attention and be heard at all costs. This is how Mayakovsky bursts into the poetry of the twentieth century as a "rude Hun" to show the world of the well-fed, the seamy side of real life. The imperfection of the world order, the sharp discrepancy between dreams and reality, depressing lack of spirituality and vulgarity gave rise to an angry protest in the poet's soul. And he had only one weapon - the word. Mayakovsky's poems will always be up-to-date. They are directed to the future, because they urge a person to improve. The poet unobtrusively educates us. So, in the satirical work "Nate" he asserts: spiritual death is much more terrible than physical. We must remember this and be vigilant.
Analysis of Mayakovsky's poem "Nate!"
The central compositional technique in the poem "Nate!" - antithesis. The catchy name itself bears witness to this. The early lyric hero of V. Mayakovsky romantically opposes himself to all of humanity.
He tries to look at the world from the outside. And the sight terrifies him. The opposition of the romantically inspired lyric hero and the flabby world is also emphasized by the pronouns "I" - "you", contrastingly opposed in the structure of the poem.
The artistically reduced image of the crowd is opposed by the city itself. This opposition is emphasized by the antithesis "clean" - "dirty". The morning empty lane is clean and beautiful. And so, gradually creeping out of their homes, the townsfolk begin to dirty it:
Your bloated fat will flow out over the person.
V. Mayakovsky uses the method of shocking in this work. He seems to want to anger, shock his reader and, at the same time, make him think about the values of the timeless and eternal, which, alas, are replaced by the desire for external beauty.
The poet is irritated by this society of well-fed and self-righteous, bourgeois townspeople, dressed up and made up, and under this decent guise they disguised the most vile and evil souls, the preservation of whose purity, alas, is replaced by society by the desire for external beauty.
Everyone in the city lives his own hectic daily life. He doesn't care about our lyrical hero. He is undoubtedly offended and neglected. Maybe that's why he so wants to prick more painfully, offend the townsfolk.
What does V. Mayakovsky proclaim as a value of the highest order? This is the spiritual life of a person, his joys and sufferings. Poetry is the first to embody them. Practically all sublime pictorial and expressive means (“poems of boxes”, “priceless words”, “butterfly of a poetic heart”) are dedicated to her in the work.
The early Mayakovsky critic is often accused of selfishness. However, it is important that he seeks to oppose the world not himself (as a specific person), but the type of a poetic soul, a philosophically gifted being. The poet scrutinizes those around him, first tries to examine people one at a time, then all types and faces merge.
In this poem, you can feel the game in reference to a certain tradition:
One involuntarily recalls the novel by F.M. Dostoevsky's "Crime and Punishment", in which the main character Rodion Raskolnikov divides people into "trembling creatures" and "having the right". For some, only a miserable existence is destined for small and everyday problems, endless vanity and hopeless poverty. For others, the laws are not written. By the right of the strong and gifted, they are allowed to decide other people's destinies. The reader knows what such theories lead to in the pages of F.M. Dostoevsky. However, the position of the master of life is still tempting for many.
In this case, the lyrical hero of V. Mayakovsky is in many ways likened to Raskolnikov, despising people as a crowd of miserable, insignificant, evil little people, seeks to rise above the world of ordinary creatures, to emphasize his originality and exclusivity. At the same time, the lyrical hero is lightly injured. His heart is like a large butterfly.
In many of Mayakovsky's poems, where the lyric hero also challenges the world, he doesn't care much about the rest. But in this work, the poet is seized by genuine horror in front of the brutal crowd.
"Nate" V. Mayakovsky Analysis 4
Verse "Nate!" Vladimir Mayakovsky
An hour from here to a clean lane
your bloated fat will flow out on the person,
and I opened for you so many verses in boxes,
I - the priceless words mot and spender.
Somewhere half-eaten, half-eaten cabbage soup;
here you are, woman, white on you thickly,
you look like an oyster from the shells of things.
perch, dirty, with and without galoshes.
The crowd will go wild, rubbing,
a hundred-headed louse bristles its legs.
you will not want to grimace in front of you - and now
I will laugh and happily spit,
spit in your face
I - the priceless words spender and mot.
Analysis of Mayakovsky's poem "Nate"
The literary world at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries undergoes significant changes, many different trends and directions appear that do not fit into the generally accepted canons. But even in this chaos and confusion, from which only a few decades later real diamonds of Russian poetry will have to crystallize, the figure of Vladimir Mayakovsky initially plays a very shocking role. The syllable, the sense of rhythm, the construction of phrases - these distinctive features make it possible to unmistakably recognize the works of the poet in the sea of literary experiments. Moreover, each rhymed line by Mayakovsky carries a certain semantic load, which is sometimes expressed in a rather crude and shocking form.
The poem "Nate!", Created in 1913, refers to the early period of the poet's work, whose social outlook is just beginning to form. This stage of Mayakovsky's poetic experiments can rightfully be called rebellious, since the form for him is of secondary importance, but the author pays special attention to the content... His favorite technique is opposition, which the poet masters masterfully, which allows him to create vivid and multifaceted literary images. "Here!" - this is a kind of challenge to bourgeois society, for which poetry is still an amorphous art designed to please the ear. Therefore, the author, who has to earn his living by reading his own poetry in public, is very indignant at such a consumer attitude towards literature. His poem "Nate!" just the same is dedicated to all those who see not the essence of poetry, but only its shell... an empty wrapper, into which you can put any delicacy, the taste of which ordinary people will not be able to feel.
From the very first lines of his work, Vladimir Mayakovsky addresses the crowd, trying to provoke it, hurt it more painfully and stir it up. Its goal is simple and clear - to make people who consider themselves to be a true connoisseur of art to look at themselves from the outside. As a result, a very ironic and caricature picture emerges, which makes even those in the form of a man with "cabbage in a mustache" or a woman looking "like an oyster from the shell of things" smile, recognize themselves.
Such deliberate rudeness is not only a desire to express contempt for those for whom attending literary readings is a tribute to fashion. In such a simple way, young Mayakovsky, among other things, wants to draw attention to his work, extraordinary, devoid of romance and sentimentality, but possessing an undeniable charm and attractiveness. Shocking antics for the poet are quite common, but behind feigned indifference, causticity and satire hides a very vulnerable and sensual nature, which is no stranger to lofty impulses and mental anguish.
"Here!", Analysis of the poem by Mayakovsky
Poets are unusual people. Not like everyone else. They have a heightened perception of reality, a special, metaphorical language. Poetry is alien to the common man in the street. Obviously, therefore, the confrontation between the poet and the crowd in Russian literature has been known since the time of Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin. and in the world - from ancient Greek times. In 1828, in a difficult time of uncertainty and loneliness, Pushkin wrote the poem "The Poet and the Crowd". His hero, who has no understanding with the "stupid rabble", prefers creative solitude.
This is not the character of the hero of the poet of the twentieth century Vladimir Mayakovsky. Like the futurists themselves, like Vladimir Mayakovsky himself, the hero of the early lyrics challenges the crowd. Even the titles of these works contain an appeal akin to an order: "Listen!" "Here!", "You!" ...
In a poem "Here!"(1913) the poet is not "heaven's chosen one", but "Rude hun"... A collective crowd image disgusting:
The crowd will go wild, rubbing,
a hundred-headed louse bristles its legs.
From the very first lines, when the hero is sure that in an hour "Your bloated fat will flow out drop by drop"... the accusatory pathos of this poem becomes obvious. Moreover, the poet himself had a chance to quit it. denunciation in the face of the decent bourgeois public, which gathered for the opening of the "Pink Lantern" cabaret, and Mayakovsky was invited as a guest.
The poem "Nate!" opposes not just the poet and the crowd. At the beginning of the twentieth century, on the eve of the First World War, life in Russia was not distinguished by a high level. Therefore, people who received large incomes came to cafes, restaurants, cabarets: speculators, traders, bourgeoisie. Such representatives of society sometimes profited from someone else's misfortune, while they themselves were rich, and spent them on food and entertainment.
For the hero, this material world is associated with satiety and, as a result, with complacency and stupidity. The hero's world is represented by other values: his wealth - "So many verses in boxes"... and he himself - "Priceless words mot and spender"... Of course, he calls himself that because he is ready to open his soul to anyone, so that precious words reach the heart of everyone, but only he does not see worthy listeners. It is either a man who has "Cabbage in the mustache, somewhere half-eaten, half-eaten cabbage soup"... or a woman wearing "Whitewash thickly"... and she "Looks like an oyster from the shell of things" .
While they are harmless: after all, the one who sits in his "The sink of things"... can spend his whole life there without harming anyone. There is such a person or not - not interesting. Even in the fairy tale of ME Saltykov-Shchedrin "The Wise Gudgeon" was ridiculed such a type of layman who "lived - trembled and died - trembled."
But Mayakovsky understood that sooner or later there would be more such people, and they would turn into a threatening force - into "Hundred-headed louse"... which "Bristle legs" and "In galoshes and without galoshes" perch on "Butterfly of the poetic heart"... At first glance, such a metaphor is incomparable in style with the vocabulary of the entire poem: these are not rude words, these are not shocking statements, and finally, it is not a challenge. On the contrary, a butterfly is a fragile and defenseless creature that cannot be touched with your hands, even just touched, otherwise the butterfly will die.
After reading these lines, for a moment it becomes sincerely sorry for the hero, doomed to such "glory". But already in the next quatrain, the former hero appears - self-confident, loud-voiced, despising everyone who is not on a par with him. Human nature, as Mayakovsky believed, is the unity of two principles: biological and spiritual. In bourgeois society, these principles are separated, therefore the spiritual is not only separated from the material - there is simply no place for it. Therefore, the author portrays everything material in a deliberately repulsive manner: "Flabby fat". "Half-eaten cabbage soup". "Mustache cabbage" .
In the last quatrain appears "Rude hun"... who not only can afford not to grimace in front of the chewing crowd, but can even "Laugh and spit in your face with joy" those for whom art is just an excuse to have fun. Composition closes in a ring by repeating words from the beginning of the poem:
I am priceless words spender and mot.
Thus, the final word rests with the hero. This is the whole Mayakovsky. In his early poetry, according to critics, an emotional range is heard - from passionate intensity to shy shyness, from confidential confessions to angry accusatory speech. Lyrical hero becomes a kind of focus of harmony, therefore it is alone. Perhaps the challenge in the poem "Nate!" - it is not so much a desire to expose, as a desire to attract attention to oneself, to be heard among millions of disconnected people, to find the same as the hero himself. The uniqueness of the whole poem is given as the neologisms of Mayakovsky ( "Poetical"), and his unusual metaphors ( "Hundred-headed louse").
Listen to Mayakovsky's poem to Nat
The poem was written in 1913. Read the verse "Here!" Mayakovsky Vladimir Vladimirovich is available on the website. The work fully reflects the mentality of the Russian world of literature and art of the new 20th century. Various groups among artists, theatrical figures, writers strive to declare a fresh word in art, trying and experimenting, looking for new creative ways of self-expression. Mayakovsky became one of the brightest figures of the era.
The author of the poem, unexpected in form, deliberately rude in content, in his address gives a slap in the face to society, which, in their own opinion, has an undeniable taste, reserves the right to judge and evaluate the poet. The author of poetic lines throws down a daring challenge to gentlemen with "flabby fat", in galoshes and without, to a lady with a face under the mask of thick whitewash, to everyone who considers themselves to the world of bourgeois culture, arguing from the standpoint of established criteria of tearful sentimentality and obsequious beauty of poetic art, called just be a delight to the ear. “Here! - a kind of verbal revolt of the poet, denouncing and protesting against the inertia of the small philistine world, compressed by the narrow framework of his own worldview. "Rough Hun", whose work is a fresh stream, "clean lane" among the old, familiar poetic backyards. He is not afraid to enter a new age with new poetry by opening his box of priceless gifts of words. How not afraid to shock the public or be rejected. Because he is always ready to respond to the attacks of the "brutal", "bristling" crowd and challenge it.
The work can be taught in an online literature class in the classroom. The text of Mayakovsky's poem "Here!" can be downloaded in full on the website.
An hour from here to a clean lane
I - the priceless words mot and spender.
Here you are, man, you have cabbage in your mustache
All of you are on a butterfly poetic heart
And if today to me, a rude Hun,
you will not want to grimace in front of you - and now
I will laugh and happily spit,
spit in your face
I - the priceless words spender and mot.
The poem "Nate!" was written in 1913. In this work, the lyrical hero is completely alone. He is forced to be surrounded by "fat" inhabitants who do not care about poetry. This is one of the poet's most sarcastic works.
The first stanza: the opposition of people and the lyrical hero
Analysis of the poem "Nate!" Mayakovsky shows that one of the main artistic techniques used by Mayakovsky in his work "Nate!" is the antithesis. Even the very catchy title of the poem speaks of its character. The lyrical hero in Mayakovsky's early works almost always opposes himself to the world around him. He tries to look at reality from the outside, and everything that evokes this look in him is horror. The lyrical hero is a romantic, and the flabby world is opposed to him. This is emphasized by using the pronouns "I" - "we", which are quite contrasted in the structure of the work.
Features of the second stanza: unusual comparisons
Further analysis of the poem "Nate!" Mayakovsky, the student can talk about the content of the next stanza. It differs in that it describes not only the deafness of the audience to what the poet said. People are beginning to change their appearance as well. For example, a man becomes, because of his slovenly behavior, like a pig, a woman - like an oyster. Here you can see that behind these words, which at first glance seem to be ordinary insults, is the poet's desire to point out the limitations of ordinary people. After all, an oyster always sits in its shell, and it cannot see what is happening outside its world.
White, which is densely covered the heroine's face, evoke an association with a doll. The woman does not hear what the lyrical hero is talking about. She looks like a doll with a beautiful appearance and a completely empty inner world.
Third stanza: the confrontation between people and the lyrical hero
Further analysis of the poem "Nate!" Mayakovsky shows that this opposition reaches its climax here. The incorrect form used by Mayakovsky in the expression "butterfly of the poetic heart" is intended to emphasize the vulnerability of poetry to the court of the crowd. Ozverev, she threatens to trample the lyrical hero. To describe the crowd, Mayakovsky uses the epithet "dirty". The very image of a crowd of people is created by the poet with the help of just one detail - galoshes. With the help of this characteristic, the poet creates a rather mundane image.
Antithesis in the work
The city itself is opposed to the lyrical hero, which is emphasized with the help of antonyms "clean" - "dirty". This fact can also be indicated by analyzing the poem "Nate!" Mayakovsky. The lane is beautiful in the morning because it is clean. But gradually passers-by crawl out of their houses and begin to stain it. Mayakovsky writes: "Your bloated fat will flow out over the person." In this place, the poet uses the method of shocking. This can also be indicated by conducting a brief analysis of the poem "Nate!" Mayakovsky according to plan. He wants to anger his reader, shock him. At the same time, the poet wants to make one think about real values that cannot be replaced by external beauty.
Mayakovsky is annoyed by well-fed and self-righteous people who are dressed up and painted. Indeed, under this decent appearance, as if behind a mask, vile and evil souls are hidden. Their inner state, unfortunately, cannot in any way be replaced by their appearance.
Every resident of the city lives, goes his own way. He has nothing to do with what the lyrical hero of the work thinks and feels. He is left out of the attention of other people. Perhaps that is why the lyrical hero of Mayakovsky would like to hurt the residents of the city as painfully as possible.
Fourth stanza: conflict resolution
Conducting a brief analysis of the poem "Nate!" V.V. Mayakovsky, the student can indicate: in this part there are five lines, and not four, as in the previous ones. The poet writes that if he wants, he will "spit in the face" of the crowd. And, perhaps, this is the only way to resolve the conflict between the poet and the crowd. The lyrical hero feels completely misunderstood and alone.
In his work, Mayakovsky speaks of those values that belong to the highest order. This is the spiritual side of human life, happiness and sorrow. First of all, poetry is called upon to realize these values. Almost the entire arsenal of sublime artistic means turns out to be dedicated to her ("the poems of the boxes", "the butterfly of the poetic heart").
Analysis of the poem "Nate!" V. V. Mayakovsky: poet and crowd
Often, critics believed that Mayakovsky's early work was too selfish. But it is precisely the moment that Vladimir Vladimirovich opposed to society not himself as a separate individual, but the type of poetic personality - any human being who is philosophically gifted. At the beginning of his work, the poet peers at the images of passers-by, but then they all merge into one. When Mayakovsky speaks about the crowd that will "go wild" and about the "hundred-headed louse", the reader can feel a reference to a certain literary tradition.
What can await someone who opposes himself to society
Analysis of the poem "Nate!" Vladimir Mayakovsky is one of the best examples of the poet's sarcastic creativity. However, such irony does not always lead to good. A thoughtful reader can involuntarily recall the main character of the work "Crime and Punishment" by FM Dostoevsky, Raskolnikov. He divided all of humanity into two types: "trembling creatures" and more worthy - "having the right." For those who belong to the first category, life is destined for a miserable existence in the midst of everyday problems, endless bustle. And for others the sea is knee-deep - for them there are absolutely no laws. And the reader from the work of Dostoevsky knows what such tendencies can lead to. But the position of "master of life" for many is too tempting.
In this respect, the poet becomes like Raskolnikov. He despises people like a pitiful crowd; they appear to him to be spiteful and completely insignificant. On the other hand, the poet turns out to be very lightly injured - after all, his heart is comparable to a butterfly. In many of Mayakovsky's works, the lyric hero has the courage to challenge the crowd. However, in this poem he is captured by a feeling of a different kind - and this is rather horror.
An hour from here to a clean lane
your bloated fat will flow out on the person,
and I opened for you so many verses in boxes,
I - the priceless words mot and spender.
Here you are, man, you have cabbage in your mustache
Somewhere half-eaten, half-eaten cabbage soup;
here you are, woman, white on you thickly,
you look like an oyster from the shells of things.
All of you are on a butterfly poetic heart
perch, dirty, with and without galoshes.
The crowd will go wild, rubbing,
a hundred-headed louse bristles its legs.
And if today to me, a rude Hun,
you will not want to grimace in front of you - and now
I will laugh and happily spit,
spit in your face
I - the priceless words spender and mot.
Analysis of the poem "Nate!" Mayakovsky
The appearance of Mayakovsky in Russian poetic society can be compared to the effect of a bomb exploding. At the beginning of the 20th century, many poets used non-standard images and techniques in their work. But it was Mayakovsky who acquired the most scandalous fame. In 1913 he wrote the poem "Nate!", Which became his program statement to the public.
During this time, the public performance of poets was very popular. This provided a way to make money and gain fame for those who did not have the opportunity to publish their works. The speeches of aspiring authors sometimes took on the character of a humiliated request for a handout from a bored society. This developed a false conceit among wealthy listeners, they began to consider themselves true connoisseurs and connoisseurs of art.
Mayakovsky's contempt for bourgeois society is well known. It was further strengthened by the poet's forced participation in such public readings. The poem "Nate!" became a sharp protest of the author, directed against those who perceived his work as another entertainment. One can imagine the reaction of a person who first came to Mayakovsky's performance with this poem.
The aggressive style and content of the work should immediately cause a negative reaction in the listener. Mayakovsky declares that his poetic gift is wasted in front of "flabby fat." The author snatches from the crowd typical male and female images that personify all the abominations of society. The man has a cabbage in his mustache, and the woman is not even visible because of the cosmetics and the abundance of items belonging to her. Nevertheless, these "subhumans" are respected and revered members of human society.
The main way that Mayakovsky describes the crowd is the "hundred-headed louse". Thanks to money, the human mass claims its rights to the identity of the poet. She believes that having bought his time, she has the power to dispose of the talent at her discretion.
Mayakovsky goes against the rules of a decent society. He, like a "gross Hun", commits an individual revolt. Instead of respectable admiration and antics of the poet, spit flies in the face of the crowd. All the hatred accumulated by the author is concentrated in this spit.
The poem "Nate!" - one of the most powerful works of protest in Russian poetry. No one before Mayakovsky expressed such open contempt for his own listeners. In it one can see the embryo of modern ultra-radical art.
Note: this verse is also called "Hate!", which translated from English means "hatred".
It would seem that Mayakovsky's poem "Nate" is only four stanzas, nineteen lines of text, but a full-fledged analysis of a work of art can be made from them. Let's find out how to do it according to all the rules.
Looking back
Today, when the works of Vladimir Vladimirovich are rightfully considered classical and are included in the school curriculum, we have the right to analyze his texts not only as literary scholars, but also as psychologists.
In 1913, when the poem "Nate" was written, Mayakovsky celebrated only his twentieth birthday. His soul, like any talented young man, requires action, a reassessment of values by society, seeks to give everyone what they deserve, at least in verse. The poet calls himself violent, wild, which in reality should be considered not so much as physical aggression, as verbal, directed against injustice. It is thanks to these qualities that the poet will be appreciated by the new government - not ideal, but new, and therefore praised by Mayakovsky.
The emptiness of the aristocracy
The poet is convinced that creativity is perceived by a layer of pseudo-aristocracy as a food product. They do not want to perceive deeper meaning and have one intention - to entertain themselves by listening to rhymed phrases. The author decides to speak directly, without hints, and does so throughout all the years of work, this is evident from the analysis of Mayakovsky's poem "Nate".
In the future, he will call himself a "poet-proletarian", will glorify the development of technology and the movement of society towards a brighter future, while fighting at the same time with those whose consciousness remained in imperial Russia. Already in early work, this struggle takes on a pronounced character.
Words and syllable
Mayakovsky's poems are a cry, these are words spoken into a megaphone. He speaks as if he is hammering nails with a hammer: it is not for nothing that whole stanzas of his works are one-word lines, shifted by tabs in order to perceive the rhythm and meter by the reader.
Mention in the analysis of Mayakovsky's poem "Nate" and the choice of words: "shells of things", "coarse Hun", "bloated fat". Is this vocabulary typical for a poet? Why do you think he chose these particular words and not any others?
Pay attention to the phonetic component, rhymes. Mayakovsky often resorts to alliteration - the repetition of the same sets of consonants in different words. Moreover, the poet's manner of rhyming can be formalized in a separate method invented by him. The whole stanza, in his opinion, should look like a single one, and the words in it should be all interconnected not only by meaning, but also by phonetics.
Literary techniques
Epithets and metaphors, exaggerations and understatements, aggressive sarcasm, which takes the form of accusations, are characteristic of the author's work as a whole. Analysis of Mayakovsky's poem "Nate" provides examples of an uncompromising attitude towards the listener: "your bloated fat ...", "you ... perch, dirty ...", "I will spit in your face ...".
The purpose of such an address is not to offend, but to give thought, to snatch a person out of the cozy world of consumption of the aesthetics of creativity and to show the true meaning of poetry: to raise problems in order to solve them later; to focus public attention on sore spots, thus to step on an old unhealed callus.
Defense of the poet
At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, the role of the poet took on an entertaining character. If during the time of Pushkin, whose work Mayakovsky loved and appreciated, the poet in the public consciousness occupied a somewhat privileged position, then on the eve of the revolution he became an instrument of entertainment for the tavern audience. The poet decides to get away from attempts to revive the prestige of his profession "from a third person" and directly declares to the people listening to him about the injustice. This should be mentioned in his work on the analysis of Mayakovsky's poem "Nate".
Consequences
It is also worth studying a fragment of the poet's biography. How was the studied poem perceived by the society? How did the authorities react, and was there any reaction at all? Did the work contribute to the promotion of Mayakovsky's creativity to the masses and why?
Teachers love it when pupils and students go beyond the required and recommended reading by turning to additional sources. Therefore, it will not be superfluous to show interest when performing the analysis of "Nate" by Mayakovsky, and the teacher will note this by raising the grade or closing his eyes to minor flaws. Intention is commendable in itself, especially if students are usually not enthusiastic in class.
Conclusion
No matter how radical the approach of the proletarian poet to convincing the masses and promoting his point of view on resonant issues, the fact remains: his work had a noticeable influence on the formation of both the image of the new government and the futuristic trend in literature. Mayakovsky's poem "Nate" is one of the first calls to the formation of an important figure in Russian culture, and every student should read his works (even the most famous ones).
