Analysis of Mayakovsky's poem "Listen!"

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

The beginning of the new twentieth century was marked in the history of Russia by severe upheavals. Wars, revolution, famine, emigration, terror… The whole society was divided into warring parties, groups and classes. Literature and poetry, in particular, reflected, like a mirror, these ebullient social processes. New poetic directions emerge and develop.

Analysis of Mayakovsky's poem "Listen!" you can't start without mentioning when it was created. It was first published in one of the collections in March 1914. The entire literary process of that time was marked by parades of manifestos of literary movements and groups, in which the artists of the word declared their aesthetic and poetic principles, distinctive features, and programs. Many of them went beyond the declared limits and became iconic poets of their time. Without their creativity, it would be difficult to imagine Soviet literature.

Vladimir Mayakovsky was an active participant in the first avant-gardeliterary movement called "Futurism". He was a member of the "Gilea" - a group of founders of this trend in Russia. A complete analysis of Mayakovsky's poem "Listen!" impossible without reference to theoretical foundations. The main features of futurism are: the denial of previous literary dogmas, the creation of new poetry directed to the future, as well as experimental rhyme, rhythm, orientation to the sounding word, pathos and shocking.

When analyzing Mayakovsky's poem "Listen!", it is necessary to dwell on his topic in more detail. It begins with an appeal, which is not accidentally included in the title. This is a desperate call. The hero-narrator observes the actions of another active hero who cares. In an effort to make life easier for someone, he extracurricularly “bursts” into heaven, to God himself and asks that he light up a star in the sky. Perhaps as a punishment for the fact that people stopped noticing them, the stars went out?

The theme is connected with the desire of the lyrical hero to draw the attention of ordinary people living a vain, monotonous life to the beauty of the endless night sky. This is an attempt to make them lift their burdened heads and look up, joining the mysteries of the universe.

Analysis of Mayakovsky's poem "Listen!" showed that to reveal the theme, the poet used such artistic means as non-rhyming verse with a rhythmic pattern, sound writing and alliteration.

The first hero-observer does not have a portrait in the poem, but the second one has very bright characteristics expresseda number of verbs: analysis of Mayakovsky's poem "Listen!" draws the reader's attention to the fact that the verbs "break in" and "afraid" have explosive consonants "c" and "b". They reinforce the effect of negative emotions of pain and anguish. A similar effect is created by the consonants "p" and "c" in the verbs "cries" and "late", "asks" and "kisses", "swears" and "cannot endure".

The poem resembles a small play, full of drama that Mayakovsky put into it. "Listen!" The analysis makes it possible to conditionally divide into four parts. The first part is an introduction (the main question, from the first to the sixth line); the second part is the development of the plot and the climax (“begged” star, from the sixth to the fifteenth line). The third part is the denouement (getting confirmation from the one for whom the hero tried, from the sixteenth to the twenty-second line); the fourth part is an epilogue (repeating the question of the introduction, but with an affirmative intonation, from the twenty-third to the thirtieth line).

Poem "Listen!" the poet wrote at the beginning of his career, at the stage of formation, the development of his own literary style. But already in this small work, the young Mayakovsky showed himself as an original and very subtle lyricist.