Poetic duel between Mayakovsky and Yesenin: summary, relationship, comparison

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

In near-literary circles for many years, one of the questions of concern to minds is the question of the relationship between two great Russian poets - Vladimir Mayakovsky and Sergei Yesenin. People are excited by rumors and gossip about rivalry between writers that have come down to our times. They even say that a duel happened between them - however, of a poetic nature, they so much wanted to prove to each other that one is better than the second. Today, admirers are arguing about whether this duel really took place? Let's try to figure it out and we.

Yesenin and Mayakovsky: relationship

Both Sergei Alexandrovich and Vladimir Vladimirovich lived and worked at the same time. And they also seem to have passed away - by committing suicide, with a difference of five years. However, their work was completely different. Yesenin - "his boyfriend", a village "mischievous reveler", who wrote a lot about freemen. Mayakovsky is a futurist who dreamed of changing literature. One - with a simple, easy and understandable style, the other is an innovator who invented his own words,so that not everyone and not always immediately managed to figure out what exactly the poet had in mind. They were very different, and they had different fans. So was there anything to share between the two poets? Could a poetic duel between Yesenin and Mayakovsky really happen? Was she? Before answering these questions, let's touch on the real facts about the relationship of writers, as well as some properties of their characters.

Sergey Yesenin

Vladimir Mayakovsky, in his article on how to write poetry, called his colleague "narcissistic". It is likely that Sergei Alexandrovich had reasons for this: people liked his poems, he liked him, he was perceived, as already mentioned above, as "their own" - and therefore there was something to become proud of and turn up his nose.

It was near Yesenin that the Imagists (poets who believed that the goal of poetry was to create an image; they used metaphors and other means of expression a lot) began to cluster, choosing him as their center, their leader. This is another reason why Yesenin could afford to be "narcissistic". And the poet was quick-tempered, did not tolerate jokes and superiority over himself, in recent years he drank a lot - and after drinking, he was certainly annoyed and sought to "show things off." Everyone who knew Sergei Alexandrovich characterized him as a complex person. Could this complex character cause hostile relations with Mayakovsky and lead to a duel between Yesenin and Mayakovsky? Perhaps he could. But let's talk about Mayakovsky himself…

VladimirMayakovsky

In the same article about poetry (by the way, very entertaining and necessary reading for all who are interested in the poet), Vladimir Vladimirovich self-critically remarks that he has "an innate tactlessness". This means that the writer had a sharp language and could first speak and then think. Such harsh statements touch the nerve of many sensitive people. And that Yesenin was sensitive to his person, there is no doubt.

And Mayakovsky could not bear to be second: complete, unconditional superiority - that's what he needed. Once he even fought for the title of king of poets, but lost to Igor Severyanin, which he could not come to terms with. Friends spoke of him as a bully and impudent, intervening in any scandals and squabbles, a mocking and rude person. However, it is interesting that all these traits were acquired: with their help, the great poet struggled with natural timidity and shyness that prevented him from writing and communicating with people. Thus, the character traits of Vladimir Vladimirovich could also easily become a cause of disagreement with his colleague and cause that same duel between Yesenin and Mayakovsky. Two geniuses, two explosive figures. However, complete: did the poetic duel between Yesenin and Mayakovsky really happen? Where did this statement even come from?

Where do legs grow from?

Not so long ago, a series about a curly-haired poet, a singer of a Russian village, was released on the television screens of our country. In this film, the poetic duel between Yesenin and Mayakovsky is mentioned. And since cinema is biographical, that is,based on real facts from the life of Sergei Alexandrovich, but if we add to this what is known about the characters of poets, it is not surprising that many concluded that the duel actually existed.

Nevertheless, you need to understand: any movie has an element of conventionality. And even if it is based on real events, this does not mean at all that everything that is said in the tape took place in life. It only means that the picture is based on some real facts, while decorating them with a share of literary fiction. And before you rush to look for the text of the duel between Yesenin and Mayakovsky, it’s better to find out a couple more details: what were the relations between the Imagists and the Futurists - once, twice - what spirit reigned in the literary circles of the early twentieth century?

Imagists and Futurists

Conservatives and liberals - this is how you can characterize the relationship of the two literary groups. The conservatives were, of course, the Imagists, who stood up for melody and clarity, simplicity and accessibility, for romance, after all. The liberals were the futurists (from the English future - the future, poets who sought to renew literature, including its language), who welcomed the revolution as a new future - that is, what they themselves aspired to. The attitudes, beliefs and hopes of the futurists are well described in the article by Vladimir Mayakovsky, which has already been mentioned more than once.

Expectedly and not surprisingly, two groups of different genres entered into controversy. After all, they, in fact, stood up forpolar different: some - for the preservation of long-standing literary foundations and traditions, the second - for innovation and modernisation. Imagists and Futurists accused each other of killing poetry. And since Yesenin and Mayakovsky were leaders, it is not surprising that they participated in such clashes, and clashes between the factions did not add to the affection of personal relations. Information about one of these battles has been preserved, when Mayakovsky, in his usual style, compared the Imagists and poetry with children and their mother, saying that the children killed their mother. Presumably, such verbal duels occurred constantly. By the way, they also read poetry. True, only Imagists.

Atmosphere of the era

At that time, the spirit of competition was in the air. Everyone and everything competed: both representatives of different genres and "groupmates". There were frequent cases when, having met in some kind of circle, at a party, poets sat down at a common table and read poems in turn.

These were some kind of poetic duels, but their goal was not to defeat the opponent, but to demonstrate all the inexhaustible possibilities of literature. A poetic duel between Yesenin and Mayakovsky could have been of this kind.

So was she?

It is impossible to say for sure whether the poetic duel between Yesenin and Mayakovsky took place. It is likely that it could occur at meetings such as those described above. However, it must be assumed that if this happened, Mayakovsky would certainly leave a memory of this - as has been repeatedly said, in his article he quite a lotgives space to Sergei Yesenin and meetings with him, telling under what circumstances and how they communicated.

He mentions the clashes with Yesenin as a futurist with an imagist. About poetic duels - no. We will believe the facts and remain of the opinion that the poetic duel between Yesenin and Mayakovsky is a literary fiction.

Interesting facts

1. Mayakovsky stated that even if he had not been read at all, he would not have changed his attitude towards Yesenin and his poetry.
2. At the same time, Mayakovsky wanted - and did not hide it - to lure Yesenin to LEF (Left Front of the Arts). And, by his own admission in the article already mentioned above, he looked with curiosity at Yesenin's transition from Imagists to proletarian writers.
3. Mayakovsky has a poem dedicated to Yesenin's death. He also talks about it and the history of its creation in his article.



4. Despite the different approach to creativity in general and to literature in particular, Yesenin was related to Mayakovsky by the desire to assert his originality and uniqueness, as well as a rebellious spirit.
5. The last meeting with Yesenin greatly shocked Mayakovsky - both in his own recollections and in the recollections of his acquaintances. Yesenin was terribly drunk, could barely stand on his feet, and Mayakovsky firmly decided to "save" his colleague. I didn’t have time - this meeting took place shortly before the suicide of Sergei Alexandrovich.