Mayakovsky. Analysis "Could you?" - stating his question or waiting for our answer?

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

The title is a question. To better understand the poem "Could You?" (Mayakovsky), the analysis should begin with this question. At the same time, it is rhetorical and quite direct, suggesting an answer. Although, on the one hand, a certain judgment is reflected regarding the general mass of people, which, based on his experience, Mayakovsky has.

Analysis "Could you?" (poems) shows that the author really questions his readers and listeners, since he, among other things, gave many live performances. The potential answer for these people would be "no". Of course, in fact, no one would voice it, because people simply would not enter into a dialogue with him, limited by the earthiness of their thinking. On the other hand, he does not indulge in the description of someone else's sinfulness and mediocrity, he does not point to anyone, because he does not seek personal satisfaction in this. Being full of energy and creative power, he regrets others. Histhe goal is not to accuse, but to shake. His peculiar cry is like a friendly hand that perhaps no one will shake, or like a challenge to the enemy, standing on a hill on the other side of the plain, where everyone sleeps. Here the reader is invited to compare one and the other, and to answer for themselves the question posed by Mayakovsky - “Could you?”. An analysis of the poem makes it clear that it is really a question of who you are - mediocrity or not. Therefore, this phrase precedes the poem, and hangs in ringing silence at the end.

Images-objects and images-actions

The means used by Mayakovsky can be conditionally characterized as images-objects and images-actions. You can even say it differently - it is not he who resorts to them, but they themselves pour bitter syrup out of him. Images-objects symbolize the components of the material world and circumstances, and images-actions - the manipulations that Mayakovsky performs in relation to them. Analysis "Could you?" (one of the most famous creations) suggests that if an epithet is an addition to a word that saturates it, gives weight and new meaning, then the actions that the author performs are epithets to the objects on which it is performed.

Interaction with the outside world

The first two lines reflect the thoroughness and uncompromising approach of the author to life. He does not accept the environment as something in itself directive, but instead manages it. It also does not defileattributes of everyday existence, but on the contrary, makes them play with deep colors. Thus, he says that our internal picture of the world depends only on our perception and interpretation, and that it can mutually influence the state of things.

More than a still life

Juiciness, expressiveness of the text gives rise to an association with a still life. However, in the poem “Could you?” (Mayakovsky) analysis of the qualitative composition of sentences suggests that this is not just a still life. Although it is necessary to pay tribute to Mayakovsky as an artist of the word. Almost all words in the text are represented by verbs and nouns (or pronouns). And the few adjectives that occur (“oblique”, “tinny”, “new”, “gutter”) have a very specific physical, unemotional meaning. Removed from the context, they hardly noticeably change the expression of the poem. The verbs “showed”, “read”, “play”, “could” are also initially colorless. From the most ordinary words, Mayakovsky weaves something completely new and captivating. Every word here is said to the point.

The difference between "could" and "could"

All the emphasis is on action. "To smear the map of everyday life", "splashing paint from a glass" means not to surrender to the mercy of fate, and at the same time color it. "Show oblique cheekbones of the ocean on a dish of jelly" - can be interpreted as the disclosure of potential and prospects. So is the question posed by theVladimir Mayakovsky (“Could you?”)? An analysis of the subsequent text indicates that he condemns not only the earthiness of thinking, but also its excessive volatility, carelessness. In everything that surrounds us, there is no need to look for poetics and indulge in lengthy reasoning. You need to create, act, transform, take everything under your control - and right now, as Mayakovsky himself does. Analysis "Could you?" shows that this is not just a challenge. Compare, for example, the two forms of the verb - "could" and "could." The first option, which is used in the poem, has a more interrogative meaning, the meaning of an action that continues always and everywhere. Whereas the second option is just an impulse to prove something to someone.

The images, natural and at the same time original, that Mayakovsky created are distinguished by almost tangible power and assertiveness. Analysis "Could you?" shows that not only the meaning of words contributes to this, but also their very sound. At the same time, the overall picture does not lose its lightness, the author's readiness for soft and fresh impressions, for their expectation, the symbol of which are lips, is shown. One can notice the ironic and flying tone of the narration, which is compared with a nocturne in the last line. “I have already played my nocturne and will play it again, but what about you?”.