Analysis of Mayakovsky's poem "Good attitude towards horses": structure, idea, theme of the work

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

The subject of this review is the analysis of Mayakovsky's poem "A good attitude towards horses". It was written by the poet in the post-revolutionary period, in 1918. The work is very different from his previous works, imbued with revolutionary romance and the pathos of struggle. This time the author turned to lyrical themes, to reflections on the difficulties of human life.

Brief description of creativity

B. V. Mayakovsky belonged to the futuristic trend in Russian culture. Representatives of this trend put forward quite radical demands, insisting on the rejection of traditional classical literature, considering pre-revolutionary and some modern writers obsolete, and their works lost their aesthetic and moral value. Instead, they proposed the creation of a fundamentally new art, language, and literary forms. V. V. Mayakovsky, adhering to this principle, paid special attention to the creation of a language different from the vocabulary of pre-revolutionary authors. He came up with a lot of neologisms that became the hallmark of his works and all creativity in general.

Theme

Most of the poet's works are imbued with revolutionary pathos. It is known that he enthusiastically accepted the October Revolution, with which he had high hopes for changing society as a whole. It is all the more surprising that the very next year after the aforementioned coup d'état, he wrote a work that was completely different from previous works. An analysis of Mayakovsky's poem "A good attitude towards horses" shows how versatile the poet's talent was, who knew how to combine revolutionary themes with a deep dramatic feeling. At the same time, his lyrics are invariably optimistic: the author every time expresses hope for something better, brighter, and kinder. These features are clearly reflected in the work under consideration.

Intro

Analysis of Mayakovsky's poem "A good attitude towards horses" should begin with highlighting its semantic parts for a better understanding of the composition and thoughts of the author. The essay can be conditionally divided into five episodes: the description of the street, the fall of the horse, the mockery of the crowd, the protagonist's sympathy for the poor animal, and, finally, the finale, in which the horse itself got up, and the poet expresses the idea of the need to live and work on.

The work begins with a short but very expressive introduction in which Mayakovsky paints a picture of a winter street. With these short lines, the poet immediately reproduces before the readers the view of the pavement, on whichpassers-by and a horse is walking. The author uses a special combination of letters to convey the sound from her hooves: “mushroom”, “rob”, “rude”. In this way he lets his reader hear her move and her footsteps on the frozen rocks.

Ties

The analysis of Mayakovsky's poem "A good attitude towards horses" should be continued by indicating the features of the image by the author of the incident itself - the fall of the animal and the subsequent reaction of passers-by. It is noteworthy that the poet speaks very briefly directly about the fall itself (“the horse crashed on its croup”), but on the other hand it emphasizes the callousness and indifference of the crowd gathered around it, which not only does nothing to help the poor animal, but teases and mocks it in every possible way. Mayakovsky bitterly conveys the ridicule of the crowd in such expressions: "laughter rang and rang," "Kuznetsky laughed." In addition to indignation, in these short lines one can clearly hear the hero's contempt for the stupid and ignorant crowd that gathered to gawk at the incident.

Idea

The verse "A good attitude towards horses" has a deep humanistic content, which is manifested in the position of the lyrical hero. The latter is the only one present who not only did not join the scoffers, but also sympathized with the injured animal, expressing words of encouragement and consolation: “Horse, don’t, horse, listen …” Here it is necessary to pay attention to how touchingly the author describes her external the look with which pity and compassion he watches her. It seems that only he noticed her tears anddrew attention to how exhausted she was and how much she was suffering and even crying. These observations also characterize the lyrical hero as a person who is deeply vulnerable and subtly feels the pain and injustice of the surrounding world.

Meaning

So, a very special place in Mayakovsky's work is occupied by the poem "A good attitude towards horses." The theme of this work is not revolutionary pathos, but humanistic pathos. After all, under the injured animal, the poet means people in general, when he says that every person is like such a horse. The lyrical hero is Mayakovsky himself, who also very often had to deal with the misunderstanding of others. However, he does not lose optimism and good spirits, saying that one should continue to live, work, and work. That is why the work ends with the fact that the animal nevertheless rose on its own, despite the ridicule and mockery of the crowd.

Thus, when characterizing the poet's work, one should always take into account his poem "A good attitude towards horses." The main idea of the work is the author's call to readers not to pass by someone else's grief, but to help the victim, support him in difficult times, which is the humanistic meaning of the essay.