Moonlit night Mayakovsky analysis. Analysis of Mayakovsky's poem "Night

The early poems of Vladimir Mayakovsky were reckoned by him to be a popular trend of futurism in those years. Futurists opposed their work to classical poets, discarded templates and tried to demonstrate the importance of the contemplative component and the power of the verbal image they created.

Mayakovsky himself considered them, the so-called "telegraph style" too "extravagant" and, due to understandable reasons, - unacceptable in poetic lyrics... However, he was impressed by the expression of the futurists, and this is perfectly visible in his poem "Night".

In the very first lines, the author draws a silhouette image of the night city. In the early works of Vladimir Mayakovsky, the theme of the city and urban life is identified with eerie loneliness. True, the city is compared here with a certain gambling establishment - there is a contrast between the crimson sunset and the green cloth of the playing table. He hints that at the moment some kind of game is taking place, pretense, perhaps even cheating, this is what the words "the crowd is a variegated fast cat" mean.

Obviously, the poet is showing the crowd attending his performance. Mayakovsky himself treats the reading of poetry in front of an audience with some skepticism, because it is foolish to expect that they will understand you and at least someone will be able to unravel the confusion of the soul, “crucifying in public”.

The crowd gathered for fun - to have fun, to while away a few hours, while the poet tries to narrate about things that disturb the soul. And so, Mayakovsky feels like an outsider. He decisively does not fit into this crowd of curious, and even when he is pulled back to strike up a conversation or to be curious about something, he only manages to squeeze a smile, after which he is still left alone with himself.

In this work there are still no particularly vivid verbal experiments, there is still no brisk rhythm and enticing rhyme, but here there is already an eerie dynamism that picks up from the first words and does not let go until the reader plunges into the poem in full.

Poem Analysis - Night

A new literary movement that replaced acmeism " silver age"- futurism - was distinguished by its aggressive opposition to the traditional poems of classical poets. The first collection of futurists was called "A Slap in the Face to Public Taste." The early work of Vladimir was associated with futurism. In the early poems of the poet, one feels the desire to amaze the reader with the unusualness of his vision of the world. For example, in the poem "Night" uses an unexpected comparison. The poet associates the illuminated windows of the night city with a fan of cards. The image of the city-player arises in the reader's mind:

Crimson and white thrown back and crumpled

Handfuls of ducats were thrown into the green one,

And to the black palms of the running windows

Burning yellow cards were dealt.

Let's look at the very first poems about the city - "Night" and "Morning". Day, "crimson and white, discarded and crumpled", in the evenings the green twilight gathered the "handful of ducats" due to it, "and burning yellow cards were handed out to the black palms of the running windows," bracelets of lights. Along the night streets "the crowd - a variegated fast cat - swam, bending, drew doors" in search of entertainment and pleasures. This description of the city in the poem "Night" cannot evoke associations in us: our cities are already deserted, scary, gloomy in the evening, but after all, Mayakovsky describes a city of 1912, untouched by either war or revolution. But behind the night of entertainment, "the gloomy rain squinted his eyes", the lanterns are dying, "the kings in the crown of gas", and what was beautiful at night is almost ugly in the morning light, which "made the feuding bouquet of tabloid prostitutes more painful for the eye." And so the east throws into one flaming bowl all that remains of the night feast (the poem "Morning"). Often, modernity in Mayakovsky's poems appears in gloomy paintings painted with tragic colors ("From street to street", "Adische of the city", "Listen!").

"Night" Vladimir Mayakovsky

Crimson and white thrown back and crumpled
handfuls of ducats were thrown into the green,
and the black palms of the runaway windows
dealt burning yellow cards.

The boulevards and squares were not strange
see blue togas on the buildings.
And before running like yellow wounds,
the lights were wrapped in bracelets on the legs.

The crowd is a variegated swift cat -
swam, bending, drew doors;
everyone wanted to push through at least a little
a huge laughter of a cast coma.

I, feeling the dresses calling paws,
I squeezed a smile into their eyes, frightening
blows to the tin, the araps laughed,
above the forehead the wing of a parrot has blossomed.

Analysis of Mayakovsky's poem "Night"

The beginning of the 20th century was marked in Russian literature by the emergence of various trends, one of which was futurism. The poet Vladimir Mayakovsky, whose work during this period was known to only a small circle of admirers, also ranked himself among the representatives this direction... Futurism became a challenge to society, preaching a complete disregard for poetic canons, and elevating the power of the verbal image to the absolute, even to the detriment of the semantic load.

The pun is also distinctive feature futurism, and it can be traced to the example of Vladimir Mayakovsky's poem "Night", created in 1912. Presumably, this work is a poetic response to the Italian futurists, who shortly before this adopted their manifesto, written in rhymed form by the poet Filippo Marinetti. Which Mayakovsky did not fully share, believing that the so-called "telegraph style", although it brings a certain novelty and poignancy to poetry, is unacceptable in the lyrics. Therefore, the poem "Night" uses only one dogma of the futurists, which says that linguistic experiments are the future of poetry, the classics of which are ossified and conservative.

In the first lines of this work, Mayakovsky draws an image of a night city, which he compares to a gambling house. However, this can only be guessed by hints. Thus, the author seems to be making up a poetic charade, inviting each reader to find his own answer. Colors are used as clues, among which white symbolizes the day, crimson - the sunset, which is "thrown and crumpled", green - the cloth of the gambling table. And only in the second half of the first quatrain does the poet give an answer to the riddle, noting that "burning yellow cards were handed out to the black palms of the running windows." This means that the evening has come, and the lights come on in the windows of the city houses.

Further, Mayakovsky depicts a crowd, which, apparently, symbolizes the admirers of the poet's work, who came to his performance. The author treats public reading of his poems with a certain degree of skepticism and vigilance, believing that exposing his soul in front of the crowd, one should not count on mutual understanding. Therefore, for him, she is a "variegated fast cat" that seeps through the doors into the hall, hoping to cheer up by listening to the poet's next poems. For the public, Mayakovsky's work is nothing more than secular entertainment. Therefore, leaving the hall, in which, apparently, the poet has just read his poems, and, leaving into the night, everyone wants to "drag through the door at least a little bit of the bulk of the cast laughter."

Against the background of this festive crowd, Mayakovsky feels lonely and useless... Even the fact that someone is tugging at his clothes, trying to talk about something, makes the poet feel empty and hopeless. As a result, in order not to experience this humiliating and devastating feeling, the author "squeezed a smile into their eyes." And - he was left alone with his thoughts and feelings, while "frightening with blows to the tin, the araps laughed, blooming the wing of a parrot over their foreheads."

In this poem, Mayakovsky clearly opposes himself to the world around him, noting that he actually speaks to him in different languages... And this realization really depresses the author, who realizes that in a huge city he is about to get lost in a motley night crowd that will swallow him without regret and carry him along the silent streets. Without even asking what exactly the author is experiencing at the moment and what he expects from life, which has decided to turn its back on him.

In 1917, revolutionary ideas did not yet dominate in the work of V.V. Mayakovsky, and in his works he proclaimed a complete rejection of the usual poetic images. The night has always evoked mixed feelings among poets. For some, she was attractive and kept many secrets. Others believed that this was a time of doubts and fears, dissipating with the onset of the morning. In Mayakovsky's poem "Night", the analysis of which is presented below, this time of day personifies human vices, pretense. It describes a city in which all people crave power and wealth.

Direction of the work

In the analysis of Mayakovsky's "Night", it must be noted that the work belongs to the then popular trend of futurism. His admirers contrasted their work with the adherents of classicism. They elevated the figurativeness of the word to the absolute, sometimes even neglecting its semantic component.

Mayakovsky was impressed by the expression of the futurists, but he considered their style unsuitable for writing lyric poems. Although the brightness and some shocking images in the described poem can be observed.

The image of a gambling house

Analyzing Mayakovsky's "Night", it is necessary to reveal one of the most important images of the poem - a gambling house. This is a symbol of idleness, depravity of city dwellers, lovers of easy money. For such people, night is not a mysterious time of day when you can think about the meaning of life.

For them, this is the time when you can try to get richer, when you can pretend and be who you want. How can the reader understand that this is a gambling house? The line "they threw handfuls of ducats into green" means cloth, and ducats are coins or chips that players received by making the desired bet.

Many epithets incomprehensible at first glance emphasize the named image. For example, by "blue togas" the poet could mean that all administrative buildings and other institutions that were open during the day were closed at night, giving way to places of entertainment.

It is possible that by a gambling house the poet did not mean a casino, but a comparison of the night with pretense, some kind of game. People, going to have fun, put on masks and idly spent time, not trying to see and understand the beauty of the night time.

Crowd image

Also in the analysis of Mayakovsky's "Night" it should be noted that the crowd is no less important. The poet compares it to a "variegated fast cat". The rich strata of the population, businessmen and other representatives of the bourgeoisie had fun at night.

The concept of variegation gives the impression of idle people, ready to party all night long. Such individuals need nothing but money, they are vain, they are fake. People tend to take more from this feigned celebration of happiness.

The main theme of the poem

In the analysis of Mayakovsky's "Night" main topic- this is the poet's loneliness among the riotous crowd. The lyrical hero notes that the city streets are no longer dominated by a mysterious and beautiful night, but the time of debauchery and pretense is coming. But we must not forget that she became like this only because of the people.

The hero understands all this, but does not find like-minded people among the motley crowd. Society has fallen into decay and no one notices it. And so the hero feels helpless, and even the lanterns for him are not able to dispel the darkness of the night.

But he does not give up trying to reach out to the crowd, hoping to see that at least someone is aware of the decline of society. Alas, people are not interested in his thoughts, they do not want to complicate their life. They continue to have fun uncontrollably, not noticing the hero.

Other characteristics of the work

In the analysis of Mayakovsky's poem "Night", it should be noted that an important role here is played by artistic means expressiveness. The poet uses vivid epithets, metaphors and unusual comparisons that are not always clear to readers. But this is in line with the futuristic direction.

The poem is written in dactyl, a three-syllable foot in which the first syllable is stressed. The way of rhyming is cross. These are the main characteristics of the sound-rhythmic structure of the piece.

In the poem, the poet describes the city at night, its bizarre landscape. Unlike adherents of classicism, for him the night was not a source of inspiration and admiration. Vladimir Vladimirovich saw how many sedate and dear people with the onset of darkness, they become different - those who need only money and entertainment.

By the way, it is also interesting that the image of the arap is not just an addition to the image of the night city. At the time, casinos often hired black people as doormen in order to attract more public.

V brief analysis Mayakovsky's "Nights" must also be mentioned that the poem does not yet contain bold experiments with rhymes and images inherent in the poet, but the lines are dynamic. Expression and incomprehensible metaphors add to the work a special expressiveness characteristic of futurists. At the same time, the poet tried not to lose the semantic component.

Crimson and white thrown back and crumpled
handfuls of ducats were thrown into the green,
and the black palms of the runaway windows
dealt burning yellow cards.

The boulevards and squares were not strange
see blue togas on the buildings.
And before running like yellow wounds,
the lights were wrapped in bracelets on the legs.

The crowd is a variegated swift cat -
floated, bending, drew doors;
everyone wanted to push through at least a little
a huge laughter of a cast coma.

I, feeling the dresses calling paws,
I squeezed a smile into their eyes, frightening
blows to the tin, the araps laughed,
above the forehead the wing of a parrot has blossomed.

Analysis of the poem "Night" by Mayakovsky

V. Mayakovsky went down in history as a prominent representative and one of the founders of futurism. This literary movement proclaimed a complete rejection of poetic canons and classical models. The main value of the work was declared to be its richness with unusual and vivid images. Even the semantic content was relegated to the background. A striking example of this approach to poetry is the poem "Night" (1912).

The play on words comes to the fore in the work. To an inexperienced reader, it seems absolutely meaningless. And the attempt to penetrate through the jumble of images is not an easy task. Mayakovsky did not strive for the reader to have any definite opinion. Everyone can give free rein to their imagination and understand the author in their own way. Only the images of the night city and the human crowd can be identified with confidence.

Mayakovsky himself did not reveal the meaning of his poem. Today, the most common opinion is that the poet described a night gambling house. He felt tremendous hatred and contempt for bourgeois society and did not hide his feelings. Nightlife at that time, and always, was associated with the vicious amusements of the wealthy, squandering fortunes. This angered Mayakovsky to the core.

The author's negative assessment is felt in the work. The epithets "purple" and "white" can refer to sunset and day. The coming night "threw away and crumpled" them. "Green" is the traditional color of the cloth on the gambling table. This is followed by a more or less clear image of a house at night with windows lit in the dark ("yellow cards").

In the second stanza of the verse, perhaps Mayakovsky depicts a city plunged into a dream. The buildings were dressed in blue togas. But at this time, another life wakes up. "Runners" - people gathering around the gambling house. "Bracelets" - craving for gambling, which attracts people to itself.

The crowd, reminiscent of a "variegated swift cat", seeks to snatch its share of the upcoming entertainment ("cast coma laughter"). The poet accidentally falls into this human gathering and tries to escape from it (“he squeezed a smile”). "Beats on Tin" can symbolize a nightly musical ensemble in a restaurant, and "araps" - musicians performing exotic melodies.

The poem "Night" cannot be interpreted unambiguously. Pure futurism never became widespread. Mayakovsky himself soon began to pay more attention to the meaning of his works.