The theme of the poet and poetry is traditional for Russian literature. Each artist sought to understand the meaning of his work. In the poems of classics such as A. S. Pushkin, M. Yu. Lermontov, N. A. Nekrasov, and in the works of poets of the 20th century, this theme was reflected in accordance with the conditions of a particular era. Pushkin in The Prophet proclaimed the prophetic destiny of the creator. “With a verb, burn the hearts of people” - this is what the poet called for. In the poem “Poet” Lermontov defines his attitude towards poetry. It is compared to a dagger, which can be a formidable weapon or a “golden toy.” It depends on who owns it. According to Lermontov, the poet has the minds of his contemporaries, and therefore his task is to “ignite the fighter for battle.” Nekrasov continues the traditions of Pushkin and Lermontov. He writes about the high purpose of poetry; in the poem “The Poet and the Citizen” he calls for struggle: “Go and perish impeccably.” Mayakovsky’s contemporary A. Blok in his poem “The Nightingale Garden” says that a real poet should write about the problems of today:
Silence the roar of the sea
The nightingale's song is not free.
Yesenin in his work constantly returns to the theme of likening the poet to Jesus Christ, that is, a poet can show people the true path, become a prophet...
V.V. Mayakovsky, on the one hand, was a continuator of the traditional idea of ​​the purpose of a poet, and on the other hand, he rethought the tasks of poetic creativity in a new way. Mayakovsky is traditional in that he developed the theme of the poet's chosenness.
The poet is always
debtor to the universe.
A creative person has a special gift, and it is up to her how she uses her talent. The poet must understand the meaning of his chosenness. Mayakovsky believed that he needed to fulfill his duty - to call people to active action. In this position he is similar to Nekrasov. The poet leads the people, fights with them in the same formation, and is always ahead.
At the beginning of his work, Mayakovsky followed the slogan: “Away from the ship of modernity, the legacy of the past!” Gradually he stops being so categorical. In the poem “Anniversary” the poet writes about his attitude towards the classic - Pushkin. He regrets that Pushkin is no longer alive and recognizes his genius: “You have a good style.” However, Mayakovsky opposes worship of the poet as an idol or deity.
I love you,
but alive
not a mummy.
The author does not recognize external ritualism in recognizing the poet’s merits. It is impossible to assess the significance of his creative activity by erecting a stone monument to him, because he has already erected a “monument not made by hands” for himself in his works.
Mayakovsky claims that the work of a poet is equivalent to any other work. In the poem “The Worker Poet” he writes: “I am also a factory”, “The soul is the same cunning motor”, which needs some kind of fuel and which needs to be able to control. Both the poet and the worker work for the same goal. They are “proletarians of body and spirit.” Poetry is a very hard and responsible work, requiring a lot of effort and not always ending in success. In “Conversation with the Financial Inspector” Mayakovsky writes
Poetry -
the same radium mining.
Per gram production,
per year labor.
You exhaust one word for the sake of
Thousands of tons
verbal ore.
But poetic work is at the same time pleasant, important and meaningful, because “these words set in motion thousands of years of millions of hearts.” Pushkin “burns” people’s hearts, and Mayakovsky “sets them in motion.” The goal of creativity in his understanding is a call to concrete struggle by any means; poetry is a military weapon. We can say that Mayakovsky continues and develops the traditions of Lermontov, comparing poems with soldiers, poems with guns, rhymes with sharpened pikes in the introduction to the poem “At the Top of My Voice.” Lermontov's dagger is transformed into a new type of weapon, taking on a more threatening appearance.
The role of the poet in society is great. Mayakovsky, like Nekrasov, sees his task in serving the people.
Be a citizen!
Serving art.,
Live for the good of your neighbor! (N. A. Nekrasov)
A poet must illuminate the way for the people, educate them.
The poet's rhyme -
affection and slogan,
and a bayonet and a whip.
“In the fog of the philistine” Mayakovsky remakes life. He serves the existing system, does everything for the benefit of the revolution. In “Order for the Army of Arts,” Mayakovsky calls on all “comrades in writing” “to the barricades of hearts and souls.” The very title of the work contains Mayakovsky’s understanding of the purpose of art. All creative individuals must unite into one big army and devote their lives to the revolution. In “Order No. 2 on the Army of Arts,” the poet talks about the need to create new art. Old forms no longer correspond to the realities of today. “In order to bring the republic out of the mud,” it is necessary to “throw away the iambic burr.” It is now impossible to attract a crowd with classical language - the street will not understand you. The renewal of the literary language began with Pushkin. He was the first to introduce colloquial, simple Russian into literature. In this respect, Mayakovsky can be considered a continuator of traditions. But he not only used “street slang”, Mayakovsky created new, special words that were aimed at attracting attention, striking the crowd, causing some kind of response in them, that is, by any means the poet must influence people, the main thing is - attract them with you.
Mayakovsky called on “proletarian poets” to stop arguing over which of them is greater.
Let's cut it
common glory chicken
and we will give it to everyone
in equal pieces.
Poets need to unite for a common goal and each put their own “word-brick” “into the communal construction site.” A real poet does not care about fame or money. He selflessly gives himself and his gift to the construction of a new structure of society. There can be no disagreement between the “proletarian poets,” “after all, there are many enemies on the other side of the barricades.”
Mayakovsky criticizes the poets of “pure art” in his works. Again, a parallel can be drawn with Nekrasov, who wrote:
It’s even more shameful in a time of grief
The beauty of the valleys, skies and sea
And sing of sweet affection.
Mayakovsky condemned poetry that was devoid of social resonance. In the poem “On Poets,” the author ridicules those who have difficulty “pulling out” rhymes, as long as there is an iambic and a “classical image.” Throughout the entire poem, Mayakovsky calls what such poets do is trifle, rabble, something stale. With his characteristic mockery, the poet offers his special recipe for creating a “melancholic nudi”: the classics are put through a meat grinder, then dried, laid out on “sticky paper (for catching flies)”, and after a while everything is “ready for use”. The author reduces the image of the poet and the very act of creating poetry, comparing creative activity with the preparation of a culinary recipe. Food saturates a person’s stomach and satisfies his physical needs. After eating, a person calms down and is drawn to sleep. Likewise, works of “pure art,” according to Mayakovsky, evoke melancholy and a state of serenity. But now another art, another poet is needed.
In our time...
that writer
who is useful...
who will write
march and slogan!
Mayakovsky performs many of his works on a social order, on the topic of the day, since the poet must reflect the interests of his time, his class. The poem "Down!" - dedication to Western brothers. The author uses the power of the poetic word to express protest against the war, and he calls on all poets to do this:
Ennobled by poets
war and military
Must be a poet
spat upon and debunked.
Mayakovsky seems to sum up his work in the introduction to the poem “At the top of my voice.” This work is both his program and his testament to his descendants. In the poem “At the Top of My Voice,” the poet talks about his position and understanding of the purpose of poetry. He is an “agitator, a loud-mouthed leader”, he shows the people the truth. The path of a poet is difficult; it consists of constant battles and battles. The artist gives all his strength to the “planet to the proletarian”, but does not demand anything in return. His service to the Motherland is selfless.
They didn’t even save me a ruble
lines.
And Mayakovsky hopes that his eternal monument will be “socialism built in battle.”
Thus, Mayakovsky, having adopted the traditions of Russian poets in understanding his purpose, reconsidered the goals of poetic creativity in connection with the new needs of society.

Essay Mayakovsky V.V. - Miscellaneous

Topic: - Poems about the purpose of the poet and poetry

people's servant?
V. Mayakovsky

Progressive writers of all times and eras were and are concerned about the role and purpose of poetry. Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky more than once addressed this topic in his work, affirming, following his great predecessors - the poets of the 19th century - the social purpose of poetry. Continuing the struggle for a new art, begun by Gorky, Mayakovsky passionately, with all his characteristic directness and force, declared that the work of an artist of words is a contribution to the national cause:

I myself
I feel like a Soviet factory,
producing happiness. Don't want,
so that they pluck me like a flower from the fields
after the hardships of work. I want,
so that in the debate
Gosplan sweated, giving me
assignments for the year.

Even the early Mayakovsky, who collaborated with the futurists, was close not to them, but to the active creators of the new system. This is evidenced by his social activities of these years, and the works created during this period: “Anniversary”, “Bird of God”, “To Sergei Yesenin”. But the program works are “Conversation with the Financial Inspector about Poetry” and the introduction to the poem “At the top of my voice.”
“A Conversation with a Financial Inspector about Poetry” was written in the mid-twenties. The form of “conversation”, familiar to the poet, in this poem has its own specifics: here the poet talks about himself and his work with a person who is far from this topic. Explaining to the uninitiated what poetic work consists of, the poet finds vivid and convincing comparisons and metaphors, many of which have become aphorisms and formulas of poetry. The comparison of the creative process with the incredibly difficult process of radium mining is noteworthy:

Poetry -
the same radium mining.
Per gram production,
per year labor.
Harassing
one word for a thousand tons
verbal ore.

But how
witheringly
these words burn nearby
with smoldering
raw words. These words
set in motion for thousands of years
million hearts.

It is here that Mayakovsky speaks of the inextricable connection between the poet of the socialist era and his people.

I
the people's driver and at the same time -
people's servant?

Here, paradoxical as it may sound, the continuity of Mayakovsky’s civic poetry with the work of Pushkin, Lermontov, and Nekrasov is clearly visible.
In 1930, the poet began work on the poem “At the top of his voice,” dedicated to the first five-year plan. Mayakovsky did not have time to write the poem; the introduction was written. It is deeply lyrical in its content, therefore it is considered as an integral part of the poet’s lyrical heritage. Mayakovsky said that he himself wanted to talk with his descendants, without “intermediaries.”

Dear
comrades descendants!..

This is a hot, polemical conversation between the poet-tribune and future readers. The new era was the beginning of a revolutionary revolution in poetry. The poet defines his place in this transformative activity decisively and sharply:

I, the sewer man
and a water carrier,
revolution
mobilized and called up,
went to the front
from lordly gardens and poetry -
women are capricious.

Mayakovsky denies bourgeois-philistine poetry, the voice of the poet-agitator is full of such power that it will reach distant descendants alive, without losing its warmth. His poetry, “like an old but formidable weapon,” will always help people in the struggle for a happy life. Mayakovsky sums up twenty years of poetic activity; he gives his mighty weapon to the working people:

And that's it
armed troops over their teeth,
that twenty years of victories
flew by all the way
I give you the last leaf,
planet proletarian.

The poet’s inextricable connection with the working people is based on a commonality of class views and interests, on a clear understanding of the goals and objectives of the struggle, on a common destiny, on the practical development of revolutionary theory, therefore this connection is indestructible.

Let us
will be a common monument
built
in battles
socialism.

The poet asks his descendants to mentally move into his era in order to understand the importance and difficulty of his work, which brings future happiness closer.

For you,
which
healthy and agile, poet
licked
consumptive spitting
rough language of the poster.

The poet's life is hard and hectic, but his whole being is aimed at building a new society. His poetry serves this purpose:

Comrade life,
Let's
let's stomp quickly,
let's trample
according to the five-year plan
days remaining.

Selfless service to the Fatherland is the guarantee of the poet’s immortality:

Having appeared
in TseKaKa
walking
bright years,
Above the gang
Poetic
grabbers and burning
I'll lift you up
like a Bolshevik party card,
all one hundred volumes
my
party books.

Passion and certainty in solving the topic, brightness and clarity of images, simplicity and accuracy of speech are the distinctive features of Mayakovsky the poet. He is proud of his involvement in the creation of the new state.
Praise,
hammer
and verse,
the land of youth.

Not everyone can write poetry. This gift is inherent in real talents, endowed with a “spark of God.” A poet is able to influence the minds and hearts of people, awaken their feelings. But how much effort is needed to write lines that will penetrate every heart!

People gifted with poetic talent have a special mental organization. Poets are endowed with the ability to subtly feel and experience life’s ups and downs; they see the miraculous in the ordinary.

Mayakovsky is one of those poets who write emotionally. Let us remember his article “ How to write poetry“, in which he writes how rhymes “spun” in his head, how he constantly repeated them, wrote them down, and memorized them. The themes of his poems were different: about everyday life, about love. Poems-reflections on the purpose of the poet occupy a special place.

« I immediately smeared the map of everyday life by splashing paint from a glass; I showed the slanting cheekbones of the ocean on a platter of jelly“- this is what the poet says about the inner state of the creator’s soul. So what is the purpose of a poet?

On the eve of the revolution, Mayakovsky believes that the poet is obliged to call society to action, to a revolutionary upheaval. Poems should call for movement forward; they are inseparable from the people. Mayakovsky emphasizes his connection with the people with the lines: “What if I am a leader of the people and at the same time a servant of the people? Class speaks from our word, and we are proletarians, movers of the pen.”

Vladimir Mayakovsky was a revolutionary poet. He welcomed her victory and advocated for a new art. The poem “Order No. 2 for the Army of Arts” contains the poet’s address to the workers of the pen: “Comrades! Give us a new art—one that will drag the republic out of the mud.”. And he sees his task and purpose in “to shine always, to shine everywhere” (“ An extraordinary adventure that happened with Vladimir Mayakovsky at the dacha"). The poet gives a comparison with the sun. The sun gives life to all living things, without it it is impossible to live. So is the poet, he must create, no matter what, bring a living, passionate word to the masses.

Mayakovsky placed the professionalism of the poet in the main place. A true wordsmith works hard on his work, honing his words so that they are heard and understood by the people. The poet reflects on this in the poem « Conversation with a financial inspector about poetry": "Poetry is the same production of radium, Production per gram, labor per year. You exhaust a single word for the sake of Thousands of tons of verbal ore". He says that these words “set in motion thousands of years of millions of hearts.” This means that the purpose of the poet and poetry is to call for oneself, to be the inspirer of the fight against "gray trash". A poet, according to Mayakovsky, is an ordinary worker of poetry who is not always paid for his work, he says that “the poet is always a debtor to the universe, paying interest and penalties on the mountain.”

The introduction to the poem “ In a loud voice " Here he speaks directly about his civic position and what he sees as the purpose of poetry: “ Listen, comrade descendants, to the agitator, the loudmouth leader“... The poet’s lot is difficult, he is always ahead, he devotes all his strength to creativity for the benefit of the people, selflessly serving the Motherland: “They didn’t even save me a ruble of lines...”

The material was prepared by Larisa Gennadievna Dovgomelya

Composition

Vladimir Mayakovsky approached poetry in general and his work in particular very seriously and responsibly. The author spoke energetically and figuratively about his purpose to serve people. Mayakovsky compared the work of the poet with the work of a miner and miner.

the same radium mining. In gr production,

per year labor. Harassing

a single word for the sake of a thousand tons

verbal ore.

The poet approached the printed word uncompromisingly. According to his sister, Vladimir Vladimirovich often worked on a work for months, bringing it to perfection. Mayakovsky was not embarrassed by the comparison with the sun. In the poem “An Extraordinary Adventure that Vladimir Mayakovsky had in the Summer at the Dacha,” the poet addresses the sun, calling it a “parasite,” easily inviting the luminary to his place for tea. The author needs such direct communication in order to clearly explain to his readers the great importance of the poet’s work. His work is as necessary for people as the light and warmth of the sun. Mayakovsky did not exaggerate at all when speaking about the great role of poetry in the life of the people. We know that an effective word called to battle and to work, and led millions of people. At the end of the poem, the poet arrogantly claims that, like the sun, he will:

Shine constantly

shine everywhere

until the last days of the Donetsk

shine -

and no nails!

This is my slogan -

and sun!

Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky was constantly there where his sharp word, uncompromising satire and politically clear thought were needed. Mayakovsky's poetry has stood the test of time because it was passed through the poet's heart. Everything he wrote was suffered and experienced, dazzlingly and honestly presented by a great and talented artist. Vladimir Vladimirovich himself said that people need “more good and different poets...”, they lead, open new frontiers for millions of their readers.

V. Mayakovsky, the greatest poet of the twentieth century, was a loudmouth poet, deliberately performing in a bright yellow jacket, his speeches were accompanied by hooting and whistling. His poetry was just as loud and bright.

V. Mayakovsky in his poems expresses his conviction in the necessity of the poetic word. He sees the purpose of a poet as being to arouse in people the desire to overcome the ugliness of the world, to change the world.

Mayakovsky was far from purely aesthetic poetry, delighting, filling the soul only with sublime lyricism. He sees a real poet, first of all, as an agitator, a loudmouth, a leader, a fighter for the reconstruction of an imperfect life. Poems, according to Mayakovsky, must certainly have explosive, effective force. For the poet himself, a poem is never sluggish and inert; it is always charged with a big idea, passion, and energy. Mayakovsky not only paints the world, he convincingly proves and calls for the complicity of his reader.

Mayakovsky's poetry is characterized by a definite political position, fiery pathos, impatience for the implementation of reforms, and a rally-oratorical, appealing intonation.

Like all futurists, Mayakovsky is a wordsmith. His poetry is characterized by the use of updated vocabulary, original rhythm and rhyme. Mayakovsky's poetic style is distinguished by political pointedness, poster clarity, aphoristic phrases, sloganeering, and clarity of thought.

The poem “Left March” was written for a speech to sailors. The very structure of the verse highlights the desired word and forms a chased marching rhythm, emphasizing the appeal to a mass audience. The poet counts on a propaganda effect, on an immediate and momentary response.

Enough to live by law

given by Adam and Eve.

Let's drive the nag of history.

Left!

Left!

Left!

“Left March” allows you to feel the tense atmosphere of the era. He is characterized by a businesslike and pathetic tone. The mood of the verse emphasizes the need for iron discipline, unity, and a fighting spirit. Mayakovsky skillfully uses tribune words that sound like an order, a command.

In the poem “Conversation with the Financial Inspector about Poetry,” Mayakovsky raises the question “about the place of the poet in the working class,” he raises an important problem of our time. The author says that the poet’s work should be assessed by a special standard, that its severity cannot be measured in a ruble. The poet, according to Mayakovsky, “is a leader of the people and at the same time a people’s servant.” Its rhyme is “weasel and slogan, and bayonet, and whip.” Mayakovsky always opposed himself to the “curly-haired lyricists.” He said that they “bleat on lyrical love themes.” He also criticized them in his “Conversation with the Financial Inspector.”

Certainly,

There are different varieties of poets.

How many poets

lightness of hand! Pulls

like a magician

a line from your mouth and from yourself

and from others. What should I say

about lyrical castrati?!

According to Mayakovsky, the purpose of the poet and his work is high. Poetry in the hands of Mayakovsky becomes a weapon. He became the voice, the mouthpiece of a new era.