Vladimir Mayakovsky was a Bolshevik Revolutionary and celebrated communist poet who used his talents to influence the perspective of the new Soviet State.
Vladimir Mayakovsky, c. 1926
Vladimir Mayakovsky
Our March -1917
Beat the tramp of revolt in the square!
Up, row of proud heads!
We will wash every city in the world
With the surging waters
of a second Flood.
The bull of the days is skewbald.
The cart of the years is slow.
Our god is speed.
The heart is our drum.
Is there a gold more heavenly than ours?
Can the wasp of a bullet sting us?
Our songs are our weapons;
Ringing voices -- our gold.
Meadows, be covered with grass,
Spread out a ground for the days.
Rainbow, harness
the fast-flying horses of the years.
See, the starry heaven is bored!
We weave our songs without its help.
Hey, you, Great Bear, demand
that they take us up to heaven alive!
Drink joys! Sing!
Spring flows in our veins.
Beat to battle, heart!
Our breast is a copper kettledrum.
“Our March” Textual Analysis
Vladimir Mayakovsky creates the powerful battle cry that is his poem “Our March” through drum-like diction and thumping rhythm. He galvanizes the people of Russia, informing them of the hardship ahead while reminding them of the glorious future they have in store. His (watered down) work went on to inspire Vladimir Lenin himself, as well as a few major plays.
This work conveys a stylistic rhythm using metaphors, punctuation, and structure to match the change in tempo of the revolutionary content of the poem as a cry for rebellion and the revolt’s driving force. It is clear in the poem that Mayakovsky uses punctuation to emphasize his urge for unity among the populace. The first two lines and the last few are demands that end in exclamation marks. Addressing the people directly and encouraging them to revolt is especially powerful with the action verbs Mayakovsky uses. The use of ‘beat’ and ‘tramp’ as well as the visual of a row of heads creates the rhythmic march used throughout the poem that inspires a message of unity amongst rebellion. Not only does punctuation highlight the marching tempo of the poem, but the contextual structure of the poem also creates a flow from a strong and powerful theme to one of calamity and prosperity and back again in order to invoke a sense of pride and hope in the reader. The first few lines of the poem use strong imagery such as picturing a revolt in the square or promising a cleansing flood to inspire rebellion amongst the people. Mayakovsky paints the rebellion as a symbol of strength and resilience. The middle section of the poem describes the future of the revolution as prosperous with an image of a far-stretching meadow or liking the voice of the people to gold, making it the most valuable part of the movement. Emphasizing the people goes back to the message of unity and the strength of a unified revolution. By describing a meadow or a rainbow, Mayakovsky pronounces the future of the revolution as hopeful, though he still references the “weapons” they will need, indicating that the future may come with its own share of problems. The poem ends as it started, with a cry for action. Mayakovsky uses short lines and a fast tempo to emphasize his calls of rebellion to the people, as well as using more drum diction, like in the beginning, to embody the revolution as a steady, strong, unwavering beat.
The rhythmic elements integrated into Mayakovsky’s piece embody the consistent passion and perseverance that propel the movement forward. Intertwined through the piece are also some free flowing melodic and natural elements that are juxtaposed with the rigid and paced structure of the rest of the poem. These rhythmic and natural elements engage in a conversation where the tempo represents the “how” of the revolution and the fight while the flowing elements represent the “why” and the future or end goal. Through this conversation Mayakovsky seems to be commenting on the fact that the revolution will take grit and unity but will result in new beginnings, joy, and growth. The “cart of the years” demonstrates the load that the people will need to carry in order to cement their new reality, and this load is aided by the “drum” of their hearts and the “songs” that are their weapons. The “meadows” and flowing spring symbolizes the desert; the peace and expression of individuality the people will get to experience after the revolution . Essentially Mayakovsky’s piece seems to make the claim that through perseverance and unity the revolution will succeed and that the reward with after the work will greatly offset the efforts put in to get there.
Vladimir Mayakovsky’s early work is distinctive in the way he expresses his experiences in the revolution from a purely subjective and creative perspective. Free from authoritarian pressures his texts speak from personal interpretations of the chaotic events that unfolded and their influences on people. Over time, however, we can see changes in how Mayakovsky chooses to frame his pieces, taking the side of the new rising power. Tom Stoppard’s Travesties is a play performed in 1974 that provides historical context to the events from the 1917 Russian Revolution and how they affect artists under the new Leninist establishments. One line from the play, “Today, literature must become party literature! Down with non-partisan literature! [….] Literature must become a part of the common cause of the proletariat,” shows the censored future that comes with an authoritarian regime (85). In this speech, Vladimir Lenin proposes regulation and absolute loss of free expression under a totalitarian government, and complete control over media released to the public. Vladimir Mayakovsky was forced to live through these realities as he endured the tyranny of cultural censorship on his works through the latter half of his life. This shift in artistic expression coincides with the rising power of the soviet state, akin to most other Russian artists at the time. Notably, much of the reframing done to Mayakovsky’s work happened after his death. The people in power took out all the more radical and controversial ideas from his pieces and made him something of a pro-authoritarian poster boy, all without his knowledge or consent.
The hope-filled marching song that is “Our March” utilizes consistent tempo and references to nature to express the long, difficult journey to freedom and prosperity. However, even in the most hopeful segments of the poem, it is evident that their future is not going to be perfect.
Commentaires