Mayakovsky's birthday according to the new style. Brief biography of Mayakovsky, the most important thing

Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky is the most famous Russian futurist poet. The time of his creative heyday occurred during a dramatic period in the history of Russia, the time of revolutions and.

Childhood and youth of the poet Mayakovsky

Vladimir Mayakovsky was born on July 7 (19), 1893 in the town of Baghdati (now in the Imereti region, Georgia). His father served as a forester, and his mother came from the Kuban Cossacks. In 1902, Vladimir was sent to the gymnasium of the city of Kutaisi. There he first became acquainted with the propaganda materials of Russian and Georgian revolutionaries. Four years later, Mayakovsky's father died, and the family moved to Moscow. Vladimir transferred to Moscow gymnasium No. 5, but studied there for only about a year and was expelled for non-payment. In 1908, Mayakovsky joined the RSDLP. That same year, he was arrested for the first time for illegal activities. In subsequent years, the young man was arrested several more times.

The beginning of Mayakovsky's poetic activity

While still in high school, Mayakovsky began writing poetry. But the lines he wrote in his early youth have not survived. The poet himself later admitted that he considered his early works bad. In 1910, after 11 months of arrest, Mayakovsky left the party to devote himself entirely to poetry. Soon Mayakovsky's friend Evgenia Lang encouraged him to also take up painting. For some time, Mayakovsky studied at the MUZHVZ school, but did not complete the course.

In 1912, Mayakovsky’s first publication, the poem “Night,” was published in the collection “A Slap in the Face of Public Taste.” The following year, the poet’s own collection “I” was published. Makovsky's manuscript was provided with several drawings and reproduced lithographically. In 1913, the tragedy Mayakovsky was also staged, in which the young poet played himself.

In 1914, Vladimir Mayakovsky clearly expressed his anti-war position. When the poet was drafted into the army, he helped ensure that he was sent not to the front, but to a unit located in St. Petersburg at the Automotive Training School. Despite government restrictions, Mayakovsky continued to publish. In 1915, he met the Brik couple and soon began to live with them. In the summer of 1917, Mayakovsky was commissioned.

Perception of the revolution by V. Mayakovsky

Mayakovsky accepted with delight. Mayakovsky later said that the years of the Civil War were the best in his life. On the occasion of the anniversary of the Revolution, based on Mayakovsky’s text, the premiere of the play “Mystery Bouffe” took place in Petrograd, directed by Meyerhold and with costumes by Kazimir Malevich. In the post-revolutionary years, recognition came to Mayakovsky. His new poems were published in large numbers. The poet's admiration for the Soviet regime is manifested in “Poems about the Soviet Passport,” the poem “Vladimir Ilyich Lenin” and in “The Soviet ABC.” In 1919-1921, Mayakovsky collaborated with the ROSTA agency (now the TASS agency) and produced propaganda posters “Windows of ROSTA”, accompanying the satirical images with his own poems.

Specifics of V. Mayakovsky's creativity

It is generally accepted that Mayakovsky is the most outstanding of the Russian futurists. His works are distinguished by the following features: the use of short verse and line breaks (“ladders”); mixing lyrical and satirical elements; use of emotionally charged, including obscene, language; autobiography and identification of the author and the lyrical hero.

Last years and death of Myakovsky

In the twenties, Mayakovsky’s poem “Good” was published, as well as the plays “The Bedbug” and “Bathhouse”. From 1922 to 1928, he headed the LEF association, which included former futurists. At the end of the twenties, sharp criticism of futurism in general and Mayakovsky’s work in particular appeared more and more often on the pages of the government press. In 1928, Mayakovsky finally broke up with Lilya Brik. The poet's other love affairs were also unsuccessful. By 1930, Mayakovsky was suffering from deep depression. At the beginning of April 1930, the poet began planning suicide.

On April 14, 1930, Mayakovsky shot himself in the heart. Over time, speculation arose more than once that Mayakovsky was killed. This version is allegedly supported by Vladimir Vladimirovich’s conflict with. However, the poet’s biographers are sure that he took his own life. Tens of thousands of people attended the poet's funeral. Over time, Mayakovsky became the most recognizable poet of the early years of Soviet power, and his works were included in the required Russian literature curriculum for decades.

Works on the website Lib.ru Works on Wikisource.

Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky (July 7 (19) ( 18930719 ) , village of Baghdadi, Kutaisi province (modern Baghdati, Imereti region, Georgia) - April 14, Moscow, RSFSR) - Soviet futurist poet, playwright, designer, editor of the magazines "LEF" ("Left Front"), "New LEF" and "REF".

Biography

Vladimir Mayakovsky was born in the village of Baghdadi in Georgia into the family of Vladimir Konstantinovich Mayakovsky (1857-1906), who served as a third-class forester in the Erivan province, from 1889 in the Baghdad forestry. The poet's mother, Alexandra Alekseevna Pavlenko (1867-1954), from a family of Kuban Cossacks, was born in Kuban. Mayakovsky's family tree includes the writer Grigory Petrovich Danilevsky, who in turn had common family roots with the families of A. S. Pushkin and N. V. Gogol. In 1902, Mayakovsky entered the gymnasium in Kutaisi. After the death of his father in 1906, Mayakovsky, his mother and sisters moved to Moscow. In 1906, in Moscow, he entered the fifth gymnasium (now Moscow school No. 91), where he studied in the same class with Pasternak’s brother Shura. He interrupted his studies in 1908 and took up revolutionary activities.

Thanks to his powerful voice, brilliant artistic abilities, powerful stage temperament and incredible charisma, he becomes the clear and unsurpassed leader of all public performances of futurists. However, having a voluminous bass with a rich timbre, he had no musical abilities and could not sing, he only recited.

I want to be understood by my native country,
but I won’t be understood -
Well?!
By home country
I'll pass by
How's it going?
slanting rain.

The author then did not dare to include the poems in the text, but in 1928 he published them as part of a critical article, albeit with an apologetic explanation: “Despite all the romance sensitivity (the audience grabs their scarves), I tore out these beautiful, rain-soaked feathers.” There is an opinion that even in the panegyric poem “Good” Mayakovsky mocks the ceremonial officialdom. “He rules with a rod so that he goes to the right. / I'll go right. / Very good." Perhaps this is an involuntary self-parody, but it is also possible that it is a foreshadowing of the postmodern “Policeman” by Prigov. Geniuses often get ahead of themselves.

Nowadays, opponents of the Soviet project blame Mayakovsky for his commitment to the October Revolution. However, the revolution was sung by Blok, Bryusov, Yesenin, Klyuev, Pasternak (who, however, questioned the feasibility of the revolution in the novel “Doctor Zhivago”), Khlebnikov and many, many others, who sincerely and enthusiastically accepted the revolution as the kingdom of the third testament. Such was the general intoxication with revolutionary romance, including the great poets, praising the changes that had begun in the country, as the road to a wonderful new world opening up before a renewed humanity. Now we can say that the Revolution of 1917 had a colossal romantic charm, brought unprecedented inspiration and renewal to the masses, shaped the way of life of tens of millions of young people, and primarily thanks to the work of V.V. Mayakovsky.

In the poem “At the top of my voice” (1930) there is an affirmation of the sincerity of one’s path and the hope of being understood in the “communist distance.” However, the poem “Bad” mysteriously disappeared. Mayakovsky kept all his notebooks. His sharply satirical plays “The Bedbug” and “Bathhouse” were removed from the repertoire. His anniversary portraits were torn out from the already printed magazine by order from above. In addition, a strange parcel with a revolver arrived from Lubyanka.

A reformer of poetic language, he had a great influence on the poetry of the 20th century. Especially on Kirsanov, Voznesensky, Yevtushenko, R. Rozhdestvensky, K. Kedrov. In the poetry of ironists and postmodernists, it is present as a kind of text that was initially commented on and interpreted with the opposite meaning.

He committed suicide (shot himself) on April 14, 1930. At one time there were many rumors that it was a murder, but in the 1990s an examination was carried out based on Mayakovsky’s belongings stored in his museum, which came to the conclusion that he himself shot. However, no examination can be one hundred percent reliable. The suicide version was resolutely rejected by Nikolai Aseev, who shouted directly from the podium: “Something is wrong here! He was killed." Perhaps we will never unravel the mysterious fuss of the special services around the death of the poet. It is completely incomprehensible why, ten days after the interrogation of the poet Veronica Polonskaya’s last love, the investigator who led this complicated investigation was shot. The case of Mayakovsky's suicide was opened the day before his death. There are more questions and hypotheses here than reliable facts. In the last verses, the poet undoubtedly says goodbye to life and the reasons for leaving are by no means political “the love boat crashed into everyday life.” These are not the words of a politician, but of the most tender and subtle lyricist. The ninety-year-old translator of “The Diary of Anne Frank” Rita Wright-Kovalyova said it best about him: “He was gentle!” The best epitaph for a poet who all his life strived to be rude, a son of the era.

Is it for you, who love women and dishes,
give your life for pleasure?!
I'd rather be in the bar whores
serve pineapple water!

To you! (1915)

According to the surviving memoirs of the famous writers of that time, V.P. Kataev and Yu.K. Olesha, the last day of Mayakovsky was reconstructed almost minute by minute. The writers were present in his apartment immediately after the tragic shot and testify that OGPU employees removed Mayakovsky’s brain right in his bedroom for transfer to the Brain Institute in order to establish the biological nature of genius.

The uniqueness of the Mayakovsky phenomenon, the unsurpassed scale of his creative personality, his poems, amazing in their artistic impact, are closely connected with the October Revolution. The most powerful, spiritualized, devoted and furious singer of the Revolution and Lenin was one of the founders of Soviet literary classics, a new revolutionary word. Just as Pushkin is indisputably considered the creator of new Russian literature and poetry of the 19th century, so Mayakovsky is recognized as the founder of Soviet revolutionary aesthetics, the first creator of the romantic, legendary image of V. I. Lenin. Mayakovsky, with the power of his talent, made the events of which he was a contemporary - the First World War, the February Revolution, the October Revolution, the Civil War, the NEP era - epic. Mayakovsky fearlessly addressed his descendants into the distant future, confident that he would be remembered hundreds of years from now:

My verse will break through the vastness of years
And it will appear weightily, roughly, visibly,
How the water supply system came into being these days,
Made by the slaves of Rome!

It is symbolic that the poet died when it became clear that the Revolution had taken place, when the most acute historical moments were already behind us, life in the USSR was getting better and it became obvious that the course of history was irreversible, and there was no return to pre-revolutionary times. The poet and the Revolution were made for each other, and the fact that there were no longer poets and writers of Mayakovsky’s caliber in the USSR can be explained by the fact that there was no longer an event comparable in historical scale to the October Revolution

Poet and God

The poet embodies the idea of a person as the crown of a worldview, who has the right not to take into account anything or anyone that is outside of him. A challenge to Heaven is a challenge to God, a directly stated doubt in his omnipotence.

Almighty, you made up a pair of hands,
did,
that everyone has a head -
why didn't you make it up?
so that there is no pain
kiss, kiss, kiss?!

Cloud in Pants (1914-15)

The reproach to the Almighty turns into a sharp fight against God with extremely blasphemous and at the same time images that cut into the consciousness:

I thought you were an all-powerful god,
and you are a dropout, tiny god.

The work of Mayakovsky, who knew the Holy Scripture very well, is full of quotes and hidden references to it, and a constant dispute with it.

Cinema

In 1918, Mayakovsky wrote the script for the film “Not Born for Money” based on Jack London’s novel “Martin Eden”. The poet himself played the main role of Ivan Nov. Not a single copy of this film has survived.

Literature

Nikolay Aseev. Mayakovsky begins (poem)
Valentin Kataev. My Diamond Crown (“About the Commander”)
Yuri Olesha. Vl. Mayakovsky
Benedict Livshits. One and a half eyed Sagittarius
Iskrzhitskaya I. Yu., Kormilov S. I. Vladimir Mayakovsky. M.: Moscow State University Publishing House, 1999. (Rereading the classics).
Alfonsov V.N. In conflict with beloved art // Words and colors
Alfonsov V. N. Poet-painter // Words and colors
I. P. Smirnov. The place of the “mythopoetic” approach to a literary work among other interpretations of the text (about Mayakovsky’s poem “That’s how I became a dog”) // Myth - folklore - literature. L.: 1978. S. 186-203.
Pin L.

Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky. Born on July 7 (19), 1893 in Bagdati, Kutaisi province - died on April 14, 1930 in Moscow. Russian and Soviet poet, playwright, screenwriter, film director, actor, artist. One of the most outstanding poets of the 20th century.

Vladimir Mayakovsky was born on July 7 (19 according to the new style) July 1893 in Bagdati, Kutaisi province (Georgia).

Father - Vladimir Konstantinovich Mayakovsky (1857-1906), served as a third-class forester in the Erivan province, from 1889 in the Bagdat forestry. My father died from blood poisoning after pricking his finger with a needle while stitching papers - from then on, Vladimir Mayakovsky had a phobia of pins, needles, hairpins, etc., fearing infection, bacteriophobia haunted him all his life.

Mother - Alexandra Alekseevna Pavlenko (1867-1954), from the Kuban Cossacks, was born in the village of Ternovskaya in the Kuban.

In the poem “Vladikavkaz - Tiflis” Mayakovsky calls himself a “Georgian”.

One of his grandmothers, Efrosinya Osipovna Danilevskaya, is the cousin of the author of historical novels G. P. Danilevsky.

He had two sisters: Lyudmila (1884-1972) and Olga (1890-1949).

He had two brothers: Konstantin (died at the age of three from scarlet fever) and Alexander (died in infancy).

In 1902, Mayakovsky entered the gymnasium in Kutaisi. Like his parents, he was fluent in Georgian.

In his youth, he took part in revolutionary demonstrations and read propaganda brochures.

After the death of his father in 1906, Mayakovsky, along with his mother and sisters, moved to Moscow, where he entered the fourth grade of the 5th classical gymnasium (now Moscow school No. 91 on Povarskaya Street, the building has not survived), and studied in the same class with his brother Shura.

The family lived in poverty. In March 1908, he was expelled from the 5th grade due to non-payment of tuition.

Mayakovsky published his first “half-poem” in the illegal magazine “Rush,” which was published by the Third Gymnasium. According to him, “it turned out incredibly revolutionary and equally ugly.”

In Moscow, Mayakovsky met revolutionary-minded students, began to become interested in Marxist literature, and in 1908 joined the RSDLP. He was a propagandist in the commercial and industrial subdistrict, and in 1908-1909 he was arrested three times (in the case of an underground printing house, on suspicion of connections with a group of anarchist expropriators, on suspicion of aiding the escape of female political prisoners from Novinsky prison).

In the first case, he was released under the supervision of his parents by a court verdict as a minor who acted “without understanding”; in the second and third cases, he was released due to lack of evidence.

In prison, Mayakovsky was a “scandal,” so he was often transferred from unit to unit: Basmannaya, Meshchanskaya, Myasnitskaya and, finally, Butyrskaya prison, where he spent 11 months in solitary confinement No. 103. In prison in 1909, Mayakovsky again began writing poetry, but was dissatisfied with what was written.

After his third arrest, he was released from prison in January 1910. After his release, he left the party. In 1918 he wrote in his autobiography: “Why not in the party? Communists worked at the fronts. In art and education there are still compromisers. They would send me to fish in Astrakhan.”

In 1911, the poet’s friend, bohemian artist Eugenia Lang, inspired the poet to take up painting.

Mayakovsky studied in the preparatory class of the Stroganov School, in the studios of artists S. Yu. Zhukovsky and P. I. Kelin. In 1911, he entered the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture - the only place where he was admitted without a certificate of trustworthiness. Having met David Burliuk, the founder of the futurist group "Gilea", he entered the poetic circle and joined the Cubo-Futurists. The first published poem was called “Night” (1912), it was included in the futuristic collection “A Slap in the Face of Public Taste.”

On November 30, 1912, Mayakovsky’s first public performance took place in the artistic basement “Stray Dog”.

In 1913, Mayakovsky’s first collection “I” (a cycle of four poems) was published. It was written by hand, provided with drawings by Vasily Chekrygin and Lev Zhegin and reproduced lithographically in the amount of 300 copies. As the first section, this collection was included in the poet’s book of poems “Simple as a Moo” (1916). His poems also appeared on the pages of futurist almanacs “Mares’ Milk”, “Dead Moon”, “Roaring Parnassus”, etc., and began to be published in periodicals.

In the same year, the poet turned to drama. The program tragedy “Vladimir Mayakovsky” was written and staged. The scenery for it was written by artists from the “Youth Union” P. N. Filonov and I. S. Shkolnik, and the author himself acted as director and leading actor.

In February 1914, Mayakovsky and Burliuk were expelled from the school for public speaking.

In 1914-1915, Mayakovsky worked on the poem “A Cloud in Pants”. After the outbreak of the First World War, the poem “War Has Been Declared” was published. In August, Mayakovsky decided to sign up as a volunteer, but he was not allowed, explaining this as political unreliability. Soon Mayakovsky expressed his attitude towards serving in the tsarist army in the poem “To you!”, which later became a song.

On March 29, 1914, Mayakovsky, together with Burliuk and Kamensky, arrived on tour in Baku - as part of the “famous Moscow futurists.” That evening, at the Mailov Brothers Theater, Mayakovsky read a report on futurism, illustrating it with poetry.

In July 1915, the poet met Lilya Yuryevna and Osip Maksimovich Brik. In 1915-1917, under the patronage of Mayakovsky, he served in military service in Petrograd at the Automotive Training School.

Soldiers were not allowed to publish, but he was saved by Osip Brik, who bought the poems “Spine Flute” and “Cloud in Pants” for 50 kopecks per line and published them. His anti-war lyrics: “Mom and the evening killed by the Germans”, “Me and Napoleon”, the poem “War and Peace” (1915). Appeal to satire. The cycle “Hymns” for the magazine “New Satyricon” (1915). In 1916, the first large collection, “Simple as a Moo,” was published. 1917 - “Revolution. Poetochronika".

On March 3, 1917, Mayakovsky led a detachment of 7 soldiers who arrested the commander of the Automotive Training School, General P. I. Sekretev. It is curious that shortly before this, on January 31, Mayakovsky received a silver medal “For Diligence” from the hands of Sekretev. During the summer of 1917, Mayakovsky energetically worked to have him declared unfit for military service and was released from it in the fall.

In August 1917, he decided to write “Mystery Bouffe,” which was completed on October 25, 1918 and staged for the anniversary of the revolution (dir. Vs. Meyerhold, art director K. Malevich).

In 1918, Mayakovsky starred in three films based on his own scripts.

Vladimir Mayakovsky in the film "The Young Lady and the Hooligan"

In March 1919, he moved to Moscow, began actively collaborating with ROSTA (1919-1921), and designed (as a poet and as an artist) propaganda and satirical posters for ROSTA (“Windows of ROSTA”).

In 1919, the first collection of the poet’s works was published - “Everything written by Vladimir Mayakovsky. 1909-1919".

In 1918-1919 he appeared in the newspaper “Art of the Commune”. Propaganda of world revolution and revolution of spirit.

In 1920, he finished writing the poem “150,000,000,” which reflects the theme of world revolution.

In 1918, Mayakovsky organized the group “Comfut” (communist futurism), and in 1922 - the publishing house MAF (Moscow Association of Futurists), which published several of his books.

In 1923 he organized the LEF group (Left Front of the Arts), the thick magazine LEF (seven issues were published in 1923-1925). Aseev, Pasternak, Osip Brik, B. Arvatov, N. Chuzhak, Tretyakov, Levidov, Shklovsky and others actively published. He promoted Lef’s theories of production art, social order, and literature of fact.

At this time, the poems “About This” (1923), “To the workers of Kursk who mined the first ore, a temporary monument to the work of Vladimir Mayakovsky” (1923) and “Vladimir Ilyich Lenin” (1924) were published. When the author read the poem about at the Bolshoi Theater, which was accompanied by a 20-minute ovation, he was present. Mayakovsky mentioned the “leader of the peoples” himself in his poems only twice.

Mayakovsky considers the years of the civil war to be the best time in his life; in the poem “Good!”, written in the prosperous year of 1927, there are nostalgic chapters.

In 1922-1923, in a number of works he continued to insist on the need for a world revolution and a revolution of the spirit - “The Fourth International”, “The Fifth International”, “My Speech at the Genoa Conference”, etc.

In 1922-1924, Mayakovsky made several trips abroad - Latvia, France, Germany; wrote essays and poems about European impressions: “How does a democratic republic work?” (1922); “Paris (Conversations with the Eiffel Tower)” (1923) and a number of others.

In 1925, his longest journey took place: a trip across America. Mayakovsky visited Havana, Mexico City and for three months spoke in various cities of the United States, reading poems and reports. Later, poems were written (the collection “Spain. - Ocean. - Havana. - Mexico. - America”) and the essay “My Discovery of America.”

In 1925-1928, he traveled extensively throughout the Soviet Union and performed in a variety of audiences. During these years, the poet published such works as “To Comrade Nette, the Ship and the Man” (1926); “Through the Cities of the Union” (1927); “The story of the foundry worker Ivan Kozyrev...” (1928).

From February 17 to February 24, 1926, Mayakovsky visited Baku, performed at the opera and drama theaters, and before oil workers in Balakhany.

In 1922-1926 he actively collaborated with Izvestia, in 1926-1929 - with Komsomolskaya Pravda.

He was published in magazines: “New World”, “Young Guard”, “Ogonyok”, “Crocodile”, “Krasnaya Niva”, etc. He worked in agitation and advertising, for which he was criticized by Pasternak, Kataev, Svetlov.

In 1926-1927 he wrote nine film scripts.

In 1927, he restored the LEF magazine under the name “New LEF”. A total of 24 issues were published. In the summer of 1928, Mayakovsky became disillusioned with LEF and left the organization and the magazine. In the same year, he began writing his personal biography, “I Myself.” From October 8 to December 8 - a trip abroad, on the route Berlin - Paris. In November, volumes I and II of the collected works were published.

The satirical plays The Bedbug (1928) and Bathhouse (1929) were staged by Meyerhold. The poet’s satire, especially “Bath,” caused persecution from Rapp’s critics. In 1929, the poet organized the REF group, but already in February 1930 he left it, joining RAPP.

In 1928-1929 Mayakovsky took an active part in the anti-religious campaign. It was then that the NEP was collapsed, the collectivization of agriculture began, and materials from show trials of “pests” appeared in the newspapers.

In 1929, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee issued the Decree “On Religious Associations,” which worsened the situation of believers. In the same year, Art. 4 of the Constitution of the RSFSR: instead of “freedom of religious and anti-religious propaganda,” the republic recognized “freedom of religious confessions and anti-religious propaganda.”

As a result, a need arose in the state for anti-religious works of art that responded to ideological changes. A number of leading Soviet poets, writers, journalists and filmmakers responded to this need. Mayakovsky was among them. In 1929, he wrote the poem “We Must Fight,” in which he stigmatized believers and called for atheism.

Also in 1929, he, together with Maxim Gorky and Demyan Bedny, took part in the Second Congress of the Union of Militant Atheists. In his speech at the congress, Mayakovsky called on writers and poets to participate in the fight against religion: “We can already unmistakably discern a fascist Mauser behind the Catholic cassock. We can already unmistakably discern the edge of a fist behind the priest’s cassock, but thousands of other intricacies through art entangle us in the same damned mysticism. ...If it is still possible, one way or another, to understand the brainless ones from the flock, who have been hammering religious feelings into themselves for decades, the so-called believers, then we must classify a religious writer who works consciously and yet works as a religious person either as a charlatan, or like a fool. Comrades, usually their pre-revolutionary meetings and congresses ended with the call “to God”; today the congress will end with the words “to God.” This is the slogan of today’s writer,” he said.

Features of the style and creativity of Vladimir Mayakovsky

Many researchers of Mayakovsky's creative development liken his poetic life to a five-act action with a prologue and epilogue.

The role of a kind of prologue in the poet’s creative path was played by the tragedy “Vladimir Mayakovsky” (1913), the first act was the poem “Cloud in Pants” (1914-1915) and “Spine Flute” (1915), the second act was the poem “War and Peace” "(1915-1916) and "Man" (1916-1917), the third act - the play "Mystery-bouffe" (first version - 1918, second - 1920-1921) and the poem "150,000,000" (1919-1920), the fourth act - the poems “I Love” (1922), “About This” (1923) and “Vladimir Ilyich Lenin” (1924), the fifth act - the poem “Good!” (1927) and the plays “Bedbug” (1928-1929) and “Bathhouse” (1929-1930), the epilogue is the first and second introductions to the poem “At the top of my voice” (1928-1930) and the poet’s suicide letter “To everyone” (12 April 1930).

The rest of Mayakovsky's works, including numerous poems, gravitate toward one or another part of this overall picture, the basis of which is the poet's major works.

In his works, Mayakovsky was uncompromising, and therefore inconvenient. In the works he wrote in the late 1920s, tragic motifs began to appear. Critics called him only a “fellow traveler” and not the “proletarian writer” that he wanted to see himself.

In 1930, he organized an exhibition dedicated to the 20th anniversary of his work, but he was interfered with in every possible way, and none of the writers or state leaders visited the exhibition itself.

In the spring of 1930, the Circus on Tsvetnoy Boulevard was preparing a grandiose performance of “Moscow is Burning” based on Mayakovsky’s play; the dress rehearsal was scheduled for April 21, but the poet did not live to see it.

Mayakovsky’s early work was expressive and metaphorical (“I’m going to cry that the policemen were crucified at the crossroads,” “Could you?”), combined the energy of a meeting and demonstration with the most lyrical intimacy (“The violin twitched begging”), Nietzschean fight against God and carefully disguised in the soul religious feeling (“I, praising the machine and England / Maybe simply / In the most ordinary Gospel / The Thirteenth Apostle”).

According to the poet, it all started with the line “I launched a pineapple into the sky.” David Burliuk introduced the young poet to the poetry of Rimbaud, Baudelaire, Verlaine, Verhaeren, but Whitman's free verse had a decisive influence.

Mayakovsky did not recognize traditional poetic meters; he invented rhythm for his poems; polymetric compositions are united by style and a single syntactic intonation, which is set by the graphic presentation of the verse: first by dividing the verse into several lines written in a column, and since 1923 by the famous “ladder”, which became Mayakovsky’s “calling card”. The ladder helped Mayakovsky force his poems to be read with the correct intonation, since commas were sometimes not enough.

After 1917, Mayakovsky began to write a lot; in five pre-revolutionary years he wrote one volume of poetry and prose, and in twelve post-revolutionary years - eleven volumes. For example, in 1928 he wrote 125 poems and a play. He spent a lot of time traveling around the Union and abroad. When traveling, I sometimes gave 2-3 speeches a day (not counting participation in debates, meetings, conferences, etc.).

However, subsequently, disturbing and restless thoughts began to appear in Mayakovsky’s works; he exposes the vices and shortcomings of the new system (from the poem “The Sitting Ones,” 1922, to the play “Bathhouse,” 1929).

It is believed that in the mid-1920s he began to become disillusioned with the socialist system; his so-called trips abroad are perceived as attempts to escape from himself; in the poem “At the Top of My Voice” there is the line “rummaging through today’s petrified shit” (in the censored version - "shit") Although he continued to create poems imbued with official cheerfulness, including those dedicated to collectivization, until his last days.

Another feature of the poet is the combination of pathos and lyricism with Shchedrin’s most poisonous satire.

Mayakovsky had a great influence on the poetry of the 20th century. Especially on Kirsanov, Voznesensky, Yevtushenko, Rozhdestvensky, Kedrov, and also made a significant contribution to children's poetry.

Mayakovsky addressed his descendants into the distant future, confident that he would be remembered hundreds of years from now:

My verse

labor

the vastness of years will break through

and will appear

weighty,

rough,

visibly

like these days

the water supply came in,

worked out

still slaves of Rome.

Vladimir Mayakovsky. Documentary

Suicide of Vladimir Mayakovsky

The year 1930 started poorly for Mayakovsky. He was sick a lot. In February, Lilya and Osip Brik left for Europe.

Mayakovsky was harshly treated in the newspapers as a “fellow traveler of the Soviet regime” - while he himself saw himself as a proletarian writer.

There was an embarrassment with his long-awaited exhibition “20 Years of Work”, which was not visited by any of the prominent writers and state leaders, as the poet had hoped for. The premiere of the play “Bathhouse” was unsuccessful in March, and the play “Bedbug” was also expected to fail.

At the beginning of April 1930, a greeting to “the great proletarian poet on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of work and social activity” was removed from the layout of the magazine “Print and Revolution.” There was talk in literary circles that Mayakovsky had written himself off. The poet was denied a visa to travel abroad.

Two days before his suicide, on April 12, Mayakovsky had a meeting with readers at the Polytechnic Institute, which was attended mainly by Komsomol members, and there were many boorish shouts from the seats. The poet was haunted by quarrels and scandals everywhere. His state of mind became more and more alarming and depressing.

Since the spring of 1919, Mayakovsky, despite the fact that he constantly lived with the Briks, had for work a small boat-like room on the fourth floor of a communal apartment on Lubyanka (now this is the State Museum of V.V. Mayakovsky, Lubyansky proezd, 3/6 p.4). The suicide took place in this room.

On the morning of April 14, Mayakovsky had an appointment with Veronica (Nora) Polonskaya. The poet had been dating Polonskaya for the second year, insisted on her divorce, and even signed up for a writers’ cooperative in the passage of the Art Theater, where he planned to move to live with Nora.

As 82-year-old Polonskaya recalled in 1990 in an interview with the magazine “Soviet Screen” (No. 13 - 1990), on that fateful morning the poet picked her up at eight o’clock, because at 10.30 she had a rehearsal scheduled at the theater with Nemirovich -Danchenko.

“I couldn’t be late, it angered Vladimir Vladimirovich. He locked the doors, hid the key in his pocket, began to demand that I not go to the theater, and left from there altogether. I cried... I asked if he would see me out. “No.” ", he said, but promised to call. And he also asked if I had money for a taxi. I didn’t have money, he gave me twenty rubles... I managed to get to the front door and heard a shot. I was running around, afraid to return. Then I entered and saw the smoke from the shot that had not yet cleared. There was a small bloody stain on Mayakovsky’s chest. I rushed to him, I repeated: “What did you do?..” Then his head fell, and he began to turn terribly pale... People appeared, someone told me: “Run, meet the ambulance.” I ran out and met him. I returned, and on the stairs someone said to me: “It’s late. He died...", recalled Veronica Polonskaya.

The suicide note, prepared two days earlier, is very detailed (which, according to researchers, excludes the version of the spontaneity of the shot), begins with the words: “Don’t blame anyone for the fact that I’m dying, and please don’t gossip, the deceased really didn’t like it.” ...".

The poet calls Lilya Brik (as well as Veronica Polonskaya), mother and sisters members of his family and asks to transfer all the poems and archives to the Briks.

Suicide letter from Vladimir Mayakovsky:

"Everyone

Don’t blame anyone for the fact that I’m dying and please don’t gossip. The deceased did not like this terribly.

Mom, sisters and comrades, I’m sorry - this is not the way (I don’t recommend it to others), but I have no choice.

Lilya - love me.

Comrade government, my family is Lilya Brik, mother, sisters and Veronica Vitoldovna Polonskaya.

If you give them a tolerable life, thank you.

Give the poems you started to the Briks, they will figure it out.

As they say -

"the incident is ruined"

love boat

crashed into everyday life.

I'm even with life

and there's no need for a list

mutual pain,

and resentment.

Happy stay.

12/IV -30

Comrades Vappovtsy, do not consider me cowardly.

Seriously - nothing can be done.

Hello.

Tell Yermilov that it’s a pity that he removed the slogan, we should have a fight.

I have 2000 rubles in my table. - contribute to the tax. You will receive the rest from Giza.

The Briks managed to arrive at the funeral, urgently interrupting their European tour. Polonskaya, on the contrary, did not dare to attend, since Mayakovsky’s mother and sisters considered her to be the culprit in the death of the poet.

For three days, with an endless stream of people, farewell took place in the House of Writers. Tens of thousands of admirers of his talent escorted the poet to the Donskoye Cemetery in an iron coffin while the Internationale was sung. Ironically, Mayakovsky’s “futuristic” iron coffin was made by avant-garde sculptor Anton Lavinsky, the husband of the artist Lily Lavinskaya, who gave birth to a son from her relationship with Mayakovsky.

The poet was cremated in the first Moscow crematorium opened three years earlier near the Donskoy Monastery. The brain was removed for research by the Brain Institute. Initially, the ashes were located there, in the columbarium of the New Donskoye Cemetery, but as a result of the persistent actions of Lilia Brik and the poet’s elder sister Lyudmila, the urn with Mayakovsky’s ashes was moved on May 22, 1952 and buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery.

Mayakovsky. Last love, last shot

Vladimir Mayakovsky's height: 189 centimeters.

Personal life of Vladimir Mayakovsky:

Was not married. Two children from extramarital affairs.

The poet had many different novels, a number of which went down in history.

He was in a relationship with Elsa Triolet, thanks to whom she appeared in his life.

- “muse of the Russian avant-garde”, hostess of one of the most famous literary and artistic salons in the 20th century. Author of memoirs, recipient of Vladimir Mayakovsky’s works, who played a big role in the poet’s life. Sister of Elsa Triolet. She was married to Osip Brik, Vitaly Primakov, Vasily Katanyan.

For a long period of Mayakovsky's creative life, Lilya Brik was his muse. They met in July 1915 at her parents' dacha in Malakhovka near Moscow. At the end of July, Lily's sister Elsa Triole brought Mayakovsky, who had recently arrived from Finland, to Brikov's Petrograd apartment on the street. Zhukovsky, 7.

The Briks, people far from literature, were engaged in business, having inherited a small but profitable coral business from their parents. Mayakovsky read the yet unpublished poem “A Cloud in Pants” at their home and, after an enthusiastic reception, dedicated it to the hostess - “To you, Lilya.” The poet later called this day “the most joyful date.”

Osip Brik, Lily's husband, published the poem in a small edition in September 1915. Infatuated with Lily, the poet settled in the Palais Royal hotel on Pushkinskaya Street in Petrograd, never returning to Finland.

In November, the futurist moved even closer to the Brikovs' apartment - to Nadezhdinskaya Street, 52. Soon Mayakovsky introduced new friends to his friends, futurist poets - D. Burliuk, V. Kamensky, B. Pasternak, V. Khlebnikov and others. Brikov's apartment on the street . Zhukovsky became a bohemian salon, which was visited not only by futurists, but also by M. Kuzmin, M. Gorky, V. Shklovsky, R. Yakobson, as well as other writers, philologists and artists.

Soon, a stormy romance broke out between Mayakovsky and Lilya Brik, with the obvious connivance of Osip. This novel was reflected in the poems “Spine Flute” (1915) and “Man” (1916) and in the poems “To Everything” (1916), “Lilichka! Instead of a letter" (1916). After this, Mayakovsky began to devote all his works (except for the poem “Vladimir Ilyich Lenin”) to Lilya Brik.

In 1918, Lilya and Vladimir starred in the film “Chained by Film” based on Mayakovsky’s script. To date, the film has survived in fragments. Photographs and a large poster depicting Lilya, entangled in film, also survived.

Vladimir Mayakovsky and Lilya Brik in the film "Chained by Film"

Since the summer of 1918, Mayakovsky and Briki lived together, the three of them, which fit well into the popular after the revolution marriage and love concept, known as the “Glass of Water Theory.” At this time, all three finally switched to Bolshevik positions. At the beginning of March 1919, they moved from Petrograd to Moscow to a communal apartment in Poluektovy Lane, 5, and then, from September 1920, they settled in two rooms in a house on the corner of Myasnitskaya Street in Vodopyanoy Lane, 3. Then all three moved to an apartment in Gendrikov Lane on Taganka. Mayakovsky and Lilya worked at Windows of ROSTA, and Osip served for some time in the Cheka and was a member of the Bolshevik Party.

Bibliography of Vladimir Mayakovsky:

Autobiography:

1928 - “I myself”

Poems:

1914-15 - “Cloud in Pants”
1915 - “Spine Flute”
1916-17 - "Man"
1921-22 - “I Love”
1923 - “About This”
1924 - “Vladimir Ilyich Lenin”
1925 - “The Flying Proletarian”
1927 - “Okay!”

Poems:

1912 - “Night”
1912 - “Morning”
1912 - “Port”
1913 - “From street to street”
1913 - “Could you?”
1913 - “Signs”
1913 - “I”: Along the pavement; A few words about my wife; A few words about my mother; A few words about myself
1913 - “From fatigue”
1913 - “Hell of the City”
1913 - “Here!”
1913 - “They don’t understand anything”
1914 - “Blouse Veil”
1914 - “Listen”
1914 - “But still”
1914 - “War is declared.” July 20
1914 - “Mom and the evening killed by the Germans”
1914 - “Violin and a little nervously”
1915 - “Me and Napoleon”
1915 - “To you”
1915 - “Hymn to the Judge”
1915 - “Hymn to the Scientist”
1915 - “Naval Love”
1915 - “Hymn to Health”
1915 - “Hymn to the Critic”
1915 - “Hymn to Lunch”
1915 - “That’s how I became a dog”
1915 - “Magnificent absurdities”
1915 - “Hymn to the Bribe”
1915 - “Attentive attitude towards bribe takers”
1915 - “Monstrous Funeral”
1916 - “Hey!”
1916 - "Giveaway"
1916 - “Tired”
1916 - “Needles”
1916 - “The Last St. Petersburg Fairy Tale”
1916 - “Russia”
1916 - “Lilichka!”
1916 - “To Everything”
1916 - “The author dedicates these lines to himself, his beloved”
1917 - “Writer Brothers”
1917 - "Revolution". April 19
1917 - “The Tale of Little Red Riding Hood”
1917 - “To the Answer”
1917 - “Our March”
1918 - “Good Treatment for Horses”
1918 - “Ode to the Revolution”
1918 - “Order for the Army of Art”
1918 - “Working Poet”
1918 - “That Side”
1918 - “Left March”
1919 - “Amazing Facts”
1919 - “We Are Coming”
1919 - “Soviet ABC”
1919 - “Worker! Throw out the non-party nonsense..." October
1919 - “Song of the Ryazan peasant.” October
1920 - “The weapon of the Entente is money...”. July
1920 - “If you live in disarray, as the Makhnovists want...” July
1920 - “A story about bagels and a woman who does not recognize the republic.” August
1920 - “Red Hedgehog”
1920 - “Attitude towards the young lady”
1920 - “Vladimir Ilyich”
1920 - “An extraordinary adventure that happened with Vladimir Mayakovsky in the summer at the dacha”
1920 - “The story about how the godfather talked about Wrangel without any intelligence”
1920 - “Heine-shaped”
1920 - “A third of the cigarette case went into the grass...”
1920 - “The Last Page of the Civil War”
1920 - “About rubbish”
1921 - “Two not quite ordinary cases”
1921 - “A poem about Myasnitskaya, about a woman and about an all-Russian scale”
1921 - “Order No. 2 of the Army of Arts”
1922 - “Sitting Over”
1922 - “Bastards!”
1922 - “Bureaucracy”
1922 - “My speech at the Genoa conference”
1922 - “Germany”
1923 - “About poets”
1923 - “On “fiascoes”, “apogees” and other unknown things”
1923 - “Paris”
1923 - “Newspaper Day”
1923 - “We don’t believe!”
1923 - “Trusts”
1923 - “April 17”
1923 - “Spring Question”
1923 - “Universal Answer”
1923 - “Vorovsky”
1923 - “Baku”
1923 - “Young Guard”
1923 - “Norderney”
1923 - “Moscow-Koenigsberg”. September 6
1923 - “Kyiv”
1924 - “January 9th”
1924 - “Be ready!”
1924 - “Bourgeois, - say goodbye to pleasant days - we’ll finally finish with hard money”
1924 - “Vladikavkaz - Tiflis”
1924 - “Two Berlins”
1924 - “Diplomatic”
1924 - “The roar of uprisings, multiplied by echoes”
1924 - “Hello!”
1924 - “Kyiv”
1924 - “Komsomolskaya”
1924 - “Little Difference” (“In Europe...”)
1924 - “To the Rescue”
1924 - “Every little thing is accounted for”
1924 - “Let's laugh!”
1924 - “Proletarian, nip the war in the bud!”
1924 - “I protest!”
1924 - “Keep your hands off China!”
1924 - “Sevastopol - Yalta”
1924 - “Selkor”
1924 - “Tamara and the Demon”
1924 - “Sound money is solid ground for the bond between the peasant and the worker”
1924 - “Wow, and fun!”
1924 - “Hooliganism”
1924 - “Jubilee”
1925 - “That’s what a man needs a plane for”
1925 - “Drag out the future!”
1925 - “Give me the engine!”
1925 - “Two Mays”
1925 - “Red Envy”
1925 - "May"
1925 - “A little utopia about how the metro will go”
1925 - “O. D.V.F.”
1925 - “Rabkor” (“He will write “The Keys of Happiness” ...”)
1925 - “Rabkor (“Having broken through the mountains of illiteracy with my forehead...”)
1925 - “Third Front”
1925 - “Flag”
1925 - “Yalta - Novorossiysk”
1926 - “To Sergei Yesenin”
1926 - “Marxism is a weapon...” April 19
1926 - “Four-story hack”
1926 - “Conversation with the financial inspector about poetry”
1926 - “Advanced Front”
1926 - “Bribery takers”
1926 - “On the Agenda”
1926 - “Protection”
1926 - “Love”
1926 - “Message to proletarian poets”
1926 - “Factory of Bureaucrats”
1926 - “To Comrade Nette” July 15
1926 - “Terrifying Familiarity”
1926 - “Office Habits”
1926 - “Hooligan”
1926 - “Conversation at the Odessa landing craft raid”
1926 - “Letter from the writer Mayakovsky to the writer Gorky”
1926 - “Debt to Ukraine”
1926 - “October”
1927 - “Stabilization of life”
1927 - “Paper Horrors”
1927 - “To Our Youth”
1927 - “Through the Cities of the Union”
1927 - “My speech at the show trial on the occasion of a possible scandal with the lectures of Professor Shengeli”
1927 - “What did they fight for?”
1927 - “You Give an Elegant Life”
1927 - “Instead of an Ode”
1927 - “Best verse”
1927 - “Lenin is with us!”
1927 - “Spring”
1927 - “Careful March”
1927 - “Venus de Milo and Vyacheslav Polonsky”
1927 - “Mr. People’s Artist”
1927 - “Well, well!”
1927 - “A General Guide for Beginning Sneaks”
1927 - “Crimea”
1927 - “Comrade Ivanov”
1927 - “We’ll see for ourselves, we’ll show them”
1927 - “Ivan Ivan Honorarchikov”
1927 - “Miracles”
1927 - “Marusya got poisoned”
1927 - “Letter to Molchanov’s beloved, abandoned by him”
1927 - “The masses do not understand”
1928 - “Without a rudder and without a twirl”
1928 - “Ekaterinburg-Sverdlovsk”
1928 - “The story of foundry worker Ivan Kozyrev about moving into a new painting”
1928 - “Emperor”
1928 - “Letter to Tatyana Yakovleva”
1929 - “Conversation with Comrade Lenin”
1929 - “Perekop enthusiasm”
1929 - “Gloomy about humorists”
1929 - “Harvest March”
1929 - “Soul of Society”
1929 - “Party Candidate”
1929 - “Stab Self-Criticism”
1929 - “Everything is calm in the West”
1929 - “Parisian”
1929 - “Beauties”
1929 - “Poems about the Soviet passport”
1929 - “The Americans Are Surprised”
1929 - “An example not worthy of imitation”
1929 - “Bird of God”
1929 - “Poems about Thomas”
1929 - “I'm happy”
1929 - “Khrenov’s story about Kuznetskstroy and the people of Kuznetsk”
1929 - “Minority Report”
1929 - “Give me the material base”
1929 - "The Trouble Lovers"
1930 - “Already the second. You must have gone to bed..."
1930 - “March of Shock Brigades”
1930 - “Leninists”

The brilliant works of Vladimir Mayakovsky evoke true admiration among millions of his admirers. He deservedly ranks among the greatest futurist poets of the 20th century. In addition, Mayakovsky proved himself to be an extraordinary playwright, satirist, film director, screenwriter, artist, and editor of several magazines. His life, multifaceted creativity, as well as personal relationships full of love and experiences remain an incompletely solved mystery today.

The talented poet was born in the small Georgian village of Bagdati (Russian Empire). His mother Alexandra Alekseevna belonged to a Cossack family from Kuban, and his father Vladimir Konstantinovich worked as a simple forester. Vladimir had two brothers - Kostya and Sasha, who died in childhood, as well as two sisters - Olya and Lyuda.

Mayakovsky knew the Georgian language very well and from 1902 he studied at the Kutaisi gymnasium. Already in his youth he was captivated by revolutionary ideas, and while studying at the gymnasium, he participated in a revolutionary demonstration.

In 1906, his father died suddenly. The cause of death was blood poisoning, which occurred as a result of a finger prick with an ordinary needle. This event shocked Mayakovsky so much that in the future he completely avoided hairpins and pins, fearing the fate of his father.

In the same 1906, Alexandra Alekseevna and her children moved to Moscow. Vladimir continued his studies at the fifth classical gymnasium, where he attended classes with the poet’s brother, Alexander. However, with the death of his father, the family's financial situation worsened significantly. As a result, in 1908, Vladimir was unable to pay for his education, and he was expelled from the fifth grade of the gymnasium.

Creation

In Moscow, a young guy began to communicate with students who were keen on revolutionary ideas. In 1908, Mayakovsky decided to become a member of the RSDLP and often propagandized among the population. During 1908-1909, Vladimir was arrested three times, but due to his minority and lack of evidence, he was forced to be released.

During the investigations, Mayakovsky could not calmly stay within four walls. Due to constant scandals, he was often transferred to different places of detention. As a result, he ended up in Butyrka prison, where he spent eleven months and began writing poetry.

In 1910, the young poet was released from prison and immediately left the party. The following year, the artist Evgenia Lang, with whom Vladimir was on friendly terms, recommended that he take up painting. While studying at the school of painting, sculpture and architecture, he met the founders of the futurist group “Gilea” and joined the Cubo-Futurists.

Mayakovsky's first work to be published was the poem “Night” (1912). At the same time, the young poet made his first public appearance in the artistic basement, which was called “Stray Dog.”

Vladimir, together with members of the Cubo-Futurist group, participated in a tour of Russia, where he gave lectures and his poems. Positive reviews about Mayakovsky soon appeared, but he was often considered outside the futurists. believed that among the futurists Mayakovsky was the only real poet.

The young poet’s first collection, “I,” was published in 1913 and consisted of only four poems. This year also marks the writing of the rebellious poem “Here!”, in which the author challenges the entire bourgeois society. The following year, Vladimir created a touching poem “Listen,” which amazed readers with its colorfulness and sensitivity.

The brilliant poet was also attracted to drama. The year 1914 was marked by the creation of the tragedy “Vladimir Mayakovsky”, presented to the public on the stage of the St. Petersburg Luna Park Theater. At the same time, Vladimir acted as its director, as well as the leading actor. The main motive of the work was the rebellion of things, which connected the tragedy with the work of the futurists.

In 1914, the young poet firmly decided to voluntarily enlist in the army, but his political unreliability frightened the authorities. He did not go to the front and, in response to neglect, wrote the poem “To You,” in which he gave his assessment of the tsarist army. In addition, Mayakovsky’s brilliant works soon appeared - “A Cloud in Pants” and “War Has Been Declared”.

The following year, a fateful meeting between Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky and the Brik family took place. From now on, his life was a single whole with Lilya and Osip. From 1915 to 1917, thanks to the patronage of M. Gorky, the poet served in an automobile school. And although he, being a soldier, did not have the right to publish, Osip Brik came to his aid. He acquired two of Vladimir's poems and soon published them.

At the same time, Mayakovsky plunged into the world of satire and in 1915 published the cycle of works “Hymns” in the “New Satyricon”. Soon two large collections of works appeared - “Simple as a Moo” (1916) and “Revolution. Poetochronika" (1917).

The great poet met the October Revolution at the headquarters of the uprising in Smolny. He immediately began to cooperate with the new government and participated in the first meetings of cultural figures. Let us note that Mayakovsky led a detachment of soldiers who arrested General P. Sekretev, who ran the automobile school, although he had previously received the medal “For Diligence” from his hands.

The years 1917-1918 were marked by the release of several works by Mayakovsky dedicated to revolutionary events (for example, “Ode to the Revolution”, “Our March”). On the first anniversary of the revolution, the play “Mystery-bouffe” was presented.

Mayakovsky was also interested in filmmaking. In 1919, three films were released, in which Vladimir acted as an actor, screenwriter and director. At the same time, the poet began collaborating with ROSTA and worked on propaganda and satirical posters. At the same time, Mayakovsky worked for the newspaper “Art of the Commune”.

In addition, in 1918, the poet created the Komfut group, the direction of which can be described as communist futurism. But already in 1923, Vladimir organized another group - the “Left Front of the Arts”, as well as the corresponding magazine “LEF”.

At this time, several bright and memorable works of the brilliant poet were created: “About This” (1923), “Sevastopol - Yalta” (1924), “Vladimir Ilyich Lenin” (1924). We emphasize that during the reading of the last poem at the Bolshoi Theater, I myself was present. Mayakovsky's speech was followed by a standing ovation that lasted 20 minutes. In general, it was the years of the civil war that turned out to be the best time for Vladimir, which he mentioned in the poem “Good!” (1927).

No less important and eventful was the period of frequent travel for Mayakovsky. During 1922-1924 he visited France, Latvia and Germany, to which he dedicated several works. In 1925, Vladimir went to America, visiting Mexico City, Havana and many US cities.

The beginning of the 20s was marked by heated controversy between Vladimir Mayakovsky and. The latter at that time joined the Imagists - irreconcilable opponents of the Futurists. In addition, Mayakovsky was a poet of the revolution and the city, and Yesenin extolled the countryside in his work.

However, Vladimir could not help but recognize the unconditional talent of his opponent, although he criticized him for his conservatism and addiction to alcohol. In a sense, they were kindred spirits - hot-tempered, vulnerable, in constant search and despair. They were even united by the theme of suicide, which was present in the work of both poets.

During 1926-1927, Mayakovsky created 9 film scripts. In addition, in 1927, the poet resumed the activities of the LEF magazine. But a year later he left the magazine and the corresponding organization, completely disillusioned with them. In 1929, Vladimir founded the REF group, but the following year he left it and became a member of RAPP.

At the end of the 20s, Mayakovsky again turned to drama. He is preparing two plays: “The Bedbug” (1928) and “Bathhouse” (1929), intended specifically for Meyerhold’s theater stage. They thoughtfully combine a satirical presentation of the reality of the 20s with a look into the future.

Meyerhold compared Mayakovsky's talent with the genius of Moliere, but critics greeted his new works with devastating comments. In “The Bedbug” they found only artistic shortcomings, but even accusations of an ideological nature were brought against “Bath”. Many newspapers carried extremely offensive articles, and some of them had the headlines “Down with Mayakovism!”

The fateful year of 1930 began for the greatest poet with numerous accusations from his colleagues. Mayakovsky was told that he was not a true “proletarian writer”, but only a “fellow traveler”. But, despite the criticism, in the spring of that year Vladimir decided to take stock of his activities, for which he organized an exhibition called “20 years of work.”

The exhibition reflected all of Mayakovsky's many-sided achievements, but brought complete disappointment. Neither the poet’s former colleagues at LEF nor the top party leadership visited her. It was a cruel blow, after which a deep wound remained in the poet’s soul.

Death

In 1930, Vladimir was sick a lot and was even afraid of losing his voice, which would put an end to his performances on stage. The poet's personal life turned into an unsuccessful struggle for happiness. He was very lonely, because the Briks, his constant support and consolation, had gone abroad.

Attacks from all sides fell on Mayakovsky with a heavy moral burden, and the poet’s vulnerable soul could not stand it. On April 14, Vladimir Mayakovsky shot himself in the chest, which became the cause of his death.

Grave of Vladimir Mayakovsky

After Mayakovsky's death, his works came under an unspoken ban and were almost never published. In 1936, Lilya Brik wrote a letter to I. Stalin himself asking for assistance in preserving the memory of the great poet. In his resolution, Stalin highly appreciated the achievements of the deceased and gave permission for the publication of Mayakovsky's works and the creation of a museum.

Personal life

The love of Mayakovsky's life was Lilya Brik, whom he met in 1915. At that time, the young poet was dating her sister, Elsa Triolet, and one day the girl brought Vladimir to the Briks’ apartment. There Mayakovsky first read the poem “A Cloud in Pants”, and then solemnly dedicated it to Lila. It is not surprising, but the prototype of the heroine of this poem was the sculptor Maria Denisova, with whom the poet fell in love in 1914.

Soon, a romance broke out between Vladimir and Lilya, while Osip Brik turned a blind eye to his wife’s passion. Lilya became Mayakovsky's muse; it was to her that he dedicated almost all of his poems about love. He expressed the boundless depth of his feelings for Brik in the following works: “Flute-Spine”, “Man”, “To Everything”, “Lilichka!” etc.

The lovers participated together in the filming of the film “Chained by Film” (1918). Moreover, since 1918, Briki and the great poet began to live together, which fit well into the marriage and love concept that existed at that time. They changed their place of residence several times, but each time they settled together. Often Mayakovsky even supported the Brik family, and from all his trips abroad he always brought luxurious gifts to Lila (for example, a Renault car).

Despite the poet’s boundless affection for Lilichka, there were other lovers in his life, who even bore him children. In 1920, Mayakovsky had a close relationship with the artist Lilya Lavinskaya, who gave him a son, Gleb-Nikita (1921-1986).

The year 1926 was marked by another fateful meeting. Vladimir met Ellie Jones, an emigrant from Russia, who gave birth to his daughter Elena-Patricia (1926-2016). The poet also had fleeting relationships with Sofia Shamardina and Natalya Bryukhanenko.

In addition, in Paris, the outstanding poet met with emigrant Tatyana Yakovleva. The feelings that flared up between them gradually grew stronger and promised to turn into something serious and lasting. Mayakovsky wanted Yakovleva to come to Moscow, but she refused. Then, in 1929, Vladimir decided to go to Tatiana, but problems with obtaining a visa became an insurmountable obstacle for him.

Vladimir Mayakovsky's last love was the young and married actress Veronica Polonskaya. The poet demanded that the 21-year-old girl leave her husband, but Veronica did not dare to make such serious changes in life, because 36-year-old Mayakovsky seemed contradictory, impulsive and fickle to her.

Difficulties in his relationship with his young lover pushed Mayakovsky to take a fatal step. She was the last person Vladimir saw before his death and tearfully asked her not to go to the planned rehearsal. Before the door could close behind the girl, the fatal shot sounded. Polonskaya did not dare to come to the funeral, because the poet’s relatives considered her to be the culprit in the death of a loved one.