Vladimir Mayakovsky Biography | Poet

Vladimir Mayakovsky is one of the most important poets of the Russian Soviet era, a bygone era and civilization that produced few poets. He was born on the 19th of July in 1893 in Baghdati, Georgia. Like many famous Soviet figures, he was Georgian even though he became associated with Russia. He died on the 14th of April in 1930 in Moscow, Russia, which was still part of the Soviet Union at the time. Vladimir Mayakovsky was an iconic figure in the Russian Futurist movement of the time, which his work strongly reflects. A Cloud in Trousers is one of his most impressive and famous poetic works. For better or for worse, no less important a person than Joseph Stalin called him the most impressive and important Soviet poet.

Vladimir Mayakovsky Education

Vladimir Mayakovsky had a diverse artistic education that included work at the Stroganov Moscow State University of Arts and Industry and the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. However, he was very much what one would call a modern poet in a time in which modern poetry was certainly not getting taught in schools. The Russian Futurists were interested in deconstructing a great deal of the rules of modern poetry, as well as the rules of the then-modern society in general. He went to school in order to learn which rules to break, according to some interpretations of his education.

Vladimir Mayakovsky Life and Times

Vladimir Mayakovsky was born in an exciting time in Russian history. He was actually of noble Russian blood, and the Russian Empire was alive and well when he was born. Like a lot of the Russian futurists, he had a great deal of disdain for all manifestations of traditional Russian society, and that includes the Russian monarchy and royals. Vladimir Mayakovsky, to a certain extent, grew up in a cross-cultural household, which probably broadened his views slightly, making his poetry that much less consigned to one particular perspective.

Vladimir Mayakovsky Notable Works and Accomplishments

Vladimir Mayakovsky is still one of the most famous poets in Russia today. The fall of the Soviet Union has not changed that, nor has the fact that he and many other supporters of the Russian futurist movement were in favor of the revolution. Vladimir Mayakovsky wrote satirical plays in addition to poetry, and his writing in general is famous throughout Russia and Georgia. Some of his works blur the line between the poetic and the dramatic.

His 1918 works Ode to the Revolution, Left March, and Mystery-Bouffe demonstrate what a truly good year this was for the poet. He wrote a notably long poem in 1920, titled 150,000,000. The length and content of Vladimir Mayakovsky's poetry varies substantially, but it was always daring and it always left an impression on the audience.

The Importance of the Work of Vladimir Mayakovsky

The Russian futurists were enthusiastic about technology and the social progress that it could create. They hated all traditionalism and believed that traditionalism was holding humanity back in many different ways. Their visual art tends to depict machines and mechanization, as well as people on the then-revolutionary bicycles. Vladimir Mayakovsky was knee-deep in the Russian futurist movement, and his poetry embodied all of its principles in more ways than one.

Vladimir Mayakovsky's poetry uses a lot of very dramatic imagery. Some of the poetry is written to seem almost deliberately disjointed and broken across the page, which allows Vladimir Mayakovsky to automatically establish mood through form and not just through the content of his work. Naturally, a great deal of the content of his work was overtly political in nature, and he was no stranger to using poetry to dramatize his personal beliefs and his support for the changes that were happening all over his society. However, the form of his poetry was revolutionary enough, and signified the extent to which many poets during this time period were questioning everything about their society, and not simply the political aspects of it.

Vladimir Mayakovsky's use of street language in his poetry was considered controversial at the time, even though it has become normal today. The traditional can become radical after that which is radical has become mainstream. However, Vladimir Mayakovsky was certainly a radical in more ways than one.