Vladimir Mayakovsky

Author profile

born

July 19, 1893 in Baghdati, Russian Federation

died

April 14, 1930

gender

male

genre

Poetry, Politics, Philosophy

About this author

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He was born the last of three children in Baghdati, Russian Empire (now in Georgia) where his father worked as a forest ranger. His father was of Ukrainian Cossack descent and his mother was of Ukrainian descent. Although Mayakovsky spoke Georgian at school and with friends, his family spoke primarily Russian at home. At the age of 14 Mayakovsky took part in socialist demonstrations at the town of Kutaisi, where he attended the local grammar school. After the sudden and premature death of his father in 1906, the family — Mayakovsky, his mother, and his two sisters — moved to Moscow, where he attended School No. 5.

In Moscow, Mayakovsky developed a passion for Marxist literature and took part in numerous activities of the Russian Social Democ...more He was born the last of three children in Baghdati, Russian Empire (now in Georgia) where his father worked as a forest ranger. His father was of Ukrainian Cossack descent and his mother was of Ukrainian descent. Although Mayakovsky spoke Georgian at school and with friends, his family spoke primarily Russian at home. At the age of 14 Mayakovsky took part in socialist demonstrations at the town of Kutaisi, where he attended the local grammar school. After the sudden and premature death of his father in 1906, the family — Mayakovsky, his mother, and his two sisters — moved to Moscow, where he attended School No. 5.

In Moscow, Mayakovsky developed a passion for Marxist literature and took part in numerous activities of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party; he was to later become an RSDLP (Bolshevik) member. In 1908, he was dismissed from the grammar school because his mother was no longer able to afford the tuition fees.

Around this time, Mayakovsky was imprisoned on three occasions for subversive political activities but, being underage, he avoided transportation. During a period of solitary confinement in Butyrka prison in 1909, he began to write poetry, but his poems were confiscated. On his release from prison, he continued working within the socialist movement, and in 1911 he joined the Moscow Art School where he became acquainted with members of the Russian Futurist movement. He became a leading spokesman for the group Gileas (Гилея), and a close friend of David Burlyuk, whom he saw as his mentor.

The 1912 Futurist publication A Slap in the Face of Public Taste (Пощёчина общественному вкусу) contained Mayakovsky's first published poems: Night (Ночь) and Morning (Утро). Because of their political activities, Burlyuk and Mayakovsky were expelled from the Moscow Art School in 1914.
His work continued in the Futurist vein until 1914. His artistic development then shifted increasingly in the direction of narrative and it was this work, published during the period immediately preceding the Russian Revolution, which was to establish his reputation as a poet in Russia and abroad.

Mayakovsky was rejected as a volunteer at the beginning of WWI, and during 1915-1917 worked at the Petrograd Military Automobile School as a draftsman. At the onset of the Russian Revolution, Mayakovsky was in Smolny, Petrograd. There he witnessed the October Revolution.

After moving back to Moscow, Mayakovsky worked for the Russian State Telegraph Agency (ROSTA) creating — both graphic and text — satirical Agitprop posters. In 1919, he published his first collection of poems Collected Works 1909-1919 (Все сочиненное Владимиром Маяковским). In the cultural climate of the early Soviet Union, his popularity grew rapidly. As one of the few Soviet writers who were allowed to travel freely, his voyages to Latvia, Britain, Germany, the United States, Mexico and Cuba influenced works like My Discovery of America (Мое открытие Америки, 1925). He also travelled extensively throughout the Soviet Union.

The relevance of Mayakovsky's influence cannot be limited to Soviet poetry. While for years he was considered the Soviet poet par excellence, he also changed the perceptions of poetry in wider 20th century culture. His political activism as a propagandistic agitator was rarely understood and often looked upon unfavourably by contemporaries, even close friends like Boris Pasternak. Near the end of the 1920s, Mayakovsky became increasingly disillusioned with the course the Soviet Union was taking under Joseph Stalin: his satirical plays The Bedbug (Клоп, 1929) and The Bathhouse (Баня, 1930), which deal with the Soviet philistinism and bureaucracy, illustrate this development.

On the evening of April 14, 1930, Mayakovsky shot himself.(less)

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Books by Vladimir Mayakovsky

Average rating: 4.09 · 1,428 ratings · 71 reviews · 52 distinct works

	The Bedbug and Selected Poetry by Vladimir Mayakovsky, Patricia Blake (Editor), Max Hayward (Translator) 4.16 avg rating — 474 ratings — published 1929 — 4 editions	My rating:
	(«ابرِ شلوارپوش (به‌انضمامِ «نی‌لبکِ مهره‌های پشت» و «سال‌گشت by Vladimir Mayakovsky, مدیا کاشیگر (Translator) 3.73 avg rating — 291 ratings — 6 editions	My rating:
	Listen! by Vladimir Mayakovsky, Maria Enzensberger (Translator) 4.27 avg rating — 142 ratings — published 1987 — 2 editions	My rating:
	Night Wraps the Sky: Writings by and about Mayakovsky by Vladimir Mayakovsky, Michael Almereyda (Editor) 4.25 avg rating — 63 ratings — published 2008	My rating:
	Poesía 4.29 avg rating — 91 ratings — published 1967 — 6 editions	My rating:
	Pro Eto 4.61 avg rating — 31 ratings — published 2005	My rating:
	For The Voice by Vladimir Mayakovsky, El Lissitzky 4.32 avg rating — 34 ratings — 2 editions	My rating:
	My Discovery of America by Vladimir Mayakovsky, Colum McCann (Goodreads Author) (Foreword by) 4.20 avg rating — 30 ratings — published 2005 — 2 editions	My rating:
	Vladimir Mai︠a︡kovskiĭ: Kniga Dli︠a︡ Chtenii︠a︡ S Kommentariem Na Angliĭskom I︠a︡zyke: Russian Reader With Explanatory Notes 4.04 avg rating — 24 ratings — published 1985 — 2 editions	My rating:
	Bugs!: Three Plays by Vladimir Mayakovsky 3.78 avg rating — 32 ratings — published 2002 — 3 editions	My rating:

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Quotes by Vladimir Mayakovsky

“Listen!
If stars are lit
It means there is someone who needs it,
It means someone wants them to be,
That someone deems those specks of spit
Magnificent!”
― Vladimir Mayakovsky, Listen!

tags: poetry

16 people liked it

“Past one o’clock. You must have gone to bed.
The Milky Way streams silver through the night.
I’m in no hurry; with lightning telegrams
I have no cause to wake or trouble you.
And, as they say, the incident is closed.
Love’s boat has smashed against the daily grind.
Now you and I are quits. Why bother then
To balance mutual sorrows, pains, and hurts.
Behold what quiet settles on the world.
Night wraps the sky in tribute from the stars.
In hours like these, one rises to address
The ages, history, and all creation.”
― Vladimir Mayakovsky

8 people liked it

“Formerly I believed books were made like this: a poet came, lightly opened his lips, and the inspired fool burst into song – if you please! But it seems, before they can launch a song, poets must tramp for days with callused feet, and the sluggish fish of the imagination flounders softly in the slush of the heart. And while, with twittering rhymes, they boil a broth of loves and nightingales, the tongueless street merely writhes for lack of something to shout or say”
― Vladimir Mayakovsky, The Bedbug and Selected Poetry

tags: books , imagination , inspiration , novels , writing

6 people liked it

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