In this article we will talk about one of Mayakovsky’s poems and analyze it. “Cloud in Pants” is a work, the idea of ​​which appeared to Vladimir Vladimirovich in 1914. At first it was called "The Thirteenth Apostle". The young poet fell in love with Denisova Maria Alexandrovna. However, this love was unhappy. Mayakovsky embodied the bitterness of his experiences in poetry. The poem was completely completed in 1915, in the summer. We will analyze it in parts, sequentially.

"Cloud in pants" (Mayakovsky). Composition of the work

This work consists of an introduction and the following four parts. Each of them implements a private, specific idea. Their essence was defined by Vladimir Vladimirovich himself in the preface to the second edition of the work, which was published a little later. These are the “four cries”: “down with your love”, “down with your religion”, “down with your system”, “down with your art”. We will talk about each of them in more detail during the analysis. “A Cloud in Pants” is a poem that is very interesting to analyze.

Issues and topics

A multi-problem and multi-themed work - "Cloud in Pants". The theme of the poet and the crowd is already stated in the introduction. The main character is contrasted with the faceless, inert human mass. The “handsome, twenty-two-year-old” lyrical hero contrasts with the world of low images and things. These are worn out, “like a proverb” women; "stayed" like a hospital, men. It’s interesting that if the crowd remains unchanged, the lyrical hero changes before our eyes. He is sometimes sharp and rude, “impudent and caustic”, sometimes vulnerable, relaxed, “impeccably gentle” - “a cloud in his pants”, not a man. Thus, the work clarifies the meaning of such an unusual name, which, by the way, is very characteristic of the work of Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky, who loved to use original, vivid images and apt expressions.

First part of the poem

According to the author's plan, the first part contains the first cry: “Down with your love.” We can say that the theme of love is central to the entire work. In addition to the first section, part four is also devoted to it, as our analysis shows.

“A Cloud in Pants” opens with tense anticipation: the lyrical hero is waiting to meet Maria. It is so painful that it seems to him that the candelabra are “neighing” and “laughing” at his back, the doors are “caressing”, midnight is “cutting” with a knife, the rain is grimacing, etc. Time passes endlessly and painfully. The extended metaphor about the twelfth hour conveys the depth of suffering of the waiter. Mayakovsky writes that the twelfth hour fell like “the head of an executed man” from the block.

This is not just a fresh metaphor used by Vladimir Vladimirovich, as our analysis shows. Mayakovsky filled “A Cloud in Pants” with deep inner content: the intensity of passions in the hero’s soul is so high that the ordinary passage of time seems hopeless to him. It is perceived as physical death. The hero “writhes,” “moans,” and soon he will “tear his mouth out” with a scream.

Tragic news

Finally, the girl appears and tells him that she is getting married soon. The poet compares the deafening and harshness of this news with another of his poems called “Nate.” He likens the theft of Mary to the theft of the famous “La Gioconda” from the Louvre, and himself to the lost Pompeii.

At the same time, one is struck by the almost inhuman calmness and composure with which the lyrical hero outwardly perceives this tragic news. He says he is “calm,” but compares this equanimity to “the pulse of a dead man.” Such a comparison means an irrevocably, finally dead hope for reciprocity.

Development of the theme of love in the second part

The theme of love in the second part of this poem receives a new solution. This should certainly be noted when analyzing the poem “Cloud in Pants”. In the second part, Mayakovsky talks about love lyrics, which prevailed in poetry contemporary with Vladimir Vladimirovich. She is only concerned with singing in poetry “the flower under the dew,” and “love,” and “the young lady.” These topics are vulgar and petty, and the poets, “with rhymes,” “boil” the “brew” out of nightingales and love. At the same time, they are not at all concerned about human suffering. Poets are afraid of the street crowd, like “leprosy,” and consciously rush away from the street. However, the people of the city, in the opinion of the lyrical hero, are purer than the “Venetian blue sky” washed by the sun and seas.

The poet contrasts the authentic, the real, with non-viable art, and himself with the screeching “poetics”.

The third part of the poem

Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky argued in one of his articles that the poetry of modernity is the poetry of struggle. This journalistic formula received artistic expression in the work that interests us. It continues to develop in the next, third part of such a work as the poem “Cloud in Pants,” which we are analyzing. Vladimir Vladimirovich considered Severyanin’s work to be inappropriate for modern requirements. Therefore, an unpleasant portrait of this author, his “drunk face” is introduced into the poem. According to the lyrical hero, any author should be concerned not with the elegance of his creations, but primarily with the power of their impact on readers.

Development of the theme of love in the third part of the poem "Cloud in Pants"

A brief analysis of the third part of the poem is as follows. Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky in it rises to the denial of the cruel and inhumane system that, in his opinion, prevailed in our country at that time. The life of “fat” people is unacceptable to him. The theme of love here takes a new facet in the poem. The author reproduces a parody of love - perversion, debauchery, lust. The whole earth appears as a woman, who is depicted as Rothschild’s “mistress” - “fat.” True love is opposed to lust.

"Down with your system!"

The existing system gives rise to “massacres”, executions, murders, wars. Such a device is accompanied by “human chaos,” devastation, betrayal, and robbery. It creates wards of insane asylums and leper colonies-prisons in which prisoners languish. This society is dirty and corrupt. That is why the poet calls “down with your system!” However, Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky does not simply throw this slogan-cry into the crowd. He calls for open struggle among the people of the city, calling for the rise of “bloody carcasses.” The hero, becoming the “thirteenth apostle,” confronts the masters of life, the powerful of this world.

The main theme of the fourth part

The analysis of the poem "Cloud in Pants" proceeds to the description of the fourth part. The theme of God becomes the leading one in it. It was prepared by the previous ones, which indicate hostility with God, who watches with indifference the suffering of people. The poet enters into an open war with him, he denies his omnipotence, omnipotence, omniscience. The hero (“tiny little god”) even resorts to insult and takes out a shoe knife to cut it open.

The main accusation that is thrown at God is that he did not care about happiness in love, about being able to kiss “without pain.” Once again, as at the beginning of the work, the lyrical hero turns to Mary. Again, oaths, and tenderness, and imperious demands, and groans, and reproaches, and pleas. However, the poet hopes in vain for reciprocity. All that remains for him is a bleeding heart. He carries it, just as a dog carries a paw that has been “run over by a train.”

The ending of the poem

The finale of the poem is a picture of cosmic scales and heights, endless spaces. The hostile sky rises, the ominous stars shine. The poet waits for the sky before him to take off its hat in response to the challenge. However, the Universe sleeps with its “paw with pincers of stars” on its huge ear.

This is the analysis of the work “Cloud in Pants”. We carried it out sequentially, based on the text of the poem. We hope you find this information useful. The analysis of the verse “Cloud in Pants” can be supplemented by including your own thoughts and observations. Mayakovsky is a very unique and curious poet, who is usually studied with great interest even by schoolchildren.

“Cloud in Pants” is a bright, shocking and very frank poem by Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky. This is the author’s very first major work, on which he worked for a whole year. The work is of a sharp revolutionary nature and may interest the reader just by its ambiguous title. The poet put his whole soul into its creation and endowed the lyrical hero with traits that are also inherent in himself.

At the beginning of the work, Mayakovsky describes how painfully the hero waits for his beloved, he is so looking forward to this meeting that even “my nerves give way!” His thoughts do not obey him, and he is unable to control himself; it begins to seem to him that even the raindrops are grimacing, as if they are mocking him. An uncontrollable intensity of emotions rages inside him, time passes for an unimaginably long time, so long that he ceases to feel it, and he just wants to scream.

The twelfth hour has fallen,
like the head of an executed man from the scaffold

The long-awaited meeting with his beloved fleetingly devastates his heart, because the hero learns that Maria will soon get married. In one moment, the girl was able to extinguish the majestic fire of emotions in his chest. Outwardly, it seems that he does not feel anything, but a hole has formed in his soul, he calls it “the pulse of a dead man”

The young man in love does not want to forget Mary, he says that he is afraid to forget her name, just as the poet is afraid to forget a word equal in greatness to God. So he becomes disillusioned with love and turns to politics.

Further, historical figures, the political system and the mediocre driven crowd are ridiculed, the hero is convinced that all these pathetic people do not know how to truly love, they confuse love with dirt and lust. He wants to forget himself in the wrath of reproof, but he still steps on something that hurts.

In the end, the lyrical hero becomes disillusioned with God, the Creator is powerless for him, even he cannot understand him, see how his heart bleeds, how despair, disappointment and loneliness overtake him.

I thought you were an all-powerful little god, but you’re a dropout, a tiny little god

But thoughts of Mary still continue to poison his consciousness, he screams about his love, although he already understands that this is in vain, since along with his feelings, all the foundations of his worldview that restrained him have collapsed. The hero dreams of revolution in all spheres of life and is ready to devote himself entirely to the restructuring of all living things.

Meaning of the name

Mayakovsky gave the title “Cloud in Pants” to the poem after censorship rejected the original one. At first the work had the title “The Thirteenth Apostle,” but, not wanting to end up in hard labor, the author changed it. “A Cloud in Pants” is a combination of lightness and romance with rudeness and everyday aspects of life; the poet brilliantly combined incompatible characters and images.

Want to -
I'll be crazy about meat
- and, like the sky, changing tones -
want to -

I will be impeccably gentle,
not a man, but a cloud in his pants!

A strong and self-confident man, under the influence of painful emotions and a warm feeling of love, instantly becomes soft and weightless, light and shapeless. Outwardly, he is still stern and calm; Mayakovsky cites these qualities inherent in the male sex in comparison with rough pants. The cloud that they are wearing is a reflection of the inner world of the lyrical hero, who is in limbo. He is gentle and sensitive, he does not have the strength to change what happens around him.

Composition and genre

We have long determined the genre of the work “Cloud in Pants” and are convinced that it is a poem. But it will also be important to know that it has the shape of a tetraptych.
A tetraptych is a work of art that contains 4 parts, united by one plot and semantic line.

The poem consists of a preface, in which the author lays out the main ideological idea of ​​the work, and four parts. Each part identifies the main topics that will be discussed. The main idea is the so-called four cries of the hero: “Down with your love, art, system, religion!” - this is precisely the slogan that the author places in the preface. The beginning of the poem is very lyrical, it tells us about the hero’s emotional experiences, it is from there that we learn about his real feelings for Mary.

In the second part of the poem we will talk about poetry and creativity, which is dying in bourgeois society, but the author believes that after the revolution, poets will be able to save art.
In the third and fourth parts, Mayakovsky expresses his protest against the entire old system; he finds it precisely as the cause of all human troubles.

The image of a lyrical hero

The hero in the poem “Cloud in Pants” is full of real feelings and experiences of the author himself. Mayakovsky allows him to adopt many of his features; it turns out that the poet is trying to express his own “I” in this way. The narrator is presented to us as romantic and sensitive, tender and vulnerable, but at the same time he is a strong man who has his own personal and confident position. The image is built on a certain contrast that characterizes him as a bright and emotional person who is not going to tolerate human insignificance, he will persistently scream and fight for happiness and a better future not only for himself, but also for others. He intends to lead them with him, staining their hearts with the blood of his heart, which aches for the fate of the fatherland.

But his image cannot be called exclusively rebellious, because he is also driven by ardent feelings for his beloved girl, for life, he experiences a huge internal explosion that hurts him to the core. This means that the hero knows how to truly love, and loves like no one else around him.

Characteristics of the main characters

In the poem “Cloud in Pants” there are not many active characters, they are unique, the images of some of them can even be called dual. Mayakovsky calls the lyrical heroine Maria for a reason. In the fourth chapter, there is an unobtrusive comparison of her image with the biblical images of the Virgin Mary and Mary Magdalene, that is, the name of the narrator’s beloved personifies divine, unearthly love. But the girl rejects the hero, she makes his soul suffer, scream and beg for love, and, in fact, betrays him, sells him, like Judas. For her, money plays an important role, she understands that the hero will not be able to bestow wealth on her, therefore, she exchanges real feelings for material wealth.

Nothing if for now
you instead of the chic Parisian dresses
dressed in tobacco smoke

This feature of the image presentation also concerns the image of God in the poem. At the very beginning, the hero asks him for help, he considers him majestic, capable of giving him the right to mutual love. But it turns out that the heavens betray him, and the hero becomes disappointed in their powers. The Creator is no longer as powerful and omnipotent as before.

Religious allusions

Probably, by ironizing biblical names and heroes, the author expresses his anti-clerical protest, which was characteristic of him. He skillfully introduces political trends of modern times into his love experiences, showing the futility of hopes for heavenly powers. Alas, says the poet, let’s be realistic: in matters of the heart, and in any other matters, God is not our helper, and all the stories about him are fairy tales. For example, Mayakovsky uses the biblical name Maria, but does not speak about the feat of the mother and beloved of Christ, not about devotion, not about sorrow, but turns our established associations upside down. Now Maria is a corrupt girl who is ready to sell her lover for a French dress. This is the essence of a fatal and vicious woman in life, and the author does not believe in the correction of Magdalene on the pages of the book.

Subjects

1. Of course, the first and most important theme of Mayakovsky’s poem “A Cloud in Pants” is the theme of love, unrequited and painful. It directly intersects with other themes that the author examines in the work: loneliness, rejection of morality and politics, and even atheism. The lyrical hero suffers from unrequited love, and this torment leads him to renounce his own thoughts and beliefs.
2. In the third part of the poem, the topic of disagreement with the political system is raised, the hero literally shouts “Down with your system!” The narrator acutely feels how a mass of gray and very similar people with their own hands gives rise to wars and violence, but he is opposed to this world, in his mind there is a struggle with everything that surrounds him.
3. The crisis of religion at the beginning of the 20th century also took its place of honor in the lyrics of the Russian modernist. He ironically reduces the image of God, reducing his fictitious power to the point of absurdity. The hero now believes only in his own strength and is not going to humble himself.
4. The poet also raises the topic of art, declaring his aesthetic position: he wants to become the voice of the street, and not the elites with their roses and nightingales. There are more important problems in the new century. He glorifies the people and their proletarian essence, but refuses to recognize the classics (Homer, Goethe) as authority: their time has passed. “I know - the nail in my boot is more nightmarish than Goethe’s fantasy” - the author wants to say that the pressing, real problems of hard workers on the streets are much more important than abstract philosophical questions. He will describe them.
5. The theme of revolution cannot go unnoticed; the author calls himself its forerunner. He “crucified himself on the cross” in order to cleanse his soul with the blood of suffering and take it in his hands as a banner. He intends to do the same with the readers of the poem, so that they meet the revolution with purified thoughts.
6. It can be noted that in each part of the poem the leading theme is love, but it is also complemented by other thoughts. First, the lyrical hero is disappointed in his beloved, then in the art around him, then he loses faith in power and, finally, in religion. Thus, the main theme of the poem “Cloud in Pants” is still disappointment. The poet is tired of his surroundings and protests against it, criticizing all spheres of existence. Perhaps the love line was generally invented to divert the eyes of the censors.

What is the meaning of the work?

Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky calls on disadvantaged and poor people to persistently and persistently demand and achieve their happiness right here and now. He is ready to sing and support protest, renouncing bourgeois classical poetry. The author completely rejects the old foundations, which cannot allow a person to live with dignity and freedom, he opposes the bureaucracy and the bourgeoisie, anticipates the onset of the revolution and is ready to bring its ideas to the masses. The feelings and experiences of the lyrical hero are comparable to the experiences of the people, and all of them are summarized in one image. Love, art, political system and religion must be completely different, the poet does not accept what is happening now (happened then), he is sure that the proletarians are degrading and humiliating themselves before life due to the fault of incorrect art, false religion and an unjust state regime. However, Mayakovsky does not lose faith and hope for a bright future; he is a supporter of the revolution in all areas and directions. The author is convinced that if you mercilessly destroy the wretched old, you can create a bright and completely new one.

The originality of the poem

We can trace the originality and originality of the poem “Cloud in Pants” at the very beginning, when we find out what it is called. Few people will be able to immediately and absolutely accurately guess what will be discussed without reading the text, but simply by looking at its title. Of course, this gives the work a certain elegance and sets it apart from others; one might say that it itself makes one pay attention to itself.

The size and composition of the poem were not typical for Russian literature. The famous “ladder” was invented in Italy by the founder of futurism, Filippo Marinetti. He also developed the ideological and thematic content of the new movement, its manifesto and aesthetic principles. It is known that Mayakovsky was an ardent admirer of his talent, so he adopted his literary style. However, Marinetti was more of a theorist rather than a practitioner, and it was the Russian poet who managed to bring his ideas to perfection. Thus, in the poem “Cloud in Pants” the author embodied the revolutionary spirit of modernism and opened a new page in Russian art, using a new size, innovative rhythm, and many occasionalisms. We have a whole one.

Also, what is unusual and unexpected for Mayakovsky’s contemporaries and for us is the way the author speaks about God and religion. Few people would have dared to speak about it like that at that time, calling the Creator a “dropout” and a “tiny little god.”

Initially, the poem was published with losses; the censor removed several pages from it. Only in Moscow at the beginning of 1918, “The Cloud in Pants” was completely restored and released under Mayakovsky’s own publishing house, and at the very beginning he indicated that the first title, “The Thirteenth Apostle,” had been crossed out by censorship, but he would not return it. Such an adventurous creation story also gives the work revolutionary romance.

Issues

1. In the poem “A Cloud in Pants” the main problem is the suffering of the people in the world created by the capitalists. Throughout the entire work, Mayakovsky is surprised by the lifestyle of his contemporaries. All images seem low and faceless against the background of the lyrical hero. The feelings that boil within him confidently summarize the severity of the social conflict.
2. The poem also deals with the problem of dealing with personal internal experiences. The torment of the soul is associated with unrealistic lyrical dreams, the clash of tenderness that was brought up in the heart, and the wretched, unfair reality, where no one values ​​tenderness. In a second, the hero is deprived of his last hope for mutual feelings, and this is nothing more than complete devastation, and therefore internal death.
3. Against the backdrop of such acute experiences, new, no less exciting problems arise. The catastrophe that happened to the hero pushes him to think about the problem of the immorality of society and subsequently he rejects morality.
4. The problem of fake art also worries him. Creators do not care about how their works will influence people; they care about canons and grace. The poet cannot understand the hypocritical rules; questions about the poet's purpose torment and torment him. He finds a solution in complete frankness, all that remains is “only solid lips.”
5. The author also does not ignore political stagnation. An unjust government, fixated only on its own profit, cannot be useful for society, cannot serve its development.
6. And, of course, he is concerned about the problem of a religious nature. He believes that the fairy tale about God only stupefies the people, leads them to regression, but does not help them at all on the path to self-improvement and development.

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The purpose of the lesson: show the logic of development of the idea of ​​the work.

Methodical techniques: analytical reading of the poem.

During the classes.

I. Checking homework.

Reading and discussion of selected poems.

II. Teacher's word

From his earliest poems, Mayakovsky was characterized by excessive lyrical openness, reckless inner openness. There is practically no distance between the specific lyrical “I” of the poet and his lyrical hero. The lyrical experiences are so intense that, no matter what he writes about, a sharp lyrical, individual intonation permeates the fabric of his poetry. This is also his first poem with the mysterious and shocking title “A Cloud in Pants” (1915). Mayakovsky himself defined it as a “tetraptych”, the meaning of the four parts of which is “down with your love”, “down with your art”, “down with your system”, “down with your religion”.

III. Analytical conversation

What associations reminiscences does this definition of Mayakovsky evoke?

(The categorical nature of the lyrical hero’s judgments and statements recalls the uncompromising nihilism, rebellion of Bazarov. Let us remember the subject of disputes between Bazarov and Kirsanov - it practically coincides with what Mayakovsky writes about.)

What image unites the parts of the poem?

(The parts of the poem are connected by the leading image - the lyrical “I”.)

In what ways is he portrayed?

(The main image technique is antithesis . The opposition to the entire society in the prologue of the poem grows to the opposition to the entire universe at the end. This is not just a dispute, it is a daring challenge, so characteristic of the work of early Mayakovsky (remember the poems “Here!”, “To You!”):

Your thought
dreaming on a softened brain,
like an overweight lackey on a greasy couch,
I will tease about the bloody flap of the heart,
I mock him to my heart's content, impudent and caustic. ("Cloud in Pants", intro)

Only an incredibly powerful personality can resist anything and everything and not break. Hence the next trick - hyperbolization image: “Having enlarged the world with the power of my voice, / I walk, handsome, / twenty-two years old”; hyperbole can be combined with a comparison: “like the sky, changing tones.” The range of this personality is poles: “mad” - “impeccably gentle, / not a man, but a cloud in his pants!” This is how the meaning of the title of the poem manifests itself. This is self-irony, but the main feeling that captured the hero is indicated: “tenderness.” How does it fit in with the rebellious element of the poem?

How is love portrayed in the poem?

First part- an extremely frank story about love. The reality of what is happening is consciously emphasized: “It was, / was in Odessa.” Love does not transform, but distorts the “block” of a person: “They couldn’t recognize me now: / the sinewy hulk / groans, / writhes.” It turns out that this “block” “wants a lot.” “Much” is actually very simple and human:

After all, it doesn’t matter to yourself
and the fact that it is bronze,
and that the heart is a cold piece of iron.
At night I want my own ringing
hide in something soft
into women's.

The love of this “hulk” should be a “small, humble darling.” Why? The community is exceptional, there is no other. The affectionate neologism “liubenochek,” reminiscent of “baby,” emphasizes the strength of feeling and touching tenderness. The hero is at the limit of feeling, every minute, hour of waiting for his beloved is agony. And as a result of suffering - execution: “The twelfth hour fell, / like the head of an executed man falling from the block.” Nerves are exposed and frayed. The metaphor is realized “Nerves / big, / small, / many! - / they are jumping madly, / and already / their legs are giving way from their nerves!”

Finally, the heroine appears. The conversation is not about love and dislike. The effect on the lyrical hero of the words of his beloved is conveyed by the grinding sound recording:

You came in
sharp, like “here!”
mucha suede gloves,
said:
"You know -
I'm getting married".

What techniques are used to convey the hero’s psychological state?

The psychological state of the hero is conveyed very strongly - through his external calm: “See - how calm he is! / Like the pulse of a dead man”; “and the worst thing / you saw was my face / when / I was absolutely calm?” Internal suffering, the tornness of the soul are emphasized by transference (enzhanbeman): you need to restrain yourself, and therefore speak clearly, slowly, measuredly.

“The fire of the heart” burns the hero: “I’ll jump out! I'll jump out! I'll jump out! I'll jump out! / Collapsed. / You won’t jump out of your heart!” Here the phraseology “the heart jumps out of the chest” is turned inside out. The catastrophe that befell the hero is comparable to world catastrophes: “The last cry, / even / that I’m burning, will groan for centuries!”

What is the logic of development of the poem in the second part?

The tragedy of love is experienced by the poet. It's logical that The second part- about the relationship between the hero and art. The part begins with the hero’s decisive statement: “I put “nihil” (“nothing”, lat.) over everything that has been done. The hero denies the “tormented”, sluggish art, which is done like this: “before it begins to sing, / they walk for a long time, limp from fermentation, / and quietly flounder in the mud of the heart / the stupid roach of the imagination.” “Boiling” “some kind of brew out of love and nightingales” is not for him. These “loves” - “nightingales” - are not for the street, which “writhes tongueless.” Bourgeoisism and philistinism filled the city, crushing living words with their carcasses. The hero shouts, calling for a rebellion against “those sucked with a free app / to every double bed”: “We ourselves are the creators in the burning hymn!” This is a hymn to living life, which is placed above the “I”:

I,
golden-mouthed,
whose every word
newborn soul,
birthday body
I tell you:
the smallest speck of living dust
more valuable than anything I will do and have done!
(Please note neologisms Mayakovsky).

“Screaming-lipped Zarathustra” (Nietzschean motifs are generally strong in the early Mayakovsky), speaking about the coming “in the crown of thorns of revolutions” “the year of sixteen,” clearly defines his role:

And I am your forerunner!
I am where the pain is, everywhere;
on every tear drop
crucified himself on the cross.

How do you understand these words?

Here the hero already identifies himself with God himself. He is ready for self-sacrifice: “I will pull out the soul, / trample it, / so that it’s big! - / and I will give the bloody one as a banner.” This is the goal and purpose of poetry and the poet, worthy of the “hulk” of the hero’s personality.

How is this goal illustrated in Part Three?

The thought of the poem logically moves to those who are to be led under this “banner” made from the hero’s “trampled soul”:

From you,
who were wet with love,
from which
for centuries a tear has flowed,
I'll leave
sun monocle
I’ll insert it into the wide open eye.

There is vulgarity, mediocrity, ugliness all around. The hero is sure: “Today / we must / use brass knuckles / to cut the world into the skull!” Where are the “geniuses” recognized by humanity? The following fate is destined for them: “I will lead Napoleon on a chain like a pug.” This vulgar world must be destroyed at all costs:

Take your hands out of your trousers -
take a stone, a knife or a bomb,
and if he has no hands -
come and fight with your forehead!
Go, you hungry ones,

Sweaty,
humble,
soured in flea-filled dirt!
Go!
Mondays and Tuesdays
Let's paint it with blood for the holidays!

The lyrical hero himself takes on the role of the “thirteenth apostle.” With God he is already easily: “maybe Jesus Christ is sniffing / my soul’s forget-me-nots.” -

How does the lyrical love theme manifest itself in the fourth movement? How does it change?

From global plans to remake the world, the hero returns to thoughts about his beloved. However, he did not escape these thoughts; they were only sublimated in a powerful creative attempt to challenge the entire universe. The name "Maria" is shouted repeatedly. This is a plea for love. And the hero becomes submissive, almost humiliated, “just a man”: “and I am all meat, / I am all man - I simply ask for your body, / as Christians ask - “give us this day our daily bread.” The beloved replaces everything, she is necessary, like “daily bread.” The poet speaks of his “word born in agony”: it is “equal in greatness to God.” This, of course, is blasphemy, gradually developing into rebellion against God.

The refusal of his beloved provokes this rebellion of the suffering and desperate hero. At first he is simply familiar:

Listen, Mister God!
Aren't you bored?
Into the cloudy jelly
Soak your sore eyes every day?

Then familiarity goes beyond all boundaries: the hero is already on first name terms with God, openly rude to him:

Shaking your head, curly?
Will you raise your gray eyebrow?
You think -
this,
behind you, winged one,
knows what love is?

The main accusation against God is not the incorrect structure of the world, not social injustice. The imperfection of the world is “why didn’t you invent / so that it would be painless / to kiss, kiss, kiss?!” The hero’s despair reaches the point of frenzy, rage, almost madness, he shouts out terrible blasphemies, the elements overwhelm him:

I thought you were an all-powerful god,
And you are a dropout, tiny god.
You see I'm bending over
Because of the boot
I take out a shoe knife.
Winged scoundrels!
Hang out in paradise!
Ruffle your feathers in frightened shaking!
I will open you, smelling of incense
From here to Alaska!
Let me in!
Can't stop me.

And suddenly he humbles himself: “Hey, you! / Sky! / Take off your hat! / I'm coming! (he is already speaking with the sky again, although his pride has not yet been strangled). Nothing listens to the hero: “Deaf. / The universe sleeps, / with its huge ear resting on its paw / with the pincers of the stars.”

IV. Teacher's final words

Violently conflicting with the world, the hero reveals his rebellious essence. The hero’s inconsistency, the combination in him of extreme “looseness” and extreme tenderness, aggravate the conflict. The inconsistency that tears apart the hero dooms him to tragic loneliness.

V. Workshop on the poem by V.V. Mayakovsky “Cloud in Pants”

1. Poet Nikolay Aseev wrote: “A Cloud in Pants” is a mocking title that replaced the original one, prohibited by censorship, and was the first experience of a large theme built on the opposition of existing routines, institutions, institutions to what is replacing them, what is felt in the air, felt in the verse - the future revolution."

Why, according to Aseev, is the title of the poem “Cloud in Pants” “mocking”?

What did Aseev mean by “experiment on a big topic”?

What is the “contrast with existing routines”? Give examples from the text.

2. V. Mayakovsky said in March 1930: “It (“Cloud in Pants”) began as a letter in 1913/14 and was first called “The Thirteenth Apostle.” When I came to the censorship with this work, they asked me: “What, do you want to go to hard labor?” I said that in no case, that this did not suit me in any way. Then they crossed out six pages for me, including the title. It's a question of where the title came from. I was asked how I could combine lyrics and great rudeness. Then I said: “Okay, if you want, I will be like crazy, if you want, I will be the most gentle, not a man, but a cloud in my pants.”

Why did the original title of the poem “The Thirteenth Apostle” evoke the idea of ​​hard labor among the censors?

What is the combination of “lyricism and great rudeness” in the poem “Cloud in Pants”? Give examples from the text.

What is the meaning of the new title of the poem? How does the poet himself explain it? Does the title “Cloud in Pants” reflect the character of the lyrical hero of the work?

3. “Poems and poems created in 1915.(“Clouds in Pants”, “Flute and Spine”), they said that a major humanist poet and soulful lyricist had come to literature. In the poem about love robbed by modern life (“Cloud in Pants”), the voice of the author himself resounds loudly, the facts of his biography acquire a high poetic generalization here...” (K. D. Muratova).

What are the “facts... biography” of V. Mayakovsky that can be recognized in his poem?

According to Muratova, in the poem “the voice of the author himself sounds loudly,” is this true? Justify your answer, give examples from the text.

4. K.D. Muratova writes about “Cloud in Pants”: “The poem is given great originality by its metaphorical richness; almost every line in it is metaphorical. An example of a materialized metaphor is the line “the fire of the heart” of the poet, which is extinguished by firefighters, or “sick nerves” that “thrash around in a desperate tap dance,” causing the plaster on the ground floor to collapse.”

What gives grounds to say that in the poem “almost every line is metaphorical”? Do you agree with the critic's statement?

What do you think is meant by the term “materialized metaphor”? Give examples of such metaphors in the text of the poem.

5. “One of the main features is visible in “The Cloud...” Mayakovsky's thinking: the ability for powerful associative condensations of themes, images, plots that are very far from each other. What do Severyanin, Bismarck and the “carcasses of the meadowsweet” have in common? And what do they have to do with the suffering rejected lover - the “thirteenth apostle”, now offering God to have “girls” in heaven, now threatening him with a knife? (S. Bovin).

What, according to Bovin, is the main feature of “Mayakovsky’s thinking”? Find examples of this type of thinking in the text.

The researcher poses certain questions to the reader regarding Mayakovsky's work. Try to answer them yourself. Are there any answers to them in the poem itself?

6. A.A. Mikhailov writes about “A Cloud in Pants”: “Blasphemy, aggressive language, street rudeness and deliberate anti-aestheticism reveal anarchic tendencies, the rebellious element of the poem. And although Mayakovsky, blaspheming, exalts a person, the elements overwhelm him: “Take your hands out of your trousers, you walkers, take a stone, a knife or a bomb...”

What does the critic say about the “anarchic tendencies” and the “rebellious element of the poem”? Do you agree with this?

How, in your opinion, does Mayakovsky “elevate man” by “blaspheming”? Give examples from the text.

Let's consider one of the sensational works of V.V. Mayakovsky's 1915 "Cloud in Pants". Analysis of this poem reveals a protest against the art, system, ideology and morality of bourgeois society. His reproach for a society alien to him, in which there is no true love, begins with his worries about Maria Alexandrovna Denisova. The poet denounces the falsity of the current system in the country and, with aggressive irony, declares: “Mayakovsky is a “cloud in his pants.” The analysis of each part will be marked by a specific phrase of the poet.

"Down with your love"

The theme of betrayal is fully revealed in the poem “Cloud in Pants.” helps to understand how this betrayal spreads from the situation with Maria to all other aspects of life: he sees life differently, she reveals her rotten grin to him, and he does not want to live in a world where everyone pleases the other for the sake of entourage.

It is very noticeable that Mayakovsky in his poems is always varied and generous with various new derivative words that he creates from simple and familiar expressions. The imagery and ambiguity of words help to create a colorful picture in the imagination, enlivened by the reader’s consciousness.

So, for example, in a triptych a word of a similar structure is used: I mock - this word expresses aggression towards the reader himself: a representative of the bourgeois stand.

"Down with your art"

In the second part, Mayakovsky overthrows the idols of art that were popular during the period of his work on the poem “A Cloud in Pants.” Analysis of the ideas in this part reveals to the reader that true art is born with pain, that every person is capable of becoming the main creator in his life. The author comes up with interesting complex adjectives: “cry-lipped” and “golden-mouthed.” The word “new birth” in Mayakovsky also consists of two simple words “new” and “will give birth”; it is close in its meaning to the verb “renew” and means action.

"Down with your system"

Studying the work “Cloud in Pants” and analyzing it gives the reader a clear idea of ​​Mayakovsky’s negative attitude towards the political system that developed during the heyday of his poetic activity. In the third part, the following words became appropriate: “teared”, “loved”, “cursed”. The word “things” he invented characterizes belonging to things. Instead of the word “break,” Mayakovsky uses “break,” because it has an emphasis on a more appropriate action, meaning not only “break,” but also “break a hole in something.”

"Down with your religion"

In the fourth part of the work there are almost no complex author's words. The poet wanted to convey a specific meaning to the reader: he calls on Mary for love and, rejected, angers God, wanting to cut him open. For Mayakovsky, religion is false: God does not save, but only teases people with his idleness and laziness. Here, what became more important to the author was not the idea of ​​revolution, which he calls for in the previous parts of the poem, but his pain, his passion and experiences, expressed specifically and dynamically, like a cry after a blow. All these conclusions regarding the poem are indicated by semantic and lexical analysis. “A Cloud in Pants” is a truly historically valuable work that clearly and clearly expresses the revolutionary mood of that time.

During a tour of Russia, a group of futurists visited Odessa. V. Mayakovsky met Masha Denisova, fell in love, but the love remained unrequited. The poet had a hard time experiencing his unrequited love. On the train, leaving Odessa, Mayakovsky read fragments of the poem “A Cloud in Pants” to his friends.

The poem was completed with a dedication to Lilya Brik “To you, Lilya.” The original title of the poem, “The Thirteenth Apostle,” was perceived by censors as blasphemy against Christianity; in addition, it was indicated that in the poem Mayakovsky combined “lyricism and great rudeness.” In response, the poet promised to be “impeccably gentle, not a man, but a cloud in his pants.” This phrase served as the basis for the new name. The 1915 edition had a subtitle - tetraptych (a work in 4 parts). Each part expressed denial: “Down with your love!”, “Down with your art!”, “Down with your system!”, “Down with your religion!”

Researchers call the poem “Cloud in Pants” the pinnacle of V.V. Mayakovsky’s pre-revolutionary creativity, in which the theme of love is combined with themes of the importance of the poet and poetry in society, attitudes to art, and religion. The poem contains lyrical and satirical notes, which gives the work a dramatic sound. Overall, this is a love poem. The introduction emphasizes the motives of the lyrics and the reasons for the tragedy of V.V. Mayakovsky (the opposition of the lyrical hero to the crowd, the “fat”).

The first part of the poem is a cry of discontent: “Down with your love!” What lies behind this denial? The lyrical hero is waiting to meet Maria, but she is not there. The heart of the lyrical hero is in melancholy and anxiety, this is expressed through his vision of the world around him: the evening “passes away”, giving way to the darkness of the night; candelabra “laugh and neigh” at the back of the passing evening, etc. All this is presented in enlarged sizes, and the lyrical hero is a “wiry bulk”, a “block”. Maria comes and says: “You know, I’m getting married.” The poet compares the theft of his beloved with the theft of La Gioconda from the Louvre.

In the second part of the poem, Mayakovsky moves on to the theme of art, which does not want to see people suffering. Beggars and cripples (heroes of early lyrics) demand attention to themselves. Poets shun them, and Mayakovsky believes that they are “purer than the Venetian blue sky.”

The theme of the poet and poetry sounds more and more strongly. V. Mayakovsky opposes himself to the “poetics” - “...I am where the pain is, everywhere”; Addressing the “screaming poets,” he declares: “Down with your art!”

In the third part, the author denies the dominant system, which gives rise to distorted love and pseudo-art. The inhuman structure of the world gives rise to cruelty among people, as a result of which prisons, gallows, and insane asylums arise. A lyrical hero comes out to meet the strong with the slogan “Down with your system!”

In the fourth part - “Down with your religion!” - the poet clearly blasphemes and introduces atheistic motives. And again, as at the beginning of the poem, he turns to Mary. These are both pleas and reproaches; the poet is left with a bleeding heart.

Book materials used: Literature: textbook. for students avg. prof. textbook institutions / ed. G.A. Obernikhina. M.: "Academy", 2010