Vladimir Mayakovsky Biography

Russian Poet and Playwright, Famous for Mystery Bouffe

Oct 19, 2009 Tel Asiado

Brief biography of Vladimir Mayakovsky, Russian playwright and poet of early 20th century Lenin era, best known for his revolutionary literary works.

Mayakovsky was a poet and playwright of the Russian Revolution, best known for his revolutionary poems, famous for Mystery Bouffe, poem "A Cloud of Trousers" and play The Bedbug." He lived during the times of Russia's Communist leaders, Lenin then Stalin.

Early Life of Vladimir Mayakovsky

Vladimir Mayakovsky was born on July 19, 1895 in Georgia, Russia. After his father's death his family moved to Moscow, where they lived in poverty. He was only 12 during the 1917 uprising but actively wrote propaganda.

When he was 15, he joined a communist group. Mayakovsky was arrested many times and began writing poetry while in prison.

He helped found the Russian Futurists, a group of revolutionary poet who wanted to find new ways of writing. Two major poems from his early 20s include "A Cloud in Trousers" and "The Backbone Flute." They describe unhappy love affairs and his growing discontent with Russian society.

Mayakovsky wholeheartedly supported the Russian Revolution of 1917 and celebrated it in poems such as "Ode to Revolution" and "Left March."

Mayakovsky Plays and Poetry

When he was 25-years-old, he produced his most important work, a verse play called Mystery Bouffe. It describes a struggle between two groups, the "unclean" working class and the "clean" upper class in which the "unclean" defeats the "clean" class and creates a workers' paradise on Earth.

The play was extremely popular. For a few years Mayakovsky was the chief poet of the revolution. When Lenin, the communist leader, died in 1924, he wrote a 3,000-line poem in his honour.

Last Years of Mayakovsky

Mayakovsky's artistic challenge was how to reconcile his social beliefs and his poetic lyricism. Some of his works have been compared to American poet Walt Whitman in terms of his social concerns. Among his compatriots who admired him was Boris Pasternak.

Mayakovsky wrote two satirical plays, The Bedbug and The Bathhouse that attacked Soviet officials. As his work became more critical with some of the changes in Russia, his works were banned. He also had an unhappy love affair. Mayakovsky committed suicide and died on April 14, 1930, at the young age of 36.

"On earth, my love I could never fulfill. / I was seven foot tall. To me what's a foot or two? / For such works even a plant-louse can do. / I scratched with a pen, eyeglass-like squeezed into / the spectacle case of a little room." Mayakovsky wrote in About This (Translated by Herbert Marshall.)

Books by Vladimir Mayakovsky

• A Cloud in Trousers, 1915
• The Backbone Flute, 1916
• War and Peace, 1917
• "Ode to Revolution", 1918
• Mystery Bouffe, 1918
• "Left March", 1919
• I Love, 1922
• About This, 1923
• Vladimir Il'yich Lenin, 1924
• The Bedbug, 1928
• The Bathhouse, 1929
• At the Top of my Voice, 1929-30

Sources:

• Goring, Rosemary, Ed. Larousse Dictionary of Writers. New York: Larousse, 1994.
• McGovern, Una, Ed. Chambers Biographical Dictionary. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers, 2002.
• Payne, Tom. The A-Z of Great Writers. London: Carlton, 1997.

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Mayakovsky, Russian Poet and Playwright