Poets+-+Vladimir+Mayakovsky

== =Vladimir Mayakovsky - The Archetype of Soviet Poetry=

The Purpose Behind Mayakovsky's Poetry:
Mayakovsky was a poet of politics. He used the influence that came with the fame he achieved to do many things for his choice in Russian politics. He supported and aided the Bolshevik rise to power, writing a poem titled "Oda Revolutsi" or "Ode to the Revolution" when the the Russian revolution was breaking out, following his first big piece "A Slap in the Face of Public Taste". With his aid, as well as the bloodshed of many others, the Bolsheviks came out victorious. He wrote his poems to steer Russia in the direction that he thought it should go. A few of his poems were fueled by his confusing and frustrating love life, but the poems he was remembered for were the ones that had so much impact on developing Russia into the USSR.

Mayakovsky's Audience
Vladimir Mayakovsky's main audience was a political movement who called themselves the Bolsheviks. An organization of working class people, the Bolsheviks held the majority of the population and were thus the victors of the Russian revolution. Ever encouraged by the intentionally poor grammar of Mayakovsky's poetry and propganda, the Bolsheviks became the primary party in pre-Soviet Russia. When Vladimir Lenin died, Mayakovsky composed a 3,000 line elegy for him, escalating his favor with his audience.

Mayakovsky's Cultural Impact
Mayakovsky's effect on modern society is hard to gauge. One could say that he is responsible for how Russia is today - indirectly. While he would never support the "democracy" that Russia is today, he is partially responsible for the Bolsheviks taking over, indirectly the USSR forming due to his working with the Bolsheviks, and thus indirectly responsible for the USSR dissolving and Russia how it is today emerging. Thus Mayakovsky was very indirectly responsible for Russia's actions as of late, as he played a considerable role in its history. Russia today is much how it was in the past - defiant of the West and doing its own thing, something Mayakovsky would me proud of for his mother nation.

Mayakovsky's Historical Impact
Mayakovsky's impact on history is immeasurable. He is at the very least partially responsible for the Bolshevik take over of Russia in the early 1900s, and many of the events that happened afterwards. Stalin thought his impact on Russian culture at the time was so great, he actually declared it a crime to be so much as indifferent to the works of Mayakovsky. Russia became a nation that made its people happy, people who had national pride. Russia became a country that was on the winning side of two world wars, an impenetrable, uninvadable country. With all the might of the Nazi Regime and its conquest of most of the rest of Europe, it managed to accomplish nothing but waste time and resources in its march on Russia. Russia at this time was strong and united due to the strength and pride that stemmed from the worker's class winning the revolution.

1. A Slap in the Face of Public Taste
To the readers of our New First Unexpected. //We// alone was the //face// of //our// Time. Through us the horn of time blows in the art of the world. The past is too tight. The Academy and Pushkin are less intelligible than hieroglyphics. Throw Pushkin, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, etc., etc. overboard from the Ship of Modernity. He who does not forget his //first// love will not recognize his last. Who, trustingly, would turn his last love toward Balmont’s perfumed lechery? Is this the reflection of today’s virile soul? Who, faint-heartedly, would fear tearing from warrior Bryusov’s black tuxedo the paper armor-plate? Or does the dawn of unknown beauties shine from it? Wash your hands which have touched the filthy slime of the books written by the countless Leonid Andreyevs. All those Maxim Gorkys, Krupins, Bloks, Sologubs, Remizovs, Averchenkos, Chornys, Kuzmins, Bunins, etc. need only a dacha on the river. Such is the reward fate gives tailors. From the heights of skyscrapers we gaze at their insignificance!... **We //order// that the poets’ //rights// be revered:** And if //for the time being// the filthy stigmas of your “common sense” and “good taste” are still present in our lines, these same lines //for the first time// already glimmer with the Summer Lightning of the New Coming Beauty of the Self-sufficient (self-centered) Word.
 * To enlarge the //scope// of the poet’s vocabulary with arbitrary and derivative words (Word-novelty).
 * To feel an insurmountable hatred for the language existing before their time.
 * To push with horror off their proud brow the Wreath of cheap fame that You have made from bathhouse switches.
 * To stand on the rock of the word “we” amidst the sea of boos and outrage.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">Literary Devices: Hyperbole - Intentional exaggeration of a thought or idea for emphasis "Wash your hands which have touched the filthy slime of books written by the countless Leonid Andreyevs." There is of course no slime in/on or around this man's books, but the ideas they contain infuriate the author so much that he feels the need to exaggerate how bad they are. This creates a predisposition within the reader to dislike Leonid Andreyevs before forming their own opinion, which was likely the goal of the author..

Imagery - The use of figurative language to paint a picture of a person or place to appeal to the physical senses. "From the height of skyscrapers we gaze at their insignificance!" The author is not literally standing on a skyscraper, but through this description the author hopes to display just how far above the others he is, in rank, social status or intelligence. While not entirely believable, the technique is used effectively and shows how far above them he thinks he is, irrelevant of how far above is he actually is.

Metaphor - Compare two objects and draw similarity between them. "To stand on the rock of the word "we" amidst the sea of boos and outrage." The author is comparing the large amount of negative reaction to the author's words or opinions to the vastness and depth of the sea. The author s likely expecting, or already receiving a huge backlash over his possibly radical opinions, hoping for help with his like-minded peers in coping with it. The metaphor is effective in displaying how he feels in the midst of such events, though could do better in displaying how big the backlash actually is, as "sea" is a semi-vague term.

2. To His Own Beloved Self
<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">Six.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">Ponderous. The chimes of a clock.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">“Render unto Caesar ... render unto God...”

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">But where’s

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">someone like me to dock?

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">Where’11 I find a lair? <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">Were I

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">like the ocean of oceans little,

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">on the tiptoes of waves I’d rise,

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">I’d strain, a tide, to caress the moon.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">Where to find someone to love

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">of my size,

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">the sky too small for her to fit in? <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">Were I poor

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">as a multimillionaire,

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">it’d still be tough.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">What’s money for the soul? –

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">thief insatiable.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">The gold

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">of all the Californias isn’t enough

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">for my desires’ riotous horde. <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">I wish I were tongue-tied,

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">like Dante or Petrarch,

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">able to fire a woman’s heart,

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">reduce it to ashes with verse-filled pages!

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">My words

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">and my love

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">form a triumphal arch:

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">through it, in all their splendour,

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">leaving no trace, will pass

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">the inamoratas of all the ages! <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">Were I

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">as quiet as thunder,

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">how I’d wail and whine!

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">One groan of mine

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">would start the world’s crumbling cloister shivering.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">And if

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">I’d end up by roaring

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">with all of its power of lungs and more –

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">the comets, distressed, would wring their hands

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">and from the sky’s roof

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">leap in a fever. <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">If I were dim as the sun,

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">night I’d drill

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">with the rays of my eyes,

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">and also

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">all by my lonesome,

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">radiant self

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">build up the earth’s shriveled bosom. <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">On I’ll pass,

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">dragging my huge love behind me.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">On what

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">feverish night, deliria-ridden,

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">by what Goliaths was I begot –

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">I, so big

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">and by no one needed?

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">Literary Devices:

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">Irony - The use of words with an intended meaning that is completely different from the actual meaning. <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">"Were I poor as a multimillionaire it'd still be tough. What's money for the soul?" <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">Being "as poor as a multimillionaire" is something few people can say with any truth, and something that Vladimir Mayakovsky cannot say without it being ironic. The effect it has on the poem is clear, as he is trying to portray that money isn't everything, and that it can't do anything for the soul, so being rich or poor is irrelevant in terms of trying to improve one's soul.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">Personification - Giving inanimate objects human qualities/tendencies. <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">"I’d end up by roaring with all of its power of lungs and more – the comets, distressed, would wring their hands and from the sky’s roof." <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">Comets can't actually wring their hands, as they don't have hands, so Mayakovsky took the opportunity to use a creative portrayal, something that was better described without the use of typical words or phrases. He used it to say in not so many words that the whole universe would be upset, rather than a person or people. With the use of this technique, he properly displayed the full scope of the effect of what he was trying to get across, as well as in a more meaningful way.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">Imagery - The use of figurative language to portray a scene or people to appeal to physical senses. <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">"On what feverish night, deliria-ridden, by what Goliaths was I begot - I so big and by no one needed." <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">Mayakovsky, to the best of public knowledge and common sense, was not born to giants or Goliaths or any other kind of strange creature, but by normal humans. His use of this imagery is used to set himself apart from other people, to seem weird and like an outcast. He portrayed this well with his use of this technique and it was done better than it would have been if it had been explained in simple english.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">3. You <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">You came – <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">determined, <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">because I was large, <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">because I was roaring, <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">but on close inspection <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">you saw a mere boy. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">You seized <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">and snatched away my heart <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">and began <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">to play with it – <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">like a girl with a bouncing ball. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">And before this miracle <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">every woman <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">was either a lady astounded <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">or a maiden inquiring: <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">“Love such a fellow? <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">Why, he'll pounce on you! <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">She must be a lion tamer, <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">a girl from the zoo!” <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">But I was triumphant. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">I didn’t feel it – <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">the yoke! <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">Oblivious with joy, <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">I jumped <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">and leapt about, a bride-happy redskin, <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">I felt so elated <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">and light. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;"> <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">Literary Devices: <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;"> <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">Simile - Drawing similarities between two objects using like or as. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">"You seized and snatched away my heart and began to play with it - like a girl with a bouncing ball." <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">While Mayakovsky is not missing his heart, nor is it being played with like a common toy, the author uses this device to portray the careless way in which he feels his heart is being handled. A girl playing with a ball is nonchalant, not putting too much attention to how she handles it, and this is a great way to portray how he feels. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;"> <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">Parallelism - The use of repeated sounds or constructions in a sentence, <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">"Love such fellow? Why he'll pounce on you! She must be a lion tamer, a friend from the zoo!" <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">Mayakovsky rarely uses rhyming or repetition/paralellism/alliteration in any of his poems, and he also doesn't talk about love in too many of them either. The difference ins structure and topic appear to go hand in hand, as the overall mood of the poem changes as well. I think the change in style in accordance with change in topic and mood was an attempt of Mayakovsky to branch out and try new things, something that his use of parallelism in this poem did very well. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;"> <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">Metaphor - Finding similarities between and comparing two distinct objects. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">"Oblivious with joy, I jumped and leapt about, a bride-happy redskin,". <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">Though this metaphor is lost on me, as well as probably mildly racially offensive, Mayakovsky is trying to portray a certain kind of emotion - something I'm sure he did quite well with the language of his time, though is no longer very relevant/applicable. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;"> <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">Similar Artists/Songs

Lorde - Royals

I've never seen a diamond in the flesh I cut my teeth on wedding rings in the movies And I'm not proud of my address, In a torn-up town, no postcode envy

But every song's like gold teeth, grey goose, trippin' in the bathroom Blood stains, ball gowns, trashin' the hotel room, We don't care, we're driving Cadillacs in our dreams. But everybody's like Cristal, Maybach, diamonds on your timepiece. Jet planes, islands, tigers on a gold leash. We don't care, we aren't caught up in your love affair.

And we'll never be royals (royals). It don't run in our blood, That kind of luxe just ain't for us. We crave a different kind of buzz. Let me be your ruler (ruler), You can call me queen Bee And baby I'll rule, I'll rule, I'll rule, I'll rule. Let me live that fantasy.

[Verse 2] My friends and I—we've cracked the code. We count our dollars on the train to the party. And everyone who knows us knows that we're fine with this, We didn't come from money.

But every song's like gold teeth, grey goose, trippin' in the bathroom. Blood stains, ball gowns, trashin' the hotel room, We don't care, we're driving Cadillacs in our dreams. But everybody's like Cristal, Maybach, diamonds on your timepiece. Jet planes, islands, tigers on a gold leash We don't care, we aren't caught up in your love affair

And we'll never be royals (royals). It don't run in our blood That kind of luxe just ain't for us. We crave a different kind of buzz. Let me be your ruler (ruler), You can call me queen Bee And baby I'll rule, I'll rule, I'll rule, I'll rule. Let me live that fantasy.

Ooh ooh oh We're bigger than we ever dreamed, And I'm in love with being queen. Ooh ooh oh Life is great without a care We aren't caught up in your love affair.

And we'll never be royals (royals). It don't run in our blood That kind of luxe just ain't for us. We crave a different kind of buzz Let me be your ruler (ruler), You can call me queen Bee And baby I'll rule, I'll rule, I'll rule, I'll rule. Let me live that fantasy.

This song and Mayakovsky's "A Slap in the Face of Public Taste" have a few elements in common. They both stand up to the common desires/opinions of society and say that they don't want to be apart of it - they have their own dreams and opinions. Both use imagery to: A) Portray what the public likes and B) To explain how they don't share those feelings and that they distaste those things. The imagery is found in the poem in both "The past is too tight. The Academy and Pushkin are less intelligible than hieroglyphics," and "Wash your hands which have touched the filthy slime of the books written by the countless Leonid Andreyevs," and in the song "But everybody's like Cristal, Maybach, diamonds on your timepiece. Jet planes, islands, tigers on a gold leash we don't care, we aren't caught up in your love affair."

The Smiths - Asleep

Sing me to sleepSing me to sleepI'm tired and II want to go to bed Sing me to sleepSing me to sleepAnd then leave me aloneDon't try to wake me in the morning'Cause I will be goneDon't feel bad for meI want you to knowDeep in the cell of my heartI will feel so glad to go Sing me to sleepSing me to sleepI don't want to wake upOn my own anymore Sing to meSing to meI don't want to wake upOn my own anymore Don't feel bad for meI want you to knowDeep in the cell of my heartI really want to go There is another worldThere is a better worldWell, there must beWell, there must beWell, there must beWell, there must beWell... Bye byeBye byeBye...

Mayakovsky in his self-dedicated poem artfully wallows in his own self pity for his bad circumstances, but imagines a better time or a better place, and this theme is reflected in "Asleep". Both authors use imagery to try to express the full depth of emotion they are feeling, as well as to describe a better place or circumstance. In the poem this is found here: "Were I like the ocean of oceans little, on the tiptoes of waves I’d rise, I’d strain, a tide, to caress the moon," and in the song: " Don't feel bad for me I want you to know deep in the cell of my heart I really want to go."

Rod Stewart - Maggie May


 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; text-align: center;">"Maggie May" **

Wake up Maggie I think I got something to say to you It's late September and I really should be back at school I know I keep you amused but I feel I'm being used Oh Maggie I couldn't have tried any more You lured me away from home just to save you from being alone You stole my heart and that's what really hurt

The morning sun when it's in your face really shows your age But that don't worry me none in my eyes you're everything I laughed at all of your jokes my love you didn't need to coax Oh, Maggie I couldn't have tried any more You lured me away from home, just to save you from being alone You stole my soul and that's a pain I can do without

All I needed was a friend to lend a guiding hand But you turned into a lover and mother what a lover, you wore me out All you did was wreck my bed and in the morning kick me in the head Oh Maggie I couldn't have tried anymore You lured me away from home 'cause you didn't want to be alone You stole my heart I couldn't leave you if I tried

I suppose I could collect my books and get on back to school Or steal my daddy's cue and make a living out of playing pool Or find myself a rock and roll band that needs a helpin' hand Oh Maggie I wish I'd never seen your face You made a first-class fool out of me But I'm as blind as a fool can be You stole my heart but I love you anyway

Maggie I wish I'd never seen your face I'll get on back home one of these days

While Mayakovsky's poem about bad happenings in his love life is almost cheery, and Maggie May is far from it, both tackle the same subject and use similar techniques. Parallelism is used in both to enhance the meaning and feelings behind the words, to more accurately portray them. In the poem "Love such fellow? Why he'll pounce on you! She must be a lion tamer, a friend from the zoo!" and in the song, "I suppose I could collect my books and get on back to school or steal my daddy's cue and make a living out of playing pool." While not necessarily a mandatory addition to the song or poem, they definitely make them that much better, showing the author was likely doing this for themselves than someone else.

Works Cited "Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky." Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2014.

Pushkova, Darya. "Prominent Russians: Vladimir Mayakovsky." Vladimir Mayakovsky – Russiapedia Literature Prominent Russians. Russiapedia, n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2014.

"Vladimir Mayakovsky." Poems Of... Marxists Society, n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2014.