In 1917, revolutionary ideas still did not dominate the works of V.V. Mayakovsky, and in his works he proclaimed a complete rejection of the usual poetic images. The night always aroused mixed feelings among poets. For some, it was attractive and kept many secrets. Others thought it was a time of doubt and fear, dissipating as morning approached. In Mayakovsky’s poem “Night,” an analysis of which is presented below, this time of day personifies human vices, pretense. It describes a city in which all people crave power and wealth.
Work direction
In the analysis of Mayakovsky’s “Nights,” it must be noted that the work belongs to the then popular trend of futurism. His fans opposed their work to the adherents of classicism. They elevated the absolute figurativeness of the word, sometimes even neglecting its semantic component.
Mayakovsky was impressed by the expression of the futurists, but he considered their style unsuitable for writing lyric poems. Although the brightness and a certain shocking images in the described poem can be observed.
The image of a gambling house
When analyzing Mayakovsky’s “Night”, one of the important images of the poem - the gambling house - needs to be revealed. This is a symbol of idleness, debauchery of urban residents, lovers of easy money. For such people, night is not a mysterious time of day when you can think about the meaning of life.
For them, this is the time when you can try to become richer, when you can pretend and be who you want. How can the reader understand that this is a gambling house? The line "ducats threw handfuls in green" means cloth, and ducats are coins or chips that players received when they made the necessary bet.
Many seemingly incomprehensible epithets emphasize the named image. For example, under the “blue togas” the poet could mean that all administrative buildings and other institutions working during the day were closed at night, giving way to places of entertainment.
It is possible that under the gambling house the poet did not mean a casino, but a comparison of the night with pretense, some kind of game. People, going to have fun, put on masks and idly spent time, not trying to see and understand the beauty of night time.
Crowd image
Also in the analysis of Mayakovsky’s “Nights” it should be noted that the crowd is no less important. Her poet compares with the "motley-haired fast cat." The rich people, businessmen and other representatives of the bourgeoisie had fun at night.
The concept of mottling creates the impression of idle people who are ready to have fun all night. Such personalities need nothing but money, they are conceited, they are false. People are eager to get more from this feigned celebration of happiness.
The main theme of the poem
In Mayakovsky’s analysis of The Night, the main theme is the loneliness of the poet among a riotous crowd. The lyrical hero notes that it is not a mysterious and beautiful night that dominates the city streets, but the time of debauchery and pretense. But we must not forget that she became such only because of people.
The hero understands all this, but does not find like-minded people among the motley crowd. Society has fallen into disrepair, and no one notices it. And so the hero feels helpless, and even the lanterns for him are not able to dispel the night dusk.
But he does not give up trying to reach the crowd, hoping to see that at least someone is aware of the decline of society. Alas, people are not interested in his thoughts, they do not want to complicate their lives. They continue to have uncontrollable fun, not noticing the hero.
Other characteristics of the work
In the analysis of Mayakovsky’s poem “Night”, it should be noted that artistic means of expressiveness play a large role here. The poet uses vivid epithets, metaphors and unusual comparisons that are not always clear to readers. But this corresponds to the futuristic direction.
The poem is written by a dactyl, a three-syllable foot in which the first syllable is stressed. The rhyming method is cross. These are the main characteristics of the sound-rhythmic structure of the work.
In the poem, the poet describes the city at night, its bizarre landscape. Unlike the adherents of classicism, for him the night was not a source of inspiration and admiration. Vladimir Vladimirovich saw how many power-hungry and respected people with the advent of darkness become different - those who need only money and entertainment.
By the way, it is also interesting that the image of arap is not just an addition to the appearance of the night city. At that time, casinos often hired black people as porters to attract more public.
In a brief analysis of Mayakovsky’s “Night”, one cannot fail to mention that the poem does not yet have bold experiments with rhymes and images inherent in the poet, but the lines are dynamic. And expression and incomprehensible metaphors add to the work with the special expressiveness characteristic of futurists. At the same time, the poet tried to ensure that the semantic component was not lost.