Penned in 1914 and unveiled to the world in 1915, Mayakovsky's avant-garde poem is a fervent and tempestuous odyssey through the realms of unrequited love, revolution, and the repudiation of conventional mores. This work was born from the poet's ardent, yet unreciprocated, passion for Maria Denisova, whom he encountered during a Futurist tour. The poem is meticulously structured into four segments, each delineating a distinct facet of the poet's emotional and ideological voyage.
In the inaugural segment, Mayakovsky addresses his beloved with impassioned declarations of love, interwoven with his scorn for societal norms and conventions. His diction is raw and visceral, mirroring the fervor of his emotions and his revolutionary zeal. He poignantly declares, "If you like, I'll be extraordinary gentle, not a man but - a cloud in trousers." The second segment transitions to a broader critique of art and its societal role, wherein Mayakovsky decries the superficiality and hypocrisy he discerns within the artistic milieu. His employment of irregular lines and unexpected rhymes epitomizes the Futurist movement's departure from traditional poetic forms - "Art must not be concentrated in dead shrines called museums. It must be spread everywhere – on the streets, in the trams, factories, workshops, and in the workers' homes."
The third and fourth segments explore themes of political and religious upheaval. Mayakovsky's protagonist, a self-proclaimed new apostle, confronts the extant political regime and religious orthodoxy, advocating for a new order founded on personal and collective revolution - "But I, from poetry's skies, plunge into communism, because without it I feel no love." The poem's denouement is both a personal lament and a clarion call to action, encapsulating Mayakovsky's vision of a world metamorphosed by love and defiance. He concludes with the evocative image, "On the pavement of my trampled soul the steps of madmen weave the prints of rude crude words."
The poem's influence extended beyond Russian borders, with a notable Hebrew translation by Avraham Shlonsky in 1929. Mayakovsky actually mentions the Zionist poet Bialik in one of the lines as a model of literary genius envying his revolutionary influence upon the movement to return the indigenous Jews to their colonized homeland. Shlonsky's translation preserved the poem's fervent spirit and revolutionary zeal, introducing Mayakovsky's avant-garde vision to a new audience and enriching the Hebrew literary canon. This version ענן במכנסיים is the one I've read and it is incredible. It also includes notes and an introduction that help immensely in understanding this remarkable work, in addition to the virtousity of the Hebrew by the amazing poet Shlonsky. Sadly, there is no entry for this edition on GR.