V. Mayakovsky and K. Paustovsky

Vladimir Vladimirovich Mayakovsky was born on 7 July 1893 in the Georgian village of Baghdati into a forester's family. In 1902–1906 he studied at the Kutaisi gymnasium; after his father's death the family moved to Moscow, where he continued at a gymnasium. While studying at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, his first poems were printed in the almanac «Пощёчина общественному вкусу». According to the book, his first book was called «Я!» and was written in the new style of “square” poetry, meant to be read from platforms and at rallies. «Послушайте!» (1914) opens with a direct, agitated appeal to people. The poem is built as a question: if stars are lit, then somebody needs it; someone calls them pearls, someone really wants them to exist. The poet pictures somebody bursting in on God, asking, weeping, swearing that a star must exist; then that person walks about anxious but outwardly calm and says to someone: “Now you have nothing to fear, do you?” The poem ends with the same question: must at least one star be lit over the roofs every evening? Idea: a person cannot live without beauty and warmth; the poet speaks out against cold indifference. Form: free rhythm, short lines laid out like a staircase, pauses marked by words, many exclamation and question marks, repetition of the first and last stanza (a ring).