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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


TO VLADIMIR MAYAKOVSKY by MARINA IVANOVNA TZVETAYEVA

Poem Explanation Poet Analysis

First Line: BAPTIZED BY SMOKE AND FIRE
Last Line: HIS WHOOPING ARCHANGEL WINGS.

Baptized by smoke and fire,
Taller than tower or steeple,
Greetings, immortal Vladimir,
Archangel of the people.

He the horse and the driver,
He the fact and the story,
A shout, a spray of saliva:
"Make way for my dray-horse glory!"

He sits down where the mews is,
Squaring his whopping shoulders.
No diamonds for him! He chooses
Cobbles -- the biggest! Boulders!

Greetings, thunder of streets!
He yawns, he yells, he swings
His bludgeon again, and beats
His whooping Archangel wings.



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