Week 5: Futurism and Revolution

These two poems, the longer epic poem "A Cloud in Trousers" and the shorter "A Good Attitude to Horses" are examples of Vladimir Mayakovsky's Futurist poetry. Consider how this poetry resembled and differed from the Symbolist poetry discussed in earlier weeks. 

This is the Russian Futurist manifesto, cheekily titled "A Slap in the Face of Public Taste." Here, the poets and artists who were aligned with Futurist outline their complete dismissal and reject of the Russian cultural tradition, and declare their intention to begin creating art on their own terms. 

A series of poems by Velimir Khlebnikov, who is famous (or infamous) for his games with language. 

Dmitry Shostakovich: Symphony No. 11 "The Year 1905"