«I know the power of words...» or the metapoetics of the poetry «An order to the army of art» of V. Mayakovsky (on the 125th anniversary of the poet’s birth)

The present work studies for the first time the poetics of the poem «Prikaz po armii iskusstva» («An order to the army of art»). It reveals a complex of images which is developed in the subsequent works by Mayakovsky on the theme of a poet and poetry. In the metaphor «the army of arts», Vladimir Mayakovsky uses the semantic potential of speeches about outstanding writers, artists: «he won trust and sympathy», «won the love of readers and spectators». Comparing the army forces being used to protect the native territory and seize the enemy’s one, Mayakovsky considers «hearts and souls» of people to be the territory to which the creative energy is directed. «The army of arts» and other army semantics images are interpreted in the poem as metasigns expressing the poet’s constant idea of uniting the efforts of artists and power of their creativity effect on people. It is specified by the logic of mentioning tools, devices of artistic expression in the sphere of arts ( sounds , letters , a song , pianos , brushes , palettes ) in the poem; they act as a specific weapon - means by which the artists of different arts conquer human «hearts and souls». The stability and importance of army semantics for Mayakovsky are seen in the perspective of its development, including the metapoetics of the poem «Vo ves’ golos» («At the top of the voice»). The paper presents the authors’ understanding of terms metapoetics, metasign, and metastructure.

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