The manifesto is a genre associated mainly with Futurism, and
Ivanov's 1901 poem
The poem begins with the concrete (material) image of a shepherd
blowing his horn to produce a song, which is then echoed by the
mountains. This sets the paradigm for subsequent developments:
artist—instrument—artwork (music)—response. In the
same concrete sphere, the next level is a metaphoric one: the echo
sounds as if
: choir of spirits—unearthly
instruments—speech of heavens—thought. The second half of
the poem echoes
the same paradigm on the abstract level
in a comparable two layers: 1) material:
musician—genius—song of earth—another song in human
hearts; 2) metaphor: answering
voice—Nature=Symbol—sounding—God In the paradigm the
horn as instrument corresponds to genius
(human talent)
and Nature. Each response raises the discussion to a higher level of
consideration as we move from the mundane to the divine. Nature is
equated with the Symbol, a key Symbolist Neo-Platonic doctrine. The
material world is seem as merely a poor reflection of the spiritual
realm and only the artist (poet-musician) can break through the veil
of maya to glimpse the higher realm. Included are oblique references
to Goethe's Alles Vergaengliche ist nur ein
Gleichniss
=Priroda—simvol, kak sej rog
)
and the Sermon on the Mount. Although the verse is unrhymed, there are
sonic echoes throughout, the most important being rog/Bog.
A table of these relationships will be presented and discussed in more detail vis-à-vis the poem.