Maxwell Stecher

Song about the mental clinic

I told myself:-- you mustn't write!

But stubborn hands will not comply,

Oh, help me mother! Friends-- I’m in a fix!

I lie in bed -- they grin at me,

They might attack me terribly,

I’m scared to sleep: they’re noiseless, hopeless freaks.

The psychos vary here, and sure,

Not all are rowdy, some impure,

Receiving treatment -- getting starved and beat,

But here is what surprises me:

These madmen here are walking free,

And all the food that I receive, they simply take and eat.

Great Dostoyevsky’s fallen short (Russian Novelist)

With the renowned, famous “Notes”!

I wish the poor deceased could come and see!

The famous Gogol I could tell (Russian Dramatist)

Such stories of this life in hell

That sure to God, this Gogol would most-boggled be!

Can’t stand this! Spit on those baboons,

‘cause after all, they’re rowdy loons!

They always aim to lick me on my face!

In number seven, yesterday,

Some loon, in utter disarray -

Just yelled, “America!” and stormed around the place.

I don’t want fame, and just for now,

I’m still remaining sane somehow,

I’ve yet to lose my head, but that’s my fate.

Here is the chief, -- the woman nurse,

She’s just a little crazed of course,

I yell that I am going mad and she just tells me: “Wait.”

And I am sensing while I wait,

I’m walking on a sharpened blade,--

Forgot the alphabet, -- my language’s Greek to me!

And I am asking friends mine this

Whoever I’m of theirs is

Of him, to take, his, me away from outta here!

1965

By Vladimir Vysotsky

Translation by Andrey Kneller

https://sites.google.com/site/poetryandtranslations/vladimir-vysotsky/song-about-the-mental-clinic

The image is a clear metaphor for a broken mind. Someone in a mental hospital will feel almost shattered from reality and as such society will feel indifferent.

Biographical info

  Born Jan 25, 1938, Vladimir lived in Moscow, Russia-USSR. Vlad's dad was a colonel in the soviet army and his mother a German translator. They lived in a communal flat within harsh living conditions and financial difficulties. From an early age he had knack for poetry and theater. His grandma; Dora Bronshteyn, a theater fan had massively influenced him as well. In 1946 Vladimir's parents divorced and he began living with Semyon Vladimirovich and with his second wife, Yevgenia. The house was a 2-story flat that had much better living conditions than his previous home, he even had, for the first time, his own room. Yevgenia had the same interests as him so they both enjoyed plays together and were deep friends. Later joined Moscow Art Theater and met his future wife Iza Zhukova.

Analysis

  The poem seems to be about his terrible stay in a mental clinic. In actuality it seems to describe his stay in modern society of which he cannot adapt to and wants peace from the selfish "mad". Vlad was born into a pretty poor household with both of his parents working all day. He got most of his attention from his grandmother of which he got the love fore plays from. Rhyme is used for the 2nd half of the poem in words like; me-free, sure-impure, and baboons-loons. This all ties these words together by hidden rope, like me and free; it happens to contrast the feeling when in a mental clinic which is almost like a cage and baboons similarly used for people called loons. The form of this poem is in short and concise wording that gives big notes on what he's feeling-this really makes you question if hes really is in a mental clinic or in public life. The theme is more or less; the madder the people around you the saner you feel.