- Russian Futurist Vladimir Mayakovsky and Nepali poet Gopal Prasad Rimal shared a kinship, using revolutionary free verse to challenge political regimes.
- Mayakovsky’s "ladder poem" influenced Rimal to abandon traditional meter and use poetry as a weapon for political change in Nepal.
- Both poets faced tragic post-revolutionary disillusionment; Mayakovsky died by suicide, while Rimal spent his final years in mental anguish and obscurity.
- This legacy persists through the Pokhrelian Stanzas, a modern, structured poetic form developed by Santosh Kumar Pokharel in 2024.
In the annals of world poetry, few relationships are as poignant—and as little known—as that between Vladimir Mayakovsky of Russia and Gopal Prasad Rimal of Nepal. Though separated by thousands of miles, by language, and by vastly different political circumstances, these two poets share a profound artistic kinship. One was the mentor; the other, the disciple. Together, they revolutionized the poetic traditions of their respective countries.
The Guru: Mayakovsky, the Futurist Who Shouted the Revolution
Vladimir Mayakovsky (1893–1930) was a force of nature. Born in Georgia, radicalized as a teenager, he joined the Bolsheviks at fifteen and spent time in solitary confinement, where he began writing poetry. By 1912, he had become a central figure in Russian Futurism—a movement that declared war on the literary giants of the past.
“We throw Pushkin, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy overboard from the Ship of Modernity!” the Futurists proclaimed in their 1912 manifesto. Mayakovsky was their most brilliant voice.
His great innovation was the “ladder poem” (lesinka)—a revolutionary form that broke traditional verse into short, vertical steps. Each line was a pause, a breath, a dramatic moment. His poetry was meant to be shouted from stages and street corners. It was poetry as political action, verse as a weapon.
In “Left March” (1918), he wrote:
Rally the ranks into a march!
Now’s no time to quibble or browse,
Silence, you orators!
Your word,
Comrade Mauser.
The short, staccato lines mimic the rhythm of marching feet and gunfire. The final line—broken into its own step—gives dramatic weight to the word “Mauser.” The pistol becomes the final argument.
Yet Mayakovsky’s life was a study in extremes. Flamboyant public performances contrasted with private despair. Revolutionary fervor was tempered by growing disillusionment with the Soviet bureaucracy he had helped to build. Increasingly criticized and facing rejection, the thirty-six-year-old poet committed suicide on April 14, 1930.
The Disciple: Rimal, Nepal’s First Revolutionary Poet
Half a world away, in the shadow of the Himalayas, a young Nepali poet was finding his voice. Gopal Prasad Rimal (1918–1973) is remembered as Nepal’s first revolutionary poet and the first to reject traditional meter.
In 1935, Rimal published “Poet’s Song” (Kaviko Gan)—acclaimed as the first Nepali poem in free verse. By the late 1930s, he had abandoned meter altogether. Like Mayakovsky, he understood that a new revolutionary message required a new revolutionary form.
Rimal’s most famous work, “Mother’s Dream” (Aama Ko Sapana), is a dialogue between a mother and child about the coming of a revolutionary savior:
Mother, will he come?
“Yes, son, he will come.
He will come spreading light like the morning sun.
Glistening like dew hanging on his waist,
You will see a weapon;
And so he will fight against injustice!”
The free verse creates a natural, conversational rhythm—a mother reassuring her child. Yet the imagery is unmistakably political. The “morning sun” is the dawn of revolution; the “weapon” is armed struggle.
Rimal played a pivotal role in the 1950–52 Democratic Movement that overthrew the Rana regime. However, he became deeply disillusioned with the factional strife that followed. His dreams shattered, Rimal lost his mental balance. He spent his final years roaming the streets of Kathmandu, a broken man whose brilliance was unrecognized by the nation he had helped to liberate.
He died on October 24, 1973—a natural death that came after years of anguish.
The Influence: How Mayakovsky Shaped Rimal
Did Rimal know Mayakovsky’s work? The evidence is circumstantial but compelling.
By the 1930s, Mayakovsky’s reputation had spread far beyond the Soviet Union. His poetry was translated into multiple languages. Revolutionary poets around the world—from Pablo Neruda to Nazim Hikmet—drew inspiration from his work. Rimal, as a politically engaged poet seeking new forms of poetic expression must have heard and read Mayakovski.
The parallels are striking:
Both rejected traditional meter. Mayakovsky shattered Russian poetic conventions; Rimal became the first Nepali poet to abandon meter altogether.
Both saw poetry as a weapon. Mayakovsky wrote “Left March” for public recitation; Rimal used poetry to protest against the Rana regime.
Both employed allegories to circumvent censorship. Mayakovsky’s “bald-headed lantern” was a critique of modern urban life whereas Rimal’s “mother” in “Mother’s Dream” was Nepal itself, suffering under tyranny.
Both were revolutionaries who outlived their revolutions. Mayakovsky killed himself; Rimal lost his sanity and died in obscurity.
Mayakovsky was, in the most profound sense, Rimal’s guru—a mentor whose innovations and convictions provided a model for the young Nepali poet’s own revolutionary project.
A Living Tradition: The Pokhrelian Stanzas
The revolutionary impulse that drove Mayakovsky and Rimal continues into the twenty-first century. The Pokhrelian Stanzas, also known as #pokhreliknots, is a new poetic form introduced by the multilingual Nepali poet Santosh Kumar Pokharel. Registered with Copyright Nepal, this form represents a continuation of the revolutionary tradition in poetry.
Unlike the “clumsy blank verses” of much modern poetry, the Pokhrelian Stanzas offer a compact, rhymed, and structurally rigorous framework. As one critical appraisal notes: “The Pokhreli Knot is a win over the modern clumsy blank verses and with a very few words can serve purpose of poetic expression of witty remarks.”
The form’s innovation lies in its morphosemantic architecture—where the poem’s syllabic structure directly shapes its meaning. Each stanza forms a morphological shape, with a structured progression that guides the reader through a journey of linguistic discovery.
Since its debut in March 2024, the form has gained recognition among poets worldwide, with practitioners in multiple languages experimenting with #pokhreliknots. The first workshop on the Pokhrelian Stanzas was conducted in the premises of the Tribhuvan university auditorium in 2024 for the degree students. In November 2025, at the organization of Udayapur Writer’s Association the first official training on the Pokhrelian Stanzas was conducted in Janata Multiple Campus Udayapur, Nepal, marking a significant milestone for this new poetic form.
Conclusion: Poetry Knows No Boundaries
The guru-disciple relationship between Mayakovsky and Rimal is not merely a historical curiosity. It is a living tradition of literary kinship that continues to inspire poets across the Himalayas and beyond.
Mayakovsky declared: “I want my country to understand me, but if not—well, I’ll pass by.” Rimal, following his guru’s example, passed by—but not before leaving an indelible mark on the poetry of Nepal and the hearts of its people.
Today, in the Pokhrelian Stanzas, a new generation of poets finds a form through which they could express their say in a compact, rhymed, and aesthetically perfect stanzas.
Poetry knows no boundaries. The revolutionary spirit is universal. The dialogue between Moscow and Kathmandu—between a Russian Futurist and a Nepali revolutionary—reminds us that the power of poetry to challenge, to console, and to transform is as vital today as it was a century ago.
