Poems and Songs of Vladimir Vysotsky. The Nature Reserve.
Commentary to the poem “The obstacles we have are begotten by our age...”
The meaning of this poem is obvious: the dogs symbolize the savages coming to Rossia from Transcaucasia and Central Asia, and also their offspring, who behave exactly like dogs. These savages pose a great danger to the peoples inhabiting Rossia, and since we have not yet forced the government to pay attention to it, the only way out of this situation is to form a people’s volunteer corps of those willing to become “dog-catchers”.
In Rudyard Kipling’s “The Jungle Book”, these are the Bandar-log, and here is their road-song:
Here we go in a flung festoon, Now you’re angry, but — never mind, Here we sit in a branchy row, Now we’re going to — never mind, All the talk we ever have heard Let’s pretend we are... never mind, Then join our leaping lines that scumfish through the pines, |
And the red dogs in this book symbolize as the “democrats” as these savages.
The poem was written in 1972.