Konstantin Simonov (Russian: Константин Михайлович Симонов; 28 November [O.S. 15 November] 1915 in Petrograd – August 28, 1979 in Moscow) was a Soviet/Russian author. His full name was Konstantin (born Kirill) Mikhailovich Simonov. He was a well-known war poet who wrote a popular poem called « Wait for me », about a soldier in the war asking his beloved to wait for his return. The poem was addressed to his wife, the actress Valentina Serova. It was immensely popular at the time and remains one of the best-known poems in the Russian language. Simonov wrote many more poems to Valentina, subsequently included in the collection With you and without you. (full text).
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Konstantin Simonov – Russian Federation
Born in 1915 into a military family Konstantin Simonov studied at the Literary Institute in Moscow and began his career as a poet. From the very start Simonov established himself as a poet writing about wars. He is the author of historical poems called « Suvorov » and « Battle on a Frozen Lake » about the heroism of Russian people and poems about international brigades that came to the rescue of Spanish Republicans. As a journalist, Simonov travels to the battle fields during a military conflict with the Japanese army. And as a war correspondent, he writes notes in verse and reports. The idea of a looming big war is central in his poems, his play « A guy from our city », after which one of the best post-war films was made. (full text).
He is named on the following Blogs: on Carmen Ezgeta; on blog.hr; on kaleidoskop; on rebelde Cuba; on Simonov.co.uk.
Newspaper clips with Simonov’s poems were found in the pockets of those killed in action. Soldiers often got the poems in letters from home and read them before going into battle. Like volunteers, the poems made their way into the army ranks: “It seemed to us in those days, the wartime writer and Hero of the Soviet Union Vladimir Karpov says, that we all knew Simonov personally – such was the extent to which his verse found a response in our hearts, such was his knowledge of the front life. That’s why his poems for us were inseparable from our Motherland, our home and family. In his works the deep patriotic feelings of the day found expression in simple, soothing words. In fact, that was what we were fighting for”. (full text).
War Songs, Poems and Journalism.
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