Simonov wait for me when it is written. Analysis of the poem by K.M. Simonova: Wait for me, and I will return... Most famous work
The poem “Wait for me” has long become legendary. There are several versions of its creation, but we will tell you about the one that the author himself adhered to. In July 1941 he arrived in Moscow after his first trip to the front. He saw with his own eyes all the horrors of the first defeat Soviet troops, complete confusion from the sudden attack of the Nazis and our unpreparedness for the upcoming war. He was supposed to stay in Moscow for two days - waiting until he was transferred from the Izvestia newspaper to the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper. My father’s friend, writer Lev Kassil, offered to live with him at his dacha in Peredelkino. And there, on July 28, 1941, the poem “Wait for Me” was written.
It is dedicated - and there is no doubt about it - to the actress Valentina Vasilievna Serova. Over time, the poem became more and more popular, and they stopped remembering that its addressee was a specific woman. Moreover, when the love passed and the father separated from Serova, he had no particular desire to remain faithful to this dedication. Therefore, in different editions the text appears either with or without a dedication to Serova.
By the way, the poem was not published immediately. David Ortenberg, editor-in-chief of the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper, turned out to be absolutely not a visionary. He was a very good editor, but things didn’t work out in the poetry field. Ortenberg said that “Wait for Me” is a very intimate poem and he will not publish it. As a result, my father read the text twice on the radio, but it was published much later. Six months after it was written, on January 14, 1942, the poem appeared on the third page of the Pravda newspaper and immediately gained incredible popularity.
In 2015, we, the children of Konstantin Simonov, came up with a project to install a monument to our father in
“Wait for me and I will return” Konstantin Simonov
Wait for me and I will come back.
Just wait a lot
Wait when they make you sad
Yellow rains,
Wait for the snow to blow
Wait for it to be hot
Wait when others are not waiting,
Forgetting yesterday.
Wait when from distant places
No letters will arrive
Wait until you get bored
To everyone who is waiting together.Wait for me and I will come back,
Don't wish well
To everyone who knows by heart,
It's time to forget.
Let the son and mother believe
In the fact that I am not there
Let friends get tired of waiting
They'll sit by the fire
Drink bitter wine
In honor of the soul...
Wait. And at the same time with them
Don't rush to drink.Wait for me and I will come back,
All deaths are out of spite.
Whoever didn't wait for me, let him
He will say: “Lucky.”
They don’t understand, those who didn’t expect them,
Like in the middle of fire
By your expectation
You saved me.
We'll know how I survived
Just you and me, -
You just knew how to wait
Like no one else.
Analysis of Simonov's poem “Wait for me, and I will return”
The war for Konstantin Simonov began in 1939, when he was sent to Khalkhin Gol as a correspondent. Therefore, by the time Germany attacked the USSR, the poet already had an idea of everyday life at the front and knew firsthand that very soon thousands of families would begin to receive funerals.
Shortly before repeated demobilization, in the summer of 1941, Simonov came to Moscow for several days and stayed at the dacha of his friend, writer Lev Kassil, in Peredelkino. It was there that one of the poet’s most famous poems, “Wait for me, and I will return,” was written, which soon flew around the entire front line, becoming both an anthem and a prayer for the soldiers.
This work is dedicated to actress Valentina Serova, the widow of a military pilot, whom the poet met in 1940. A theater star and Stalin's favorite, she initially rejected Simonov's advances, believing that she had no right to betray the memory of her husband, who died during testing of a new aircraft. However, the war put everything in its place, changing the attitude not only towards death, but also towards life itself.
Leaving for the front, Konstantin Simonov was not confident either in the victory of the Soviet army, or that he would be able to escape alive. Nevertheless, he was warmed by the thought that somewhere far away, in sunny Fergana, where Valentina Serova’s theater had been evacuated, his beloved woman was waiting for him. And this is precisely what gave the poet strength and faith, instilled hope that sooner or later the war would end and he could be happy with his chosen one. Therefore, addressing Valentina Serova in the poem, he asks her only one thing: “Wait for me!”
The faith and love of this woman is a kind of talisman for the poet, that invisible protection that protects him at the front from stray bullets. Simonov knows firsthand that you can die completely by accident and even through stupidity. In the first days of the war, he happened to find himself in Belarus, where by that time there were fierce battles, and the poet almost died near Mogilev, falling into German encirclement. However, he is convinced that it is the love of a woman that can save him and many other soldiers from death. Love and faith that nothing will happen to him.
In the poem, he asks Valentina Serova, and with her thousands of other wives and mothers, not to despair and not to lose hope for the return of their loved ones, even when it seems that they will never be destined to meet again. “Wait until everyone who is waiting together gets tired of it,” the poet asks, noting that you should not succumb to despair and the persuasion of those who advise you to forget your loved one. Even if his best friends are already drinking to the remembrance of his soul, realizing that miracles do not happen, and no one is destined to rise from the dead.
However, Simonov is convinced that he will definitely return to his chosen one, no matter what happens, since “in the midst of the fire, you saved me with your expectation.” The poet prefers to remain silent about what it will cost both of them. Although he knows very well that the unknown will certainly add new wrinkles and gray hairs to the hair of those women who are waiting for their loved ones. But it is the belief that they will someday return that gives them the strength to survive in the bloody meat grinder called war.
At first, Konstantin Simonov refused to publish this poem, considering it deeply personal and not intended for a wide range of readers. After all, only a few close friends of the poet were privy to his heartfelt secret. However, it was they who insisted that the poem “Wait for me and I will return,” which thousands of soldiers so needed, became public knowledge. It was published in December 1941, after which neither Konstantin Simonov nor Valentina Serova considered it necessary to hide their relationship. And their vibrant romance became yet another proof that true love can work miracles.
70 years ago, the Pravda newspaper published K. Simonov’s poem “Wait for Me.” It immediately became very popular. And the story of its creation is as follows.
The star of Soviet cinema, Valentina Serova (nee Polovikova), was widely known for her films “A Girl with Character”, “Hearts of Four”, “Wait for Me”, “Composer Glinka”, etc. In 1939, she married a famous pilot, participant in the war in Spain, Hero of the Soviet Union Anatoly Serov. That same year, Serov crashed while testing new aircraft, and Valentina gave birth to a son, whom she named Anatoly in honor of her deceased husband.
To forget herself, Valentina tried to spend all her time at the Lenin Komsomol Theater, where she was highly valued and trusted only with leading roles. In 1940, she began acting in the play “The Zykovs.” During the performances, the same young man always sat in the front row with a bouquet of flowers. This was the aspiring poet Konstantin Simonov. He was 24 years old. Gradually, a romance began between them.
The war began, Konstantin Simonov went to the front as a front-line correspondent. In July-August 1941, he wrote the poem “Wait for Me,” dedicated to
noe Serova. According to Simonov, this poem was too personal and was not intended for publication.
At the end of 1941 - beginning of 1942, Simonov repeatedly read it to his friends and, at their requests, finally agreed to publish this poem. It was first printed on January 14, 1942. The soldiers at the front rewrote this poem and sent it home to their wives.
In 1943, the film “Wait for Me” was shot, one of the screenwriters was K. Simonov, and the main female role played by Valentina Serova.
However, Serova was in no hurry to reciprocate Simonov’s feelings. Yes, Valentina accepted his advances, but she was in no hurry to say “I love you” and become his wife. In the spring of 1942, during a performance at a hospital for senior command personnel, she met General Rokossovsky and felt that she had fallen in love. Strongly, madly, without regard to the opinions of others, who, of course, did not miss the opportunity to gossip about the fidelity of the one who is “waiting.” The future marshal was free at the time of the meeting with Serova: his wife and daughter were missing. The passionate romance of the famous military leader, who was twenty-one years older than the movie star, developed before everyone's eyes. However, this did not stop
Simonov, of course, who knew everything, proposed to Valentina in 1943, and she accepted this proposal and became his wife. What made her do this remains a mystery.
Simonov and Serova gave the impression of a happy married couple. In 1946, Serova received the Stalin Prize for one of her roles in the film “Composer Glinka,” and in 1950 she gave birth to a daughter, Masha.
But married life together did not work out; Valentina tried to drown out the separation from her loved one with alcohol. After some time, Simonov and Serova divorced. This divorce further strengthened the famous actress’s addiction to alcohol. It even got to the point where the court deprived Serova parental rights, and Masha began to be raised by her grandmother, Klavdia Mikhailovna Polovikova. She forever forbade her daughter to meet with the child.
The break with the woman he loved greatly influenced the fate of K. Simonov. He no longer wrote lyrical poetry, was deliberately dry with his daughter Masha, and never uttered Serova’s name. It was all over. He had new house, new family, new wife and children. Only for some reason, when Alla Demidova, preparing for filming in Alexei German’s film “Twenty Days Without War” based on Simonov’s script, made herself Serova’s makeup, he was distraught.
he was seriously angry, became agitated, and demanded that Demidova be removed from the role. And so it happened, this role was played by Lyudmila Gurchenko.
Several years have passed. Serova was on the staff of the Film Actor Studio Theatre, but there was no work for her there. She wrote to the Central Committee and asked to help her get a job in any theater. The answer is silence.
On December 10, 1976, Valentina Serova, who was only 58 years old, committed suicide. Simonov, who was vacationing in Kislovodsk, did not come to the funeral, but only sent 58 red carnations. But he could not forget Serov. This is what he told his daughter a few days before his death: “Forgive me, girl, but what I had with your mother was the greatest happiness in my life! And the greatest grief."
Prepared by Vasily SMIRNOV
K. Simonov
Wait for me and I will come back
Wait for me and I will come back. Just wait, Wait for the Yellow rains to make you sad.
Wait when the snow is blowing, Wait when it’s hot, Wait when others are not welcome, Forgetting yesterday.
Wait until no letters come from distant places, Wait until everyone who is waiting together gets tired of it.
Wait for me, and I will return, Don’t wish well to everyone who knows by heart, That it’s time to forget.
Let the son and mother believe that I am not there, Let the friends get tired of waiting, Let them sit by the fire,
They will drink bitter wine in remembrance of the soul... Wait. And don’t rush to drink with them at the same time.
Wait for me, and I will return to spite all deaths. Whoever did not wait for me, let him say: - Lucky.
Those who did not wait cannot understand how, in the midst of the fire, with your waiting you saved me.
Only you and I will know how I survived, It’s just that you knew how to wait Like no one else.
Wait for me and I will come back.
Just wait a lot
Wait when they make you sad
Yellow rains,
Wait for the snow to blow
Wait for it to be hot
Wait when others are not waiting,
Forgetting yesterday.
Wait when from distant places
No letters will arrive
Wait until you get bored
To everyone who is waiting together.
Wait for me and I will come back,
Don't wish well
To everyone who knows by heart,
It's time to forget.
Let the son and mother believe
In the fact that I am not there
Let friends get tired of waiting
They'll sit by the fire
Drink bitter wine
In honor of the soul...
Wait. And at the same time with them
Don't rush to drink.
Wait for me and I will come back,
All deaths are out of spite.
Whoever didn't wait for me, let him
He will say: “Lucky.”
They don’t understand, those who didn’t expect them,
Like in the middle of fire
By your expectation
You saved me.
We'll know how I survived
Just you and me, -
You just knew how to wait
Like no one else.
Analysis of the poem “Wait for me, and I will return” by Simonov
K. Simonov saw the war with his own eyes as a war correspondent back in 1939 at Khalkhin Gol. Soon after this he is sent to the front of the Finnish campaign. The poet and writer received a tragic experience of harsh military reality. After the German attack, he waited for demobilization and in the summer of 1941 he wrote the poem “Wait for me and I will return.”
The work is addressed to a real person – Simonov’s beloved V. Serova. The woman was a widow and at first resolutely rejected the writer’s advances. The outbreak of war changed her attitude. The value of life and the randomness of death have increased manifold.
Simonov initially hid his relationship with Serova and did not want to publish the poem, considering it deeply intimate. Only in December 1941, at the insistence of his colleagues, did he allow his work to be published.
Konstantin Simonov was rightfully considered one of the best Soviet writers who worked during the most terrible war. His works carry the bitter truth about cruelty and death. At the same time, the writer never forgot about the inner world of a person, about how it changes in wartime conditions.
“Wait for me and I will return” is a very touching poem that has enormous power to influence the human soul. For many Red Army soldiers, it became a real anthem, a solemn oath to a loved one. Millions of people broke up with each other. Already the first days of the war showed that for many, farewell was the last. The man was not sure whether he would be alive in a week, a day, an hour. The official ideology rejected faith in God, so the only hope and faith remained the memory of those who were waiting in the rear.
The author turns to his beloved woman with an ardent plea that she wait for him no matter what. The words sound very harsh: “let the son and mother believe that I do not exist.” Simonov is ready to forgive friends who get tired of waiting for him. But the beloved's hope should not disappear. This is a sacred talisman that protects a person’s life and gives him relief from all dangers.
The poem is written in ordinary spoken language in the form of a monologue lyrical hero. The refrain “wait for me” gives it special sincerity and expressiveness. To some extent, the work can be considered a prayer due to its emotional overtones.
There are many known cases of suicides of people who learned about the betrayal of their beloved women in the rear. This shows how important it was for a person to believe that someone was waiting for them. Simonov's poem personifies the main hope of the Soviet soldier, which allows him not to lose optimism and the ability to love.
There is probably no person in our country who has never heard the poem “Wait for Me” by Konstantin Simonov. This poem helped thousands, millions of people who went to the front during the Great Patriotic War to survive and return home. Patriotic War, so its importance is difficult to overestimate. And even now, almost 70 years later, “Wait for Me” still does not lose its charm, purity and sublimity. The poet himself was also at the front - and it was between trips there that he created this poem, dedicating it to his beloved woman - actress Valentina Serova.
How did Simonov and Serova meet?
Konstantin and Valentina met at the Lenin Komsomol Theater, where Serova played in the play “The Zykovs,” following in the footsteps of her mother Klavdia Mikhailovna Polovikova, a provincial actress. Not long before this, Serova became a widow - her second husband, Anatoly Serov, died, from whom she “inherited” the surname by which we now know her. But this did not stop the loving 24-year-old aspiring playwright Simonov, who sat in the front row and continuously followed Valentina’s performance throughout the performance. He was a handsome, stately, dark-haired man with a dark mustache and a slightly oriental face. Serova later recalled that that evening, every time she went on stage, she felt his intense, passionate gaze on her. Even during the intermission he did not move, and Serova saw this from behind the scenes. And after the performance, a huge bouquet of flowers was delivered to her dressing room with a note in which the stranger invited her to meet whenever she wished.
Serova did not react to this note, but the stranger continued to appear at almost every performance of hers - and in the end he starved her out - and after another bouquet with a note, Serova gave him her home address. And soon Simonov’s first play, “The Story of One Love,” was staged at the Lenin Komsomol Theater, where he described his story with Serova.
The beginning of great love
Valentina Serova gave in to Konstantin Simonov, doing as he wanted, but not she. In their couple, he always loved, and she allowed herself to be loved, he kissed, and she offered her cheek. Serova was flighty, even dissolute in places, and there was not even a grain of diplomacy or restraint in her. A long tail of gossip and rumors followed her, in particular about her affair with Marshal Rokossovsky, who allegedly provided him with a personal plane to fly to him on dates. Probably all these rumors were not groundless. But this did not prevent Simonov from loving her, but, on the contrary, spurred him on. Their relationship is very well described by a quote from Simonov’s contemporary Dmitry Kedrin: “She didn’t want anything from me, but she was the most desirable...”.
Serova really did not demand anything from Konstantin Simonov: she had money, a position in society, she did not want to get married. The poet, on the contrary, wanted to give her everything: money, position, his freedom, he was ready to endure all her whims, quirks, betrayals - just to be with her. It was as if two different entities lived in Serova: a body, which she disposed of with ease, and a soul, which Simonov never managed to conquer. And, judging by the poems dedicated to her, he saw this perfectly:
You told me "I love you"
But this is at night, through clenched teeth.
And in the morning I endure the bitter
They could barely hold their lips together.
Valentina was Simonov’s muse; he compiled poems dedicated to Serova into a cycle of love lyrics “With You and Without You,” which was published in 1942. and brought him fame. A quatrain from this cycle characterizes the relationship between Serova and Simonov very indicatively:
I want to call you my wife
Because they don't call cute people that way,
Because everything is the opposite with you
It happens here, my dissolute one.
In the summer of 1943, the marriage of Serova and Simonov still took place. They began to live together, led a social life, there were always guests, feasts and fun in their house. After the war, Simonov quickly climbs the career ladder, becoming editor-in-chief of the magazine " New world", Secretary of the Board of the Writers' Union, laureate of the Stalin Prize, deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. Now he writes mainly commissioned works, so different from the “With You and Without You” cycle. As part of his service, Simonov is a frequent guest abroad; his life is full of meetings with world celebrities. An indicative case occurred in 1946, when Konstantin flew to Paris with his wife to return Ivan Bunin to his homeland. This was not an ordinary case, because Serova did not usually fly with her husband. But on this trip, without betraying herself, she charmed Bunin - and saved him. Whispering in his ear that he should not dare to return, because death awaits him in the USSR! Ivan Bunin remains in France...
Valentina Serova also developed and grew: she played in the theater, starred in the film “Hearts of Four”, received the title of Honored Artist and the Stalin Prize. On May 11, 1950, on the day of the wedding and death of Anatoly Serov, the daughter of Serova and Simonov, Masha, is born.
But gradually Valentina simply begins to become an alcoholic - on lonely evenings without her husband, who was always on the road, he drank one bottle of expensive foreign alcohol after another. In this regard, early aging was not long in coming. When Serova began playing at the Maly Theater after the birth of her daughter, the public also noticed this. Gradually nothing remained of its former beauty.
At first, the husband tried to help Serova, but it was useless. But he saw his wife withering, and gradually realized that instead of the former beauty, over whom men went crazy, he was simply faced with a degenerate alcoholic. In 1957 they divorced, and Konstantin went to live with the widow of his front-line friend. Right before his death, Simonov removed all dedications to Serova from his works (leaving only the letters V.S. in front of the poem “Wait for Me”). While in the hospital, he asked his daughter to bring him a huge number of letters written by him ex-wife, after which he destroyed them all with the words: “I don’t want other people’s hands to delve into this after my death... Forgive me, girl, but what I had with your mother was the greatest happiness in my life... and the greatest grief..."
Serova tried with all her might to get up and recover in the theater - but she could not. The public made fun of her, her daughter did not accept her drinking mother, the son from his first marriage, Anatoly, who returned from the colony, was uncontrollable, drank and became a hooligan. Then a complete nightmare begins for Serova:
1966 - the death of Valentina’s father, who was the only thing that somehow brought her to her senses and kept her from taking fatal steps. Serova goes on a drinking binge.
1968 - death of Rokossovsky. Serova is on a drinking binge again.
1975 - the death of 35-year-old son Anatoly, who shortly before his mother’s death tried to establish a relationship with her. But Valentina’s next drinking companion did not let him into the apartment’s threshold. Serov did not come to the funeral of her son, but went on a drinking binge again.
In 1975, she died, and this event did not even make the front pages of the newspapers. Only one newspaper – “Evening Moscow” – published literally a couple of lines about this. Simonov did not come to the funeral ex-wife, but asked to put 58 pink roses on her grave.
Wait for me…
Simonov was once asked what is the history of the creation of this famous poem? The answer to this was as follows: “The poem “Wait for Me” has no special history. I just went to war, and the woman I loved was in the Urals, in the rear, and I wrote her a letter in verse. Then this letter was published in a newspaper and became a poem.”
Serova, who inspired Simonov to write probably his most famous poem, did not know how to wait herself... Therefore, Konstantin drew for himself what he did not have in reality, but what he dreamed and yearned for. As he himself said, the “yellow rains” in the poem are an expression of his melancholy.
This poem was created between July 7 and July 15, 1941. - after the first trip to the Western Front and preparing for a new one - from the editors of Krasnaya Zvezda. He stayed at Lev Kassil’s dacha and spent whole summer days, listening to the singing of birds, writing poetry. The poet himself speaks about these days like this: “There were tall pines all around, a lot of strawberries, green grass. It was a hot summer day. And silence. ... For several hours I even wanted to forget that there was a war in the world. ...probably on that day more than on others, I thought not so much about the war as about my own fate in it. ... And in general, the war, when these poems were written, was already anticipated to be long. “...Wait for the snow to blow...” on that hot July day was not written for rhyme. There probably would have been another rhyme..."
Initially, “Wait for Me” was not written for publication at all - it was, rather, a personal confession, a personal spell for oneself. For the first time it was read to ten people at once at the front, in the Northern Army, in late autumn. And these poems were like a cure for longing for wives and beloved girls left at home or in evacuation. And only later “Wait for me” was published.
Millions of soldiers survived thanks to this poem - and Simonov is no exception. Subsequently, the poet will say: “I don’t like writing letters. As a result of this, in short free minutes on different fronts, I wrote a book of lyrical poems, which are nothing more than a collection of unsent letters to the woman I loved. This was my inner need... But it soon became clear that people at the front really wanted to hear poetry, and specifically poetry about love.”
Wait for me and I will come back.
Just wait a lot
Wait when they make you sad
Yellow rains,
Wait for the snow to blow
Wait for it to be hot
Wait when others are not waiting,
Forgetting yesterday.
Wait when from distant places
No letters will arrive
Wait until you get bored
To everyone who is waiting together.
Wait for me and I will come back,
Don't wish well
To everyone who knows by heart,
It's time to forget.
Let the son and mother believe
In the fact that I am not there
Let friends get tired of waiting
They'll sit by the fire
Drink bitter wine
In honor of the soul...
Wait. And at the same time with them
Don't rush to drink.
Wait for me and I will come back,
All deaths are out of spite.
Whoever didn't wait for me, let him
He will say: - Lucky.
They don’t understand, those who didn’t expect them,
Like in the middle of fire
By your expectation
You saved me.
We'll know how I survived
Just you and me, -
You just knew how to wait
Like no one else.
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