Detachable Subdivision
"Rivne Professional College of
National University of Life
and Environmental Sciences of Ukraine"
Vasyl Symonenko is a journalist, writer, and active figure in the Ukrainian resistance movement. An outstanding poet who continues to amaze and inspire Ukrainians today. A member of the Creative Youth Club in Kyiv, he traveled extensively throughout Ukraine and spoke at literary evenings and debates. He used to say: “He who does not live for himself, but fights for life for others, is alive.”
Vasyl Symonenko was born in the Poltava region in the village of Biyivtsi on January 8, 1935, into a family of collective farmers. He began writing poetry during his student years, which became his life's calling. At the age of 22, the poet married. Later, the family had a son, Oles.
During his lifetime, only one collection, “Silence and Thunder,” and a fairy tale for children, “The Crying Tsar and Tickling,” were published. Such famous works of the poet as “The Swans of Motherhood,” “You Know What You Are a Human Being,” “Journey to the Country in the Opposite Direction,” “Gravity,” and others were published after his death, with the assistance of close friends. Symonenko said of his poetic style: “I have something from my grandfather Taras and great-grandfather Skovoroda.”
The poet was not only a rebel. Symonenko's intimate lyrics are still published and have their admirers. Vasyl Symonenko's famous poems "I Look into Your Eyes", where the poet writes about love for Ukraine, "Swans of Motherhood" belong to civil lyrics. In difficult times for Ukraine, many of Vasyl Symonenko's poems were not published, and those that were allowed to be printed were corrected. After all, his work contains sharp satire on the Soviet regime and the glorification of love for the native land.
Together with his friends, Symonenko was engaged in the issues of revealing Stalin's crime against the Ukrainian people. He boldly took risks that threatened his life. In the summer of 1962, the writer was arrested. He was severely beaten, mainly his spine and lower back were damaged. The beatings by the police officers accelerated the development of a serious illness in the poet.
On the night of December 14, 1963, at the age of 29, the poet died in a Cherkasy hospital. During the funeral, the poet's friends got hold of his diaries and archive. However, after that, Symonenko would not be published in Ukraine for 15 years. 35 years after his death, a museum room was opened in his study. On the table lie manuscripts of poems, a pen, and a typewriter. On the side is a hanger with a cloak and hat. And on the shelf of the closet is a horseshoe.
In 1965, Symonenko was nominated for the Shevchenko Prize. However, it was not to be. The poet received it only 30 years later, already in Independent Ukraine, posthumously.
On the occasion of the 90th anniversary of the birth of Vasyl Andriyovych Symonenko, the Library and Information Center invites readers to visit the book exhibition "And Your Voice Inspires Our Souls...".
Natalia SMIKAL,
Librarian of the BIT
