Immortality : verse by Soviet poets who laid down their lives in the Great Patriotic War of . 1941-1945

Contains poems and biographies of featured poets in both English and Russian.

Includes a biography of each poet prior to the the selection of their poems.

Includes an index in Russian (pages 725-733).

Includes twenty-seven pages of plates with black and white illustrations/portraits of each of the poets featured within this resource. The portraits can be found (pages 315-325 and on pages 523-533).

Foreword - To the last breath / by Alexei Surkov --

Jack Altausen -- The ballad of the four brothers -- Motherland -- Songs and life -- A letter from my wife / Poems by Jack Altausen / Translated by Dorian Rottenberg --

Alexander Artmov -- Lake Hasan -- The path of our fathers -- Poet -- The ships go out to sea / Poems by Alexander Artmov / Translated by Ronald Vroon --

Vsevolod Bagritsky -- Goldfinch -- The road to life -- Kuntsevo -- "How my head swam..." -- "I am sick of sleeping with my clothes on..." -- Friendship -- Odessa, city mine! -- Waiting in the snow / Poems by Vsevolod Bagritsky / Translated by Irina Zheleznova --

Boris Bogatkov -- "Although I'm becoming unyielding and sullen" -- Call-up -- At last -- Before the attack -- Homecoming -- "We embrace by the echelon..." / Poems by Boris Bogatkov / Translated by Ronald Vroon --

Leonid Vilkomir -- Inspiration -- "This my life shall never be repeated..." -- "To feel a bit hungry" -- By the campfire -- Builders (our time) -- Tagil -- "We shall prevail..." / Poems by Leonid Vilkomir / Translated by Peter Tempest --

Mirza Gelovani -- A horse weeps -- Don't write me -- Lenin -- Wait for me -- Forgive me -- Remember? -- Two hearts -- I swear / Poems by Mirza Gelovani / Translated by Olga Shartse --

This I contend -- "We are used to seeing upon the screen..." -- The song / Poems by Kost Gerasimenko / "This I contend" Translated by Irina Zheleznova / "We are used to seeing upon the screen..." and "The song" Translated by Gladys Evans --

Mussa Jalil -- Growing up -- The handkerchief -- Anguish -- Do not believe them! -- It sometimes happens -- To the executioner -- My songs -- The gift / Poems by Mussa Jalil / Translated by Alex Miller --

Vladislav Zanadvorov -- Motherland -- The shield -- A stretch of native earth -- War -- Last letter / Poems by Vladislav Zanadvorov / Translated by Dorian Rottenberg --

Yuri Inge -- "A time will come..." -- Lullaby -- The hour has struck -- Minesweepers -- The isle of "n" / Poems by Yuri Inge / Translated by Dorian Rottenberg --

Fatykh Karim -- Dream -- The WIld Geese -- For my country -- My army greatcoat -- The moon / Poems by Fatykh Karim / Translated by Alex Miller --

Pavel Kogan -- Lyric interlude -- The thunderstorm -- Star -- The brigantine -- "We'll fall where we will fall..." -- The rocket -- "Like Paris of old" / Poems by Pavel Kogan / Translated by Dorian Rottenberg --

Boris Kostrov -- Insomnia -- The wild nature reserve -- At midnight -- Motherland -- By the wattle fence --- "There's a light flaring on the horizon..." -- After battle -- "The moon's like the sun to a soldier..." / Poems by Boris Kostrov / Translated by Peter Tempest --

Boris Kotov - Nightfall -- Morning -- September -- "Midday's sweltering" / Poems by Boris Kotov / Translated by Tom Botting --

Vassily Kubanev -- "I cant divide my stripling mind..." -- Parting words -- You must help -- With what we reap they shall be beaten -- To Valya / Poems by Vassily Kubanev / Translated by Tom Botting --

Mikhail Kulchitsky -- "The most terrible thing in the world..." -- Workaday thoughts -- The red banner -- "Romancer, dreamer..." / Poems by Mikhail Kulchitsky -- "The most terrible thing in the world...", "Workaday thoughts" and "The red banner" translated by Dorian Rottenberg -- "Romancer, dreamer..." translated by Walter May --

Alexei Lebedev -- We're from Kronstadt -- "Does your mind still hark back to the ways..." -- "In June, up there..." -- A song -- "A wind sweeps low..." -- To you / Poems by Alexei Lebedev / Translated by Tom Botting --

Vsevolod Loboda -- Duty -- Comrade captain -- Beginning -- 10 Pavlov street -- "You are not forgotten...." / Poems by Vsevolod Loboda / Translated by Ronald Vroon --

Nikolai Mayorov -- Memorial -- Fathers -- What it means to love -- Creativity -- "To live is all I need" -- We -- "No one knows..." -- "It's not for us to calmly rot in graves..." / Poems by Nikolai Mayorov / Translated by Dorian Rottenberg --

Vitautas Montvila -- LIfe's worth living -- My words -- My native land -- Lithania -- We'll hold out freedom no matter what! -- To Lenin -- At the grave of fighting comrades / Poems by Vitautas Montvila / Translated by Gladys Evans --

Boris Smolensky -- It's just a way of life -- "Make no excuses..." -- "I love you..." -- "And if war says 'It's time!'" -- "Choking from cigarette fumes..." -- "Sun flecked spruces..." -- "Oh, how I long to wander far and wide..." Poems by Boris Smolensky / Translated by Irina Zheleznova --

Vadim Strelchenko -- Child born in the open -- Come to Turkmenia -- Soviet Man -- Native land -- Flick! / Poems by Vadim Strelchenko / Translated by Glaydys Evans --

Georgi Suvorov -- Revenge -- "Some future day a herd of horses..." -- "I'd come and topple like a boulder..." -- "Ice, white and brilliant, sparkles in my wine..." -- "Though in the morning..." -- "Grief as sharp as splintered steel..." -- "Dark woods, bare steppes..." / Poems by Georgi Suvorov / Translated by Dorian Rottenberg --

Mikola Surnachev -- "Like water for drought-stricken wheatfields you are..." -- The wounded moon -- A letter to my mother -- Red star -- In the trampled rye / Poems by Mikola Surnachev / Translated by Dorian Rottenberg --

Mikhail Troitsky -- Spain -- The Svir Valley -- "We picture the border like a curve..." -- "Along boulevards, blind and deaf..." -- "They froze like this when they first met..." / Poems by Mikhail Troitsky / Translated by Ronald Vroon --

Joseph Utkin -- A solder's tale -- The guitar -- Ditty -- Komsomol song -- The Troika -- Dedication -- You're writing a letter to me / Poems by Joseph Utkin / Translated by Alex Miller --

Ivan Fedorov -- "I called her dearest..." -- The Skiers -- A monumnet to the uprising -- Eight years after -- By the river / Poems by Ivan Fedorov / Translated by Alex Miller

Leonid Shersher -- Raindrops on the window -- You -- Dreams -- Girl weeping -- On victory day / Poems by Leonid Shersher / Translated by Alex Miller --

Elena Shirman -- To live -- Walking through the pines -- Departure -- Arrival -- Poetry -- A letter from a girl donor -- Return / Poems by Elena Shirman / Translated by Olga Shartse --

Ali Shogentsukov -- The schoolmistress -- The rose of the Pyrenees -- The messenger -- Testament -- Call / Poems by Ali Shogentsukov / Translated by Alex Miller --

Aron Kopstein -- "Summer rain in the land of Ussur..." -- Poets -- "You and I took leave upon the platform..." / Poems by Aron Kopstein / Translated by Dorian Rottenberg -

Nikolai Otrada -- In passing -- Football -- Almost from my childhood -- This world / Poems by Nikolai Otrada / Translated by Dorian Rottenberg --

Semyon Gudzenko - I fought on foot in open fields..." -- Inscription on a stone -- Before attack -- My generation / Poems by Nikolai Otrada / Translated by Dorian Rottenberg.

"People become sentimental as they grow older. As I turned the pages of this book, I felt a lump coming to my throat and tears welling up in my eyes. It might be a name, it might be a line of verse; but it meant that a young life, cut off by the deadly steel of war, had survived in song. Thirty-three names. Thirty-three destinies. Thirty-three human beings who had striven to express themselves in memorable words and had been engulfed by the damp silence of common graves. And among them were the widely known Soviet poets: Joseph Utkin, the lyricist, and handsome idol of the Moscow girls; the tempestuous and impatient Jack Altausen; and the young ones who had scarcely set out on their creative road: Pavel Kogan, Nikolai Mayorov, Vasily Kubanex, Mikhail Kulchitsky. . . These names stand for the sacrifice that Soviet literature made for the Homeland in those anguished and tragic times." -- from the Foreword