Simon Dach (July 29, 1605 - April 15, 1659) was a Prussian lyrical poet and writer of hymns, born in Memel in Ducal Prussia (now Klaipeda in Lithuania).

Although brought up in humble circumstances, he received a careful education in the classical schools of Königsberg, Wittenberg, and Magdeburg, and entered the University of Königsberg in 1626 as a student of theology and philosophy. After taking his degree, he was appointed in 1633 Kollaboralor (teacher) and in 1636 co-rector of the Domschule (cathedral school) in that city. In 1639 be received the chair of poetry at the University of Konigsberg, which he occupied until his death.

In Königsberg he entered into close relations with Heinrich Albert (1604 - 1651), Robert Roberthin (1600 - 1648) and Sibylla Schwarz (1621 - 1638), and with them formed the so-called Königsberger Dichtergruppe . He sang the praises of the house of the electors of Brandenburg in a collection of poems entitled Kurbrandenburgische Rose, Adler, Lowe und Scepter (1661), and also produced many occasional poems, several of which became popular; the most famous of them is "Anke von Tharaw Oss,de my gefollt" (rendered by Herder into modern German as "Annchen von Tharau"), composed in 1637 in honor of the marriage of a friend. Among his hymns are the following: "Ich bin ja, Herr, in deiner Macht", "Ich bin bei Gott in Gnaden durch Christi Blut und Tod", and "O, wie selig seid ihr doch, ihr Frommen".

This article uses material from the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica