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Common Knowledge

Canonical name: Lönnrot, Elias
Legal name: Lönnrot, Elias
Birthdate: 1802-04-09
Date of death: 1884-03-19
Gender: male
Nationality: Russian Empire
Country (for map): Finland
Birthplace: Sammatti, Finland
Place of death: Sammatti, Finland
Places of residence: Sammatti, Swedish Finland (birth|now Finland)
Sammatti, Russian Finland (death|now Finland)
Education: Academy of Turku
Imperial Alexander University in Finland (MD|1832)
Occupations: folklorist
poet
philologist
lexicographer
Professor of Finnish Language
physician
Organizations: Imperial Alexander University in Finland
Finnish Literature Society
Short biography: Elias Lönnrot (1802–1884) was a Finnish philologist and collector of traditional Finnish oral poetry. He is best known for composing the Kalevala, the Finnish national epic compiled from national folklore. His true passion lay in his native Finnish language. He began writing about the early Finnish language in 1827 and began collecting folk tales from the rural people about that time. Lönnrot went on extended leaves of absence from his doctor's office; he toured the countryside of Finland, Sapmi (Lapland), and nearby portions of Russian Karelia to support his collecting efforts. This led to a series of books: Kantele, 1829–1831 (the kantele is a Finnish traditional instrument); Kalevala, 1835 (better known as the "old" Kalevala); Kanteletar, 1840; Sananlaskuja, 1842 (Proverbs); an expanded second edition of Kalevala, 1849 (the "new" Kalevala); and Finsk-Svenskt lexikon, 1866–1880 (Finnish-Swedish Dictionary). Lönnrot was recognised for his part in preserving Finland's oral traditions by appointment to the Chair of Finnish Literature at the University of Helsinki. He died on 19 March 1884 in Sammatti, in the province of Uusimaa.

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Reviews

The Kalevala (Oxford World's Classics) by Elias Lönnrot

Surprisingly easy to read, once you get the pronunciations of the names and places. Each chapter clearly defined, the descriptions so vivid it's easy to depict in one's mind the characters and places. The pace of the poetry was a strong influence on Longfellow's Hiawatha, and the book influenced Tolkien, Sibelius, Michael Scott Rohan, David Allen Schlaefer, and Michael Moorcock. Also paintings in art; Akseli Gallen-Kallela, and Albert Edelfelt. I had the impression this might not be the best translation, having heard some of John Martin Crawford's translation which seems to incorporate the names more than this Keith Bosley translation(?)
Some of my notes from the book:
Air-daughter impregnated by the wind and sea. A bird laid it's neat upon her knee, which she jerked causing some eggs to break, and they became the sun, moon, stars, clouds, and earth. Air daughter created creatures, shaped the land. After thirty summers, she finally gave birth.
Väinämöinen (pronounced vine-a-moan-en) gets Sampsa Pellervoinen to sow the land. Everything grew except a rootless, shoot-less oak tree. The "Beast" out of the sea made a fire from the mowings and rakings of "five brides of the water", and an acorn grew out of the ashes to produce a giant oak tree, but it cut out the sunlight. V asked his mother to get the water-folk to cut down the tree. A man as tall as a man's thumb, clad in copper, came, then transformed into a giant, and cut the tree. Crops now flourished, except barley. V. Cleared some land, leaving a lone birch tree for birds to rest on, and planted the crop. Old woman of underground "soil-dame", and "Old Man keeper of the cloudy realm" helped the crops to grow.
▪️v sang songs of his memories. Joukahainen (pronounced yo-ka-hi-nen) was a Lappish lad who became jealous of v's singing and set out to meet v. And challenge him to a singing duel. J lost, and promised his own sister as a prize. J returns home weeping, but his own mother is delighted to have "a great man for my kin, a bold man for my stock". J's sister Aino (pronounced i-no) won't stop crying.
▪️Aino meets v whilst gathering sticks to make a broom. She wrenches her jewellery and ribbons off in anger and runs home crying. Her mother tells her that she kept the jewellery that the Moon-daughter and Sun-daughter made for her when she grew up, and gives them to a. A dresses in the jewellery and goes to the sea where she stays all night contemplating death and Tuonela (pronounced to-oh-nell-ah). In the morning she removes the jewellery and joins the maids bathing in the sea. News of her death is brought to a sauna full of maids by a talking hare "the fair has fallen to be sister to whitefish and brother to the fishes". The mother cried so much new rivers formed, new birches grew, three golden cuckoos called out from the new trees "love, bridegroom, joy", which hurt the mother even more.
▪️v upset, catches large salmon who reveals she is A, now daughter of Ahto (god of the sea) and tells him he will never have her, before escaping. V wishes his mother was alive, his mother replies that she is alive and he should go searching for a new bride.
v travels to northland and darkland on a stallion of straw, via Väino-land glades, heaths of Kalevala. J waited at various locations, in huts, lanes, acres, locally, then further away at headlands, capes, rapids, and holy stream, before seeing v approach on the calm sea from the east. J shot him with black worm poisoned arrows.
Mother forbade him to shoot her "brother-in-law's sister's son" because song would fall from the earth where it is more fitting than in the Dead Lands cabins of Tuonela. First two shots missed- shot the sky, then earth then the "blue elk's shoulder" causing v to dive/fall into the water, and the wind blew the sea washed the body away from land.
TUULIKKI means "little wind", is Finnish Goddess of forest creatures.
Marjatta (pronounced mar-ee-at-uh) & Herod… (more)

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AChild | 27 other reviews | Dec 14, 2023 |

The Kalevala: An Epic Poem after Oral Tradition by… by Elias Lönnrot

Beautiful oral culture and story, and very well translated. Introduced to this via Tolkien.

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Mithril | 27 other reviews | Nov 7, 2021 |

The Kalevala (Oxford World's Classics) by Elias Lönnrot

I think this is one of those books that needs a few reads with a few years between them. It reminds me of the Odyssey quite a bit, and there are some obvious parallels in the story. It's wrong to think of this as a derivative work, though. It may share some style and elements with it, but the Kalevala is uniquely Finnish. If you are the type of person who enjoys this type of work then don't miss out. There's more than enough unique material to keep your attention.

I can't say much with confidence after this first reading, but I will make note of the really interesting spirituality of the book. While there are many vaguely Christian notions (and a few overt ones), there is still an incredibly strong sense of the earlier pagan animism that is beautifully tied up in it. For that aspect alone I think this book is worthy of a lot of attention from those of you who are interested in comparative religion.… (more)

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jamestomasino | 27 other reviews | Sep 11, 2021 |

Kalevala

It is such a shame that not many people know about this book, as it is truly a hidden treasure.

I came to read the Kalevala because I am a Tolkien fan, and I wanted to get to know what was one of his favorite books and main sources of inspiration.

It is surprisingly easy to read if you have into account that it is an epic poem. I was immersed in this strange and fantastical world, and in the tragedy and poetry that it conveys. From what I saw in this poem, Finish mythology is very different from the other Scandinavian countries, although equally violent and dark.

The story starts with a competition between storytellers. How cool is that?

Hats off to the Portuguese translation, as it is easy to see all the love and dedication that was put into it.… (more)