Kalevala (redirected from The National Epic of Finland)

Kalevala (kä`lĕvä'lä), Finnish national epic. It is a compilation of verses recounting extraordinary deeds of three semidivine brothers from mythical Kaleva, land of the heroes. Zakarias Topelius published fragments in 1822; Elias Lönnrot gave the cycle its present form, editing the material and sometimes writing transitional verses himself. Lönnrot published the collection of 50 runes (nearly 23,000 lines) in 1849. Its effect on Finnish art in all its branches has been great. The rhythms of the epic had a strong influence on the composer. Jan Sibelius, who used it in a number of works, notably Karelia (1893). The eight-syllable trochaic line of the Kalevala was imitated by Longfellow in Hiawatha.

Bibliography

See tr. by W. F. Kirby (1907, new ed. 1956) and F. P. Magoun (1963).

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Kalevala

Finnish national epic. It was compiled by Elias Lonnrot from the songs and ballads of Finland's oral tradition and published in complete form in 1849. Kalevala, the dwelling place for the poem's chief characters, is also a poetic name for Finland, meaning “land of heroes.” The epic contains a creation story and adventures of legendary heroes. The main character is Väinämöinen, a musician and seer of supernatural origins. Other characters include Ilmarinen, a smith who forged the lids of heaven; Lemminkäinen, a warrior-adventurer and charmer of women; and Louhi, the female ruler of a land in the north. Though the Kalevala depicts conditions during the pre-Christian era, it also seems to foretell the decline of the old religions.

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Kalevala

alliterative epic poem of Finland. [Finn. Lit.: Kalevala]

See : Epic

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Kalevala

an urban-type settlement and administrative center of Kalevala Raion, Karelian ASSR.

Kalevala is situated on the left bank of Lake Srednee Kuito, 182 km west of the Kem’ railroad station, with which it is linkedby highway. Lumber is the major industry.

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Kalevala

Karelian-Finnish national epic composed of epic songs, wedding songs, and incantations. It was compiled into a single narrative by the Finnish scholar E. Lonnrot chiefly from Karelian, Ingrian, and Finnish runes recorded from Arhippa Perttunen and other rune singers of the first half of the 19th century. The first collection, consisting of 32 runes, was published in 1835; it was followed in 1849 by a second collection of 50 runes.

The rune stories that Lonnrot used in the Kalevala dated as far back as the period of tribal society, and the Karelian people’s epic later developed out of the old epic belonging to the Finnish Baltic tribes. Motifs of working songs and realistic descriptions of the people’s everyday life and customs appeared along with fantastic and heroic themes. Enthusiasm for creative work is described with the utmost vividness in the runes. In the ideological and artistic sense the runes of the Kalevala are in no way inferior to the most elaborate epics of other peoples. The 1849 text of the Kalevala has been translated into Russian, English, German, French, Swedish, Japanese, and other languages.

REFERENCES

Kalevala: Karelo-finskii epos. [Introductory article by O. V. Kuusinen.] Moscow, 1949.
Karel’skie epicheskie pesni. [Preface, preparation of text, and commentary by V. Ia. Evseev.] Moscow-Leningrad, 1950.
Evseev, V. Ia. Istoricheskie osnovy karelo-finskogo eposa, books 1–2. Moscow-Leningrad, 1957–60.
Krohn, K. Kalevalan runojen historia. Helsinki, 1903–10.
Krohn, K. Kalevalan kysymyksia. Helsinki, 1918.
Setälä, E. N. Sammon arvoitus. Helsinki, 1932.
Kalevalan runoutta…. Petroskoi, 1949.
Haavio, M. Väinämöinen. Porvoo, 1950.
Kaukonen, V. Vanhan Kalevalan kokoonpano, vols. 1–2. Helsinki, 1939— 45.
Kaukonen, V. Elias Lönnrotin Kalevalan toinen painos. Helsinki, 1956.
Kirjoittamaton kirjallisuns. Helsinki, 1963.
Ruoppila, V. Kalevala ja kansankieli. Helsinki, 1967.
Kalevalaseuran vuosikirja…. Porvoo-Helsinki, 1970.

V. IA. EVSEEV