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Kalevala
The ''Kalevala'' () is a 19th-century compilation of epic poetry, compiled by Elias Lönnrot from Karelian and Finnish oral folklore and mythology, telling a story about the Creation of the Earth, describing the controversies and retaliatory voyages between the peoples of the land of Kalevala called Väinölä and the land of Pohjola and their various protagonists and antagonists, as well as the construction and robbery of the mythical wealth-making machine Sampo. The ''Kalevala'' is regarded as the national epic of Karelia and Finland, and is one of the most significant works of Finnish literature along with J. L. Runeberg's ''The Tales of Ensign Stål'' and Aleksis Kivi's '' The Seven Brothers''. The ''Kalevala'' was instrumental in the development of the Finnish national identity and the intensification of Finland's language strife that ultimately led to Finland's independence from Russia in 1917. The work is known internationally and has partly influenced, for exampl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pohjola
Pohjola (; from 'base, bottom', but used in derived forms like ''pohjois-'' to mean 'north' + ''-'' 'place'), sometimes just Pohja (), is a location in Finnish mythology. It is one of the two main polarities in the Finnish national epic, the ''Kalevala'', along with Kalevala or Väinölä. Finnish runic songs include multiple different concepts of Pohjola. Many depictions line with Pohjola being the realm of the dead, synonymous with Tuonela. On the other hand, mythic stories of heroes include a Pohjola which is more akin to a distant, wealthy kingdom to be raided. Anna-Leena Siikala drew a connection to Norwegians' raiding trips across ''Pohjanmaa'' ( Ostrobothnia) in the 9th century. Mythical parallel names for Pohjola include Tuonela, Hiitola, Vuojola and Päivölä, while geographic equivalents include Lappi ( Lapland), Turja (Kola Peninsula) and Rutja (Finnmark). Pohjola and the ''Kalevala'' storytellers C. Ganander (1789), characterised Pohjola as : 'the most extreme ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elias Lönnrot
Elias Lönnrot (; 9 April 1802 – 19 March 1884) was a Finnish polymath, physician, philosopher, poet, musician, linguist, journalist, philologist and collector of traditional Finnish language, Finnish Oral literature, oral poetry. He is best known for synthesizing the Finnish national epic, ''Kalevala'' (1835, enlarged 1849) from short ballads and lyric poetry, lyric poems he gathered from Finnish folklore, Finnish oral tradition during several field expeditions in Finland, Russian Karelia, the Kola Peninsula and Baltic countries. In botany, he is remembered as the author of the 1860 ''Flora Fennica'', the first scientific text written in Finnish rather than in Latin. Education and early life Lönnrot was born in Sammatti, in the province of Uusimaa, Finland, which was then Finland under Swedish rule, part of Sweden. From 1814 to 1815, he attended the school of Tammisaari Pedagogio. He studied at Katedralskolan i Åbo, Turku Cathedral School from 5April1816 until he droppe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Finnish Mythology
Finnish mythology commonly refers of the folklore of Finnish paganism, of which a Finnish Neopaganism, modern revival is practiced by a small percentage of the Finnish people. It has many shared features with Estonian mythology, Estonian and other Baltic Finns, Finnic mythologies, but also with neighbouring Baltic mythology, Baltic, slavic mythology, Slavic and, to a lesser extent, Norse mythology, Norse mythologies. Finnish mythology survived within an oral tradition of mythical poem-singing and folklore well into the 19th century. Of the animals, the most sacred was the bear, whose real name was never uttered out loud, which was thought to be unfavorable to the hunt. The bear ("karhu" in Finnish) was seen as the embodiment of the forefathers, and for this reason it was called by many circumlocutions: ''mesikämmen'' ("mead-paw"), ''otso'' ("browed one"), ''kontio'' ("dweller of the land"), ''metsän kultaomena'' ("the golden apple of the forest"). It was not strictly seen as a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Keith Bosley
Keith Anthony Bosley (16 September 1937 – 24 June 2018) was a British poet, translator, and Presenter (radio), radio broadcaster. Born in Bourne End, Buckinghamshire, he studied French at university before starting his career at the BBC, where he worked primarily as a News presenter, newsreader. Although he published three volumes of original poetry, Bosley is best known for his work as a translator. A polyglot, he claimed to have translated poetry to English from up to forty languages, and had published collections translated from Finnish language, Finnish, French language, French, Portuguese language, Portuguese, Hebrew language, Hebrew, Vietnamese language, Vietnamese, Polish language, Polish, Russian language, Russian, and Germany, German. Career Keith Anthony Bosley was born in Bourne End, Buckinghamshire on 16 September 1937. His father was a signalman, and worked on nearby rail-lines. Growing up and beginning school in Maidenhead, Berkshire, he later attended Sir Will ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sampo
In Finnish mythology, the ''Sampo'' () is a magical device or object described in many different ways, constructed by the blacksmith and inventor Ilmarinen and which brings riches and good fortune to its holder, akin to the horn of plenty (cornucopia) of Greek mythology. When the Sampo is stolen, Ilmarinen's homeland falls upon hard times. He sends an expedition to retrieve it, but in the ensuing battle it is smashed and lost at sea. In the Kalevala The Sampo is a pivotal element of the plot of the epic poem ''Kalevala'', compiled in 1835 (and expanded in 1849) by Elias Lönnrot based on Finnish and Karelian oral tradition. In the expanded second version of the poem, the Sampo is forged by Ilmarinen, a legendary blacksmith, to fulfill a task set by the witch queen of Pohjola, Louhi, in return for her daughter's hand. : ''"Ilmarinen, worthy brother,'' : ''Thou the only skilful blacksmith,'' : ''Go and see her wondrous beauty,'' : ''See her gold and silver garments,'' : ''S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eino Friberg
Eino Hjalmar Friberg (10 May 1901 – 27 May 1995) was a Finnish-born American writer. He is best known for his 1989 translation of the Finnish national epic '' The Kalevala''. Early life Eino Hjalmar Friberg was born in Merikarvia, Grand Duchy of Finland, in 1901 and moved to the United States when he was still a child, in 1906. At the age of seven, his eyes were damaged by a fragment of glass from a bottle of soda pop that he opened by striking it against a curb, which led to his eventual blindness at the age of 10. He attended the Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown, Massachusetts and then attended Boston University, where he received his B.A. He enrolled in a Ph.D. program in philosophy at Harvard University, but never completed his thesis. He eventually received a Master of Arts in philosophy from Harvard in the mid-1970s, after passing a French language examination. Career Friberg published a book of poetry, ''Sparks'', in 1926. During World War II, he worked in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Epic Poetry
In poetry, an epic is a lengthy narrative poem typically about the extraordinary deeds of extraordinary characters who, in dealings with gods or other superhuman forces, gave shape to the mortal universe for their descendants. With regard to oral tradition, epic poems consist of formal speech and are usually learnt word for word, and are contrasted with narratives that consist of everyday speech where the performer has the license to recontextualize the story to a particular audience, often to a younger generation. Influential epics that have shaped Western literature and culture include Homer's ''Iliad'' and '' Odyssey''; Virgil's '' Aeneid''; and the anonymous '' Beowulf'' and '' Epic of Gilgamesh''. The genre has inspired the adjective '' epic'' as well as derivative works in other mediums (such as epic films) that evoke or emulate the characteristics of epics. Etymology The English word ''epic'' comes from Latin , which itself comes from the Ancient Greek adject ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Finnish Literature
Finnish literature refers to literature written in Finland. During the European early Middle Ages, the earliest text in a Finnic language is the unique thirteenth-century Birch bark letter no. 292 from Novgorod. The text was written in Cyrillic and represented a dialect of Finnic language spoken in Russian Olonets region. The earliest texts in Finland were written in Swedish language, Swedish or Latin language, Latin during the (). Finnish-language literature slowly developed from the sixteenth century onwards, after written Finnish was established by the bishop and Finnish Lutheran reformer Mikael Agricola (1510–1557). He translated the New Testament into Finnish in 1548. After becoming a part of the Russian Empire in the early nineteenth century the rise in education and nationalism promoted public interest in folklore in Finland and resulted in an increase of literary activity in Finnish. Most of the significant works of the era, written in Swedish or increasingly in Finn ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Finland
Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, opposite Estonia. Finland has a population of 5.6 million. Its capital and largest city is Helsinki. The majority of the population are Finns, ethnic Finns. The official languages are Finnish language, Finnish and Swedish language, Swedish; 84.1 percent of the population speak the first as their mother tongue and 5.1 percent the latter. Finland's climate varies from humid continental climate, humid continental in the south to boreal climate, boreal in the north. The land cover is predominantly boreal forest biome, with List of lakes of Finland, more than 180,000 recorded lakes. Finland was first settled around 9000 BC after the Last Glacial Period, last Ice Age. During the Stone Age, various cultures emerged, distinguished by differen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Martin Crawford (scholar)
John Martin Crawford (October 18, 1845 – 1916) was an American physician and scholar who translated the Finnish epic ''Kalevala'' into English based on a previous German translation by Franz Anton Schiefner published in 1852, to be published for the first time in 1888. Biography Crawford was born in Herrick, Pennsylvania and taught public school for three years prior to attending college. He enrolled in Lafayette College in 1867 and graduated in 1871. It was there he was inspired by Professor Thomas Conrad Porter to translate the ''Kalevala''. In 1872 Crawford returned to teaching Math and Latin at the Chickering Institute in Ohio. During this time he studied Medicine, receiving three degrees from schools in Cincinnati. In June 1889, Crawford was appointed by President Benjamin Harrison as consul-general of the United States to Russia. He also translated the five volume series "Industries of Russia" published in 1893 for World's Columbian Exposition The World's Columbi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Forsell Kirby
William Forsell Kirby (14 January 1844 – 20 November 1912) was an English entomologist and folklorist. He specialized in the study of the stick insects, describing nearly 70 species and 22 genera. His collection filled 120 cabinets and claimed that on reorganization, it would need 500 drawers. The stick insect '' Phobaeticus kirbyi'' described from Borneo and named by Brunner in 1907 after Kirby is one of the largest stick insects in the world. Life and work Kirby was born in Leicester. He was the eldest son of banker Samuel Kirby and Lydia Forsell. He was educated privately, and became interested in butterflies and moths at an early age. The family moved to Brighton, where he became acquainted with Henry Cooke, Frederick Merrifield and J. N. Winter through the Brighton and Sussex entomological society. He published his first entomological article in 1856. He was elected fellow of the Entomological Society of London in 1861. He published the ''Manual of European Butterfli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
