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The 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 example, J ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Addison Porter
John Addison Porter (March 15, 1822 – August 25, 1866) was an American professor of chemistry and physician. He is the namesake of the John Addison Porter Prize and was a founder of the Scroll and Key senior society of Yale University. Academic life Porter was born in Catskill, New York.''Obituary Record of Graduates of Yale University'', Yale University, 1866-7, New Haven, p. 246. Porter graduated from Yale College in 1842. At Yale, he, along with William Kingsley, publisher of '' The New Englander'', and eleven others, founded the senior or secret society Scroll and Key and incorporated the Kingsley Trust Association in 1841. He and moved to Philadelphia for further study. In 1844 he became a professor at Delaware College and remained there until 1847 when he moved to Germany to study at the University of Giessen under Justus von Liebig. In 1850 he returned to the United States and became a professor at Brown University. He left in 1852 to take the place of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Protagonist
A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a story contains a subplot, or is a narrative made up of several stories, then each subplot may have its own protagonist. The protagonist is the character whose fate is most closely followed by the reader or audience, and who is opposed by the antagonist. The antagonist provides obstacles and complications and creates conflicts that test the protagonist, revealing the strengths and weaknesses of the protagonist's character, and having the protagonist develop as a result. A particularly noble, virtuous, or accomplished protagonist is commonly called a ''hero,'' though the terms are not synonyms. Etymology The term ''protagonist'' comes , combined of (, 'first') and (, 'actor, competitor'), which stems from (, 'contest') via (, 'I conten ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tolkien's Legendarium
Tolkien's legendarium is the body of J. R. R. Tolkien's mythopoeic writing, unpublished in his lifetime, that forms the background to his ''The Lord of the Rings'', and which his son Christopher summarized in his compilation of '' The Silmarillion'' and documented in his 12-volume series ''The History of Middle-earth''. The legendarium's origins reach back to 1914, when Tolkien began writing poems and story sketches, drawing maps, and inventing languages and names as a private project to create a mythology for England. The earliest story, "The Voyage of Earendel, the Evening Star", is from 1914; he revised and rewrote the legendarium stories for most of his adult life. '' The Hobbit'' (1937), Tolkien's first published novel, was not originally part of the larger mythology but became linked to it. Both ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings'' (1954 and 1955) are set in the Third Age of Middle-earth, while virtually all of his earlier writing had been set in the fir ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Finland's Declaration Of Independence
The Finnish Declaration of Independence (; ) was adopted by the Parliament of Finland on . It declared Finland to be independent from Russia, with reference to a bill simultaneously delivered to the Parliament to make Finland an independent republic instead. Declaring independence was only part of the long process leading to the independence of Finland. The declaration is celebrated as Independence Day in Finland. History Revolution in Russia After the February Revolution and the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II, Grand Duke of Finland, on 2 March (15 March N.S.) 1917, the personal union between Russia and Finland lost its legal base – at least according to the view in Helsinki. There were negotiations between the Russian Provisional Government and Finnish authorities. The resulting proposal, approved by the Provisional Government, was heavily rewritten in the ''Eduskunta'' (Finnish Parliament) and transformed into the so-called Power Act (Finnish: ''Valtalaki'', Sw ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Finland's Language Strife
Finland's language strife (; ) was a major conflict in mid-19th century Finland. Both the Swedish and Finnish languages were commonly used in Finland at the time, associated with descendants of Swedish colonisation and leading to class tensions among the speakers of the different languages. It became acute in the mid-19th century. Background Finland had once been under Swedish rule. Swedish (with some Latin) was the language of administration and education in the Swedish Realm. Swedish was therefore the most-used language of administration and higher education among the Finns. To gain higher education, one had to learn Swedish, and Finnish was considered by the upper classes to be a "language of peasants". Immigration of Swedish peasants to Finland's coastal regions also boosted the status of Swedish by sheer number of speakers. Although Mikael Agricola had started written Finnish with '' Abckiria'' in the 1500s, and a Finnish translation of the Civil Code of 1734 was p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Finnish National Identity
Finnish nationalism was a central force in the history of Finland starting in the 19th century. The Finnish national awakening in the mid-19th century was the result of members of the Swedish-speaking upper classes deliberately choosing to promote Finnish culture and language as a means of nation building—i.e. to establish a feeling of unity between all people in Finland including (and not of least importance) between the ruling elite and the ruled peasantry. The publication in 1835 of the Finnish national epic, the ''Kalevala'', a collection of traditional myths and legends which is the folklore common to the Finns and to the Karelian people, stirred the nationalism that later led to Finland's independence from Russia. Nationalism was contested by the pro-Russian element and by the internationalism of the labor movement. The result was a tendency toward class conflict over nationalism, but in the early 1900s the working classes split into the Valpas (class struggle emphasis) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Seven Brothers
''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the most frequently used word in the English language; studies and analyses of texts have found it to account for seven percent of all printed English-language words. It is derived from gendered articles in Old English which combined in Middle English and now has a single form used with nouns of any gender. The word can be used with both singular and plural nouns, and with a noun that starts with any letter. This is different from many other languages, which have different forms of the definite article for different genders or numbers. Pronunciation In most dialects, "the" is pronounced as (with the voiced dental fricative followed by a schwa) when followed by a consonant sound, and as (homophone of the archaic pronoun ''thee' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aleksis Kivi
Aleksis Kivi (; born Alexis Stenvall; 10 October 1834 – 31 December 1872) was a Finnish writer who wrote the first significant novel in the Finnish language, '' Seitsemän veljestä'' (''Seven Brothers''), published in 1870. He is also known for his 1864 play, '' Nummisuutarit'' (''Heath Cobblers''). Although Kivi was among the very earliest writers of prose and lyrics in Finnish, he is still considered one of the greatest. Kivi is regarded as the national writer of Finland and his birthday, 10 October, is celebrated as Finnish Literature Day. Life Aleksis Stenvall was born in Palojoki village, Nurmijärvi, Grand Duchy of Finland. His parents were the village tailor Erik Johan Stenvall (1798–1866) and Anna-Kristiina Hamberg (1793–1863). Aleksis had three older brothers – Johannes, Emanuel, and Albert – and a younger sister, Agnes, who died in 1851 at the age of 13. In 1846, Kivi left for school in Helsinki. In 1859, he was accepted into the University of Helsinki ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Tales Of Ensign Stål
''The Tales of Ensign Stål'' (Swedish language, Swedish original title: , , or year 2007 translation ) is an epic poem written in Swedish by the Finland-Swedish author Johan Ludvig Runeberg, the national poet of Finland. It was published in two cycles, in 1848 and in 1860. The poem describes the events of the Finnish War (1808–1809) in which Sweden lost its eastern territories; these would become incorporated into the Russian Empire as the Grand Duchy of Finland. Description The first part of ''Ensign Stål'' was first published in the Revolutions of 1848, revolutionary year 1848, the second in 1860. It shaped Finnish identity and was later given out free during the Winter War to raise patriotic spirit. The first chapter of the poem also became the Maamme, national anthem of Finland. The name of the title character, "Stål", is Swedish for steel, a typical example of a so-called "soldier's name". These were names, often consisting of simple words for traits or traits relate ... [...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] |
Karelia
Karelia (; Karelian language, Karelian and ; , historically Коре́ла, ''Korela'' []; ) is an area in Northern Europe of historical significance for Russia (including the Soviet Union, Soviet era), Finland, and Sweden. It is currently divided between northwestern Russia (the Federal subjects of Russia, federal subjects of the Republic of Karelia and Leningrad Oblast) and Finland (the Regions of Finland, regions of South Karelia, North Karelia, and the eastern portion of Kymenlaakso). Use of name Various regions may be called Karelia. Finnish Karelia is a historical province of Finland and is now divided between Finland and Russia, often called just ''Karjala'' in Finnish. The eastern part of this chiefly Lutheran area was ceded to Russia after the Winter War of 1939–40. The Republic of Karelia is a Russian federal subject, including East Karelia, with a chiefly Russian Orthodox population. Within present-day Finland, ''Karjala'' refers to the Regions of Finland, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
