Julius Leopold Fredrik Krohn (19 April 1835 – 28 August 1888) was a Finnish folk poetry researcher, professor of Finnish literature, poet, hymn writer, translator and journalist. He was born in Viipuri and was of Baltic German origin. Krohn worked as a lecturer on

Finnish language Finnish (endonym: or ) is a Finnic languages, Finnic language of the Uralic languages, Uralic language family, spoken by the majority of the population in Finland and by ethnic Finns outside of Finland. Finnish is one of the two official langu ...

in Helsinki University from the year 1875 and as a supernumerary professor from 1885. He was one of the most notable researchers into Finnish folk poetry in the 19th century. His native language was German.

Life

Krohn's mother was Julie Dannenberg, a daughter of the Baltic German family at Kiiskilä manor near Vyborg. The versatile and talented Julie spoke eight languages and played the piano brilliantly. The other half of Dannenberg's family was of Ingrian background.

Works and influence

Krohn mostly preferred not to write under his foreign surname, but either adopted a

pen name A pen name or nom-de-plume is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen name may be used to make the author's na ...

or worked as part of a collective, such as the fennomans, of which he was a leading member. Using pseudonyms, he translated many of Johan Ludvig Runeberg's works into Finnish, and researchers also concluded that he penned the Finnish lyrics for the Finnish national anthem. Under his most notable pseudonym Suonio, he published poetry; e.g. ''Mansikoita ja mustikoita'' 1856–61 ("Strawberries and blueberries") and ''Kuun tarinoita'' ("Tales of the moon"). As Suonio, he worked as editor of '' Suomen Kuvalehti'' and translated many of

Sir Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European literature, European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'' (18 ...

's novels, such as '' A Legend of Montrose''.

Scientific work

An important contribution to a history of Finnish literature was Krohn's doctoral thesis ''Suomenkielinen runollisuus ruotsinvallan aikana'' (1862). Krohn was also the first to develop a scientific method for the study of

folklore Folklore is the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people, culture or subculture. This includes oral traditions such as Narrative, tales, myths, legends, proverbs, Poetry, poems, jokes, and other oral traditions. This also ...

, the ''historic-geographic method''. This method, which is connected with nationalist understandings of folk culture, involves careful comparison of variant texts of an item of folklore to the end of identifying the "original" version (as well as its origin). Julius Krohn died by drowning in Bay of Vyborg in a

yachting Yachting is recreational boating activities using medium/large-sized boats or small ships collectively called yachts. Yachting is distinguished from other forms of boating mainly by the priority focus on comfort and luxury, the dependence on ma ...

accident at the age of 53. His work with

and the Finnish language was continued by his son Kaarle Krohn, who published much of his scientific work posthumously. This work was further developed by their student Antti Aarne.

Children

Apart from Krohn's son Kaarle, mentioned above, his son Ilmari became a composer of church music. His daughter ''Aino'' married the

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

n nationalist Oskar Kallas and was known as a writer by the name Aino Kallas. His daughter Helmi Krohn, also an author, married Eemil Nestor Setälä, later the acting head of state of Finland in November 1917, after the abdication of

Nicholas II of Russia Nicholas II (Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov; 186817 July 1918) or Nikolai II was the last reigning Emperor of Russia, Congress Poland, King of Congress Poland, and Grand Duke of Finland from 1 November 1894 until Abdication of Nicholas II, hi ...

Publications

*
Etext books on-line
at the

Project Gutenberg Project Gutenberg (PG) is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, as well as to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks." It was founded in 1971 by American writer Michael S. Hart and is the oldest digital li ...

site **
Yrjö Aukusti Wallin ja hänen matkansa Arabiassa
' (in Finnish) Non fiction work on the ethnographer and adventurer Georg August Wallin **
Maksimilian Aukusti Myhrberg
' (in Finnish) **
Vanha tarina Montrosesta
' Finnish translation of '' A Legend of Montrose'' by Sir

Walter Scott Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European literature, European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'' (18 ...

References

On the history of comparison in folklore studies
* ttp://www.helsinki.fi/yliopistonhistoria/oivallukset/6_oivallus.htm Maantieteellis-historiallinen metodiat the

University of Helsinki The University of Helsinki (, ; UH) is a public university in Helsinki, Finland. The university was founded in Turku in 1640 as the Royal Academy of Åbo under the Swedish Empire, and moved to Helsinki in 1828 under the sponsorship of Alexander ...

site (in Finnish)

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Krohn, Julius 1835 births 1888 deaths Writers from Vyborg People from Viipuri Province (Grand Duchy of Finland) Finnish people of Baltic German descent Finnish scientists 19th-century Finnish poets Finnish Lutheran hymnwriters Finnish journalists Fennomans Translators from Swedish Translators from German Translators from English Translators from Hungarian Translators to Finnish 19th-century Finnish journalists Male journalists 19th-century translators 19th-century Finnish male writers Finnish male poets Finnish folklorists 19th-century Lutherans