Finnish poetry

Due to Swedish occupation of Finland, from 1150 to 1809, there has not been much documented on the history of Finnish poetry. Only until the 19th century did efforts pioneered by Elias Lönnrot begin in collecting old folkloric and mythical material in the Northern parts of the country. In 1809 Russia annexed Finland and in doing so imposed military sanctions on Sweden. During this time Russian censorship severely limited the publication of Finnish literature and from 1850 to 1860 imperial decree forbad the publication of any work not dealing with politics or religion including folkloric poems, songs, and tales.[1] Authorities claimed this repression of literature was said to be in the protection of the working classes, the only readers of Finnish poetry, against ‘nonreligious and nonutilitarian’ motives which would dissuade them from work.[1] A morally protective view continued to be held by publishers aligned with the church up until 1964 when restrictions on printing and publication alleviated.[1]

For the most part Russian culture did not interfere with the thematic representation of Finnish poetry as the Russians encouraged any sort of move which distanced them from their former Swedish rulers.[2] Prior to this between 1766 and 1788 folk poetry saw a revival among upper classes who mostly spoke Swedish. Between 1864 to 1870 Aleksis Kivi, a writer and poet, was the first to publish his work in the Finnish language. Since then, national interest in Finnish poetry has only increased as Finnish Universities became increasingly interested in ancient texts in a conscious and collective movement towards national identity.

In the second half of the 19th century August Ahlqvist, known by his pseudonym Oksanen, also had a considerable influence on Finnish poetry providing strict rules about the forms of linguistic expression in an attempt to match if not rival the literary art of other European languages.[3] These were attempts to abandon the ‘beauties’ of the old folk meter in favour of a more ‘elegant and precise’ form of meter well known to Europe. However, in subsequent years, during the 1920’s and 30’s, Ahlqvist’s experimental form of poetry was attacked by many critics and writers because of it’s rhyme and fixed metric patterns despite Ahlqvist’s experience writing poetry in the old folk meter. Alhqvist’s reasoning for advocating the abandonment of the old folk meter came from a pre-emptive fear of Finnish writing sounding anachronistic. He also predicted the importance of stress in future Finnish poetry.[3]

Finnish old folk poetry or oral poetry from the Middle Ages were epic sequences or short songs. They were composed in old Finnish meter, a trochaic tetrameter of eight syllables and their lines are identifiable by two types, a dipodic trochaic line and the broken line.[4] These poems were originally written for Finnish Nobility of the Middle Ages and they reflect universal myths such as the creation of the world from an egg, the Milky Way as being depicted by a humungous tree, and deeds of heroes.[4] However, folksingers had widely not known the meaning of these words until their transcription in the 19th Century.

Seclusion from the Roman Empire allowed ancient beliefs and folk poetry to develop undisturbed. Early 12th century poems centre around a violence and action reminiscent of the last days of Rome. Folk epics tell of the expeditions of Vikings, marauding, plundering and abducting foreign women.[1] Courtly ballads include The Song of Inkeri and Lalmanti, as well as Elina’s death.[5] An interpretation of the Legend of Saint George titled The Song of the Virgin and the Dragon was an ‘attempt to combine old forms with new subjects’.[5]

Sampo is an early creation story about the adventures of the warrior Lemminkäinen, and the tragic hero Kullervo.[6] These stories, belonging to the larger folk epic Kalevala, are mixed with historical as well as mystical themes which has caused speculation on fictionality of the tales’ characters. Many of the lyrics are love songs emotive of Finland’s rural landscapes pulling imagery from its forests, lakes and occasionally village life.[6]

In the 16, 17th and 18th centuries efforts of clergymen hoped to stamp out the songs of old folk poetry due to its pagan origins despite efforts of Bishop Mikael Agricola, who introduced the Reformation into Finland in, in an effort to preserve the language of his people.[7] In the preface to Jacobus Finno’s hymn book of 1582 the churches justification for their disdain towards old folk poetry seemed to be: ‘Because there were no sacred songs for the people to learn, they began to practise pagan rites and to sing shameful, lewd and foolish songs’.[7]

Two centuries later attitudes towards folk poetry changed after scholar Henrick Gabriel Porthan in 1766 began research collecting old material.[7] His advocation inspired serious scholarship among fellow teachers and students until in 1789, a friend Christfrid Ganander published Mythologia Fennica, ‘an encyclopaedia of phenomena associated with folk beliefs and poetry’.[7] Studying folk poetry has become a main resource in understanding and reconstructing Finland’s past.[7] By the 1820’s expeditions to collect such material were already entering the boarders of Russia. A leading figure in this part of history was Lönnrot where he met singers of old folk poetry taking notes of their poems with the idea that the manner of these songs was fragmented in the sense that the Greek epics Illiad and Odyssey were believing that he could combine several epic sequences into one long one poem.[8] This process included the removal of unnecessary Christian imagery, names of people and places in relation to the history of old folklore.[8]

Collection of old folk poetry has continued since the 19th century in the spirit of National Romanticism.[9]

Post WWII Finland underwent an urbanisation which changed poets’ relationships with culture and nature, specifically the forest.[10] Like much of Europe and the western world, 1960’s Finland saw an artistic period of challenging old taboo’s where its poetry become heavily politicised.[6]

Modernist poets, Paavo Haavikko and Pentti Saarikoski, reacted against the war generation drawing influence from T.S Eliot and other Finland-Swedish modernists. Their writing reflects historical parallels among other nations who had lost the war.[11]

British poet and translator Herbert Lomas has written much about Finnish literature. In his review of Lomas’ Contemporary Finnish Poetry, Binham highlights Lomas’ views on ‘the significance of poetry to Finn’s, who “turn to it for solace, inspiration, stimulation to think about themselves, extension of experience and the shaping spirit”’.[11] Contemporary poetry covers a variety of themes mainly concerned with disparity in modern society.

• A translation of the Kalevala