The Kalevala: The Epic Poem Of Finland : 9781495320187

The Kalevala is the great Finnish epic, which like the Iliad and the Odyssey, grew out of a rich oral tradition with prehistoric roots. During the first millennium of our era, speakers of Uralic languages (those outside the Indo-European group) who had settled in the Baltic region of Karelia, that straddles the border of eastern Finland and north-west Russia, developed an oral poetry that was to last into the nineteenth century. This poetry provided the basis of the Kalevala. It was assembled in the 1840s by the Finnish scholar Elias L?nnrot, who took dictation' from the performance of a folk singer, in much the same way as our great collections from the past, from Homeric poems to medieval songs and epics, have probably been set down. Published in 1849, it played a central role in the march towards Finnish independence and inspired some of Sibelius's greatest works.

Author: Elias Lonnrot

Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform

Publication Date: Jan 25, 2014

Number of Pages: 292 pages

Binding: Paperback or Softback

ISBN-10: 1495320189

ISBN-13: 9781495320187