Kalevala, The
Kalevala, The (the land of heroes) Finnish epic poem compiled by Elias Lönnrot from oral traditions in Karelia, now part of Russia. The first edition contained 12,078 lines, the second, 22,795.
The word Kalevala is derived from Kaleva, a mythical hero. Kaleva, however, never appears in the epic poem, though his daughter Kalvevatoar and his descendant Kalevalainen are mentioned. The Kalevala consists of 50 runes (poems or songs, sometimes called cantos; the term appended to each section varies with different English translations) varying in length but all in unrhymed alliterative trochaic tetrameter. Here is an example from W. F. Kirby’s translation, which also displays the use of “echo” lines:
Vainamoinen, old and steadfast,
Now resolved upon a journey
To the cold and dreary regions
Of the gloomy land of Pohjola.
The use of a set verse form helps unify the epic, since the sources, from diverse oral traditions, were various folksingers of different ages. The Kalevala is the only modern European epic compiled from songs actually existing among the people. Lönnrot visited the most remote regions of the land and with skillful editing produced the epic. He added a prologue of approximately 100 lines as well as some connecting links to unify the epic.
The first part of the epic (runes 1–10) narrates the birth and adventures of one of the main characters in the poem, Vainamoinen, the son of Luonnotar, daughter of the air. Vainamoinen is a magician, perhaps derived from a shaman in real life, who can work magic through his songs. Shortly after his birth (in the poem he is always portrayed as old) he was challenged to a singing contest by the evil Laplander Joukahainen. The challenge was taken up, and Joukahainen was defeated and plunged into a swamp. To save himself from drowning, Joukahainen promised his sister Aino to Vainamoinen as his wife. Vainamoinen accepted the offer, but Aino did not. She drowned herself to avoid marrying the old culture hero. Not giving up, Vainamoinen went in pursuit of Aino in the river, finding her in the form of a fish. Even in this condition the girl refused and fled back into the water. Vainamoinen then went to Pohjola, the Northland, in search of a wife. While journeying there he was shot at by Joukahainen but escaped with wounds. Vainamoinen reached the land of Pohjola, ruled by the evil mistress Louhi, who told Vainamoinen that she would give him her daughter, the Maiden of Pohjola (the girl’s name is never given in the poem), as a wife if he could construct a magic sampo, a mill that produced grain, salt, and money.
Unable to construct the sampo by his magic songs alone, Vainamoinen called in the smith Ilmarinen (another hero of the poem) to aid him. Ilmarinen consented and produced the magic sampo. As a result, Ilmarinen was given the Maiden of Pohjola as a wife.
The next section of the epic (runes 11–15) narrates the adventures of Lemminkainen, the Don Juan figure in the epic poem. He married Kyllikki but soon discovered that she was unfaithful to him. He divorced her and went to the land of Pohjola to find a new wife. On his way Lemminkainen was murdered by Markahattu, a partly blind cattle herder whom he had insulted. However, the hero was restored to life by the magic spells of his mother (Lemminkainen’s mother remains nameless in the poem).
The next main division (runes 16–25) tells of the marriage of Ilmarinen to the Maiden of Pohjola after performing a series of tasks imposed on him by Louhi, the girl’s mother. The next section (runes 26–30) tells of Lemminkainen’s coming to the wedding, to which he had not been invited. He entered the castle by force, insulted the guests, killed Louhi’s husband, and fled to the island of Sarri. While on the island he slept with all of the women while their husbands were away. Lemminkainen fled the island when the husbands returned. He then set out for Pohjola with his companionin-arms Kurra (Tiera), but they were defeated in their attempt to destroy the land.
The poem then takes on a tragic cast with the tale of Kullervo (runes 31–36). Kullervo is a tragic hero who raped his sister and then committed suicide. Before he killed himself, however, he murdered the Maiden of Pohjola. The next section (runes 37–49) tells how Vainamoinen, Ilmarinen, and Lemminkainen journeyed to Pohjola to steal the magic sampo. In this adventure the sampo was lost in a lake. A battle then ensued between Louhi’s men and the three heroes, in which the final victory was given to Vainamoinen.
The last rune (50) tells how Marjatta, similar to the Virgin Mary, bore a son who became king of Karelia. Vainamoinen then departed the land. The last rune displays a good deal of Christian legendary material, which also is scattered throughout other sections of the poem, though the epic as a whole is certainly not Christian.
The Kalevala had tremendous influence on the national identity of the Finns, coming at a time of political and cultural upheaval against Russian domination. It appeared at one of the high points of European Romanticism, when each national group was seeking heroes in its past history and legend. The two most influential Finnish artists who have been deeply moved by the splendid epic are Jean Sibelius, one of the major composers of the early part of the twentieth century, and Akseli GallenKallela, a painter who illustrated many of the scenes of the epic poem. The American poet Longfellow read a German translation of the poem that inspired the verse form of his Song of Hiawatha. The American poet not only used the Kalevala verse form but also recast some of its episodes, such as the departure of Hiawatha, modeled on the departure of Vainamoinen in the Finnish work.
SOURCE:
Encyclopedia of World Mythology and Legend, Third Edition – Written by Anthony S. Mercatante & James R. Dow– Copyright © 2009 by Anthony S. Mercatante