As a Finn it's both delightful and also bit sad to read the translation. First of all it's great that this is available for international friends but it's sad how much is lost in translation and how it's impossible to translate the beauty of ancient Finnish. It's quite far from the language we speak also and might be bit hard for us to understand but once you get into the flow (preferably by singing the poems in their original tones) there's nothing quite like them (judge yourself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRdCsEVFd4I)
Here's the first verses as an example. Hope someone can enjoy the rhymes and rhythm without understanding the language.
"MASTERED by desire impulsive,
By a mighty inward urging,
I am ready now for singing,
Ready to begin the chanting
Of our nation's ancient folk-song
Handed down from by-gone ages.
In my mouth the words are melting,
From my lips the tones are gliding,"
It never ceases to amaze me how much "metadata" you can pack into the Finnish language, and how it directly affects one's thinking.
As a native Swedish-speaker, I occasionally find myself thinking in Finnish when needing to look at a problem from a different angle. One's sense how things are positioned and headed changes completely when describing thing's in Finnish than in Swedish.
Funnily, I do this with Cebuano (which is much more verbose than my native English) but the code switch is super helpful to reframe context and shed idiomisms.
Literally never heard of it so for any others in the dark
Cebuano (/sɛˈbwɑːnoʊ/ seb-WAH-noh), natively called by its generic term Bisaya or Binisaya (both translated into English as Visayan, though this should not be confused with other Bisayan languages)[5] and sometimes referred to in English sources as Cebuan (/sɛˈbuːən/ seb-OO-ən), is an Austronesian language spoken in the southern Philippines
The grammar and vocabulary tend to require more syllables and letters (it uses a similar alphabet to English). So a book's printing might require 50% - 75% more pages.
But its not a universally longer language. As an example, prepositions are typically optional ('sa' being the generic preposition). So, texting from dual speakers (most Filipinos in the Philippines speak a local language, Filipino, and quite often English) mixes all three to become exceptionally compact. This intermixing from multiple domains for complete, almost fractal, symbology translates to a lot of domains. I've used code switching for system architecture and mathematical proofs approaches several times over the decades.
Is it, or is it that you aren't a professional poet? (no offence[1]). I imagine a poet trying to program something non-trivial and wondering how the IT guys get it just flowing off their fingers. Poetry done well takes skill, time and experience which maybe you don't have yet.
The pros do something I love and it seems like magic the way it comes out, but then, they do a very different job
Green upon the flooded Avon shone the after-storm-wet-sky
Quick the struggling withy branches let the leaves of Autumn fly
And a star shone over Bristol, wonderfully far and high.
- John Betjeman
It may not be professional, but I don't think it'll be found wanting for much.
Note, though: I said translating things from an agglutinative language with very free word order into a more analytical one with restricted word order is torturous, not that you can't write good poetry in English. Merely that the translation itself is really, really hard because of the format differences.
I'm going to be really brief here and careful also as I'm in no place to critique or even comment being a monoglot non-poet, so take this as intended... English word order and general form can be messed with and twisted perhaps more than you think, even if it will never be another language. Look at the Graves poem here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pararhyme
I can't take a better shot at what you've written in your other comment because I can't get a whole picture of what it's trying to say, it seems a rush of images rather than a scene, but as one image that makes sense (gold corrupting, I think)
I bowed to gold, bowing to gold I grasped at the netherworld
then
I bow low to gold, and bowing, seize the underworld
Or perhaps not. Anyway that's too much from me already. I probably deserve the coming downvote.
This is of course (understandably) missing the alliterative phrasing that’s present on almost every line and is a major ingredient of the Kalevala poetic form.
I use to joke that all the Finnish I know I learned from reading product labels. Here in Scandinavia, for a lot of convenience store products they don't bother making different boxes for each country, so there's a "Nyhet! Nyhed! Uusi!" breakfast cereal from Nestlé containing "Havre/Havre/Kaura" etc. And of course "Ei saa peittää" (do not cover!) and "Ei lapsille alle 3 vuoden" (not for children under 3 years).
But these words are familiar, and they're not from product labels! Turns out I heard them in a Rajaton song ("Nouse Lauluni"). I should have guessed it was from Kalevala!
Yes, one of their songs is literally called "The First Poem" (or the First Rune, maybe, which is an oft used and awful translation, IMO. In modern Finnish, "rune" very firmly means ᛋᛏᚢᚠᚠ᛬ᛚᛁᚲᛖ᛬ᚦᛁᛋ)
The more difficult part about Finnish is that it exists in a state of diglossia. The spoken language is not written, and the written language is not spoken (apart from formal settings, such as the news and such).
I don't think the cases are ultimately the difficult thing - it's some upfront work, but ultimately Finnish is agglutinative. That is, one adjustment to a word does one thing, and no more, unlike Romance languages.
The langauge is also pretty regular, and whether you're using puhekieli (lit. spoken language) or kirjakieli (lit. "book lamguage"), what you see written is what you can say and be understood.
Some often not mentioned difficult parts include the fact that Finnish has both front and back vowels, and that the language allows you to use long vowels and doubled consonants very freely, which makes it difficult for a foreigner to pronounce.
Ulvoin kuuta mustaa, ulvoin kuuta, kutsuin kuolemaa
Ei kiiras roihua kuin minä roihuan
Tusina sakaraa on liikaa kaikkeutta kuvastamaan
Kumarsin kultaa, kultaa kumartaen tartuin tuonelaan
Ei valo lankea kuin minä lankean
Siivetkin kutittaa voi hetken, voi, minä en!
Niin tiimalasi kääntyy, kääntyy alaspäin
vanhin voitehista kanssa veren käsikkäin
Hiekka valuu maahan kylmään uinumaan, vaan
ei unet idä ilman unelmien nukkujaa
Kiitin hulluudesta, kiitin julmuudesta jumalaa
Ei meret kuohua kuin minä kuohuan
Aallot voi armoaan pois jakaa, voi, minä en!
Niin tiimalasi kääntyy, kääntyy alaspäin
vanhin voitehista kanssa veren käsikkäin
Hiekka valuu maahan kylmään uinumaan, vaan
ei unet idä, idä ilman, ilman unelmien, unelmien nukkujaa
Niin tiimalasi kääntyy, kääntyy alaspäin
vanhin voitehista kanssa veren käsikkäin
Hiekka valuu maahan kylmään uinumaan, vaan
ei unet idä, idä ilman
ei, ei, ei unet idä, idä ilman unelmien nukkujaa
Attempt at proper English:
Dreamer of dreams
At the black moon, I howled, at the moon I howled and called for death
Blaze the Fire won't, like I blaze
A dozen aisles is too much, to depict creation
I bowed to gold, bowing to gold I grasped at the netherworld
Fall the light won't, like I will fall
Even wings can tickle for a moment, but, not I!
Thus the hourglass will turn, turn downwards
The oldest of medicines, hand in hand with blood
The sand pours to slumber on the cold hard ground, but
dreams won't sprout without the dreams' dreamer
Thanked for madness, I thanked God for cruelty
Seas won't foam, like I foam
Waves can give away their mercy, but, not I!
Thus the hourglass will turn, turn downwards
The oldest of medicines, hand in hand with blood
The sand pours to slumber on the cold hard ground, but
dreams won't sprout, won't sprout without, without the dreams', dreams' dreamer
Thus the hourglass will turn, turn downwards
The oldest of medicines, hand in hand with blood
The sand pours to slumber on the cold hard ground, but
dreams won't sprout, won't sprout without,
no, no, no dreams' won't sprout without their dreamer
Päivä päättyy hurmeiseen punaan
Hurmaavampaan purppuraan
Silti seisoo naulittuna
Hahmo surullisen prinsessan
Harvoin puhuu, harvemmin hymyilee
Häävalssit häntä ei vie
Sydänystävinään saattoväk',
Kirkkomaa ja hiekkainen tie
Lailla päivänkorennon liitää
Hän päällä vaienneen veen
Kun pilvien viulut hetkeksi tanssiin saattelee
Ja kun musiikki päättyy hän laskee
Päästänsä hiljaisen seppeleen
Josta auringonkukat ja kuutamonliljat varisee
Akkunalla pisara veren
Kruunu keisarin seuranaan
Sydämessä on pauhu veren
Rantakalliot kasvoinaan
Hän hennoilla harteillaan kantaa
Mekkoa kuin maailmaa
Perintönään raskas mieli on
Ja aatosten autiomaa
Lailla päivänkorennon liitää
Hän päällä vaienneen veen
Kun pilvien viulut hetkeksi tanssiin saattelee
Ja kun musiikki päättyy hän laskee
Päästänsä hiljaisen seppeleen
Josta auringonkukat ja kuutamonliljat varisee
Lailla päivänkorennon liitää
Hän päällä vaienneen veen
Kun pilvien viulut hetkeksi tanssiin saattelee
Ja kun musiikki päättyy hän laskee
Päästänsä hiljaisen seppeleen
Josta auringonkukat ja kuutamonliljat varisee
Pois varisee
Funeralheart
The day ends in a gore-tinged red
In a more charming crimson
Still stands as if nailed in place
The figure of a mournful princess
Rarely talks, less still smiles
Wedding waltzes don't lead her
As her soulmates, mourners
The churchyard and a gravelly road
Like a mayfly she glides
Over waters that've fallen quiet
When the clouds' violins lead into a dance for a moment
And as the music ends she lowers
Off her head a quiet bouquet
From which fall sunflowers and moonlilies
On the sill a drop of blood
As its company a kaiser's crown
Her heart's filled by the roar of blood
With shorecliffs for a face
On her frail shoulders she carries
A dress as though it were the whole world
Her inheritance a heavy mind
And the barren land of thoughts
Like a mayfly she glides
Over waters that've fallen quiet
When the clouds' violins lead into a dance for a moment
And as the music ends she lowers
Off her head a quiet bouquet
From which sunflowers and moonlilies drizzle
Like a mayfly she glides
Over waters fallen quiet
When the clouds' violins lead into a dance for a moment
And when the music ends she lowers
Off her head a quiet bouquet
From which sunflowers and moonlilies fall
Fall off
Translator's note: "Verenpisara" (lit. "bloodsdrop" is a name for fuchsia. "Kaiser's crown" is also a flower)
Kalevala is a weird and amazing work. It is somewhat disjoint since it is assembled from various oral traditional and made into a single "epic" narrative by Elias Lönnrot. Scholars are still arguing about how much of the writing is Lönnrot himself and how much is his sources.
The Kullervo cycle is a particulary harrowing sequence, which inspired Tolkien to write his own version of the story in English.
Finnish scholars have said that "Kalevala is a prison of folk poetry" because it has become a canon that sidelined everything else. Kalevala contains what was considered great poetry in the 1800s. It has been sanitized to match norms of that time. There is much more more material.
Even the Kanteletar, the sister opus for Kalevala compiled by Lönnrot has been ignored.
That's a common complaint about collection work. I've heard it about an epic poem we have in Norway (not on the scope of Kalevala), Draumkvedet, or the song of the dream. Molkte Moe published a "restored" version in the 1890s, which I think is very good. But the purists complained that it supplanted the oral versions, of which there were many.
(The final part of Draumkvedet, the "beautitudes" section listing good deeds and their rewards in the afterlife, is conspicuously similar to the Lyke-wake dirge to me.)
Kalevala is a pretty extraordinary text. If you’re looking for an epub of the same translation I put one together for SE last year.[1] The Crawford translation was the most lyrical I could find.
It’s also worth reading up on Lönnrot’s linguistic / ethnological expeditions that he made to compile the text.[2]
Also, for those who speak Finnish, the materials that Lönnrot and others gathered are nowadays freely available online at the Suomen Kansan Vanhat Runot database: https://skvr.fi/
The Kalevala played an important role in the development of Finnish national identity, which the Russian empire slightly encouraged in order to make it more difficult for the Swedes to retake Finland, which had only recently been ceded to Russia at the time. Which is kind of ironic in a way, given the events of 1917.
The epic heavily inspired Tolkien (who ended up adopting a number of Finnish influences in his elvish languages) and Jean Sibelius (himself born to a Swedish-speaking family, although Swedish-speaking Finnish nationalists were not uncommon), Finland's foremost composer after whom the both-loved-and-hated music composition software is named. His most famous work based on a story from the Kalevala is probably the Swan of Tuonela: https://youtu.be/HjyLWoJvtME
The radio series The Forum from the BBC discussed the The Kalevala in a 2021 episode (it's free to download). Three experts discuss The Kalevala with a stimulating discussion.
"When the Kalevala was published in 1835, Finland had a distinct cultural and linguistic identity but it had always been part of either the Swedish or the Russian empire. Neither did Finland have much of a literary tradition, but as the 19th-century progressed the Kalevala took on a symbolic role as the representation of a Finnish identity that fed into the movement for Finnish independence. Rooted in the folk culture of the Karelia region, a travelling doctor shaped the song texts into a story in a way which is still being debated today."
This is pretty cool, seeing the Kalevala on HN. This book was in my childhood home all the time because of Finnish ancestry on my mother’s side and the fact that Eino Friberg [1] was my great uncle who wrote the 1988/1989 English translation. I have only browsed the contents of the book though. This reminded me that I should really take a look at it again!
I think I first made my entry into some Kalevalan topics from researching where the Forgotten Realms gods came from. Mielikki was somewhat literally taken, "Illmater" was a weird one, from a air goddess to a (male) god of suffering.
But yeah, the Russian movies from MST3K were some of my series favorites.
No one does. Sampo is basically just a magical MacGuffin that brings wealth to whoever has it. In Kalevala it is usually understood as a mill that creates infinite grain, salt and money, but different folk stories have different interpretations.
Don Rosa wrote a Kalevala-based Scrooge McDuck story (The Quest for Kalevala), and a "mill that creates infinite grain, salt and money" (gold) is of course an ideal object of desire for ol' Scrooge.
You are not alone! Scholars are still debating it. It is some kind of magical device which create wealth, but there is a number of very different theories raging from a magical mill to the "pillar of the world".
I remember it from watching some weird black and white movie as a kid on some communist TV station. There was a long haired old man chanting "Kalevala show yourself" over and over again (all foreign stuff was subtitled for us). Nothing else stuck :-)
(Edit: it's possible it was Sampo, even though that seems to be in color. We just didn't have color TVs back then).
FWIW, The Kalevala and Kalevipoeg, the national epic of Estonia, are linked in many ways (not surprising since we are neighboring countries, and the languages are extremely similar).
For example, Kalevipoeg swims to Finland over the gulf (50 miles) to find his kidnapped mother. He visits Ilmarine, the famous Finnish blacksmith -- also a character in Kalevala (Ilmarinen) --, wanting to buy a sword. A deal is made and followed by a feast -- during which, however, Kalevipoeg manages to fell the head of Ilmarine's son using that same sword. Ilmarine curses the special sword that took him 7 years to forge.
The opening strophe of Kalevipoeg also mentions Vanemuine, the god of music ("Lend me your zither, O Vanemuine!"), which is very probably derived from Väinamöinen. In Estonia, I suppose everybody knows this sentence; one may occasionally hear it paraphrased in spoken language. (So... If you come to Estonia to launch a startup, maybe greeting your companions with "Laena mulle kannelt, Vanemuine!" would break some ice... or, not.)
An English translation of Kalevipoeg (1895, by W.F. Kirby) is available on Sacred Texts as well. Not the actual 19,000+ verses, but an apparently very deep contextual explanation of the myths and surrounding culture. Great addition, even if you're actually interested in the Finnish Kalevala: https://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/hoe/index.htm
Really interesting to see something like this on the front page of HN!
I'm Indian guy and I have always been super into mythology since I was a kid. I remember reading an English version of this when I was in 5th or 6th grade and it kind of traumatized me with some of the tragic aspects of the story, but overall it was awesome. It also got me into Ensiferum and various metal bands lol.
Huge fan of Indian, Egyptian, Nordic, and N. & S. American mythology.
Here's the first verses as an example. Hope someone can enjoy the rhymes and rhythm without understanding the language.
"Mieleni minun tekevi, aivoni ajattelevi lähteäni laulamahan, saa'ani sanelemahan, sukuvirttä suoltamahan, lajivirttä laulamahan. Sanat suussani sulavat, puhe'et putoelevat, kielelleni kerkiävät, hampahilleni hajoovat."
"MASTERED by desire impulsive, By a mighty inward urging, I am ready now for singing, Ready to begin the chanting Of our nation's ancient folk-song Handed down from by-gone ages. In my mouth the words are melting, From my lips the tones are gliding,"