Elias Lönnrot
Elias Lönnrot was a Finnish physician and philologist, born on April 9, 1802, in Sammatti, Finland. While he initially pursued a career in medicine, his profound interest in the Finnish language and folklore led him to dedicate much of his life to preserving the country’s cultural heritage. Lönnrot is best known for compiling the "Kalevala," a seminal collection of Finnish folk literature that has become the national epic of Finland. His efforts were not just about gathering stories; he skillfully edited and connected diverse fragments of oral traditions, often supplying creative transitions to form a cohesive narrative. Throughout his career, he traveled extensively across Finland, parts of Russia, and Lapland, collecting tales and verses to enrich his literary endeavors. Lönnrot’s significant contributions to Finnish literature ultimately earned him a prestigious position as the Chair of Finnish Literature at the University of Helsinki. His work is celebrated for its combination of meticulous research and imaginative reconstruction, highlighting the importance of folklore in shaping national identity.
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Subject Terms
Elias Lönnrot
Finnish poet and folklorist
- Born: April 9, 1802
- Birthplace: Sammatti (now Lohja), Nyland, Swedish Finland
- Died: March 19, 1884
- Place of death: Sammatti (now Lohja), Nyland, Russian Finland
Biography
Elias Lönnrot (LURN-rewt) is one of those little-known individuals who through diligence and unusual ability help to re-create the past glory and artistic history of a nation. Born at Sammatti, Finland, on April 9, 1802, he labored throughout most of his career to preserve the old folk legends and poetry of Finland in readable form. His formal education, at the University of Abo and later at Helsinki, had been in medicine, and he qualified as a physician, but his abiding interest was in philology. By 1827 he was writing articles on the nature of the early Finnish language, and he soon began to collect old legends and folk tales. In 1833 he settled in the rural district of Kajana, ostensibly as a doctor, but most of his time was spent in touring the countryside of Finland, nearby parts of Russia, and even Lapland in search of fragments of old stories and verse to expand his collection of the national literature of Finland.
Lönnrot’s most important work was the Kalevala, a collection of folk literature that became the national epic of Finland. His work went far beyond simply collecting, which in itself was laborious and often had to be done on foot for days at a time; he also had to edit and connect the fragmented items of the epic, and often he needed to supply connective material as well. Most of the source material was preserved only in oral tradition, and his work involved careful research combined with truly creative imagination. He was rewarded for his labors by an appointment to the Chair of Finnish Literature at the University of Helsinki.
Bibliography
Bosley, Keith. The “Kalevala,” an Epic Poem After Oral Tradition by Elias Lönnrot. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989. Includes a translation of Kalevala, introductory materials, and a bibliography concerning Finnish literature.
Collinder, Björn. The Kalavala and Its Background. Stockholm: Almqvist and Wiksell, 1964. A study of Lönnrot’s use of his sources.
DuBois, Thomas. Finnish Folk Poetry and the “Kalevala.” New York: Garland, 1995. Uses ethnopoetics to explore the relationship between Lönnrot’s epic and Karelian and Ingrian folk poetry. Includes a very good bibliography.
Honko, Lauri, ed. Religion, Myth, and Folklore in the World’s Epics: The “Kalevala” and Its Predecessors. New York: Mouton de Gruyter, 1990. A collection of essays focusing on the Kalevala’s mythological significance.
Jones, Michael Owen, ed. The World of the Kalevala. Los Angeles: UCLA Center for the Study of Comparative Folklore and Mythology, 1987. A collection of essays in honor of the 150th anniversary of the publication of the Kalevala, written by folklorists.
Pentikäinen, Juha. Kalevala Mythology. Translated by Ritva Poom. Rev. ed. Bloomington: University of Indiana Press, 1999. A study by an important Finnish folklorist.