The Finnish author Elias Lönnrot (1802-1884) is maybe best known for writing what is considered to be Finland’s national epic; [LINK]Kalevala[/LINK]. His literary achievements also include other works of importance, compiled during a time when fiction written in Finnish was scarce.

After more than 600 years of Swedish ruling Swedish was the administrative language in Finland. The nobility, the middle classes and the merchants were using Swedish in daily dealings.In 1804, the newspaper, Åbo Tidning actually stated that Finnish poetry was in danger of becoming extinct as literature for people with education. At that time there was only one learned man who wrote poetry in Finnish; Jaakko Juteini.

1802-1830

Lönnrot was born in 1802 in Sammatti in Finland as the eighth child of a tailor and his wife. His schooling was a bit sporadic due to lack of funding, and he would occasionally work as a tailor himself. In 1822 at the age of 20, three years later than others of his age, Lönnrot finally completed the exams that would qualify him for university studies. During his years at school Lönnrot had learnt to speak and write Swedish.¹ He had also gained excellent knowledge of Latin and some knowledge of Greek and Hebrew. He had also gotten acquainted with the major works of classical literature, which became his main interest.

As Lönnrot began his studies at the University of Turku² he concentrated on literature. One of his teachers; Reinhold von Becker, was to inspire in him a keen, some may say burning, interest in Finnish folk poems.

During the school holidays Lönnrot worked as a tutor in the Laukko mansion situated south of the city Tampere. At the time a folk poem from the late Middle Ages was still being told in this area of Finland, a poem about the death of Elina. This is probably how Lönnrot first came in contact with live ancient folk poetry, and it was around this time that he began taking notes and writing down poems.

In 1827 Lönnrot wrote a dissertation for his Masters in Latin titled De Väinämöine, priscorum Fennorum numine About Väinämöinen, the god of the old Finns. During his research for the paper Lönnrot became well acquainted with the hitherto collected Finnish folk poetry. In the autumn of 1827 the city of Turku – and the university – were destroyed in a great fire, and Lönnrot began planning his first journey with the intention to a more systematical collecting of folk poems.

In 1828 the University of Turku was expanded to Helsinki ³ and somewhat surprisingly Lönnrot started studying medicine instead. The reason was probably a desire to create a financially stable career, but he still continued pursuing his studies of Finnish folk poetry alongside with his medical studies. In the spring and summer of 1828 Lönnrot travelled to the regions Tavastland, Savolax and the Finnish part of Karelia, and this resulted in no less than 300 poetry notes.

1830 -1840

During the years 1829-1831 Lönnrot continued his medical studies while publishing four booklets in Finnish titled Kantele taikka Suomen kansan sekä vanhoja että nykyisempiä Runoja ja Lauluja (Kantele⁴ or old as well as newer poems and songs of the Finnish people). He began working together with other young academics interested in folk poetry and in 1831 this, together with the regular discussions in a ’Saturday society’ resulted in the establishing of Suomalaisten Kirjallisuuden Seura (The Finnish Literature Society) – a society that would become of great importance to the Finnish cultural life. In 1831 Lönnrot received a scholarship from the Society to further collect and publish folk poems. He only got as far as to the Russian boarder though before being called back by the Medical board to help fight a strain of Asian bacteria.

In 1832 Lönnrot wrote a thesis in Swedish for a doctorate titled Afhandling om finnarnes magiska medicin (Thesis over the magical medicine of the Finns). He also made a third travel to the Russian parts of Karelia and spent a couple of days busily taking notes before having to return back home when he ran out of money. He made plans for a fifth booklet of the Kantele series but had to pursue his medical career instead.

In 1833 Lönnrot became the district doctor in the small town of Kajana in the north-east of Finland, where he was to work as a doctor for two decades while continuing to collect and publish Finnish folk poems. The town was ideally situated for further travels into the Russian part of Karelia, and already in the same year Lönnrot made another journey, his so far most successful one when it came to results.

By this time Lönnrot had gathered so much material that it was time to start working on it and systemizing it in order to create an integrated piece of work – or, in his own words: ’a collection equivalent with a half Homer’. By the end of the year Lönnrot had finished the first draft for a Finnish epic, a 'pre'-Kalevala, consisting of 16 songs and more than 5,000 verse lines. It was however never published because Lönnrot decided to make another journey.

In 1834 Lönnrot travelled to eastern Karelia on the Russian side of the boarder. He stayed for just eleven days but gathered more material than during all his previous travels put together. He also got to interview one of the most eminent runo-singers ever; Arhippa Perttunen in Vuokkoniemi, who supplied Lönnrot with plenty of material. He sang [LINK]runo songs[/LINK] for Lönnrot for several days, but said it was a pity that Lönnrot had not visited while Perttunen's father, 'the great Ivan', still lived. His father could have gone on singing for even longer. Lönnrot felt that the new material gathered during this journey was so valuable that it had to be included in the epic, and he began working on integrating it.

In 1835 the Finnish epic Kalevala taikka vanhoja Karjalan runoja Suomen kansan muinoisista ajoista - Kalevalaor old Karelian poems about the pre-historic times fo the Finnish people was finally published. This work is usually called the ’old’ Kalevala and consists of 32 songs, with approximately 12,000 verse lines – but it was to be just the beginning.

Lönnrot made a new journey to gather poems in the autumn of 1835 and then another one in 1836-37, the longest one so far. He also started receiving contributions from other collectors, the most valuable ones from a man named D. E. D. Europaeus who had discovered the rich poetry in the region of Ingermanland. In 1847 Europaeus brought 2,800 poems from this region, among others the powerful Kullervo poems. Lönnrot started planning on a new and enlarged version of Kalevala.

All in all Lönnrot made eleven journeys of gathering and research, from south Estonia to northern Finnish Lapland, from Tavastland in the west of Finland to the regions east of lake Onega in Russia. During this journeys he had been mainly concentration on hero poems; poems suitable for a grand epic tale – but he had also written down many lyrical poems. While working on Kalevala he got the idea to also compile and publish a representative collection of lyrical folk poems, and during the second half of the 1830s he concentrated on collecting lyrical poems during his journeys. He also started taking notes for linguistic material.

1840-41

In 1840-41 Kanteletar taikka Suomen Kansan Vanhoja Lauluja ja Virsijä (Kanteletar or old songs and ballads of the Finnish people) was published. It contains 592 lyrical poems and 60 medieval epical poems along with 24 newer folk poems. Several of the most beautiful poems was soon translated into Swedish, and later on to other European languages.

Lönnrot kept himself busy and in 1842 Suomen kansan sananlaskuja - Proverbs of the Finnish people was published. His next work was released in 1844 and was titled Suomen kansan arvoituksia - Riddles of the Finnish people.

In 1849 the second edition or the ’standard’ Kalevala was finally published, with 50 songs and about 22,800 verse lines – almost twice the volume of the ’old’ Kalevala. This edition came to represent the Finnish folk poetry and was to be translated all over the world as Finland’s national epic.

1850 onwards

In 1853 Lönnrot was appointed professor of Finnish at the university, and he now retired from his medical career. He began translating classical fiction and fact literature, mainly botanical and jurisprudential. In 1880 Suomen kansan muinaisia loiturunoja - Old ??? of the Finnish people was published.

Lönnrot had started working on a very ambitious project already during the 1840s, and he spent his last years finishing it. His last major work was titled Suomalais-Ruotsalainen Sanakirja - Finnish-Swedish dictionary containing 200,000 Finnish words. The first part was published in 1866 and the second one in 1880.

Although Lönnrot was successful in his writing as well as medical career, his private life turned out to be a constant source of sorrow and grief. In 1849 he married Maria Piponius. Together they had five children; one boy and four girls. In 1852 Lönnrot's son Elias died from meningitis, when he was only 2 years old. In 1868 his wife Maria died from pneumonia, leaving him the sole custodian of their four young daughters. In 1874 his daughter Maria died from pneumonia and in 1877 his daughter Elina died from from difteria. In 1878 his daughter Thekla also died from pneumonia, just like her mother and one of her sisters. The only one of his children to survive him was to be Ida, who was born in 1855 and died in 1915.

When Lönnrot passed away in 1884 he was a professor eremitus, a honorary doctor, honorary chairman in the Finnish Literature Society and had been knighted several times. He devoted his life to the Finnish language and its history, and he is considered to be one of the most influencal authors in the history of Finnish literature along with Mikael Agricola⁵ and H. G. Porthan.⁶