The Kalevala
Translated from the Finnish with an Introduction and Notes by Keith Bosley
Elias Lönnrot
Published by Oxford World's Classics 1989, reissued 2008
'Words shall not be hid
nor spells be buried;
might shall not sink underground
though the mighty go.'
The Kalevala is the great Finnish epic which, like the Iliad and Odyssey,
grew out of a rich oral tradition with prehistoric roots. During the first
millennium of our era, speakers of Uralic languages (outside of the Indo-European group)
who had settled in the Baltic region developed an oral
poetry that was to last into the nineteenth century. This poetry provided
the basis of the Kalevala, assembled by the Finnish scholar Elias Lönnrot
and published in its final form in 1849. It played a central role in the
process towards Finnish independence and inspired some of the greatest
music of Sibelius.
The poet Keith Bosley is the prize-winning translator of the anthology
Finnish Folk Poetry: Epic. This translation of the Kalevala is the first to
combine liveliness with accuracy in a way that reflects the richness of the original.
This edition includes:
Introduction - Bibliography - Explanatory notes
Note on pronunciation - Appendix
Translated with an Introduction and Notes by Keith Bosley
Foreword by Albert B. Lord
(The text above comes from the back of the book)