The Kalevala is an example of an epic written in modern times that captures much of the flavor of ancient oral narrative. Elias Lonnrot (1802-1884), a gifted Finnish poet-scholar, compiled the materials for his poem from old ballads, lyrical songs, and incantations that were a part of a disappearing Finnish oral tradition. He first published these reworked folk materials in 1835 and later enlarged the work to fifty "cantos" in 1849. "Kalevala" is the name of the homeland of the poem's chief characters and is actually a poetic name for Finland itself. It translates roughly as "Land of the Heroes." The poem has been adopted as the Finnish national epic.
While collecting folklore, Lonnrot noticed that certain characters and episodes were frequently repeated, and he surmised that these materials were the fragments of a larger.....
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