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Kalevala, First edition, 1835.jpg

The Kalevala is a book and epic poem which Elias Lönnrot compiled from Finnish and Karelian folklore in the 19th century. It is held to be the national epic of Finland and is traditionally thought of as one of the most significant works of Finnish literature.



Tolkien and the Kalevala

The Finnish mythology, as presented in the Kalavela, had a profound on the young J.R.R. Tolkien, and became an inspiration for the creation of his legendarium. In early letter to Edith Bratt, Tolkien mentions that he is doing a reworking of one of the stories from the Kalevala (resulting in the manuscript "The Story of Kullervo").[1] In 1955, writing to his friend W.H. Auden, he says that "the beginning of the legendarium [...] was in an attempt to reorganize some of the Kalevala, especially the tale of Kullervo the hapless, into a form of my own"[2].

Túrin Turambar and Kullervo

"Kullervo's Curse" by Akseli Gallen-Kallela
"The germ of my attempt to write legends of my own to fit my private languages was the tragic tale of the hapless Kullervo in the Finnish Kalevala. It remains a major matter in the legends of the First Age (which I hope to publish as The Silmarillion)"
― J.R.R. Tolkien, Letter 257


Thus his trusty sword makes answer,
Well divining his intentions:
Why should I not drink thy life-blood,
Blood of guilty Kullerwoinen,
Since I feast upon the worthy,
Drink the life-blood of the righteous?"


See also

External links


  3. J.R.R. Tolkien; Verlyn Flieger (ed.), "'The Story of Kullervo' and Essays on Kalevala", in Tolkien Studies: Volume 7