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Johan Ludvig Runeberg
(1804-1877)
Contents
The Poetry Books
THE TALES OF ENSIGN STÅL
KING FILIAR
LYRICAL SONGS, IDYLLS AND EPIGRAMS
The Poems
LIST OF POEMS IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER
LIST OF POEMS IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER
The Biography
JOHAN LUDVIG RUNEBERG by William Morton Payne
The Delphi Classics Catalogue
© Delphi Classics 2015
Version 1
John Runeberg
By Delphi Classics, 2015
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Johan Ludvig Runeberg - Delphi Poets Series
First published in the United Kingdom in 2015 by Delphi Classics.
© Delphi Classics, 2015.
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The Poetry Books
Runeberg’s birthplace in Jakobstad, in modern day Sweden
The birthplace in the early twentieth century
Jakobstad today
Runeberg as a young man
THE TALES OF ENSIGN STÅL
Translated by Clement B. Shaw
Composed in Swedish by Johan Ludvig Runeberg, the national poet of Finland, this epic poem concerns the events of the Finnish War (1808–1809) in which Sweden lost its eastern territories, resulting in the country becoming incorporated into the Russian Empire as the Grand Duchy of Finland. The first part of The Tales of Ensign Stål was published in the revolutionary year 1848, while the second part was released in 1860. The poem would go on to help shape Finnish identity and in later years it was given out for free during the Winter War in order to raise patriotic spirits. The first stanza of the poem would also become the national anthem of Finland.
The name of the title character, “Stål”, is the Swedish word for steel, a typical example of a so-called “soldier’s name”. The epic poem features several officers that fought in the Finnish War, including marshals Wilhelm Mauritz Klingspor and Johan August Sandels, generals Carl Nathanael af Klercker, Carl Johan Adlercreutz, and Georg Carl von Döbeln and Colonel Otto von Fieandt. Among the most famous characters is the simple, but heroic rotesoldat Sven Dufva. The organisations Lotta Svärd and Lottorna were named after the character in the poem of the same name.
From its publication to the mid-twentieth century, The Tales of Ensign Stål became staple reading in both Finnish and Swedish schools. The poem shaped the later image of the Finnish War and of some of its real-life protagonists. Admiral Carl Olof Cronstedt is mainly remembered today for his treacherous surrender of the fortress of Sveaborg, while the Russian general Yakov Kulnev, on the other hand, is described positively as a chivalrous and brave soldier and ladies’ man.
The frontispiece for an illustrated 1886 edition
Carl-Olof Cronstedt the elder (1756-1820) was a Swedish naval commander responsible for the overwhelming Swedish victory at the Second Battle of Svensksund, one of the largest naval battles in history. He is a central figure of the epic poem.
Yakov Petrovich Kulnev (1763-1812) was, along with Pyotr Bagration and Aleksey Yermolov, one of the most popular Russian military leaders at the time of the Napoleonic Wars. Suvorov’s admirer and participant of 55 battles, he lost his life during Napoleon’s invasion of Russia. Kulnev is one of the epic’s most heroic figures.
CONTENTS
DEDICATION
INTRODUCTORY.
FOREWORD.
EARLIER COLLECTION: 1848
CANTO FIRST. OUR LAND.
I. OUR LAND.
CANTO SECOND. ENSIGN STAL.
II. ENSIGN STAL.
CANTO THIRD. THE CLOUD’S BROTHER.
III. THE CLOUD’S BROTHER.
CANTO FOURTH. THE VETERAN.
IV. THE VETERAN.
CANTO FIFTH. LIEUTENANT ZIDEN.
V. LIEUTENANT ZIDEN.
CANTO SIXTH. THE COTTAGE MAIDEN.
VI. THE COTTAGE MAIDEN.
CANTO SEVENTH. SVEN DUFVA.
VII. SVEN DUFVA.
CANTO EIGHTH. VON KONOW AND HIS CORPORAL.
VIII. VON KONOW AND HIS CORPORAL.
CANTO NINTH. THE DYING WARRIOR.
IX. THE DYING WARRIOR.
CANTO TENTH. OTTO VON FIEANDT.
X. OTTO VON FIEANDT.
CANTO ELEVENTH. SANDELS.
XI. SANDELS.
CANTO TWELFTH. THE TWO DRAGOONS.
XII. THE TWO DRAGOONS.
CANTO THIRTEENTH. OLD MAN HURTIG.
XIII. OLD MAN HURTIG.
CANTO FOURTEENTH. KULNEFF.
XIV. KULNEFF.
CANTO FIFTEENTH. THE KING.
XV. THE KING.
CANTO SIXTEENTH. THE FIELD MARSHAL.
XVI. THE FIELD MARSHAL.
CANTO SEVENTEENTH. SVEABORG.
XVII. SVEABORG.
CANTO EIGHTEENTH. DOBELN AT JUUTAS.
XVIII. DOBELN AT JUUTAS.
LATER COLLECTION: 1860
CANTO NINETEENTH. THE SOLDIER BOY.
XIX. THE SOLDIER BOY.
CANTO TWENTIETH. THE MARCH OF THE MEN OF BJORNEBORG.
XX. THE MARCH OF THE MEN OF BJORNEBORG.
CANTO TWENTY FIRST. THE ENSIGN AT THE FAIR.
XXI. THE ENSIGN AT THE FAIR.
CANTO TWENTY SECOND. LOTTA SVARD.
XXII. LOTTA SVARD.
CANTO TWENTY THIRD. THE AGED LODE.
XXIII. THE AGED LODE.
CANTO TWENTY FOURTH. THE STRANGER’S VISION.
XXIV. THE STRANGERS VISION.
CANTO TWENTY FIFTH. THE ENSIGN’S GREETING.
XXV. THE ENSIGN’S GREETING
CANTO TWENTY SIXTH. VON TORNE.
XXVI. VON TORNE.
CANTO TWENTY SEVENTH. THE FIFTH OF JULY.
XXVII. THE FIFTH OF JULY.
CANTO TWENTY EIGHTH. MUNTER.
XXVIII. MUNTER.
CANTO TWENTY NINTH. VON ESSEN.
XXIX. VON ESSEN.
CANTO THIRTIETH. THE BAGGAGE DRIVER.
XXX. THE BAGGAGE DRIVER.
CANTO THIRTY-FIRST. WILHELM VON SCHWERIN.
XXXI. WILHELM VON SCHWERIN.
CANTO THIRTY SECOND. NUMBER FIFTEEN STOLT.
XXXII. NUMBER FIFTEEN STOLT.
CANTO THIRTY THIRD. THE BROTHERS.
XXXIII. THE BROTHERS.
CANTO THIRTY FOURTH. THE GOVERNOR.
XXXIV. THE GOVERNOR.
CANTO THIRTY FIFTH. ADLERCREUTZ.
XXXV. ADLERCREUTZ.
Robert Wilhelm Ekman’s painting of ‘Ensign Stool and the student’ based on events narrated in the epic poem
An illustration for the poem: “Sven Dufva”
THE SONGS OF
&
nbsp; ENSIGN STAL
(FANRIK STALS SAGNER)
NATIONAL MILITARY SONG-CYCLE OF FINLAND, FROM THE SWEDISH OF JOHAN LUDVIG RUNEBERG IN THE ORIGINAL METERS
FIRST COMPLETE ENGLISH TRANSLATION BY
CLEMENT BURBANK SHAW, A. M., LITT. D., MUS. D.
WITH INTRODUCTION AND CANTO SYNOPSES
ILLUSTRATIONS BY MALMSTROM AND EDELFELT
FOREWORD ON
THE WAR IN FINLAND, 1808-1809 BY LAWRENCE F. NORDSTROM, B. D.
DEDICATION
(A DOUBLE ACROSTIC)
TO MY FRIEND, WILLIAM WADE HINSHAW.
Who were more attuned to strains heroic, Higher schooled than thou in measures noble, Holding loftie place among our masters, Skilled in art of Song, in acting famous. And since other years our life-paths blended, Since a treasured past our hopes concentered, When in mutual strains we oft united, While at well-spread Kalophonian banquets, Of those days I cannot grow unmindful, And to this day thou their link art standing. Hence to thee would I inscribe this cycle Of the Finnish skald — songs famed so widely, Loved so truly in the North dominion, But in this land not yet known or chanted.
May the Northern songs I now indite thee Strike within thy heart a major triad Lending unto martial lays a luster Lucent as thy glow in Wotan or Amfortas.
New York, January 1925.
INTRODUCTORY.
The kindly reception by the Swedish literati of the writer’s English translation of Tegner’s Frithiof’s Saga (1910), followed by many requests that he turn his efforts to another equally renowned Northern work, has at length induced him to make the attempt, — the outcome being the first complete English translation of Runeberg’s Fanrik Stals Sagner.
As there exists practically no literature in our language pertaining either to the Finnish war of 1808-9 or to this great Swedish-Finnish work setting forth its battles, its episodes and its characters in song, this skaldic cycle is unknown and unread here except by Finns and Scandinavians.
Of Frithiof’s Saga there have been fourteen English and American interpreters; of Fanrik Stals Sagner, none. A few detached cantos only have been reproduced; and Isabel Donner has produced “A Selection from the Series of Poems Entitled Ensign Stal’s Songs” — 17 of the 35 cantos — in English, which was published by G.W. Edlund, Helsingfors, 1907, with an introduction translated from the author’s Swedish manuscript, and with explanatory notes.
As Frithiof’s Saga is the national Epic of Sweden, so The Songs of Ensign Stål (Fanrik Stals Sagner) form the National Military Song-Cycle of Finland. Its original edition appeared at Borga and Helsingfors, December 1848.
Its author is the renowned Finnish poet, Johan Ludvig Runeberg (1804-1877), and its vehicle is the Swedish language, employed for long as the literary language of Finland. Such it continued to be until 1835, when Lonnrot brought out the epic, Kalevala, in Finnish, at once and permanently creating for it a literary audience in Finland, “the land of a thousand lakes,” now rich in periodicals and literature in its own language. Here dwelt also Topelius, Tavaststjerna, and other celebrated poets whose writings were almost entirely in Swedish.
Runeberg was in 1831 Lecturer on Roman Literature in Helsingfors University. In 1837 he accepted the chair of Latin in Borga College, there residing during the remainder of his life, and from 1847 to 1850 being Rector of the college. His only journey out of his native land was a brief visit to Sweden in 1851.
He was content to read of foreign lands without visiting them. His nature exemplified the dictum of Longfellow, “To stay at home is best.” The globe-trotter becomes too cosmopolitan to experience an unmixed devotion to his native land. A wanderer could not have written VartLand, the first canto of the Fanrik Stål cycle. Only a portion of its native soil adheres to the roots of a transplanted tree. Perhaps the Northlander longest retains the home-longing in distant realms where strange stars float over the heavens; but Runeberg must have spent his life in the North to have penned so powerfully the patriotic poems that bind in one the hearts of the Finnish and Swedish nations.
Tegner, in Frithiof’s Saga, made the High-priest once say:
“For eagerly the strong man circles earth and sea,
Like berserker who pallid bites into his shield,
But, wearied, homeward turns his thoughtful steps at last.”
And Horatius, long ago, portrayed the comsummation of the wanderer’s repose when at last — at last — from long and weary years of pilgrimage, he returns to his childhood’s home, once more “to rest upon the longed-for couch.” Runeberg did more than to return to his own land, — he did not leave it.
While the twenty-four Cantos of Frithiof’s Saga, each in its own metrical and strophic form, constitute a connected hero-song, the thirty-five cantos of the present work are wholly detached, each complete in itself, and delineative of episodes having no connection, except incidentally, with each other. It would be difficult to weave so many characters into one Romance.
These portrayals of heroic exploits and martial scenes in the war of 1808 — 9 between Sweden and Russia (in which the latter country wrested Finland from the former), are strikingly projective of northern ideals, and have long inspired the national heart with patriotic fire.
While a few of the personages described are fictitious creations of Runeberg, they each yet represent concepts of Finland’s military life and valor, and as substrata for the projection of heroic attributes must be of equal value with the historic characters.
All poems are great as they speak to our own hearts. This is perhaps a poem’s apology for existence. It seems to me Runeberg’s Sagner are tangent at enough points to the world-thought to bridge over the chasms of language, race, time and place, and show that heroism, chivalry, codes of honor, depth of thoughts and feelings, — are international and universal. His characters radiate the atmosphere of living subjects, and with them he makes us acquainted.
Runeberg is the interpreter of Finland’s ideals, its racial qualities, and its traditions of heroism; but in this very office he becomes cosmopolitan. In painting northern moods, he paints moods that abide. In portraying past valor, he portrays also the valor of the present times. Sometimes he sets forth what we have not been able to say, but deeply feel when it is said; for therein we constantly find ourselves. He has removed the barriers of education, view-point and heredity, and thus has helped produce world-literature. In Finnish heroism we perceive all heroism. Like the Knights of Arthur, each hero for the time transcends every other. We must reverence his lance. We must regard his cause as just, we must recognize his enemy as unjust and worthy of death. When he kills his foe, we must believe it was the will of Heaven; if he himself falls, it was the temporary triumph of Hell.
Runeberg is mighty in his charming simplicity. Always the simplest words prevail. The labor of translating is thus greatly augmented. Rather than elaborate, he even repeats the same monosyllabic word or words — the same plain thought. No mental exhaustion results from the attempt to enucleate his meaning. No interminable periods exasperate the reader’s patience.
In the greater number of the cantos there is required no preparatory study on the part of the reader. The great common mind understands them at once, — whether they be comedies or tragedies, — whether they are set forth in the lyric or epic strain. And freedom from frothy verbiage is imperative, if one would portray the national Finnish character in its blunt simplicity, its silent calmness, its laconic and sententious utterances, — as set forth so vividly in the picture of Munter in the elegiac Canto Twenty Eighth.
And the startling originality of the poet parallels his directness and artlessness. Invention is one of his striking attributes.
Like Tegner, Runeberg is a master of versification. As in Frithiof’s Saga, so each Canto of Fanrik Stals Sagner stands before us in a strophic form unlike that of any other canto. This ever-varied stanza-scheme would of itself forefend against monotony; but each mold seems specially fitted to its subject. Some of these stanzaic forms are borrowed fr
om the English ballad; but our poet was quick to perceive in other literatures the forms that best serve his purpose here. His apprehension of poetic beauty and metrical fitness was clear and keen. Many of the numbers are designed for music, and have received melodic settings, as will be noticed en passant. All the cantos except the third (The Cloud’s Brother) are strophic. Nine of the 35 cantos are iambic.
In multitudes of versified products we might question the appropriateness of a metrical treatment at all. In all languages a large percentage of subjects possessing no inherent poetic quality would have been better set forth in prose. Except that Songs must be metrical, this remark would perhaps in a few cases apply to the Runeberg work, — for example in Cantos Eighth, Tenth, Sixteenth, Twenty-Sixth and Thirtieth, where only a minimum of poetic imagery inheres in the subject itself; but the same is true of much of Dryden, Wordsworth, Pope, Cowper, occasionally of Longfellow, rarely of Tennyson, — almost never of Poe. Yet in defense of the stanza-form of writing, we must recognize wherein lie its powers. Meter, versification, regularity of form, order, the banishment of chaos, the elimination of confusion, the establishment of law, — all are potent. Even in prose there must be an approximate rhythm, — a more or less regular recurrence of accent. Very unrhythmic prose is annoying, disturbing, offensive.
There is a charm per se in ictus, in the ear-satisfaction that results from equal-timed pulsations, in the pleasure of constantly finding something where we expected it, and in a promise fulfilled, — the promise of the evenly recurring accent.
The poet chooses this pulse as does the mouth-pipe of a great organ, which converts an irregular series of air-disturbances or pulsations into its own proper and appropriate tone; — or as a stone-mason out of a heterogeneous heap of stones constructs a cemented wall of regular and artistic proportions.
Collected Works of Johan Ludvig Runeberg Page 1