The Growth of Soviet Kalevalaic Poetry

Ideological Folk Poetry in Soviet Karelia

Authors

• Joonas Ahola Kalevalaseura / Helsingin yliopisto

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.30666/elore.102574

Keywords:

kalevalamittainen runous, Neuvosto-Karjala, tutkimushistoria, folkloristiikka

Abstract

The article discusses the growth of the Soviet Kalevalaic poetry, or of poems in Kalevala metre that comply to Soviet ideology and are composed by traditional rune singers, in Soviet Karelia in the course of the 1930s–1950s. During this period, collecting of traditional texts that expressed the Soviet ideology was practiced everywhere in Soviet Union. This activity included ideological education of the traditional performers as well as selective publication of their works, which involved censorship to the same degree as in Soviet literature in general. In Soviet Karelia, Kalevala metre became the dominant form of this “tradition with new topics”. This article describes the historical context behind the birth and growth of the Soviet Kalevalaic poetry. It also provides a description of the general features of this type of poetry in relation to oral tradition, both from the point of view of the texts and of the authorship they represent.