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Eino Leino (1878-1926)
- originally Eino Armas Leopold Lönnbohm
Finnish poet, a master of song-like poetic forms, playwright, and novelist. Leino was themost important developer of Finnish-language poetry at the turn of the 20th century, andnow probably Finland's most cited poet. In his works Leino combined the archaic andmythic tradition, symbolism, and influences from Friedrich Nietzsche with his romanticconcept of the poet as a truth-seeking visionary. Leino's command of the language wasoutstanding, and he was the first Finnish translator of Dante. Leino's life style was bohemian and from the beginning of his literary career Leino was a well-known figure inthe restaurants and cultural elite of Helsinki.
"Short time's to us allotted till our urn.Living, like furnace flames then let us burn,High let us in the fire be ascending,Earth stays below, the spirit's heavenward tending."
(from 'Hymn to Fire')
Eino Leino was born Armas Einar Leopold Lönnbohm in Paltamo, Hövelö, the son of Anders Lönnbohm, a surveyor, and Anna Emilia (Kyrenius) Lönnbohm, who came froma priest and an officer's family. He was the seventh and youngest son; there were tenchildren in all in the family. Leino's father died in 1890 and his mother five years later.These losses were a deep blow to him, which he expressed in his poems in feelings of loneliness and as an orphan. He was educated in Kajaani, Oulu, and Hämeenlinna,graduating from Hämeenlinna Grammar School in 1895. At the age of sixteen Leino published a translation of a poem by Johan Ludvig Runeberg (1804-1877), the greatSwedish language Finnish poet.In 1895 Leino started his studies at the Imperial Aleksander University of Helsinki. He joined literary and newspaper circles and became a member of the Young Finnish circle.Among Leino's friends were the artist Pekka Halonen and Otto Manninen, who gainedfame as a poet and translator. By the end of the century, Leino left the university withouttaking a degree. He worked as a journalist and critic on the newspapers
 Päivälehti
(1899-1905) and
 Helsingin Sanomat 
(1905-14). His pseudonyms, 'Mikko Vilkastus' and'Teemu', were from Aleksis Kivi's play
 Nummisuutarit 
. Between the years 1898 and 1899he edited with his brother Kasimir Leino the magazine
Nykyaika
, and was heavily in debtafter its bankruptcy. Also both Russian censorship and self-censorship threatened freeexpression - Russification of Finlad had started under governor general NicholasBobrikov, who was shot to death by Eugen Schauman in 1904. Later Leino planned toinclude Schauman in his collection of poems about great Finns.When his marriage with Freya Schoultz and dreams of bourgeois life style neared an endin 1908, Leino went abroad and travelled in Berlin, Dresden, Münich, and Rome. Leino'sclose friend and companion during the turning point of his life was the poetL. Onerva.Leino lived with her in Rome in 1908-09, before he was divorced from his wife. Both poets were still legally married. Leino's liaison with the writer Aino Kallasfrom 1916 to1919 was another scandal - she was the wife of an Estonian diplomat. In Rome Leino
 
lived at Lungo Tevere Prat and continued with his translation of Dante's
 Divine Comedy
.A memorial tablet has been placed on the wall of house where he lived: "In questa casanegli anni 1908-1909 il grande poeta finlandese Eino Leino tradusse La DivinaCommedia con amore inspirato alla universalita di Roma."Leino attempted to revive Finnish theatre, and boldly attackedKaarlo Bergbom, thefounder of the Finnish Theatre. His major plays from the beginning of the century includeSIMO HURTTA I-II (1904-19), LALLI (1907), and MAUNU TAVAST (1908). From1915 to 1918 Leino worked as an editor of the magazine
Sunnuntai
. At the outbreak of the Finnish Civil War (1917-18), Leino was in Helsinki, where he witnessed the battleswith his small boozing circle. The reign of the Reds did not win Leino's sympathies; thewomen's battalion especially horrified the poet: "This was the first time I'd seen so manyof them gathered together, and I have to confess, in the name of truth, I've never at anyother time witnessed such human savagery, bestial frenzy, mental derangement and physical disfigurement."
(trans. by Herbert Lomas, from
Helsinki: a literary companion
, 2000)
After the war Leino's idealistic faith for a national unity collapsed, and his influence as a journalist and polemic writer grew weaker. He was granted a State writer's pension in1918 at the age of forty. Although publishing prolifically, he had financial problems andhis health was giving way. "Life is always struggle with eternal forces," Leino said in aletter in 1925 to his friend Bertel Gripenberg: "Nous sommes pourtant nécessaires. Aussimalades. Mais c'est de la tristesse de la vie, qui pour nous est toujours un combat avec lesforces étérnelles." - Leino died at Riihiluhta in Nuppulinna on January 10, 1926. "Well -Eino Leino - perhaps he was the only Finnish author who can really be called a
 genius
,"said Bertel Gripenberg. Leino was married three times, first with Thyra Freya FranzenaSchoultz (1905-10), then with the harpist Aino Inez Kajanus (1913-1920), who was thedaughter of the conductor Robert Kajanus, and for the third time with Hanna Laitinen(1921, died 1929). Freya Schoultz was a translator and commercial correspondent; andwith her for a couple of years the poet enjoyed bourgeois life in a large seaside flat.Leino's only child, Eya Helka, came of this marriage.Leino's first collection of poems, the light-hearted MAALISKUUN LAULUJA, appearedin 1896, when he was eighteen-years old. Later he turned from the free style to the meter and style of folklore. TUONELAN JOUTSEN (1896), a Neo-romantic verse play,combined symbolism and folk poetry. After a journey to Russia Karelia and falling inlove with a "nature child", Anni Tiihonen, Leino wrote SATA JA YKSI LAULUA (1898).He started the work in Berlin. It included one of his most beloved poems, 'HymyileväApollo', originally part three of the larger poetic work entitled 'Hymni'. Reinhold Roine's(pseudonym R.R.) review of the book in the newspaper 
Uusi Suometar 
was hostile. Later Leino published his 'Hymn' in TUULIKANNEL (1919), but to this version he had madesmall changes. For decades, the poem has been heard on New Year's Eve radio broadcasts. Another popular poem, the resignated 'Nocture', was first published inTALVI-YÖ (1905). "I have stopped chasing Jack-o'-Lantern, / I hold gold from theDemon's mountain; / around me life tightens its ring, / time stops, the vane has ceased toswing; / the road before me through the gloom / is leading to the unknown room."
 
Simo Hurtta
, an epic poem, took its subject from the long war in the early 18th century between Russia and Sweden-Finland.
Talvi-yö
and HALLA (1908), born in the years of  political dissatisfaction, returned to the images of darkness, frost, and cold. His personalcrisis led the poet to abandon individual heroes and the theme of death - he focused oncosmic visions and legends. Leino's works, such as PAINUVA PÄIVÄ (1914) andELÄMÄN KOREUS (1916), still had high artistic values. His first and only screenplay,KESÄ (1913), Leino wrote according to stories in one night - allegedly he had not seenany feature films.After the Finnish Civil war Leino worked productively but on several occasions hisefforts led to pathos and empty preaching. During this period there appearedLEIRIVALKEAT (1917), JUHANA HERTTUAN JA CATHARINA JAGELLONICANLAULUJA (1919), AJATAR (1920), SYREENIEN KUKKIESSA (1920), andSHEMEIKAN MURHE (1924). Leino also wrote plays, essays, contemporary novels,animal fables, and translated into Finnish works from such authors as Racine, Runeberg,Schiller, Anatole France, J.W. von Goethe, Dante, Rabindranath Tagore, Dante (
 DivineComedy
, 1912-14) and Corneille. His
oeuvre
includes 32 books of poetry, 25 plays, 25novels, and 16 translations.
Tell me, O Sun, what is thatGives the greatest bliss to the singer?"Do as I do, beam like me,Giving's greatest bliss to the singer."
(from 'The Sun's Advice')
Having published several books of verse, Leino produced his major work,HELKAVIRSIÄ (1903-1916, Whit songs), a collection of narrative poetry composed inthe trochaic meter. It was based on theKalevalaand folk poetry, and appeared in twocollections. Several of the ballads present the past in heroic light, its characters are greatvisionaries, who challenge their fate or willingly yield to greater forces. "Täss' on miestämän sukuinen, / kadu ei tehtyä tekoa / eikä taivasta tavota."
(from 'Ylermi')
The secondvolume of 
Whitsuntide songs
is more resigned and more mystical than the first, and thesymbolism is more obscure. "Uskoin ennen ihmisihin, / en nyt itke, en iloitse, / ohikäyvät onnet heidän, / onnettomuudetkin ohitse, / tiedän kyllä kylmyyteni, / en sitä sure,en kadu, / se on voitto taisteloiden, / tulos tappion tuhannen." (from 'Äijön virsi')Obsession with death marks some later pieces. Leino never wrote a third volume of 
 Helkavirsiä 
, although the noted short story writer Aino Kallas in vain tried to persuadehim to do so.Leino's autobiographical books, ALLA KASVON KAIKKIVALLAN, appeared in 1917,and ELÄMÄNI KUVAKIRJA in 1925. As an essayist Leino was one of the best of histime. In the unfinished series of essays, SUOMALAISIA KIRJAILIJOITA (1909), hedrew well-characterized portraits of Finnish authors. SUOMALAISENKIRJALLISUUDEN HISTORIA (1910) was a short but insightful history of Finnishliterature. Leino also wrote about himself in the book and admits the influence of Goetheon his poetry. He praises Aleksis Kivi's novel
The Seven Brothers
- "Yhtä rohkea kuinkirjan sisällys on sen muoto, joka on sekoitus draamallisista, eepillisistä ja lyyrillisistä
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