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Kalevala Everyman's Library
Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.
328 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1966
About the author
William Forsell Kirby
102 books3 followersWilliam Forsell Kirby (14 January 1844 - 20 November 1912) was an English entomologist and folklorist.
He was born in Leicester. He was the eldest son of Samuel Kirby, who was a banker. He was educated privately, and became interested in butterflies and moths at an early age. The family moved to Brighton, where he became acquainted with Henry Cooke, Frederick Merrifield and J N Winter. He published the Manual of European Butterflies in 1862.
In 1867 he became a curator in the Museum of the Royal Dublin Society, and produced a Synonymic Catalogue of Diurnal Lepidoptera (1871; Supplement 1877).
In 1879 Kirby joined the staff of the Natural History Museum as an assistant, after the death of Frederick Smith. He published a number of catalogues, as well as Rhopalocera Exotica (1887–1897) and an Elementary Text-book of Entomology. He retired in 1909.
Kirby had a wide range of interests, knew many languages and fully translated the Finland's national epic, the Kalevala, from Finnish into English. Kirby's translation, which carefully reproduces the Kalevala meter, was a major influence on the writings of J.R.R. Tolkien, who first read it in his teens.
Kirby provided many footnotes to Sir Richard Burton's translation of the Arabian Nights. Kirby also did important work on orthopteroid insects including a three volume Catalogue of all known species (1904, 1906, 1910). A short biography of Kirby, with particular reference to his work on phasmids was published by Bragg in 2007.
Works
Entomology
* Manual of European Butterflies. 1862
* Synonymic Catalogue of Diurnal Lepidoptera. 1871
* Catalogue of the collection of diurnal Lepidoptera formed by the late William Chapman Hewitson of Oatlands, Walton on Thames; and bequeathed by him to the British Museum. London, John Van Voorst. iv + 246 pp.[[18
* A Hand-book to the Order Lepidoptera. 1896.
* Familiar butterflies and moths. 1901
* Butterflies and moths of Europe (Illustrated). 1903
* Elementary Text-book of Entomology.
* Marvels of Ant Life. Circa 1890s
* A Synonymic Catalogue of Orthoptera. British Museum (Natural History), London. 3 volumes: 1904, 1906, 1910
He is also credited on a few other works:
* Illustrations of diurnal Lepidoptera by William Chapman Hewitson 1863
* Natural history. by Richard Lydekker 1897
Literary works
* Kalevala the Land of Heroes. 1907.
* The Hero of Esthonia and other studies in the romantic literature of that country. 1895
* Contributions to the Bibliography of the Thousand and One Nights and Their Imitations (An appendix to Volume 10 to Richard F. Burton's translation of The Nights. 1886
He was born in Leicester. He was the eldest son of Samuel Kirby, who was a banker. He was educated privately, and became interested in butterflies and moths at an early age. The family moved to Brighton, where he became acquainted with Henry Cooke, Frederick Merrifield and J N Winter. He published the Manual of European Butterflies in 1862.
In 1867 he became a curator in the Museum of the Royal Dublin Society, and produced a Synonymic Catalogue of Diurnal Lepidoptera (1871; Supplement 1877).
In 1879 Kirby joined the staff of the Natural History Museum as an assistant, after the death of Frederick Smith. He published a number of catalogues, as well as Rhopalocera Exotica (1887–1897) and an Elementary Text-book of Entomology. He retired in 1909.
Kirby had a wide range of interests, knew many languages and fully translated the Finland's national epic, the Kalevala, from Finnish into English. Kirby's translation, which carefully reproduces the Kalevala meter, was a major influence on the writings of J.R.R. Tolkien, who first read it in his teens.
Kirby provided many footnotes to Sir Richard Burton's translation of the Arabian Nights. Kirby also did important work on orthopteroid insects including a three volume Catalogue of all known species (1904, 1906, 1910). A short biography of Kirby, with particular reference to his work on phasmids was published by Bragg in 2007.
Works
Entomology
* Manual of European Butterflies. 1862
* Synonymic Catalogue of Diurnal Lepidoptera. 1871
* Catalogue of the collection of diurnal Lepidoptera formed by the late William Chapman Hewitson of Oatlands, Walton on Thames; and bequeathed by him to the British Museum. London, John Van Voorst. iv + 246 pp.[[18
* A Hand-book to the Order Lepidoptera. 1896.
* Familiar butterflies and moths. 1901
* Butterflies and moths of Europe (Illustrated). 1903
* Elementary Text-book of Entomology.
* Marvels of Ant Life. Circa 1890s
* A Synonymic Catalogue of Orthoptera. British Museum (Natural History), London. 3 volumes: 1904, 1906, 1910
He is also credited on a few other works:
* Illustrations of diurnal Lepidoptera by William Chapman Hewitson 1863
* Natural history. by Richard Lydekker 1897
Literary works
* Kalevala the Land of Heroes. 1907.
* The Hero of Esthonia and other studies in the romantic literature of that country. 1895
* Contributions to the Bibliography of the Thousand and One Nights and Their Imitations (An appendix to Volume 10 to Richard F. Burton's translation of The Nights. 1886
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
November 9, 2021
Story time! ! When I was a teenager I was getting into Finnish metal. Of course many of the songs referenced characters or events from the Kalevala. I found an illustrated Children's version and read it. But I felt that some parts were either cleaned up or not accurate. Years later, I became the owner of these volumes. This book belonged to my partner's father. He was a history teacher, he loved mythologies, fantasy and horror. I wish I could have met this man because he sounds lovely. He passed away. I was helping my partner organize the house. I managed to save a couple boxes of his books. His legacy now lives on my bookshelves. Don't worry sir, your books will be read and loved.
Now onto the actual story....
I love creation stories. They're my favorite. Every good story starts with how the world was created. I think the Finnish and the Aztec creation stories are the most unique. Air goddess is lonely. She floats and randomly gets pregnant. Becomes a home for an eagle. Bam! The ocean and land is created. Honestly, I feel sorry for Ilmatar. I'd be bored out of my mind too. Even Gods get bored.
Väinämöinen isn't that old. He's only 30. By the time he meets Aino he's probably 35. In an epic, days are hours, years are months, etc. Time is elongated to make it more dramatic. The world is already created for Väino. He just needs to make it work for him.
So for Aino to think that Väino is ancient she must have been 12 or 15. I remember thinking people in their 20s-30s were adults. 🤣 If that's the case I wouldn't want to get married either. Aino is just a kid. What teenager girl doesn't want to be a mermaid?! Her brother is a real jerk to pawn her off like she's a pokemon card to be traded.
Poor Väinö is the original sad boi. He just wants to be loved. His "brother" Ilmarinen is just as awkward. Neither of them know how to talk to women. Or know what women want. I guess that's what happens when your parents are air, water, and fire.
No wonder Finnish men can't speak their emotions unless it's through a song. They're all born as adults, but are emotionally stunted like their hero, Väinämöinen.
The men in the Kalevala are all stubborn idiots. They never listen to their mother's or the wives they stole. And get mad when they're saved by their independent, brave women.
I can compare Lemminkainen to Cú Cuchulain from Irish mythology. They're both arrogant a**holes who don't care about who they hurt or the consequences of their actions.
But the real yaaaasss queen is Louhi. She's is goals. She doesn't let anybody boss her around. She refuses to give her daughters away to any idiot. Only wants the best for her children. Tests all her daughter's suitors, gives her children advice, isn't overprotective like Lemminkainen's mother, is a witch and rules over Pohjola.
The Kalevala is one of the most beautiful epics and mythologies I have ever read. Each line or runos is written like music lyrics. I can tell how hard it must have been to translate this poem story into English. I've been learning Finnish for 2 years now. Gods it is hard. Mostly because they use fewer words than English does. And each word can mean something different if you don't get the accents right. No prepositions. Their language is simple but hard.
I cannot wait to read the next volume.
Now onto the actual story....
I love creation stories. They're my favorite. Every good story starts with how the world was created. I think the Finnish and the Aztec creation stories are the most unique. Air goddess is lonely. She floats and randomly gets pregnant. Becomes a home for an eagle. Bam! The ocean and land is created. Honestly, I feel sorry for Ilmatar. I'd be bored out of my mind too. Even Gods get bored.
Väinämöinen isn't that old. He's only 30. By the time he meets Aino he's probably 35. In an epic, days are hours, years are months, etc. Time is elongated to make it more dramatic. The world is already created for Väino. He just needs to make it work for him.
So for Aino to think that Väino is ancient she must have been 12 or 15. I remember thinking people in their 20s-30s were adults. 🤣 If that's the case I wouldn't want to get married either. Aino is just a kid. What teenager girl doesn't want to be a mermaid?! Her brother is a real jerk to pawn her off like she's a pokemon card to be traded.
Poor Väinö is the original sad boi. He just wants to be loved. His "brother" Ilmarinen is just as awkward. Neither of them know how to talk to women. Or know what women want. I guess that's what happens when your parents are air, water, and fire.
No wonder Finnish men can't speak their emotions unless it's through a song. They're all born as adults, but are emotionally stunted like their hero, Väinämöinen.
The men in the Kalevala are all stubborn idiots. They never listen to their mother's or the wives they stole. And get mad when they're saved by their independent, brave women.
I can compare Lemminkainen to Cú Cuchulain from Irish mythology. They're both arrogant a**holes who don't care about who they hurt or the consequences of their actions.
But the real yaaaasss queen is Louhi. She's is goals. She doesn't let anybody boss her around. She refuses to give her daughters away to any idiot. Only wants the best for her children. Tests all her daughter's suitors, gives her children advice, isn't overprotective like Lemminkainen's mother, is a witch and rules over Pohjola.
The Kalevala is one of the most beautiful epics and mythologies I have ever read. Each line or runos is written like music lyrics. I can tell how hard it must have been to translate this poem story into English. I've been learning Finnish for 2 years now. Gods it is hard. Mostly because they use fewer words than English does. And each word can mean something different if you don't get the accents right. No prepositions. Their language is simple but hard.
I cannot wait to read the next volume.
January 16, 2026
In the early to mid-1800’s Elias Lönnrot traveled throughout Finland collecting bardic folk poems and arranging them into what eventually became the two volume Kalevala, Finland’s national epic. All of the poems are written in trochaic tetrameter (think: The Song of Hiawatha or The Raven) with a lot of parallelism (similar to the Hebrew poetry of the Psalms).
The classic translation I read by Kirby maintained the original meter and did an acceptable job on the parallelism. Some newer translations opt for a meter “more pleasing to the modern ear.” Personally, I think that approach is unfortunate. The meter is one of the distinguishing features of this poem (it’s even referred to as Kalevala Meter!), and to do away with it is to lose a crucial part of the reading experience. Yes, it can become grating after a while…just read it in smallish chunks (I will be taking a bit of a break before reading volume 2).
One reason I picked this up is that J. R. R. Tolkien claimed it was a big influence on his writing. I can see how this world inspired a young J. R. R. Tolkien to begin creating his own magic-infused world of Middle Earth. There are definite echoes in Tom Bombadil, Fëanor, Turin, and more (mostly from The Silmarillion).
I’ll talk more about the actual content of the poem when I read volume 2. For now, I’ll say that I find it much less interesting than Norse mythology but still worth reading as a fan of narrative mythological poetry (and J. R. R. Tolkien).
The classic translation I read by Kirby maintained the original meter and did an acceptable job on the parallelism. Some newer translations opt for a meter “more pleasing to the modern ear.” Personally, I think that approach is unfortunate. The meter is one of the distinguishing features of this poem (it’s even referred to as Kalevala Meter!), and to do away with it is to lose a crucial part of the reading experience. Yes, it can become grating after a while…just read it in smallish chunks (I will be taking a bit of a break before reading volume 2).
One reason I picked this up is that J. R. R. Tolkien claimed it was a big influence on his writing. I can see how this world inspired a young J. R. R. Tolkien to begin creating his own magic-infused world of Middle Earth. There are definite echoes in Tom Bombadil, Fëanor, Turin, and more (mostly from The Silmarillion).
I’ll talk more about the actual content of the poem when I read volume 2. For now, I’ll say that I find it much less interesting than Norse mythology but still worth reading as a fan of narrative mythological poetry (and J. R. R. Tolkien).
January 22, 2022
A really interesting glimpse into the life and priorities of the ancient Finns. It's especially eye-opening how they view gender roles in and out of marriage. It's also fascinating as a brewer, to read about their mythical origin of beer, and also their understanding of how yeast works.
I'm still trying to piece together what makes Lemminkainen a hero, exhibits a lot of characteristics you would not normally ascribe to heroism. I'm interested to see how in the second volume he redeems himself (or doesn't).
This book is definitely worth a second read, and a more intense study, as I feel I missed a lot.
I'm still trying to piece together what makes Lemminkainen a hero, exhibits a lot of characteristics you would not normally ascribe to heroism. I'm interested to see how in the second volume he redeems himself (or doesn't).
This book is definitely worth a second read, and a more intense study, as I feel I missed a lot.
May 24, 2018
Ik las Kalevala door Elias Lönrott, het Finse nationale epos. Lönrott verzamelde oude Finse gedichten en liederen, en smeedde ze samen tot een lang epos, bestaande uit 50 zangen. De schepping van de wereld komt aan bod, en de avonturen van de helden Väinämöinen, Ilmarinen, Lemminkainen en Kullerva. Het is van grote invloed geweest op de Finse identiteit en kunst, maar ook buiten Finland (op Tolkien bijvoorbeeld). Ik las de Engelse vertaling van William Forsell Kirby die in twee delen op Gutenberg.org te vinden is.
Het is een prachtig boek, enigszins verwant met verhalen als de Edda en de Siegfried-legenden, maar veel minder bekend. Weinig goden, maar veel helden met magische krachten. Terugkerende thema’s zijn helden die van wat bij elkaar geraapte rommeltjes hele schepen en en dergelijke maken, en helden die door te zingen dingen creëren. Dat het van oorsprong uit een orale traditie komt blijkt uit het aangenaam stampende ritme vol herhalingen en refreinen.
Ik vond het heerlijk om te lezen.
Het is een prachtig boek, enigszins verwant met verhalen als de Edda en de Siegfried-legenden, maar veel minder bekend. Weinig goden, maar veel helden met magische krachten. Terugkerende thema’s zijn helden die van wat bij elkaar geraapte rommeltjes hele schepen en en dergelijke maken, en helden die door te zingen dingen creëren. Dat het van oorsprong uit een orale traditie komt blijkt uit het aangenaam stampende ritme vol herhalingen en refreinen.
Ik vond het heerlijk om te lezen.
October 27, 2012
Totalmente ignorante di epica finnica, ho accostato questo libro spinto dalle canzoni degli Amorphis, che hanno dedicato a queste storie ben tre cd.
Dopo aver letto la prima metà del Kalevala, posso dire di apprezzare molto di più l’epica più nostra.
Iliade, Odissea, Eneide. Ma anche il Beowulf, il ciclo arturiano, l’Orlando.
Mi lascia perplesso la magia di questi runi, una magia che vede i potenti e saggi bardi cantare, e il loro canto si avvera.
Ma devono conoscere bene un elemento per utilizzarlo o combatterlo, altrimenti saranno totalmente inermi.
Non mi ha nemmeno convinto la natura molto episodica dei runi, sopratutto nella prima metà dell’opera.
E devo ammettere di avere apprezzato molto più certi eventi narrati nelle canzoni, piuttosto che l’originale trascritto nel libro.
Voglio dire, la creazione del Sanpo nel testo non ha l’aura epica che acquisisce nell’omonima canzone, così come il fabbro Ilmarinen viene descritto come un ottimo manovale, mancando totalmente della maestosità degna di colui che ha forgiato il cielo e ha creato il paradiso.
Vainamoinen, il primo e il più potente degli eroi, è un vecchio intristito che corre dietro alle ragazzine cercando una moglie e venendo comprensibilmente rifiutato.
Lemminkainen per ora si è visto molto poco.
La vergine di Phojola è la preda ambita da tutti quanti, con la madre che impone le prove più disparate agli aspiranti sposi, lei che decide di aiutare Ilmarinen a vincerla… e a questo punto scattano un numero assurdo di runi relativi alla preparazione del banchetto, alla scoperta della birra, all’arrivo degli ospiti, ai consigli alla sposa, ai consigli allo sposo, alle paure della sposa… e basta, suvvia!
La parte finale del libro è stata di una noia portentosa.
Del proseguio mi interessa continuare a seguire Ilmarinen, dato che stando alle canzoni la moglie dovrebbe morire e lui, alla fine, arriverà a crearsene una riproduzione d’oro e d’argento, artificiale. Quasi un primo automa, se si muovesse.
Dopo aver letto la prima metà del Kalevala, posso dire di apprezzare molto di più l’epica più nostra.
Iliade, Odissea, Eneide. Ma anche il Beowulf, il ciclo arturiano, l’Orlando.
Mi lascia perplesso la magia di questi runi, una magia che vede i potenti e saggi bardi cantare, e il loro canto si avvera.
Ma devono conoscere bene un elemento per utilizzarlo o combatterlo, altrimenti saranno totalmente inermi.
Non mi ha nemmeno convinto la natura molto episodica dei runi, sopratutto nella prima metà dell’opera.
E devo ammettere di avere apprezzato molto più certi eventi narrati nelle canzoni, piuttosto che l’originale trascritto nel libro.
Voglio dire, la creazione del Sanpo nel testo non ha l’aura epica che acquisisce nell’omonima canzone, così come il fabbro Ilmarinen viene descritto come un ottimo manovale, mancando totalmente della maestosità degna di colui che ha forgiato il cielo e ha creato il paradiso.
Vainamoinen, il primo e il più potente degli eroi, è un vecchio intristito che corre dietro alle ragazzine cercando una moglie e venendo comprensibilmente rifiutato.
Lemminkainen per ora si è visto molto poco.
La vergine di Phojola è la preda ambita da tutti quanti, con la madre che impone le prove più disparate agli aspiranti sposi, lei che decide di aiutare Ilmarinen a vincerla… e a questo punto scattano un numero assurdo di runi relativi alla preparazione del banchetto, alla scoperta della birra, all’arrivo degli ospiti, ai consigli alla sposa, ai consigli allo sposo, alle paure della sposa… e basta, suvvia!
La parte finale del libro è stata di una noia portentosa.
Del proseguio mi interessa continuare a seguire Ilmarinen, dato che stando alle canzoni la moglie dovrebbe morire e lui, alla fine, arriverà a crearsene una riproduzione d’oro e d’argento, artificiale. Quasi un primo automa, se si muovesse.
Read
August 2, 2011Truely beautiful, epic, masterful. I'm sure it's even better in Finnish, but even in English, it's a work of art. The meter and rhyme scheme are so lyrical that you will find yourself wanting to read the verses aloud, just to hear them spoken, and they paint such a vivid picture that I easily became lost in the world of song and legend and magic and glorious battle. It's unlike any other mythology I've encountered. You'd do yourself a service to readi it if you get the chance.
January 20, 2014
It is interesting to read these Finnish myths as they are so distinct to those of the rest of the Nordic countries that largely overlap. The Finns seem to have developed a very different culture and these tales of Vainamoinen show this differences.
August 15, 2011
Brilliant, stirring - onto Volume 2 - not sure I got all the Runos about dealing with your new wife and husband may need to re-read that. Still musing on the sampo!!!
July 23, 2011
Le chant du peuple finnois : magique! Et magnifique traduction! Chapeau!
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews