Runokokeita

Kasimir LeinoProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.6

Word count: 33K words
Chapters: 4

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Runokokeita by Kasimir LeinoAuthor: Leino, Kasimir, 1866-1919,Language: Finnish, Class: PH: Language and Literatures: Finno-Ugrian and Basque languages and literatures, Release Date: Dec 13, 2014

Editor's review

This is the poetry collection Runokokeita by the Finnish poet Kasimir Leino, a Finnish-language public-domain ebook released by Project Gutenberg. Leino was active from the late nineteenth to the early twentieth century, and his poems are closely tied to the Finnish national literature and language movement; this collection can serve as an entry point to Finnish-language poetry. As the book is in the original Finnish with no modern annotations, its value lies more in being a language sample and literary-historical document than in casual reading. For readers learning Finnish, studying Finnish literature or interested in Nordic poetry, it offers direct access to the original text. It may be read as language practice material: first sense the rhythm and diction, then work through each poem with a dictionary. Note that the public-domain electronic text is plainly formatted, and readers must supply their own background on the author and his era.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Intermediate and advanced learners of Finnish who want to use original poems for language practice
Readers and researchers of Finnish literature or Nordic poetry who need the original text
Readers interested in the background of the late-nineteenth-century Finnish national cultural movement

Not a good fit for

General readers who do not know Finnish and expect a Chinese translation or bilingual edition
Literary beginners who want detailed annotations and an introduction
Casual readers who prefer contemporary poetry and lack patience for classical verse forms

Reading tips

First read a few short poems aloud to feel the rhythm and sound of Finnish, then work through them word by word with a dictionary.
Treat the collection as language-learning material: from each poem extract three to five new words and build a vocabulary list.
Before reading, learn about Leino's era and the development of the Finnish literary language for better understanding.
Read alongside other public-domain Finnish poetry to compare diction and versification.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is there a Chinese translation of this book?

According to available information, this is a Finnish-language original ebook released by Project Gutenberg, with no Chinese translation mentioned. Readers who need Chinese should look for a translated edition separately, or use dictionaries and translation tools to assist with the original.

Can I read this book without knowing Finnish?

Translation tools can give you a rough idea of the content, but the beauty of the verse's rhythm and diction is hard to convey. If you only want an overview of the author and the collection, read a literary history introduction first; if you want to truly read it, basic Finnish is recommended.

When did Leino live?

Kasimir Leino was born in 1866 and died in 1919, active from the late nineteenth to the early twentieth century, an important stage in the development of Finnish national literature and language. His poems bear the mark of Finnish literature of that period.

Comments

Find this book

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Kasimir Leino Author · Finnish · 1866–1919

Kasimir Leino (1866–1919) was a Finnish poet, writer and journalist, born Kasimir Agathon Lönnbohm in Paltamo and the elder brother of the poet Eino Leino. His works include the poetry collections In the Torrent and Broader Waters, the story collections Life and Elli of Emmala, and a monograph on the French writer Prosper Mérimée; together with his brother he also founded the literary journal The New Age. Nine of his works are held in this collection, among them 25 Years, Jaakko Ilkka and Klaus Fleming, Poetic Experiments and Testament and Other Stories. Public information is limited, but his writing spans poetry, fiction, criticism and journalism, often drawing on history and everyday life in a plain, realistic spirit, and he holds a place in the development of Finnish national literature and the literary public sphere.