A Selection of Poems

Tavaststjerna, Karl August, 1860-1898Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.0

Word count: 37K 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.Valikoima runoelmia by Karl August TavaststjernaAuthor: Tavaststjerna, Karl August, 1860-1898,Language: Finnish, Class: PT: Language and Literatures: Germanic, Scandinavian, and Icelandic literatures, Release Date: Apr 27, 2006

Editor's review

This Finnish poetry collection is an anthology by the late nineteenth-century Finnish author Karl August Tavaststjerna, presented by Project Gutenberg as a free eBook. Tavaststjerna's poetry is concise in language, with imagery drawn largely from Nordic nature and everyday life, marked by strong lyricism and the spirit of its era. For readers learning Finnish or studying Nordic literature, this anthology offers a window onto late nineteenth-century Finnish poetry in its original form. The Gutenberg edition's advantages lie in its public text, easy searchability and citability, making it suitable as supplementary language-learning material or a primary text for literary research. Note, however, that this is the original Finnish text, so readers without Finnish reading ability cannot use it directly. This edition has no modern translation notes or introduction, so readers must supply background knowledge themselves. Overall, this is a public-domain text suited to a specific language-and-literature research audience rather than a popular read for a general audience.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers with Finnish reading ability who wish to encounter late nineteenth-century Finnish poetry in its original form
University students and faculty studying Nordic or Finnish literary history who need primary-text references
Intermediate and advanced Finnish learners who wish to experience the language's rhythm through poetry
Literature enthusiasts interested in poetry in Europe's smaller languages

Not a good fit for

Readers with no knowledge of Finnish who wish to read the poetry directly
Beginners who need modern translation notes, introductions, or detailed background annotations
Readers who prefer contemporary poetry or require strongly narrative works

Reading tips

First learn about Tavaststjerna's life and the late nineteenth-century Finnish literary context, then approach the text
For each poem, read through once for rhythm, then look up words line by line with a Finnish dictionary
Read alongside Chinese translations of other Nordic poets to aid understanding of the poetry
Don't try to finish in one sitting; group by theme or length and read a few poems at a time

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 this book in Finnish or English?

According to the information, the book's language is Finnish (Language: Finnish); it is the original-language edition of Tavaststjerna's poetry anthology and contains no English or Chinese translation. Readers without Finnish reading ability will need translation tools or a parallel translation.

What are the features of the Gutenberg edition?

Project Gutenberg provides a free eBook; the text is in the public domain and easy to download, search, and cite. This edition was first released in 2006, and the 2019-listed eBook version contains no introduction or notes by modern scholars, so readers must supply background material themselves.

Can I read this book without any Finnish?

Reading the original requires some Finnish ability, especially since poetic vocabulary and word order are quite special. With no Finnish at all, direct reading would be very difficult; it can be used as a supplementary text for research or study, together with a dictionary and background materials, or you can look for translations or introductory materials in other languages.

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

Tavaststjerna, Karl August, 1860-1898 Author

Karl August Tavaststjerna (1860–1898) was a Finnish author. Public information about him is limited, and details of his life are not recorded in the available sources. Four of his works are held in the collection, showing that he wrote both fiction and poetry. His representative work, Kovina aikoina: Kertomus Suomen viimeisten nälkävuosien ajoilta, is set against the last years of famine in Finland and belongs to the narrative tradition that draws on the nation's memory of hardship. Suomenlahden salaisuus and Kertomuksia ja kuvauksia show his skill in storytelling and scene painting, with a style close to everyday reality. Valikoima runoelmia, a selection of poems, indicates that he also practiced poetry. Overall, his writing attends to Finnish history and the lives of ordinary people, tending toward realism, with plain and often moving narration. Because public information is limited, a full assessment of his literary standing and influence awaits further material.