Star Haiku

If you concentrate
the dark sky will show Venus
and two shiny stars

by Ian, written in a tent in Iceland.... see following posts over the next weeks for more Icelandic poems

Similiar ideas are explored here by Katrin

Misserfolg

I was told
how she was failure in life
Miss Erfolg
The receptionist at the local hospital
How her mother was upset that she wouldn't be a proud grandmother
no child to continue her line
no grandkid to coo over
How her father was disappointed
that she wasn't a doctor
a daughter with a great career
and something to boast about
How her colleagues looked down on her
saying that she must know so little
being in the position she is
her thoughts can be just dismissed out of hand

But all the names
they wanted to give her
and all the sections
they wanted to place her
did not mean they defined her

As Whilst others earnt more and in large debt
she saved so had more money then them

Whilst others had kids
she knew this was not for her

Whilst work colleagues ignored her
she stood up and spoke her heart to willing audiences

Whilst others stayed inside blocking out neighbours
She volunteered and helped society

Whilst others were to judge everything
she was willing to listen

Whilst some people called her Miss Erfolg
I know her name was Erma Erfolg

As she was not a failure
She was herself

by ian
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picture by 5-year-old Mari Lee

1st Anniversary

It all started here a year ago!





I thought it would be fitting to have an Estonian Poem here. A poem I found about the Emajõgi river. A river that flows from one lake (Võrtsjärv) to another (Peipsi). It flows through Tartu and past Palupõhja (which is where we were based for our volunteering).

Betti Alver was born in Jõgeva and live from 1906 to 1989. She is one of Estonia's notable poets and more information can be found
here.

I have included both the Estonian and an English version of the poem.

Korallid Emajões - Betti Alver (from a collection of the same name)

Ikka meenuvad minutid
millal
viras vikerkaar
üle vee.

Me seisime raudsel sillal.
Sinu ees oli
raudne tee.

Aeg raputas aardeid mu ette.
sinu ees oli
raudne tee.

Raudsillal
viskasin vette
ma punakorallidest
kee.

Kõik mu aegade aarded on hallid.
Jumet
pole ka jumalatõel.

Veepõhjast
vaid punakorallid
vahel vilavad
Emajõel.


English version
(From Tuulelaeval valgusest on aerud. Windship with Oars of Light. Estonian Modern Poetry, Huma, Tallinn 2001)

My own note here is that the translator decided to say "Ancient River" whilst the original text specifies Emajõgi which means Mother River. Ema being mother and jõgi being river. The Emajõgi is mentioned in the title and also on the last line.

Corals in an Ancient River

A shimmering rainbow’s high ridge
arched over the river that day.
We stood on the cast-iron bridge;
ahead lay your iron-paved way.

Time’s treasures have all lost their lustre,
God’s truth has a dull, lifeless glimmer;
but the river flows stronger and faster
where the beads of coral still shimmer.


This along with other poems by Betti Alver can be found at the Estonian Literary Magazine.

Gustav Suits - Estonian Poet: Identity and Independence

 

Gustav Suits – Estonian Poet: Identity and Independence. by Ian F


Here is a speech I did for the Brownedge festival 2010 on a night titled "Poetry From Around the World". I chose an Estonian poet as I thought no one else would choose this. I knew I wasnt going to say anything new but gathered all the information I could to try and tell a story of Identity and Independence. There were a couple of comments at the end saying how it was interesting and they didnt know about such things... so it did its job.. hopefully it will do the same for you...

Gustav Suits was an Estonian poet born in 1883. He is considered to be one of the greatest poets of the country.

First I think I should explain the place he came from. Estonia is a country that lies south across the Baltic Sea from Finland. Finland is also considered to be one of the closest neighbours in consideration to the language. On the Eastern border of Estonia is Russia and on the south border is Latvia another Baltic state.

The Estonian landscape is very flat with the highest peak (Egg Hill) being around 318m, which is smaller then the size of Rivington Pike, Lancashire. The area of Estonia is about 45,000 Km2 which is bigger then the size of Wales, however its population is about 1.3 million people. This means there is a lot of room for nature and nature reserves including forests with wolves, bears , places to pick blueberries and hundreds of species of birds. As well as a lot of nature there is a room for a lot of little towns.
Gustav Suits was born to a village teacher in one of these tiny towns called Võnnu in the late 19th century. During this time Estonia was part of the Russian Empire, having in the past been ruled by countries such as Germany and Sweden. Twelve years later Suits moved to Tartu. Tartu is the second largest city in Estonia, smaller in population then Preston, Lancashire.

Suits had his first poem published when at the age of 16 and a couple of years later he was involved in a literature circle of school children. They were called The friends of Literature and included A.H. Tammsaare who would become, as some would see, Estonia’s greatest novelist.

Suits was then involved in with a group called Noor Eesti (which translated is Young Estonia). Young Estonia followed on from the national movement in the late 19th century in literature. (In the late 19th century Kalevipoeg the national epic was written, which was composed of various folktales of Estonia. This epic along with other poets and writers could be seen as a pre-cursor to Young Estonia.

Suits wrote the phrase in one of their publications saying “ Let us be Estonians, but also become Europeans”. Which may give an indication of the viewpoint of Estonians at the time.

Historians have varied views on Young Estonia group. Some say that is started a new Era in Estonian Literature, however others say that it just continued on what was started in the 19th Century. Anyway Young Estonia tried to extend literature influences to France and Nordic Countries. Although some people criticised the group for being alien, that they imitated other nations and other criticisms the group was essential in Estonian literature development.

After spending some time in Finland Suits was offered the position of Professor at the university in Tartu. This was in 1921 and just a few years into independence for Estonia. At the university there was some development in the fact that he was the first professor of literature to teach in Estonian, and his work as a scholar and professor as groundbreaking. He wrote papers on older Estonian work and made contacts and lectures through Europe.

However independence did not last long, only lasting 22 years from 1918. Estonia only seeing independance again in 1991. In 1941 Suits house was burnt down and his many scholarly papers were lost. He fled to Stockholm via Finland , along with many other Estonians. He did manage to continue his scholarly work and produce more poetry before he died in Stockholm, where he is now buried.

He is an important figure in Estonia and one of his poems is quoted on a monument for independance in Tallinn.


I have found two poems of Suits to try and show some of the themes I tried to pick out in my talk. His poetry had various themes including militant and romantic.
He had a collection of poems called Land of Winds. Some people suggest that this was his name for Estonia, others that it was about himself. The two poems I chose were "My Island" and "Under Quivering Aspens". Both of these can be found here to read along with two other poems.



I know I have said nothing new here but I hope this has inspired you to find out more!!
You may struggle to find some information on Estonian Poetry. So here are some resources that I used for my talk:
Estonian Literary Magazine and Article on Gustav Suits
Wikipedia entry for Gustav
Suits
__
speech by Ian
art by 7-year-old Laas Hendrik

Baturin ... pray ... request ... please ...

at school did a research
about Nikolai Baturin
who is still one
of my favourite Estonian poets.

He has even a homepage
even partly in English,
but no translations of poems.

Some examples of his poems in Estonian
can be found by link 'Luulekogud'
(collections (kogud) of poetry (luule))
on http://www.baturin.pri.ee/
(the first one in a really old version of Estonian language
that is quite difficult to understand
for young Estonians too).

One example (nicely translatable):
Kui oskaks (if one could) palvetada (to pray)
nagu (like) valetada (to lie),
paneks (would put) käed (hands) kokku (together),
paluks (would request) mäed (mountains) kokku (together).

ok - the last 'kokku (together)'
is quite untranslatable.
it's not like
'would ask the mountains to come together'
but more like
'would ask huge mountains of everything i'd ever want to be mine'.

similarity of the words 'palvetada' (to pray)
and 'paluda' (to ask/request
(in the poem the form 'paluks'
with the -ks ending as 'would')).

the first form of the word 'paluma'
is 'palun' (direct translation 'I ask/request')
that means also the English word 'please'
and is one of the two most important words
to teach to polite children
- the other on is of course
'tänan/aitähh' (thanks).

The word 'palun' is used mostly in 2 kinds of situations -
when one wants something ('please give me')
and when one gives something to someone
(like 'palun anna (give me) ...'
- 'palun' (when giving the thing asked)
- 'tänan' (when taking the thing given).

I'm not sure
whether in English
'please' is used when giving sth
or then rather more 'here you go/are' or sth like that.

and also I don't know
what are the old roots
of the English word 'please'
but in Estonian
it is obviously connected with the
in-English-differently-sounding words
'palvetama' ('to pray' like 'God please give me...')
and 'paluma' ('to ask/request' like 'anyone, please give me...').

and 'paluma' (to ask/request) is often used
instead of 'palvetama' (to pray)
- some people say 'palvetama' (to pray)
some people say 'jumalat paluma' (to ask/request the God).

but we don't say 'palvetama' (to pray)
in situations
not connected with God
and we don't say 'jumalat palvetama',
but we sometimes say 'palvetama Jumala poole'
(to pray towards the God).

well, I'm really amazed
that English people have invented
3 absolutely different words (to pray, to request, please)
for the concepts
so closely connected
in Estonian :)

and I think you are very right
that in Estonia
singing/lyrics/poetry/literature
has been a way
of showing
identity
and independence.

could never put it
in words
so simply
myself :)

___
poem by Nikolai Baturin

translations ... explanations ... contemplations ... by Katrin
photo by Ian in Wales 2010