The Kalevala Metre

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KaRuSe is a society, which aims to revive the Kalevala metre.

The Kalevala metre appears to date back to the Proto-Finnic period and survived among the Estonians, the Ingrians, the Votes, most of the Karelians, and the Finns. It was used for more than two thousand years as the main prosodic form for poetry.

Kalevala metre is unrhymed, non strophic trochaic tetrameter, e. g. the first lines of Kalevala:

Miele/ni mi/nun te/kevi,
aivo/ni a/jatte/levi,
lähte/äni / laula/mahan,
saa’a/ni sa/nele/mahan,
suku/virttä / suolta/mahan,
laji/virttä / laula/mahan.
Sanat / suussa/ni su/lavat,
puhe’/et pu/toe/levat,
kielel/leni / kerki/ävät,
hampa/hille/ni ha/joovat.

The main stress in Finnish in speech is always on the first syllable of the word.

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THE RULES OF THE KALEVALA METRE

When sung, a line in Kalevala metre consists of four consecutive trochaic feet. Usually it contains eight syllables: vaka / vanha / Väinä/möinen - laski / laule/len ve/siä

1. In the Kalevala metre, if the first syllable is long, containing a long vowel or diftong (siika, laula) or a short vowel followed by one or two consonants (itse, virsta), it can occur only in the rising part of the foot: suku/virttä / suolta/mahan - sanat / suussa/ni su/lavat.

Only in the first foot a long first syllable can occur in a falling position (jo päi/vänä / kolman/tena), in other feet it is not possible (incorrect: hajoo/vat ham/pahil/leni).

2. A short syllable with a main stress (containing a short vowel, before which a consonant can occur) can occur in a rising part only in the first foot: sanat / suussa/ni su/lavat, but not in the other three rising positions, incorrect: laula/mahan / laji/virttä.

A short syllable with a main stress can occur only in the falling parts (not in the rising part) of the second and third foot: sanat / suussa/ni su/lavat - aivo/ni a/jatte/levi

3. A syllable without a main stress (neutral syllable) can occur anywhere in a line. An interesting feature is the freer syllabic system of the first foot, in which three, or even four syllables can occur: surma jo / suutan/sa a/vavi - vaski oli / hattu / harti/oilla

4. A word consisting of a single syllable can occur anywhere in a verse, except at the end. This rule naturally implies that a single-syllable word can neither be used as the second-last syllable of a verse. One-syllable words are relatively easy to use, since they need not adhere strictly to the main rule of syllable lengths.

Nevertheless, it is recommandable to put longer one-syllable words in a rising position:

Niin on / kuin sa/noi e/monsa
Vaan jos / sitte / siit' ei / huoli
Mink' on / niitti / sen ha/ravoi
Mela/tar on / mieli/vaimo
Himme/ne nyt / Hiien / hurtta.

5. A four-syllable word (excluding compound words) may not occur in the middle of a trochaic verse, i.e., the second and third foot may not consist of a single four-syllable word.

Forbidden:

tätä nuorempata miestä
laiha lappalainen poika
pidä itsestäsi huolta

Allowed:

tätä / miestä / nuorem/pata
lappa/lainen / laiha / poika
laiha / poika / lappa/lainen
pidä / huolta / itses/täsi

6. The last syllable of a verse must not contain a long vowel.

Forbidden:

lähdimmekin Lappeenrantaan
panim/me ko/vasti / hanttiin
haki / sieltä / tuulen / suojaa
sitä tiennyt en minäkään
hiivimme taas / hiljaa / hiljaa

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The 'flinger' law

Despite its name, the flinger law is only a recommendation: the heaviest elements, i.e., the longest words, tend to get flung to the end of the verse: maille ristimättömille rather than ristimättömille maille.

If one obeys the flinger law strictly, the following verses are not possible: odotellessani teitä - amerikkalaisten haave.
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There are two main types of Kalevala line: a normal trochaic tetrameter, in which the word-stress and foot-stress fall on the same syllable: vaka / vanha / Väinä/möinen and a broken trochaic tetrameter, in which at least one syllable with the main stress occurs in the falling part of the foot: laski / laulel/len ve/siä - sano / jo to/et to/tiset - ja kai/ken e/lon vä/hyyttä.

As stated above that broken syllable has to be short (except in the first foot). In the broken syllables there is a tension between verse rhythm and speech rhythm. This is characteristic of the Kalevala metre differing totally from the Germanic languages. The number of broken lines is about 50 %.

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Kalevala poetry is characterized by alliteration:

Siitä/pä nyt / tie me/nevi,
ura / uusi / urke/nevi,
laajem/mille / laula/joille,
runsa/hammil/le ru/noille
nuori/sossa / nouse/vassa,
kansas/sa ka/sua/vassa.

Aulis Rintala