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Lauri Pohjanpää (1889-1962) - surname until 1906 Nordqvist |
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Prolific Finnish poet, theologian, best known for his fable poems. Between 1910 and 1960, Pohjanpää published over fifty works, collections of poems, memoirs, novels, religious books, plays, short stories, essays, and hymns. He also assisted the writer Juhani Aho with his book Kuvia ja kuvitelmia Suomen historiasta (1915). Pohjanpää's poems show the influence of Eino Leino, Heinrich Heine, and V.A. Koskenniemi. Kaksi vanhaa, vanhaa varista Ruskea on rinta kaislikon, Lauri Pohjanpää was born Lauri Nordqvist in Helsinki, the son
of Kaarle Henrik, a master
tailor, and Iida Wilhelmina Kourlaa. He was the youngest of three brothers. The
change of the family name from the Swedish origin into Finnish
"Pohjanpää" was a result of Johannes Linnankoski's
national campaign. As a small businessman Pohjanpää's father never had
a great success; originally he had planned to become a missionary. Toivo Yrjö, his elder brother, died young His early years Pohjanpää spent in Helsinki, where his father
had a tailor's shop located in the center of the city, at Alexander Street. When Pohjanpää was nine, the family moved to
Tampere; there the business went bankrupt. Pohjanpää's friends at the secondary school included the future
Nobel writer F.E. Sillanpää,
who later dedicated to Pohjanpää one of his short stories, 'Rippi'
(1928). Sillanpää described him in Päivä korkeimmillaan
(1956), a collection of his essays, as follows: "Hän oli kaupunkilaisen, lievästi uskonnollisen
korkean luokan kraatarimestarin, minä taas sydänmaan mökin poika.
Hurskaan kurjuuden koko materiaali oli hänelle jokseenkin vierasta,
tosiaankin materiaalia, johon hänellä ei ollut henkilökohtaista
suhdetta." While still at school, Pohjanpää began to write poems. He studied aesthetics and literature at the University of Helsinki, receiving his M.A. in 1911. Both Pohjanpää and his fellow student, Juhani Siljo (1888-1918), debuted as poets in 1910: Pohjanpää published Mielialoja, and Siljo his collection Runoja. Mielialoja attracted the attention of the composer Oscar Merikanto, whose song Haudoilta was based on Pohjanpää's poem. Siljo and Pohjanpää examined religious themes in their works, especially death, but for Siljo poetry meant serious self-examination – Pohjanpää's touch was lighter and his Christian world view is marked with optimism. In
autumn of 1912 Pohjanpää studied literature in Paris. He saw the famous
actress Sarah Bernhardt (1844-1923) at her own theatre. Her best days
were gone. Pohjanpää
worked in the 1910s as a journalist, writing for Uusi Suometar (1913,
1915). From 1913 to 1915 he was the director of Hartola folk high
school. When the Finnish Civil War (1917-18) began, he joined the White Guard. In a
speech Pohjanpää made in June 1918, after visiting prisoner-of-war
camps, he spoke against taking revenge on those who had been on the side of the Reds. Pohjanpää's observations of the nature combined with
philosophical
reflections marked the poetry collection Ristiritari
(1920, The crusader),
in
which some of the lyrics come near hymns and prayers. In the title work
a crusader sees Jerusalem after a long journey, but realizes that he
has come only to the half-way. Pohjanpää had abandoned politics after
the Civil War, but some poems arose from the spirit of the times: "Kaks
kalpaa yllä on Karjalan. / Ne ei lepy – ne sotaa soittavat! / Sinä
seisot Euroopan! / Vain kuolla voit tai voittaa! (from 'Laulu Karjalalle,' 1924) From 1917 Pohjanpää worked as a teacher at a coeducational
school in Helsinki (Helsingin Suomalainen Yhteiskoulu). In 1920 he
married Arla Augusta Rossander, the daughter of a Lutheran minister.
They had three children. After theological studies, Pohjanpää
was ordained as a minister in 1925 – it was what his brother had wanted
to do before his death. Pohjanpää served subsequently in several
ecclesiastical offices and was among others the secretary of the hymn
book committee (1922-23) and committee's regular expert (1929-37). In
1935, his play Savonarola was
staged at the Finnish National Theatre. Both Pohjanpää's poems and religious essays dealt with issues that are universal and timeless, but poems have better survived the test of time. His most productive period was in the 1920s, when he published several collections of poems, including his best-known work Metsän satuja (1924). It combined elements form Finnish folk tales with themes from international fable tradition, familiar from the works of Aesop, Jean de La Fontaine and Krylov. In his animal fables Pohjanpää had often a moral or even didactic message – it is better to be poor than rich: "Tämä rikkaan osa, se on nolo ja polo / Oli parempi köyhänä olo!" In the poem 'Yksimielisyys on voimaa' Pohjanpää mocked Socialist rhetoric – the party conference of wolves wants to communalize laziness and ends in fight about the bear's honey. One of Pohjanpää's most popular pieces, 'Syksy' (The Autumn), was set to music by the composer Heikki Sarmanto. The much anthologized poem, which depicts two old crows, has been highly popular in elementary schools and poetry readings for decades. The crows sit silently on a fence, the autumn rain is drizzling, the crows are wet, and when it is getting dark, the other wakes up, prepares for a flight, and his companion says: 'It was nice to meet and chat, welcome to a visit again.' The lyrics have also been translated into English by the American poet Aina Swan Cutler. A socially active writer, Pohjanpää was a member of several boards and councils, including the board of the Finnish Writers' Association. He traveled in Russia, Estonia, Sweden, Germany, Switzerland, and France. The family friends included Edwin Linkomies, Prime Minister of Finland during the Continuation war. Throughout his life, religion was for Pohjanpää not a matter of thought or action, but a feeling of God's presence. In the 1940s, he asked in a poem, what is something that last forever, and concluded that it is the message of the cross, and the mercy of God. Pohjanpää died on July 2, 1962 in Helsinki. Pohjanpää's
selected poems, Kaipuu ylipse ajan,
which came out in 1989, was edited by his daughter Helena Anhava. In
her memoir, Toimita talosi (2006),
she recalled that his father was always writing, but the door to his
study was half open and he was fully present with his family at dinner
time. Certain Russian classics, such as Tolstoy and Turgenev, he read
over and over again. Pohjanpää's brother, the lawyer Arvi Pohjanpää (1887-1957), also published fiction. Selected works: Tuntureilta (1913); Revontulten alla (1916); Valo (1918, play); Jumalan käskynhaltija (1937, play); Keisarin käräjillä (1943, play). Arvi Pohjanpää's daughter Elina (1933-1996) became a popular film actress. She was married to the actor Pentti Siimes. Helena Anhava was married to the poet, critic and translator Tuomas Anhava (1927-2001). For further reading: 'Lauri Pohjanpää' by Unto Kupiainen, in Suomalainen lyriikka, pp. 45-50 (1948); 'Lauri Pohjanpää,'' in Aleksis Kivestä Martti Merenmaahan: suomalaisten kirjailijain elämäkertoja (1954); Somerniemi: muistojen kirja by Manu Kärki (1992); 'Pohjanpää, Lauri', in Suomen kansallisbiografia, ed. by Matti Klinge, et al. (2006); Toimita talosi by Helena Anhava (2006); Ristiritari: Kristillis-isänmaallinen aines Lauri Pohjanpään teoksissa by Elmeri Anhava (pro gradu, 2020) - Other writers of animal fables: Jean de La Fontaine, Ivan Krylov Selected works:
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