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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, Lauri 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 Finnicization of the Swedish surname to
"Pohjanpää" after the turn of the century 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 described him 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." (Päivä korkeimmillaan: suhteita ihmisiin ja ihmisryhmiin by F. E. Sillanpää, Helsingissä: Otava, 1956, pp. 19-20) Sillanpää dedicated to Pohjanpää one of his short stories, 'Rippi' (1928). 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. He wrote to Pohjanpää on November 11,
1911: "Suurella innolla ryhdyin viime kesänä säveltämään runovihkonne
mielestäni parasta runosarjaa 'Haudoilta'. Itse pidän tätä sävellystä
monien laulusepustusteni joukossa parhaimpana." (quoted in 'Lauri Pohjanpää,' Aleksis Kivestä Martti
Merenmaahan: suomalaisten kirjailijain elämäkertojap, Porvoo: Werner Söderström Osakeyhtiö, 1954, p. 568) Both 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 religious world view is marked with optimism.
However, a man of deep faith, Pohjanpää's conservative beliefs also
guided his literary criticism – he condemned works that failed to meet
his Christian standards. 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, contributing to 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. Some of the lyrics in Ristiritari (1920,
The crusader) come near hymns and prayers. In the title poem
a crusader sees Jerusalem after a long journey, but realizes that he
has come only to the half-way. Martti Haavio said in his review of the
book: "Pohjanpääkin laulaa vapaussodastamme. . . . Vapaussota ei ole
luonut Vänrikki Stoolia. Mutta Vänrikki Stool on kyllä lietsonut
henkeään Pohjanpään "Puska" runoon (vrt. Munter). Se runo luistaa." ('Lauri Pohjanpää, Ritari' by M. Ho. [Martti Haavio], in Valvoja, Maalikuu 1921, p. 121) After
the Civil War,
Pohjanpää more or less abandoned politics. 'Laulu Karjalalle' (1924)
expressed the spirit of times, the nationalist Greater Finland
ideology: "Kaks
kalpaa yllä on Karjalan. / Ne ei lepy – ne sotaa soittavat! / Sinä
seisot Euroopan! / Vain kuolla voit tai voittaa!" 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. The novel Kesäyön laulu (1937) won the third prize in an anonymous competition organised by the WSOY publishing house – Mika Waltari's novella A Stranger Came to the Farm received the first prize. Pohjanpää dealt in his essays with issues that are universal and timeless, but his poems have better survived the test of time. He was most productive in the 1920s, when he published several collections of poems, including his best-known work Metsän satuja (1924). It combined elements from Finnish folk tales with themes from international fable tradition, familiar from the works of Aesop, Jean de La Fontaine, and Krylov. Pohjanpää's animal fables had often a moral or even didactic message. 'Yksimielisyys on voimaa' mocked Socialist rhetoric – the party conference of wolves wants to communalize laziness: "Vai karhu se vaan tässä yksin sais / koko talven vetää unta! / On laiskuus kunnallistettava! / Pois, alas koko yhteiskunta!" The decision making ends up in a fight of the bear's honey.In 'Peni ja harakat' Pohjanpää argued that is better to be poor than rich: "Tämä rikkaan osa, se on nolo ja polo / Oli parempi köyhänä olo!" 'Syksy' (Autumn / Two old crows),
Pohjanpää's most popular piece, was set to
music by the composer Heikki Sarmanto. This much anthologized poem,
which has been highly popular in elementary
schools and poetry readings since its publication, articulates the idea
of silence and quietude as a Finnish "natural way of being". Pohjanpää
depicts two old crows, they sit silently on a
fence, the autumn rain is drizzling, the crows are wet, they exchange
only a few laconic words ("The crane has already left" and "So it
did"), and when it is
getting dark, the other wakes up, prepares for a flight, and his
companion says: "Käyhän taaskin tarinoimassa. / Oli oikein hauskaa
tavata." (It was nice to meet and chat, / welcome to a visit
again.) The lyrics have been translated into English by the
American poet Aina Swan Cutler in Syksy ja muita lauluja = Autumn and other Finnish songs (1977), musical score by Heikki Sarmanto. 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. Lauri 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. 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. "Hänellä on täytynyt olla fantastinen keskittymiskyky, se näkyi
myös siinä että kun hän tuli aterioille, hän pystyi vaihtamaan vapaalle
ja oli todella läsnä. Hän taisi olla niitä ihmisiä, jotka lepäävät
yhdestä työstä tekemällä toista." (Toimita talosi: muistijälkiä by Helena Anhava, Helsingissä: Otava, 2007, p. 22) Certain Russian classics, such as Tolstoy and Turgenev, Pohjanpää 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,' in Suomalainen lyriikka Juhani Siljosta Kaarlo Sarkiaan by Unto Kupiainen (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:muistijälkiä by Helena Anhava (2006); Sodan ja rauhan teemat suomenkielisissä luterilaisissa joululehdissä 1944–1948 by Anssi Hannula (pro gradu, 2018); Ristiritari: Kristillis-isänmaallinen aines Lauri Pohjanpään teoksissa by Elmeri Anhava (pro gradu, 2020); 'Lauri Pohjanpää, Einari Vuorela,' in Runouden ylistys: suomenkielisen runouden tie Mikael Agricolasta 2000-luvulle by Hannu Mäkelä (2024) Selected works:
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