Editing Kalevala (section)

==Collection and compilation==

===Elias Lönnrot===
{{Main|Elias Lönnrot}}
[[Image:Elias Lönrot Cabinet Portrait.jpg|thumb|150px|Elias Lönnrot]]

Elias Lönnrot (9 April 1802 – 19 March 1884) was a physician, [[botanist]], [[linguist]], and poet. At the time he was compiling the ''Kalevala'' he was the district health officer based in [[Kajaani]] responsible for the whole [[Kainuu]] region in the eastern part of what was then the [[Grand Duchy of Finland]]. He was the son of Fredrik Johan Lönnrot, a tailor, and Ulrika Lönnrot; he was born in the village of [[Sammatti]], [[Uusimaa]].

At the age of 21, he entered the [[Royal Academy of Turku|Imperial Academy of Turku]] and obtained a master's degree in 1826. His thesis was entitled ''De Vainamoine priscorum fennorum numine'' (''Väinämöinen, a Divinity of the Ancient Finns''). The [[monograph]]'s second volume was destroyed in the [[Great Fire of Turku]] the same year.<ref name="Francis Peabody Magoun, Jr.">Francis Peabody Magoun, Jr. "The Kalevala or Poems of the Kaleva district" ''Appendix I. (1963)''.</ref><ref>Tuula Korolainen &amp; Riitta Tulusto. "Monena mies eläessänsä – Elias Lönnrotin rooleja ja elämänvaiheita". Helsinki: Werner Söderström Osakeyhtiö (2002)</ref>

In the spring of 1828, he set out with the aim of collecting folk songs and poetry. Rather than continue this work, though, he decided to complete his studies and entered [[Imperial Alexander University]] in Helsinki to study medicine. He earned a master's degree in 1832. In January 1833, he started as the district health officer of Kainuu and began his work on collecting poetry and compiling the ''Kalevala''. Throughout his career Lönnrot made a total of eleven [[field trip]]s within a period of fifteen years.<ref name="Elias Lönnrot's field trips to Kainuu">{{cite web|url=http://www.juminkeko.fi/lonnrot/en/index.html|title=Elias Lönnrot in Kainuu|access-date=17 August 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100513194739/http://www.juminkeko.fi/lonnrot/en/index.html|archive-date=13 May 2010}}</ref><ref name="Elias Lönnrot (1802 - 1884)">{{cite web|url=http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/lonnrot.htm |title=Elias Lönnrot |website=Books and Writers (kirjasto.sci.fi) |first=Petri |last=Liukkonen |publisher=[[Kuusankoski]] Public Library |location=Finland |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131221051648/http://kirjasto.sci.fi/lonnrot.htm |archive-date=21 December 2013 }}</ref>

Prior to the publication of the ''Kalevala'', Elias Lönnrot compiled several related works, including the three-part ''Kantele'' (1829–1831), the ''Old Kalevala'' (1835) and the ''[[Kanteletar]]'' (1840).

Lönnrot's field trips and endeavours helped him to compile the ''Kalevala'', and brought considerable enjoyment to the people he visited; he would spend much time retelling what he had collected as well as learning new poems.<ref name="Travel account 1">{{cite web|url=http://www.juminkeko.fi/lonnrot/en/matkat/m4k1.html|title=Elias Lönnrot in Kainuu|access-date=20 August 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110615130532/http://www.juminkeko.fi/lonnrot/en/matkat/m4k1.html|archive-date=15 June 2011}}</ref><ref name="Travel account 2">{{cite web|url=http://www.juminkeko.fi/lonnrot/en/matkat/syys1.html|title=Elias Lönnrot in Kainuu|access-date=20 August 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110615130544/http://www.juminkeko.fi/lonnrot/en/matkat/syys1.html|archive-date=15 June 2011}}</ref>

===Poetry===
[[Image:Helsinki-Folk-singer-statue-1750.JPG|thumb|230px|The statue of [[Väinämöinen]] by Robert Stigell (1888) decorates the [[Old Student House, Helsinki|Old Student House]] in Helsinki]]

====History====
Before the 18th century, ''Kalevala'' poetry, also known as [[runic song]], was common throughout Finland and Karelia, but in the 18th century it began to disappear in Finland, first in western Finland, because European rhymed poetry became more common in Finland. Finnish folk poetry was first written down in the 17th century<ref>[http://www.karuse.info/ Kalevala poetry society (Finnish)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050307142922/http://www.karuse.info/ |date=7 March 2005 }}, [http://www.finlit.fi/kalevala/index.php?m=11&s=38&l=1 Finnish Literature Society (Finnish)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110524081440/http://www.finlit.fi/kalevala/index.php?m=11&s=38&l=1 |date=24 May 2011 }}, [https://web.archive.org/web/20041103164118/http://www.muhos.fi/koivujatahtipaivat/missa_kalevala_on_syntynyt.htm "Where was The Kalevala born?" Finnish Literature Society, Helsinki, 1978.] Accessed 17 August 2010</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://dbgw.finlit.fi/skvr/teksti.php?id=skvr11108660|title=SKVR XI. 866. Pohjanmaa. Pentzin, Virittäjä s. 231. 1928. Pohjal. taikoja ja loitsuja 1600-luvulta. -?|access-date=31 August 2010|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718172531/http://dbgw.finlit.fi/skvr/teksti.php?id=skvr11108660|archive-date=18 July 2011}}</ref> and collected by hobbyists and scholars through the following centuries. Despite this, the majority of Finnish poetry remained only in the oral tradition.

Finnish-born nationalist and linguist [[Carl Axel Gottlund]] (1796–1875) expressed his desire for a Finnish epic in a similar vein to the ''[[Iliad]]'', ''[[Ossian]]'' and the ''[[Nibelungenlied]]'' compiled from the various poems and songs spread over most of Finland. He hoped that such an endeavour would incite a sense of nationality and independence in the native Finnish people.<ref name="Swedish Literary News">{{Citation
| last  = Gottlund
| first = Carl Axel
| author-link = Carl Axel Gottlund
| title = Review
| newspaper = Svensk literatur-tidning 
| location = Stockholm
| volume = 25
| date   = June 21, 1817
| page   = 394
}}</ref> In 1820, {{ill|Reinhold von Becker|fi}} founded the journal ''Turun Wiikko-Sanomat'' (Turku Weekly News) and published three articles entitled ''Väinämöisestä'' (''Concerning [[Väinämöinen]]''). These works were an inspiration for Elias Lönnrot in creating his masters thesis at Turku University.<ref name="Francis Peabody Magoun, Jr."/><ref name="Turun Wiikko-Sanomat 1820">{{cite web|url=http://digi.lib.helsinki.fi/sanomalehti/secure/browse.html?action=year&id=1457-4888&name=Turun%20Wiikko-Sanomat|title=Turun Wiikko-Sanomat 1820 archive.|access-date=19 August 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722150629/http://digi.lib.helsinki.fi/sanomalehti/secure/browse.html?action=year&id=1457-4888&name=Turun%20Wiikko-Sanomat|archive-date=22 July 2011}}</ref>

In the 19th century, collecting became more extensive, systematic and organised. Altogether, almost half a million pages of verse have been collected and archived by the [[Finnish Literature Society]] and other collectors in what are now [[Estonia]] and Russia's [[Republic of Karelia]].<ref name="Folklore Fellows #15">{{cite web|url=http://www.folklorefellows.fi/netw/ffn15/fls.html|title=The folklore activities of the Finnish Literature Society|access-date=19 August 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060517044417/http://www.folklorefellows.fi/netw/ffn15/fls.html|archive-date=17 May 2006}}</ref> The publication ''[[Suomen Kansan Vanhat Runot]]'' (''Ancient Poems of the Finns'') published 33 volumes containing 85,000 items of poetry over a period of 40 years. They have archived 65,000 items of poetry that remain unpublished.<ref name="Suomen Kansan Vanhat Runot">{{cite web|url=http://dbgw.finlit.fi/skvr/|title=Suomen Kansan Vanhat Runot kotisivu|access-date=19 August 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100910231028/http://dbgw.finlit.fi/skvr/|archive-date=10 September 2010}}</ref> By the end of the 19th century this pastime of collecting material relating to Karelia and the developing orientation towards eastern lands had become a fashion called [[Karelianism]], a form of [[national romanticism]].

The [[chronology]] of this [[oral tradition]] is uncertain. The oldest themes, the origin of Earth, have been interpreted to have their roots in distant, unrecorded history and could be as old as 3,000 years.<ref name="Crawford Kalevala">John Martin Crawford. ''Kalevala – The national epic of Finland'', "Preface to the First edition, (1888)".</ref>
The newest events, e.g. the arrival of Christianity, seem to be from the [[History of Finland#Iron Age|Iron Age]], which in Finland lasted until c. 1300 [[Common Era|CE]]. Finnish folklorist [[Kaarle Krohn]] proposes that 20 of the 45 poems of the ''Kalevala'' are of possible [[Ancient Estonia]]n origin or at least deal with a motif of Estonian origin (of the remainder, two are [[Ingrian language|Ingrian]] and 23 are Western Finnish).<ref name="Laugaste1990">{{cite book |last=Eduard |first=Laugaste |editor=Lauri Honko |title=Religion, Myth and Folklore in the World's Epics: The Kalevala and its Predecessors |date=1990 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |isbn=978-3-11-087455-6 |pages=265–286 |chapter=The Kalevela and the Kalevipoeg}}</ref>

It is understood that during the [[Religion in Finland#The Reformation|Finnish reformation]] in the 16th century the clergy forbade all telling and singing of [[Paganism|pagan]] rites and stories. In conjunction with the arrival of European poetry and music this caused a significant reduction in the number of traditional folk songs and their singers. Thus the tradition faded somewhat but was never totally eradicated.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.finlit.fi/kalevala/index.php?m=11&s=38&l=1|title=Laulut Kalevalan takana|access-date=31 August 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110524081440/http://www.finlit.fi/kalevala/index.php?m=11&s=38&l=1|archive-date=24 May 2011}}</ref>

====Lönnrot's field trips====
[[Image:Lonnrot4.jpg|thumb|200px|A caricature of Elias Lönnrot by A. W. Linsen: "Unus homo nobis currendo restituit rem" – "One man saved everything for us by running".]]

In total, Lönnrot made eleven field trips in search of poetry. His first trip was made in 1828 after his graduation from Turku University, but it was not until 1831 and his second field trip that the real work began. By that time he had already published three articles entitled ''Kantele'' and had significant notes to build upon. This second trip was not very successful and he was called back to Helsinki to attend to victims of the [[Second cholera pandemic]].<ref name="Juminkeko 2">{{cite web|url=http://www.juminkeko.fi/lonnrot/en/aihe_3_1.html|title=Elias Lönnrot in Kainuu – Field trip 2|access-date=19 August 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110615130554/http://www.juminkeko.fi/lonnrot/en/aihe_3_1.html|archive-date=15 June 2011}}</ref>

The third field trip was much more successful and led Elias Lönnrot to Viena in [[east Karelia]] where he visited the town of Akonlahti, which proved most successful. This trip yielded over 3,000 verses and copious notes.<ref name="Juminkeko 3">{{cite web|url=http://www.juminkeko.fi/lonnrot/en/aihe_3_2.html|title=Elias Lönnrot in Kainuu – Field trip 3|access-date=19 August 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110615130735/http://www.juminkeko.fi/lonnrot/en/aihe_3_2.html|archive-date=15 June 2011}}</ref> In 1833, Lönnrot moved to Kajaani where he was to spend the next 20 years as the district health officer for the region, living in the Hövelö croft located near the [[Oulujärvi|Lake Oulujärvi]] in the [[Paltaniemi]] village, spending his spare time searching for poems.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.kainuunsanomat.fi/artikkeli/nakokulma-elias-lonnrotin-hovelon-aika-196185427/|title=Näkökulma: Elias Lönnrotin Hövelön aika|first=Esko|last=Piippo|work=[[Kainuun Sanomat]]|date=28 February 2021|access-date=1 October 2022|language=fi|archive-date=1 October 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221001143932/https://www.kainuunsanomat.fi/artikkeli/nakokulma-elias-lonnrotin-hovelon-aika-196185427/}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.kainuunsanomat.fi/artikkeli/kotiseutuna-kajaani-maanjaristys-tuhosi-ensimmaisen-kirkon-paltaniemella-kirkkoaholla-on-toiminut-erikoinen-elaintarha-197176727/|title=Kotiseutuna Kajaani: Maanjäristys tuhosi ensimmäisen kirkon Paltaniemellä – Kirkkoaholla on toiminut erikoinen eläintarha|first=Tiina|last=Suutari|work=[[Kainuun Sanomat]]|date=16 March 2021|access-date=1 October 2022|language=fi|archive-date=7 February 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230207015719/https://www.kainuunsanomat.fi/artikkeli/kotiseutuna-kajaani-maanjaristys-tuhosi-ensimmaisen-kirkon-paltaniemella-kirkkoaholla-on-toiminut-erikoinen-elaintarha-197176727/}}</ref> His fourth field trip was undertaken in conjunction with his work as a doctor; a 10-day jaunt into Viena. This trip resulted in 49 poems and almost 3,000 new lines of verse. It was during this trip that Lönnrot formulated the idea that the poems might represent a wider continuity, when poem entities were performed to him along with comments in normal speech connecting them.<ref name="Juminkeko 12">{{cite web|url=http://www.juminkeko.fi/lonnrot/en/aihe_3_3.html|title=Elias Lönnrot in Kainuu – Field trip 4|access-date=20 August 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110615130752/http://www.juminkeko.fi/lonnrot/en/aihe_3_3.html|archive-date=15 June 2011}}</ref><ref name="Helsingfors Morgenblad 1">{{cite web|url=http://digi.lib.helsinki.fi/sanomalehti/secure/showPage.html?conversationId=4&action=entryPage&id=393243&pageFrame_currPage=4|title=Letter to J L Runeberg.|access-date=19 August 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722151040/http://digi.lib.helsinki.fi/sanomalehti/secure/showPage.html?conversationId=4&action=entryPage&id=393243&pageFrame_currPage=4|archive-date=22 July 2011}}</ref>

On the fifth field trip, Lönnrot met [[Arhippa Perttunen]] who, over two days of continuous recitation, provided him with some 4,000 verses for the ''Kalevala''. He also met a singer called Matiska in the hamlet of Lonkka on the Russian side of the border. Although this singer had a somewhat poor memory, he did help to fill in many gaps in the work Lönnrot had already catalogued. This trip resulted in the discovery of almost 300 poems at just over 13,000 verses.<ref name="Juminkeko 4">{{cite web|url=http://www.juminkeko.fi/lonnrot/en/aihe_3_4.html|title=Elias Lönnrot in Kainuu – Field trip 5|access-date=19 August 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110615130809/http://www.juminkeko.fi/lonnrot/en/aihe_3_4.html|archive-date=15 June 2011}}</ref>

In the autumn of 1834, Lönnrot had written the vast majority of the work needed for what was to become the ''Old Kalevala''; all that was required was to tie up some narrative loose ends and complete the work. His sixth field trip took him into Kuhmo, a municipality in Kainuu to the south of Viena. There he collected over 4,000 verses and completed the first draft of his work. He wrote the foreword and published in February of the following year.<ref name="Juminkeko 5">{{cite web|url=http://www.juminkeko.fi/lonnrot/en/aihe_3_5.html|title=Elias Lönnrot in Kainuu – Field trip 6|access-date=19 August 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110615130814/http://www.juminkeko.fi/lonnrot/en/aihe_3_5.html|archive-date=15 June 2011}}</ref>

With the ''Old Kalevala'' well into its first publication run, Lönnrot decided to continue collecting poems to supplement his existing work and to understand the culture more completely. The seventh field trip took him on a long winding path through the southern and eastern parts of the Viena poem singing region. He was delayed significantly in Kuhmo because of bad skiing conditions. By the end of that trip, Lönnrot had collected another 100 poems consisting of over 4,000 verses.<ref name="Juminkeko 6">{{cite web|url=http://www.juminkeko.fi/lonnrot/en/aihe_3_6.html|title=Elias Lönnrot in Kainuu – Field trip 7|access-date=19 August 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110615130848/http://www.juminkeko.fi/lonnrot/en/aihe_3_6.html|archive-date=15 June 2011}}</ref> Lönnrot made his eighth field trip to the Russian border town of Lapukka where the great singer Arhippa Perttunen had learned his trade. In correspondence he notes that he has written down many new poems but is unclear on the quantity.<ref name="Juminkeko 7">{{cite web|url=http://www.juminkeko.fi/lonnrot/en/aihe_3_7.html|title=Elias Lönnrot in Kainuu – Field trip 8|access-date=19 August 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110528051206/http://www.juminkeko.fi/lonnrot/en/aihe_3_7.html|archive-date=28 May 2011}}</ref>

[[Image:Elias Lönnrot field trips-notable karelia locations-1.png|thumb|right|250px|Notable towns visited by Elias Lönnrot during his 15 years of field trips – both sides then belonged to Russia]]

Elias Lönnrot departed on the first part of his ninth field trip on 16 September 1836. He was granted a 14-month leave of absence and a sum of travelling expenses from the [[Finnish Literary Society]]. His funds came with some stipulations: he must travel around the Kainuu border regions and then on to the north and finally from Kainuu to the south-east along the border. For the expedition into the north he was accompanied by [[Johan Cajan|Juhana Fredrik Cajan]]. The first part of the trip took Lönnrot all the way to [[Inari, Finland|Inari]] in northern [[Lapland (Finland)|Lapland]].<ref name="Juminkeko 8">{{cite web|url=http://www.juminkeko.fi/lonnrot/en/aihe_3_8.html|title=Elias Lönnrot in Kainuu – Field trip 9 North|access-date=19 August 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110615130926/http://www.juminkeko.fi/lonnrot/en/aihe_3_8.html|archive-date=15 June 2011}}</ref> The second, southern part of the journey was more successful than the northern part, taking Lönnrot to the town of [[Sortavala]] on [[Lake Ladoga]] then back up through [[Savonia (historical province)|Savo]] and eventually back to Kajaani. Although these trips were long and arduous, they resulted in very little Kalevala material; only 1,000 verses were recovered from the southern half and an unknown quantity from the northern half.<ref name="Juminkeko 9">{{cite web|url=http://www.juminkeko.fi/lonnrot/en/aihe_3_8b.html|title=Elias Lönnrot in Kainuu – Field trip 9 South|access-date=19 August 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110615130943/http://www.juminkeko.fi/lonnrot/en/aihe_3_8b.html|archive-date=15 June 2011}}</ref>

The tenth field trip is a relative unknown. What is known however, is that Lönnrot intended to gather poems and songs to compile into the upcoming work ''Kanteletar''. He was accompanied by his friend C. H. Ståhlberg for the majority of the trip. During that journey the pair met [[Mateli Magdalena Kuivalatar]] in the small border town of [[Ilomantsi]]. Kuivalatar was very important to the development of the ''Kanteletar''.<ref name="Juminkeko 10">{{cite web|url=http://www.juminkeko.fi/lonnrot/en/aihe_3_9.html|title=Elias Lönnrot in Kainuu – Field trip 11|access-date=20 August 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110615130959/http://www.juminkeko.fi/lonnrot/en/aihe_3_9.html|archive-date=15 June 2011}}</ref> The eleventh documented field trip was another undertaken in conjunction with his medical work. During the first part of the trip, Lönnrot returned to Akonlahti in Russian Karelia, where he gathered 80 poems and a total of 800 verses. The rest of the trip suffers from poor documentation.<ref name="Juminkeko 11">{{cite web|url=http://www.juminkeko.fi/lonnrot/en/aihe_3_10.html|title=Elias Lönnrot in Kainuu – Field trip 11|access-date=20 August 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110615131135/http://www.juminkeko.fi/lonnrot/en/aihe_3_10.html|archive-date=15 June 2011}}</ref>

====Methodology====
[[Image:Inha runonlaulajat.jpg|thumb|right|[[Republic of Karelia|Karelian]] poem singing brothers Poavila and Triihvo Jamanen reciting [[runic song]], Uhtua, 1894.]]

Lönnrot and his contemporaries, e.g. [[Matthias Castrén]], Anders Johan Sjögren,<ref>Francis Peabody Magoun, Jr. "The Kalevala or Poems of the Kaleva district" ''Appendix II. (1963)''.</ref>
and [[Daniel Europaeus|David Emmanuel Daniel Europaeus]]<ref name="suomi.fi">{{cite web|url=http://www.suomi.fi/suomifi/suomi/tietopaketit/perustietoa_suomesta/kansalliset_symbolit_ja_juhlat/index.html|access-date=24 August 2010|title=Kansalliset symbolit ja juhlat – Kalevala|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100314051635/http://www.suomi.fi/suomifi/suomi/tietopaketit/perustietoa_suomesta/kansalliset_symbolit_ja_juhlat/index.html|archive-date=14 March 2010}}</ref><ref name="New Kalevala">Elias Lönnrot. "Kalevala" ''Preface to the First edition, (1849)''.</ref> collected most of the poem variants; one poem could easily have countless variants, scattered across rural areas of Karelia and [[Ingria]]. Lönnrot was not really interested in, and rarely wrote down the name of the singer except for some of the more prolific cases. His primary purpose in the region was that of a physician and of an editor, not of a biographer or counsellor. He rarely knew anything in-depth about the singer himself and primarily only catalogued verse that could be relevant or of some use in his work.<ref name="Honko1990">{{cite book|last=Honko |first=Lauri|editor=Lauri Honko |title=Religion, Myth and Folklore in the World's Epics: The Kalevala and its Predecessors |date=1990 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |isbn=978-3-11-087455-6 |pages=181–230 |chapter=The Kalevela: The Processual View}}</ref>

The student David Emmanuel Daniel Europaeus is credited with discovering and cataloguing the majority of the Kullervo story.<ref name="New Kalevala"/><ref name="Alhoniemi1990">{{cite book |last=Alhoniemi |first=Pirkko |editor=Lauri Honko |title=Religion, Myth and Folklore in the World's Epics: The Kalevala and its Predecessors |date=1990 |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |isbn=978-3-11-087455-6 |pages=231–246 |chapter=The Reception of the Kalevela and Its Impact on the Arts}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| title=Kansalliset symbolit ja juhlat| url=http://www.suomi.fi/suomifi/suomi/tietopaketit/perustietoa_suomesta/kansalliset_symbolit_ja_juhlat/index.html| access-date=31 August 2010| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100314051635/http://www.suomi.fi/suomifi/suomi/tietopaketit/perustietoa_suomesta/kansalliset_symbolit_ja_juhlat/index.html| archive-date=14 March 2010}}</ref>

Of the dozens of poem singers who contributed to the ''Kalevala'', significant ones are:
* [[Arhippa Perttunen]] (1769–1840)
* Juhana Kainulainen
* Matiska
* Ontrei Malinen (1780–1855)
* Vaassila Kieleväinen
* Soava Trohkimainen

====Form and structure====
The poetry was often sung to music built on a [[pentachord]], sometimes assisted by a [[kantele]] player. The rhythm could vary but the music was arranged in either two or four lines in [[Quintuple meter|{{music|time|5|4}}]] metre.{{Citation needed|reason = Five beat music, four beat poem?|date=August 2010}} The poems were often performed by a duo, each person singing alternative verses or groups of verses. This method of performance is called an [[antiphon]]ic performance, it is a kind of "singing match".

====Metre====
Despite the vast geographical distance and customary spheres separating individual singers, the folk poetry the ''Kalevala'' is based on was always sung in the same [[Metre (poetry)|metre]].

The ''Kalevala''{{'}}s metre is a form of [[trochaic tetrameter]] that is now known as the ''Kalevala metre''. The metre is thought to have originated during the [[Finnic languages|Proto-Finnic]] period. Its [[syllable]]s fall into three types: strong, weak, and neutral. Its main rules are as follows:<ref>{{cite book | year = 1977 |editor=[[Matti Kuusi]] |editor2=[[Keith Bosley]] |editor3=Michael Branch | title = Finnish Folk Poetry: Epic: An Anthology in Finnish and English | publisher = Finnish Literature Society | isbn = 978-951-717-087-1 | pages = [https://archive.org/details/finnishfolkpoetr00kuus/page/62 62–64] | url = https://archive.org/details/finnishfolkpoetr00kuus/page/62 }}</ref><ref name="Kalevalan runomitta">{{cite web|url=http://www.kalevalaseura.fi/kaku/sivu.php?n=p1a2&s=p1a2s7&h=hp1a2&f=fp1s|title=Kalevalan runomitta|access-date=30 August 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720190419/http://www.kalevalaseura.fi/kaku/sivu.php?n=p1a2&s=p1a2s7&h=hp1a2&f=fp1s|archive-date=20 July 2011}}</ref>
* A long syllable (one that contains a long [[vowel]] or a [[diphthong]], or ends in a [[consonant]]) with a main stress is metrically strong.
:In the second, third, and fourth [[Foot (poetry)|foot]] of a line, a strong syllable can occur in only the rising part:
:: {{lang|fi|Veli / '''kul'''ta, / '''veik'''ko/seni|italic=no}} (1:11)
:: ("Dearest friend, and much-loved brother"<ref name="Kirby Kalevala">''[http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/25953 Kalevala: The Land of Heroes] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190419065956/http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/25953 |date=19 April 2019 }}'', trans. by W. F. Kirby, 2 vols (London: Dent, 1907).</ref>)
:The first foot has a freer structure, allowing strong syllables in a falling position as well as a rising one:
:: {{lang|fi|Niit' '''en'''/nen i/soni / lauloi|italic=no}} (1:37)
:: ("These my father sang aforetime")
* A short syllable with a main stress is metrically weak.
:In the second, third, and fourth feet, a weak syllable can occur only in the falling part:
:: {{lang|fi|Miele/ni '''mi'''/nun '''te'''/kevi|italic=no}} (1:1)
:: ("I am driven by my longing")
:Again, the first foot's structure is more free, allowing weak syllables in a rising position as well as a falling one:
:: {{lang|fi|'''ve'''sois/ta ve/tele/miä|italic=no}} (1:56)
:: ("Others taken from the saplings")
* All syllables without a main stress are metrically neutral. Neutral syllables can occur at any position.

There are two main types of line:<ref name="Kalevalan runomitta"/>
* A normal tetrameter, word-stresses and foot-stresses match, and there is a [[caesura]] between the second and third feet:
: {{lang|fi|Veli / kulta, // veikko/seni|italic=no}}
* A broken tetrameter (Finnish: ''murrelmasäe'') has at least one stressed syllable in a falling position. There is usually no caesura:
: {{lang|fi|Miele/ni '''mi'''/nun '''te'''/kevi|italic=no}}
Traditional poetry in the Kalevala metre uses both types with approximately the same frequency. The alternating normal and broken tetrameters is a characteristic difference between the Kalevala metre and other forms of trochaic tetrameter.

There are four additional rules:<ref name="Kalevalan runomitta"/>
* In the first foot, the length of syllables is free. It is also possible for the first foot to contain three or even four syllables.
* A one-syllable word can not occur at the end of a line.
* A word with four syllables should not stand in the middle of a line. This also applies to non-compound words.
* The last syllable of a line may not include a long vowel.

====Schemes====
There are two main schemes featured in the ''Kalevala'':<ref name="Kalevalan runomitta"/>
* [[Alliteration]]
:Alliteration can be broken into two forms. Weak: where only the opening consonant is the same, and strong: where both the first vowel or vowel and consonant are the same in the different words. (e.g. {{langx|fi|'''va'''ka '''va'''nha '''Vä'''inämöinen|links=no|translation=Steadfast old Väinämöinen|label=none}}).
* [[Parallelism (grammar)|Parallelism]]
:Parallelism in ''The Kalevala'' refers to the stylistic feature of repeating the idea presented in the previous line, often by using synonyms, rather than moving the plot forward. (e.g. {{langx|fi|Näillä raukoilla rajoilla / Poloisilla pohjan mailla|links=no|translation=In these dismal Northern regions / In the dreary land of Pohja|label=none}}). Lönnrot has been criticised for overusing parallelism in ''The Kalevala'': in the original poems, a line was usually followed by only one such parallel line.<ref name="Kalevalainen kerto eli parallellismi">{{cite web|url=http://www.karuse.info/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=94:kalevalainen-kerto-eli-parallellismi&catid=4:tyylikeinoja&Itemid=25|title=Kalevalainen kerto eli parallellismi|access-date=20 March 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304002746/http://www.karuse.info/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=94:kalevalainen-kerto-eli-parallellismi&catid=4:tyylikeinoja&Itemid=25|archive-date=4 March 2016}}</ref>

The verses are sometimes inverted into [[chiasmus]].

====Poetry example====
{{listen
  |filename=Vaka vanha Vainamoinen.ogg
  |title=Vaka vanha Väinämöinen
  |format=[[Ogg]]
  |image=none
  |description=Excerpt of song 40 from the ''Kalevala''. [[:File:Vaka vanha Vainamoinen.ogg#Lyrics|The excerpt]] begins at verse 221 and ends at verse 264.<br />The [[Library of Congress]]' ''California Gold: Northern California Folk Music from the Thirties Collection''; performed by John Soininen on 5 November 1939 in [[Berkeley, California]].<br />The song describes the creation of the first [[kantele]] and of the attempts by old and young to play it ({{Audio|DIY kantele sample raw.ogg|same melody on a kantele|help=no}}).
}}

Verses 221 to 232 of song forty.<ref name="Kirby Kalevala"/><ref>{{cite book | year = 1849 |editor=Elias Lönnrot | title = The Kalevala }}</ref>
{{Verse translation|
{{lang|fi|Vaka vanha Väinämöinen
itse tuon sanoiksi virkki:
"Näistäpä toki tulisi
kalanluinen kanteloinen,
kun oisi osoajata,
soiton luisen laatijata."
Kun ei toista tullutkana,
ei ollut osoajata,
soiton luisen laatijata,
vaka vanha Väinämöinen
itse loihe laatijaksi,
tekijäksi teentelihe.}}
|
Väinämöinen, old and steadfast,
Answered in the words which follow:
"Yet a harp might be constructed
Even of the bones of fishes,
If there were a skilful workman,
Who could from the bones construct it."
As no craftsman there was present,
And there was no skilful workman
Who could make a harp of fishbones,
Väinämöinen, old and steadfast,
Then began the harp to fashion,
And himself the work accomplished.}}

===Lönnrot's contribution to the ''Kalevala''===
Very little is actually known about Elias Lönnrot's personal contributions to the ''Kalevala''. Scholars to this day still argue about how much of the ''Kalevala'' is genuine folk poetry and how much is Lönnrot's own work – and the degree to which the text is 'authentic' to the oral tradition.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Pertti |first1=Anttonen |editor1-last=Bak |editor1-first=János M. |editor2-last=Geary |editor2-first=Patrick J. |editor3-last=Klaniczay |editor3-first=Gábor |title=Manufacturing a Past for the Present: Forgery and Authenticity in Medievalist Texts and Objects in Nineteenth-Century Europe |date=2014 |publisher=Brill |isbn=978-90-04-27680-2 |pages=56–80 |url=https://brill.com/view/title/20073 |chapter=The Kalevala and the Authenticity Debate |access-date=23 May 2019 |archive-date=11 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181111011601/https://brill.com/view/title/20073 |url-status=live }}</ref> During the compilation process it is known that he merged poem variants and characters together, left out verses that did not fit and composed lines of his own to connect certain passages into a logical plot. Similarly, as was normal in the preliterate conventions of [[oral poetry]]&mdash;according to the testimony of Arhippa Perttunen&mdash;traditional bards in his father's days would always vary the language of songs from performance to performance when reciting from their repertoire.<ref name="New Kalevala"/><ref name="Honko1990"/><ref>John Miles Foley, ''A companion to ancient epic'', 2005, p.207.</ref><ref name="Thomas DuBois">Thomas DuBois. "From Maria to Marjatta: The Transformation of an Oral Poem in Elias Lönnrot's Kalevala" ''Oral Tradition, 8/2 (1993) pp.247–288''</ref>

The Finnish historian Väinö Kaukonen suggests that 3% of the {{lang|fi|Kalevala}}{{`s}} lines are Lönnrot's own composition, 14% are Lönnrot compositions from variants, 50% are verses which Lönnrot kept mostly unchanged except for some minor alterations, and 33% are original unedited oral poetry.<ref name="Väinö Kaukonen">Väinö Kaukonen. "Lönnrot ja Kalevala" ''Finnish Literature Society, (1979)''.</ref>