KALEVALA
\ke͡ɪlvˈɑːlə], \keɪlvˈɑːlə], \k_eɪ_l_v_ˈɑː_l_ə]\
Sort: Oldest first
-
kal-e-vä'lä, n. the great Finnish epic, written in eight-syllabled trochaic verse (from which Longfellow's Hiawatha is imitated), taken down from the lips of the peasantry and pieced together by Dr. Lönnrot of Helsingfors in 1835, in extended form (22,793 verses) in 1849. [Finnish, kaleva, a hero, -la, denoting place.]
By Thomas Davidson
Word of the day
sir richard blackmore
- An English physician poet; born in Wiltshire about 1650; died 1729. Besides medical works, Scripture paraphrases, satirical verse, he wrote Popian couplets "Prince Arthur, a Heroic Poem"(1695), and voluminous religious epic, "The Creation"(1712), very successful much praised then, but not now read.