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Kalevala[kA´levA´´lA] Pronunciation Key, Finnish national epic. It is a compilation of verses recounting extraordinary deeds of three semidivine brothers from mythical Kaleva, land of the heroes. Zakarias Topelius published fragments in 1822; Elias LOnnrot gave the cycle its present form, editing the material and sometimes writing transitional verses himself. LOnnrot published the collection of 50 runes (nearly 23,000 lines) in 1849. Its effect on Finnish art in all its branches has been great. The eight-syllable trochaic line of the Kalevala was imitated by Longfellow in Hiawatha.
See tr. by W. F. Kirby (1907, new ed. 1956) and F. P. Magoun (1963).
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