In April this year, we caught a flight to Tallinn in Estonia. During our few days there, we took a ferry over The Baltic to Helsinki for a day. The ferry trip is something I would highly recommend. Besides the views (especially the lonely lighthouse lost at sea, and the islets as you arrive into Helsinki) you can also have all the pickled herring you can eat and all the wine you want to help yourself to! Having arrived, we continued our varied transportation themes and caught a tram to Helsinki’s magnificently fronted train station:

This little blog isn’t our attempt at recreating the great Planes, Trains and Automobiles (and I certainly wouldn’t be allowed to take the part of Steve Martin!). No, this is inspired by a statue just off the tram route between Helsinki’s ferry terminal and its train station; a statue of Elias Lönnrot. Located at Lönnrot in puistikko, 00100 Helsinki, Finland (60.1668909, 24.9388183), the statue commemorates Lönnrot as, amongst many other things, the author of Finland’s national epic, Kalevala.

Elias Lönnrot sits writing down songs he has heard. On his right is Väinämönen rising from the head of Antero Vipunen and at his feet, the nymph Impi who symbolises the poems and songs of both the Kalevala and Kanteletar. As well as assisting in the formation of Finland’s own cultural identity, Kalevala served as the model for the Kalevipoeg, the Estonian national epic, and for The Song of Hiawatha, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s epic based on North American myths and legends. It also influenced and inspired J. R. R. Tolkien.

Tolkien himself held Elias Lönnrot in high esteem:

The above is quoted from Tolkien’s “The Story of Kullervo”, edited by Verlyn Flieger (you can find further details in our Bookshelf section), it is taken from Tolkien’s first draft of his essay “On ‘The Kalevala’ or Land of Heroes”’ which he delivered to the Corpus Christi College Sundial in 1914. (We’ll come back to Väinämönen later.)

If you’re reading this, there’s a chance that you may be inspired and influenced by Tolkien’s works. At the very least you respect and/or admire his works. In this blog we’re going to see the works of another person that had a similar effect on Tolkien himself. The essay itself is an enthusiastic Tolkien introducing the Finnish epic to a wider Oxford audience; something that Tolkien felt was wholly important and had not been seen before:

We’ve all had the feeling that we can’t wait to share something we have discovered for the first time, tripping over ourselves to be the first to mention it. And if its really important, we also worry that someone may beat us to it!

What was the influence of Kalevala on Tolkien, and are there any parallels with his work?

Tolkien first read ‘Kalevala’ in 1911. It was W. F. Kirby’s English translation. Tolkien was so struck by it that he wrote “The Story of Kullervo” based on one of its main characters, also known as hapless Kullervo.

Many years later, after the publication of nearly all the works Tolkien published in his lifetime, (the exception is Smith of Wooton Major) he had this to say of Kalevala, in a letter dated 16^th July, 1964 (to a Christopher Bretherton; please let me know if you have any more information on Mr. Bretherton):

The impact that the character Kullervo had on Tolkien’s work is summed up by Verlyn Flieger in her introduction to “The Story of Kullervo”:

Tolkien’s memory is famously incongruous. However, he continually recognised Finland and Kalevala as an important foundation to his life’s works:

His academic career saw him as a lexicographer, a philologist and, arguably in his spare time, an author of fictional work. Regardless, his career was based around language.

Language is the centre of the Venn diagram of Tolkien’s working life, be it professional or leisure. (Also, Venn is another East Yorkshire reference…)

In addition to Lönnröt’s Kalevala, the language in which it was originally written, Finnish, also had an impact on Tolkien.

On the 25th November in the same year that he read Kalevala for the first time, Tolkien checks out “A Finnish Grammar” by C. N. E. Eliot from Exeter College Library.

Again, years later, in a letter to W. H. Auden, dated 7th June, 1955, Tolkien writes:

Also, to back up the earlier point, in the same letter he has this to say regarding the effect the Kalevala had on him:

We can see that Kalevala had a formative effect on Tolkien’s fictional work through its content and its language.

I’ll look at the content later. For now, language.

When looking into the language of Kalevala and how it affected Tolkien, this is where we begin to see parallels between Tolkien and Elias Lönnrot. Let’s begin with Lönnrot himself.

Elias Lönnrot

Whilst in Helsinki I picked up the “Kalevala Guide”, written by Irma_Riitta Järvinen, Senior Archivist and researcher at the Finnish Literature Society in Helsinki. in it, Järvinen sums up Finland at the time and Elias Lönnrot’s incredible impact on his country:

Lönnrot was certainly no ordinary Finnish citizen. He was born on 9^th April, 1802. One of four children of Fredrik Johan Lönnrot , a tailor, and Ulrika Wahlberg in Sammatti and at the time of his Lönnröt’s birth, it was a part of Sweden. Today, it lies in south-west Finland.

Lönnrot went on to become one of the most educated Finnish men of his day; humanities, medicine, botany and pharmacy. He worked as a journalist and as a medical doctor. He was an author in the field of popular education, a writer of hymns, a creator of new vocabulary (today’s Dictionary of Modern Finnish, completed in the 1960s, contains 210,000 words. When Lönnrot completed his part in 1880 it contained 200,000 words having built upon approx. 8,000 words), and the professor of Finnish language at the university in Helsinki.

What really needs to be considered is the backdrop against which Lönnrot developed. As mentioned earlier, Finland was till under Swedish rule at the time of his birth, with Swedish being the ruling language.

Finland had arguably been under the rule of Sweden since the mid-12^thC. when the first Swedish Crusade took place in an attempt to “christianise” Finland. (Interesting side note: Crusades were held against many peoiples, including pagan as well as other christian groups or nations. The Albigensian crusade against the Cathars (unrelated to this blog) is one of particular note and certainly worth looking more into. I’ve added a recommended book to the Bookshelf). However, Finland’s incorporation into Sweden was mainly noted in 1362 when representative from Finland were recorded as being in Finland to vote for the new Swedish King. This was after the Second, and more successful, Swedish Crusade in approximately 1249.

In 1809, the Treaty of Hamina was signed at Fredrikshamn, ceding Finland to Russia. The ceded territories were a consequence of the Napoleonic War (again, something else very much worth looking into!) and they became a Grand Duchy of Russia. Not only was this the start of the path to independence for for Finland, it also led to the geography of what we recognise as Finland today.

In 1812, Russia added Karelia (of huge importance to Kalevala) and Savonia to the Grand Duchy of Finland.

As a Grand Duchy, Finland became an autonomous administrative division of Russia. For the first time in over 500 years it was able to make its own decisions.

I think this quote from the magazine of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization aptly summarises the impact that other nation’s decisions had on what we know as Finland today.

Where did Lönnrot fit into this?

In 1822 Lönnrot enrolled at the Turku Academy in Finland having been financially supported by members of his family.

Alongside him was Johan Vilhelm Snellman and Johan Ludvig Runeberg.

These three Finns went on to become three crucial people in the development of the Finnish national identity and culture.

Snellman became a leading ideologist of Finland’s national movement and Runeberg one of Finlands greatest speaking poets.

Indeed, they each have a commemorative day named after them:

5^th February: Runeberg Day. This was the day Runeberg was born.

28^th February: Kalevala Day (Day of Finnish Culture). This was the day that Lönnrot signed the preface to his first edition of Kalevala

12^th May: Finnish Heritage Day. This was the day Snellman was born.

Today, in front of the University of Turku, stands a black granite statue of these three together honouring “the Kolme vekkulia”, translating as “the three vehicles”. Having no knowledge of Finnish, and relying entirely on Google Translate, I can only assume this refers to the three people, the “vehicles”, who drove the development of the Finnish national culture and identity.

They are not to be confused with a wannabee Beatles band…

These three “vehicles” are recognised through statues and annual commemoration as being instrumental in the formation of Finland’s national identity, with Lönnrot himself achieving this through the creation of Kalevala.

How did Lönnrot create Kalevala?

During his time at University, Lönnrot became involved with others who were interested in the promotion of the Finnish language, particularly one of his teachers, Reinhold von Becker. Becker had a strong collection of folk poetry and mythology. This all led to Lönnröt’s 1827 dissertation De Väinämöinen priscorum Fennorum numine (About Väinämöinen, the ancient god of the Finns).

In the same year, disaster struck Turku University and it burned down. The university was relocated to Helsinki and there Lönnrot wrote his doctoral dissertation on the folk medicine of the Finns.

Because of the similarity between Lönnröt’s interests and future actions, the young Elias may have looked up to another Finnish physician, Zacharias Topelius (the Elder) who distinguished himself as a collector of Finnish folk songs. It was from Topelius that Lönnrot identified northeastern Karelia as the place to collect old songs and this may have been a driving influence for Lönnrot to do the same. His first field trip occurred in 1828. Also, following Topelius’s death in 1831 that Lönnrot decided that he could compile a collection of Finnish old poetry.

From the indigenous inhabitants of Karelia, whilst carrying out his duties as a travelling doctor, Lönnrot collected songs and poetry of oral tradition. It was these he used to create the Kalevala, a legend he believed the national folk epic of the Finnish peoples should look like.

Between 1828 and 1844 he travelled a similar distance that Finland is from the South Pole on foot, on skis, by boat and sleigh.

During this time he met with about 48 singers, 13 of whom he mentions by name. Below are 4 who appear to have had a strong influence on Lönnröt:

1828 – Juhana Kainulainen (40) of Kesälahti who sang about, amongst other things, Lemminkäinen and incantations.

1833 – Ontrei Malinen (50) of Vuonninen singing of the Sampo and of Väinämöinen

1833 – Vaassila Kieleväinen from Vuonninen, who sang of the chronology of Väinämöinen

1834 – Arhippa Perttunen (70) from Latvajärvi who sang of, amongst other things, Väinämöinen, Ilmarinen, the Sampo and the pike bone Kantele. He did this with 4000 lines of poetry. All sang in coherent order. From memory.

“Miihkali Perttunen was the son of Arhippa Perttunen, a singer Lönnrot met in Latvajäri, Archangel Karelia in 1834. Like his father, Miihkali was a great singer. After losing his eye-sight at the age of fifty, Miihkali was only able to perform light household tasks. Sometimes he had to go begging.

Photo: I. K. Inha, 1894. Finnish Literature Society (SKS)”

“Kalevala Guide“, Järvinen pp.82-82

It is worth mentioning here that Karelian singers of epic poetry were often performed in pairs; a lead singer and accomplice, with the accomplice joining the main singer at the end of a line as well as using an instrument (the kantele or a bowed harp was often used).

Karelia was the remaining area of Finland that still sang in “kalevala-metre”. The singers were mainly men with the exception of an area called Ingria, south of Karelia. It was from this region where the collected poems were used for the Kullervo cycle in the 1849 edition of the Kalevala. Here, the singing was dominated by women with male singers having almost vanished and instead of pairs, the lead singer would be accompanied by a female chorus.

Kalevala is “the national epic of the Finns” as it is written on the sub-title of the translation by John Martin Crawford. I mention this as this is the official translation offered by The Finnish Institute in London (https://taleoftwocountries.fininst.uk/memory/kalevala-epic-poem-finland/).

“The national epic of the Finn” is also how it is noted by the Finnish Kalevala Society Foundation who, by the way, “give research and general grants, organise events, and seek new ways of interpreting the Kalevala and cultural heritage” (https://kalevalaseura.fi/en/the-kalevala/).

“Epic” appears to ultimately derive from the PIE word “wekw”, meaning “to speak”.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, epic is “a long poem, typically one derived from ancient oral tradition, narrating the deeds and adventures of heroic or legendary figures or the past history of a nation.” The Oxford English Dictionary of Etymology traces the word to Greek, stating its meaning as the “continuous narrative of the doings of heroes”, a description allied to its borrowing from Greek into the Latin word “epicus” which has connotations with “heroic”. This helps us to understand the subtitle chosen by W. F. Kirby, who’s translation the young Tolkien read: “The Land of Heroes”. This is something that echoes Tolkien’s respect for northern mōd,

Mōd is an Old English word which means:

“1. heart, mind, intellect, spirit, mood… 2. boldness, courage… 3. arrogance, pride, haughtiness… 4. greatness, power, violence”

“A Concise Anglo-Saxon Dictionary“, Clark-Hall, p218

In his essay Ofermōd, Tolkien discusses the haughtiness and pride meaning of mōd. This can be found in “The Battle of Maldon” alongside his alliterative poem “The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth”.

And this assists us in understanding why Tolkien included the subtitle in his “On ‘The Kalevala’ or Land of Heroes” essay to The Sundial mentioned earlier.

Back to Lönnrot

Lönnrot sought to establish the Finnish identity through its own myths and legends which had been kept buried alive in its tongue and soil. It certainly seems right that the Kalevala is Finland’s epic.

This epic struck a chord with Tolkien, appealing to his burgeoning love of language and how language encapsulated the culture of its speakers. However, the Kalevala and Finnish brought something new to Tolkien.

Despite Sweden’s earlier crusading conquest of the area, the Kalevala was also largely unaffected by Christianity. Tolkien commented on this in his “The Kalevala” essay:

In Britain, we have had the Britons and their gods and myths; Romans and their gods and myths, later Christianised; the Anglo-Saxons and their gods and myths, again later Christianised; the Vikings and their gods and myths, again later Christianised. This has arguably created a rich cultural seam to mine with imagination and creativity.

The seam has in time blended, losing varying amounts of individual identity, making it difficult to pin down the source of the mythological heritage of Tolkien’s country.

By comparison, Finland’s mythological heritage is largely untainted by outside influences having been kept away from theses influences, from the 5 centuries of Swedish colonisation which led to a Swedish speaking government creating a language of privilege.

Could the Kalevala be when Tolkien began to realise his grief over the poverty of his own country:

This is a rather famous quote of Tolkien’s, and probably the one most responsible for the confusion that Tolkien’s Legendarium is a historical myth for England. However, Elias Lönnrot and his Kalevala appear to place this quote into context.

The Kalevala, and Elias Lönnrot certainly spoke to a young Tolkien, perhaps reinforcing what Tolkien was seeking for himself, a legend connected to England through tongue and soil.

And the Kalevala provided Kullervo, who in turn was the basis of Túrin Turambar. What would The Silmarillion be without Túrin Turambar? How would that version of The Silmarillion affect The Lord of the Rings and also, perhaps, The Hobbit?

Kullervo and Túrin is certainly a well-documented example of how the Kalevala influenced Tolkien’s fictional works. Verlyn Flieger remarks on this in the earlier quote. Another giant Tolkien scholar, Tom Shippey, also comments on it in his essay “Tolkien and the Appeal of the Pagan”:

In fact, the final scene of Kullervo’s own sword speaking with and then killing Kullervo, is nigh on the same as Túrin’s own demise.

David Elton Gay delivers a convincing argument that “old and steadfast Väinämöinen” (Kirby’s Kalevala, numerous pages) is part of the foundation for the creation of both Tom Bombadil and Treebeard.

Väinämöinen is constantly described in the Kalevala as “old and steadfast”. Tom Bombadil is too described as old and “eldest”. In addition to these epithets, Bombadil is also described as fatherless and was around at the beginning and creation of many things, before anyone else. This is true of Väinämöinen also.

And the two have great power in their song. Their songs are for pleasure but command great knowledge of their worlds; enough to provide each of them with great power (consider Bombadil and Old Man Willow).

Väinämöinen’s singing is also strong enough shake the earth and make mountains tremble and “clove asunder” (Kalevala). Here we can look at Treebeard, and the other Ents, who are not only “old” but who’s voices “roared and boomed and trumpeted, until stones began to crack and fall at the mere noise of them”

Treebeard controls all the Ents through his own power that “comes from his great age, the wisdom that has come with that age, and his closeness to the land.” (David Elton Gay in “Tolkien and the Invention of Myth“, Chance p302)

David Gay summarises how we should view the impact of the influence of the Kalevala on Tolkien:

There is another example of an idea that may have leapt from the pages of W. F. Kirby’s Kalevala to Tolkien’s imagination, stored knowingly, or unknowingly:

“Louhi, Pohjola's old Mistress,
Old and gap-toothed dame of Pohja,
Set to work the sun to capture,
In her hands the moon seized likewise.
From the birch the moon she captured,
And the sun from fir-tree's summit;
Straightway to her home she brought them,
To the gloomy land of Pohja.

Then she hid the moon from shining,
In the mottled rocks she hid him,
Sang the sun to shine no longer,
Hidden in a steel-hard mountain;
And she spoke the words which follow:
"Never more again in freedom
Shall the moon arise for shining,
Nor the sun be free for shining,
If I come not to release them,
If I do not go to fetch them,
When I bring nine stallions with me,
Which a single mare has littered.”

“The Kalevala”, Lönnrot, trans. WF Kirby, vol 2, p. 165 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/33089)

Obviously, we’re now thinking of Melkor and Ungoliant’s destruction of Telperion and Laurelin, the Trees of Light, in “Of The Darkening of Valinor” chapter of The Silmarillion. Their destruction resulted in the extinguishing of light for both night and day. Again, we here have such a strong similarity in ideas contained in the Kalevala, and in Tolkien’s work.

There are other similarities.

Lines 1 – 10 of Kirby’s Kalevala has the narrator stating that they will sing the story into existence:

“I am driven by my longing,
And my understanding urges,
That I should commence my singing;
And begin my recitation.
I will sing the people’s legends,
And the ballads of the nation.
To my mouth the words are flowing,
And the words gently falling,
Quickly as my tongue can shape them,
And between my teeth emerging”

"The Kalevala", Lönnrot, trans. WF Kirby, vol 1, p. 10 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/25953)

As mentioned earlier, many of the songs that Lönnrot collected were sung by singers rather than a single singer. The above quotation does go on, calling together the singers and listeners:

"The Kalevala", Lönnrot, trans. WF Kirby, vol 1, p. 10 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/25953)

As mentioned earlier, many of the songs that Lönnrot collected were sung by singers rather than a single singer. The above quotation does go on, calling together the singers and listeners:

“Dearest friend, amd much-loved brother,
Best beloved of all companions, 
Come and let us sing together…
…Let us clasp our hands together,
Let us interlock out fingers;
Let us sing a cheerful measure,
Let us choose our best endeavours,
While our dear ones hearken to us,
And our loved ones are instructed,
While the young are standing round us,
Of the rising generation,
Let them learn the words of magic.”
(ibid.)

I do find that the above does chime with the beginning of The Silmarillion, from Ainulindalë:

In his Introduction Kirby also provides this, which like the above quotations, would have been read by Tolkien:

“The principle heroines of the Kalevala are Ilmatar, the Daughter of the Air, the Creatrix of the world”

“The Kalevala”, Lönnrot, trans. WF Kirby, vol 1, p. 6 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/25953)

Ilmatar? Illúvatar?

Creatrix? Creator?

In Finnish, Ilma is “air”, whilst -tar is a suffix for the female counterpart of a noun.

Illúvatar is a Quenya compound: Ilu is “all” and atar is “father”

We do find in Parma Eldalamberon XVII Ilmarin is explained as “mansion of the high airs”, referencing Elements in Quenya and Sindarin Names in The Silmarillion. This also applies to Ilmen and Imarë. Ilmen refers to the part of the air that where the stars reside.

“Chief among the Maiar of Valinor whose names are remembered in the histories of the Elder Days are Imarë [italics my own], the handmaid of Varda, and Eönwë, the banner bearer and herald of Manwë” – again, a close association to “air”

And from Ilmatar, in the Kalevala, Väinämöinen is born, fatherless.

Is it too much of a stretch to think that Bombadil was born of Illúvatar?

The above is a snap-shot of how Elias Lönnrot created the Kalevala. I hope this brief insight is enough to help us realise one of the earliest, and most enduring influences for Tolkien.

I would urge anyone to pick up any of the strands and explore a little deeper! It really is very fascinating and worthy of anyone seeking to gain an insight into the peoples of Finland.

Whatever we think, Elias Lönnrot and his work was certainly an inspiration to Tolkien.

Timeline:

I have also compiled a timeline for the above.

I’ve discovered that timelines help me in understand things, providing a visually linear overview of a subject.

By including it here, and it being added to the Master timeline, I’m hoping it may provide you some direction to explore more:

• 6th C. – Potentially earliest recording of Kaleva, in the OE poem Widsith:
  •                                            “Casere weold Creacum ond Cælic Finnum…
  •                                  …Mid Creacum ic wæs ond mid Finnum”
  •                                            “Caesar ruled the Greeks and Kaleva(?) the Finns…
  •                                  …With the Greeks I was and with the Finns”
  • Widsith p212
• 1802 – 9th April, Elias Lönnrot born to Fredrik Johan Lönnrot , tailor, and Ulrika Wahlberg
• 1809 – Finland becomes an autonomous Grand Duchy of Russia
• 1822 – Lönnrot enrols at the Academy of Turku
• 1823 – Maria Piponius born to Elias Piponius, master dyer, and Anna Jacobina Snellman
• 1824 -14th February, Lönnrot submits his Swedish translation of the Russian poem, “Hamnen” to a Swedish newspaper
• 1827 – Lönnrot writes his doctoral dissertation “De Väinämöinen priscorum Fennorum numine” (about Väinämöinen, the ancient god of the Finns)
• 1827 – City of Turku burns down
• 1828 – April, Lönnrot sets out on his 1st Field Trip, to Hamë and Savo, reaching Northern Karelia and Valamo
• 1828 – June, Lönnrot meets the traditional singer Juhana Kainulainen
• 1828 – Academy of Turku relocated to Helsinki
• 1828 – September, Lönnrot returns to Helsinki
• 1828 – Lönnrot begins work on “Kantele”, a four volume work of the poems he collected on his 1st field trip
• 1831 – February, Finnish Literature Society (Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura) founded 
• 1831 – Lönnrot completes the fourth, and final volume of “Kantele”
• 1831 – Lönnrot journals his travels from his first expedition into “Vandraren” (“The Wanderer”)
• 1831 – May, Lönnrot begins his 2nd Field Trip
• 1831 – August, Lönnrot summoned back to Helsinki to assist in fight against a cholera epidemic.
• 1832 –   May, Lönnrot graduates from the University of Helsinki (Medical degree), with his thesis “Afhandling om Finnarnes Magiska Medicin”, which dealt with Finnish healing methods based on magic
• 1831 – 13th July, Lönnrot starts his 3rd Field Trip, reaching Eastern Karelia
• 1831 – Lönnrot meets the traditional singer Trohkimai’ni Soava
• 1831 – 17th September, Lönnrot returns from his 3rd Field Trip
• 1833 -August, Lönnrot is made a member of the learned society, Det Kongelige Nordiske Oldskrift Selskab                                                 
• 1833 – Autumn, Lönnrot undertakes an official medical trip (4th Field Trip) checking vaccinations, in Kajaani.
• 1833 – Meets the singers Ontrei Malinen and Vaassila Kieleväinen; Lönnröt’s experience here is regarded as the birth of the Kalevala
• 1834 – Lönnrot writes (but doesn’t publish) Runokokous Väinämöisesta, a collection of poems about Väinämöinen.
• 1834 – 13th April, Lönnröt’s 5th Field trip.
• 1834 – Lönnrot meets the singer Arhippa Perttunen. He also meets Martiska Karjalainen, Jyrki Kettunen and Lari Bogdanoff, each of whom provide Lönnrot with valuable information on old poems
• 1834 – Autumn, Lönnrot puts finishing touches to the Kalevala during another vaccination trip
• 1835 –   Lönnrot signs the preface of the first Kalevala on 28th February “Kalewala taikka Wanhoja Karjalan Runoja Suomen kansan muinosta ajoista” (‘Kalewala, or old Karelian poems from the ancient times of the Finnish people’): 32 poems totalling 12,078 lines
• The Kalewala is published in two volumes between 1835 and 1836
• 1835 – April, Lönnrot begins his 6th Field Trip
• 1835 – May, Lönnrot returns from his 6th Field trip
• 1836 -Lönnrot produces his periodical “Mehiläinen” (“The Bee”), Finland’s first Finnish periodical.
• 1836 – September, Lönnrot begins his 7th Field Trip
• 1837 – November, Lönnrot returns from his 7th Field Trip
• 1838 – September, Lönnröt’s 8th Field Trip
• 1838 – Meets Mateli Kuivalatar, who sings for 2 days for Lönnröt. This the foundation of the “Kanteletar taikka Suomen Kansan Wanhoja Lauluja ja Wirsiä” (“Kanteletar, or old songs and hymns of the Finnish people”)
• 1839 –   Lönnrot publishes “Suomalaisen Talonpojan Koti-Lääkäri” (“The Finnish Peasant’s Home Doctor’)
• 1840 -“Kanteletar” published in three volumes.
• 1840 – Lönnrot assists in the founding of Finland’s oldest periodical “Suomi” (still published today).
• 1840 – Lönnrot carries out his 9th Field Trip
• 1841 -January, Lönnrot begins his 10th Field Trip. Lönnrot is accompanied, in parts, by the Norwegian linguistic scholar Nils Stockfleth and by the discoverer of the ‘Finnish tribe’, Mathias Alexander Castrén
• 1842 – Lönnrot returns from his 10th Field Trip
• 1842 – Lönnrot publishes “Suomen Kansan Sanalaskuja” (‘Finnish Proverbs’)
• 1844 – June, Lönnrot begins his 11th Field Trip
• 1844 – Lönnrot meets F. R. Kreutzwald (The Kalevipoeg) in Estonia 
• 1844 – Lönnrot publishes “Suomen Kansan Arwoituksia” (“Finnish Riddles”)
• 1845 – Lönnrot returns from his 11th Field Trip
• 1848 – August, Lönnrot and Maria Piponius get engaged
• 1849 – 13th July, Lönnrot marries Maria Piponius
• 1849 – An enlarged edition of The Kalevala published – 50 poems, 22,795 lines (This is the one we’re more familiar with)
• 1850 – 17th April, Elias and Maria’s first child, Elias, is born
• 1852 – Maria Ulrika Lönnrot born to Elias and Maria
• 1852 – 16th September, Elias Lönnrot (junior) dies of meningitis
• 1854 – Lönnrot begins his post as Professor of Finnish Language at the University of Helsinki
• 1855 – Ida Lönnrot born
• 1855 – H. W. Longfellow publishes “The Song of Hiawatha”. JRRT had something to say about Longfellow and his poem in his 1914 paper “On The Kalevala Or Land of Heroes”:
• “This [‘Hiawatha’] was pirated as was the idea of the poem and much of the incident (though none of its spirit at all) by Longfellow – a fact which I merely mention because it is usually kept dark in biographical notices of that poet.” (The Story of Kullervo, p78)
• 1858 – Elina Sofia Lönnrot born to Elias and and Maria.
• 1860 – Tekla Lönnrot born to Elias and Maria
• 1860 – Lönnrot publishes “Flora Fennica”, the first book on Finnish flora
• 1863 – April, Lönnrot appointed as a member of their Hymnal Committee; from 1864 – 1880, Lönnrot produces hymns every year.
• 1868 – Maria Lönnrot (née Piponius) dies of tuberculosis
• 1874 – Maria Ulrika Lönnrot dies of tuberculosis 
• 1876 – Elina Sofia Lönnrot dies of diphtheria 
• 1879 – Tekla Lönnrot dies of tuberculosis 
• 1880 – Lönnrot publishes “Suomen kansan muinaisia loitsurunoja” (“Ancient Finnish Incantations”)
• 1880 – Lönnrot completes his “Suomalais-Ruotsalainen Sanakirja” (Finnish-Swedish Dictionary)
• 1884 – 19th March, Elias Lönnrot dies
• 1902 – 18^th October, Elias Lönnrot’s sculpture in Helsinki is unveiled.
• 1911 – First publication of “Vandraren”
• 1911 – J. R. R. Tolkien reads the 1907 translation of the Kalevala by W. F. Kirby whilst at King Edward’s School, Birmingham
• 1911 – J. R. R. Tolkien writes “The New Lemminkänen”, a poem in the style of the Kalevala
• 1911 – 25th November, J. R. R. Tolkien checks out “A Finnish Grammar” by C. N. E. Eliot from Exeter College Library.
• 1912 – 1914 –     Tolkien writes “The Story of Kullervo”; he never fully completes the story but he does transform it into the tale of “Túrin Turambar, one of the most                                                       important episodes in his mythology” (“J. R. R. Tolkien Companion and Guide“, Hammond & Scull, Chron. p.62)
• 1914 –   22nd November, Tolkien delivers a paper on the Kalevala, “On ‘The Kalevala’ or Land of Heroes” to the Sundial Society at Corpus Christi College, Oxford;
• 1914 – December, Tolkien paints his watercolour “The Land of Pohja”; this painting and the part of the Kalevala from which it is inspired perhaps foreshadows the destruction of the Two Trees in the Silmarillion.
• 1915 –   Ida Lönnrot dies
•  1915 – February, Tolkien delivers the paper, “On ‘The Kalevala’ or Land of Heroes” to the Exeter College Essay Club, Oxford. Within this essay lies this quote:
  •  “We have here then a collection of mythological ballads full of that very primitive undergrowth that the litterature (sic) of Europe has on the whole been cutting away and reducing for centuries with different and earlier completeness in different peoples…Therefore let us rather rejoice that we have come suddenly upon a storehouse of these popular imaginings which we had feared lost, stocked with stories as yet not sophisticated into a sense of proportion; with no thought of the decent limits of imagination…” (“The Story of Kullervo”, Tolkien p.71)
• 1917 – 6th December, Finland declares its independence 
• 1918 – 28th February, first Kalevala Day and Day of Finnish Culture
• 1921-1924 – Tolkien makes changes to his “On ‘the Kalevala’ or Land of Heroes” paper. Part of the changes is the addition: “I would that we had more of it [Kalevala] left – something of the same sort that belonged to the English” (“The Story of Kullervo“, Tolkien, p.105
• 1973 –   May(?), “Lisa Lautamatti, a recent recipient of a doctorate from the University of Helsinki, visit[s] Tolkien at Merton College. Dr. Lautamatti and Tolkien discuss her thesis and recent research in medieval studies. Dr. Lautamatti will later write: ‘His own field was Old and Middle English literature, while mine was language structures and meanings, but we had enough of common ground. Tolkien also described the influence of the Kalevala and old Scandinavian literature on his fiction. I told him how my family had been driving along the northern coast of Norway as I read out The Hobbit for my sons, and how the Nordic scenery with gloomy grottos, steep mountainsides and the wild sea had formed a perfect context for the adventures’” ((“J. R. R. Tolkien Companion and Guide“, Hammond & Scull, Chron. p. 810)