“Stones in the middle of the bay…”. Some aspects of Finnish post-war poetry in Finnish and Swedish languages

Abstract

The article discusses the most stable and important images of stone and water in the post-war poetry of Finland in both Finnish and Swedish. Turning to these images, poets connect the modern perception of the world with mythological concepts. Each poet brings a personal attitude and national specificity to the rethinking of images. The literary sources and the continuity of artistic images are analyzed; the relationship of the “second” modernism poetry with the landscape and cultural tradition is investigated. So, some of the motives in the work of Thomas Eliot, who saw spiritualized matter in the image of a stone, are typologically similar to the poetic views of Finland’s writers. Some poets get accustomed to the image of a stone, identify themselves with it (Aila Meriluoto), others, like Ralf Nordgren, who writes in Swedish, treat him contemplatively, taking the position of an outside observer. The connection of poetry with the landscape and domestic cultural tradition is investigated. Aila Meriluoto creates a number of stone images (“stone God”, “stone truth”, “stone humanity”). Poets following her either replenish this collection of “stones” or reject it altogether. The image of stone in Finland’s poetry is inseparable from the image of water. For Eeva-Liisa Manner, the poetic connection with water is “immersion in the mirror” of the lake, the fusion of the subject with the object, the person with the world. For Bo Carpelan, “to withstand the sea” means to go through darkness, to find oneself. The image of water, like the image of a stone, evolves from serious (primary matter, a substance that gives life) to humorous (a means necessary for taking medicine). The images of stone and water in the poetry of Finland are multifaceted. Poets interpret them differently. Poets bring new shades of feelings and give new meaning to the traditional mythological attitude.