Authors

Finnish (Swedish-speaking) · 1804–1877

Johan Ludvig Runeberg

Johan Ludvig Runeberg is Finland's national poet — the poet of the Fänrik Ståls sägner (Tales of Ensign Stål, 1848/1860), the epic sequence about the Finnish War of 1808-09 that created the mythology of Finnish national identity. He wrote in Swedish, the administrative language of educated Finland, but his work was immediately translated into Finnish and became the property of both language communities. The poem 'Vårt land' (Maamme) became Finland's national anthem. He taught at the University of Helsinki and later at Porvoo.