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Ramona Grigg's avatar

I wanted to talk a bit about the cadence of my poem. It's sing-songy, as if it could be spoken with a drumbeat. I didn't realize it when I wrote it, but I know now there's a reason for that.

The book I was writing at the time had references to Finland's epic poem, The Kalevala. I read the entire book, some 23 thousand verses, and did a lot of research about the origins, the characters, etc. I immersed myself in that poem, reading everything I could get my hands on, and I didn't realize how much the cadence stayed with me.

The Kalevala was spoken before it was written, and the Rune singers who memorized it and recited it, did it with accompanying music--on a kind of lap-harp called a Kantele. When they weren't strumming it, they were banging on it--like a drum--each hit as emphasis to the spoken line.

It's said that Longfellow saw a performance of the Kalevala and used a similar cadence for "Hiawatha". You can hear it in those first lines:

On the SHORES of GITCHE GUMEE,

Of the SHINING Big-Sea-WATER,

Stood NOKOMIS, the old WOMAN,

POINTING with her finger WESTward,

O'er the WATER pointing WESTWARD,

To the PURPLE clouds of SUNSET.

I didn't write to a beat on purpose, or even consciously, but it seems to fit. I doubt if I could ever do it again.

(I've read, too, that Tolkien was influenced by the Kalevala, and there is that kind of drumbeat to some of his passages, so it could well be.)

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Regina Freedman's avatar

Beautiful poetry. A prayer for Hugo & Esther. Maybe finish the book?

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