Words shall not be hid
nor spells be buried;
might shall not sink underground
though the mighty go.

The "Kalevala" is the great Finnish epic which, like the "Iliad" and "Odyssey", grew out of a rich oral tradition with prehistoric roots. During the first millennium of our era, speakers of Uralic languages (outside of the Indo-European group) who had settled in the Baltic region developed an oral poetry that was to last into the nineteenth century. This poetry provided the basis of the "Kalevala", assembled by the Finnish scholar Elias Lönnrot and published in its final form in 1849. It played a central role in the process towards Finnish independence and inspired some of the greatest music of Sibelius.

The poet Keith Bosley is the prize-winning translator of the anthology "Finnish Folk Poetry: Epic". This translation of the "Kalevala" is the first to combine liveliness with accuracy in a way that reflects the richness of the original.