{"id":1698,"date":"2020-05-29T10:43:03","date_gmt":"2020-05-29T08:43:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogit.utu.fi\/ktmt\/?p=1698"},"modified":"2020-05-29T10:54:08","modified_gmt":"2020-05-29T08:54:08","slug":"i-do-not-write-poems-i-create-myself-multilingual-poet-edith-sodergran-talks-about-her-life-inspiration-and-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogit.utu.fi\/ktmt\/2020\/05\/29\/i-do-not-write-poems-i-create-myself-multilingual-poet-edith-sodergran-talks-about-her-life-inspiration-and-more\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cI do not write poems, I create myself\u201d – Multilingual poet Edith S\u00f6dergran talks about her life, inspiration, and more!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Kulttuuriperinn\u00f6n toimijat-sarja<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sarjassa julkaistaan n\u00e4ytteit\u00e4 kev\u00e4\u00e4n 2020 Kulttuuriperinn\u00f6n toimijat et\u00e4kurssin harjoituksista, joissa tuotettiin kuvitteellisia henkil\u00f6haastatteluita Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seuran el\u00e4m\u00e4kerrallisten tietokantojen pohjalta.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beautiful sisters, come high up on to the strongest rocks,<\/em>
we are all warriors, heroines, horsewomen,<\/em>
eyes of innocence, heavenly foreheads, rose masks,<\/em>
heavy breakers and birds flown by,<\/em>
we are the least expected and the deepest red,<\/em>
stripes of tigers, taut strings, stars without vertigo.<\/em>

\u2014 Violet Dusks (1916), Edith S\u00f6dergran
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI do not write poems, I create myself,\u201d Finnish poet Edith S\u00f6dergran explains when asked about her poetry. She looks pensive, then continues, \u201cmy poems are the way to myself.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Edith S\u00f6dergran sitting with a bear statue in her hand,
photo: The Society of Swedish Literature in Finland<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019re a Swedish-speaking Finn, correct?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

– Yes. I grew up in a town in Eastern Finland called Raivola, but my parents were Swedish-Finnish. Swedish was the language we spoke at home, but Finnish was the language we spoke when we were in town. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So your writing is done in Swedish.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

– And German, and French, and sometimes Russian. I attended a girls\u2019 school in St. Petersburg for seven years, where instruction was in German, so my first poems were written in German. But, yes. A large collection of my poems has been written in Swedish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Has this multicultural background and studying in St. Petersburg influenced your writing? If so, how?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

– It has, to some extent. Many of my earlier poems were influenced by my surroundings. For example, when I was living in Raivola, nature played a big part in my poems, but when I was attending school in St. Petersburg, the focus was no longer on nature, but on the Russian urban life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My poetry has evolved a lot since then. Falling ill also showed in my writing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indeed. Diagnosed with tuberculosis in 1908, you travelled to Switzerland to deal with this disease. How was this experience different from living in Finland?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

– My stay in Swiss sanatoriums lasted for six years, until 1914. During this time, while I was being treated for tuberculosis, a disease that my father died of, I had access to a lot of literature through the sanatorium reading-rooms. It helped my intellect and to improve my writing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your book \u201cThe September Lyre\u201d was published in 1918, and you received some criticism for it.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

– Yes\u2026 I wrote most of the poems included in \u201cThe September Lyre\u201d during the Finnish Civil War, an event that completely changed my and my mother\u2019s lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have been told I\u2019m too self-assertive, and that this book is the mere proof of it. And I get it. This book is not intended to be for everyone, only for those few individuals who stand closest to the boundary of the future. I am self-critical about my own writing, and I am sure that, looking back, I will regret having written some of the poems written during the war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Talking about looking back, and to wrap this up, do you think poetry has changed your life?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

– Absolutely. Through poetry I can escape, I can create, I can be. I do not write poems, I create myself; my poems are the way to myself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s very inspiring. Thank you so much, Edith.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

– Thank you.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Samantha Martinez Ziegler
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

L\u00e4hteet:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biografiakeskus. National Biography of Finland. S\u00f6dergran, Edit (1892 – 1923)<\/strong>. Available: <https:\/\/kansallisbiografia.fi\/english\/person\/4814<\/a>>. Retrieved April 13th, 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stenberg-Gustafsson, Nanna 2016<\/strong>: ”Edith S\u00f6dergran \u2013 runoilija edell\u00e4 aikaansa”. Yle. Helsinki. 21.10.2016. Available: <https:\/\/yle.fi\/aihe\/artikkeli\/2016\/10\/21\/edith-sodergran-runoilija-edella-aikaansa>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Poems (1916) by Edith S\u00f6dergran<\/strong>. Translation \u00a9 2010 David McDuff. Available: <http:\/\/englishings.com\/nvinprint\/sodergran-poems-1916.html<\/a>>. Retrieved April 13th, 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Society of Swedish Literature in Finland<\/strong>: Edith S\u00f6dergran 1892-1923. Flickr. Available: <https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/slsarkiva\/sets\/72157644581542379<\/a>>. Retrieved April 13th, 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kulttuuriperinn\u00f6n toimijat-sarja Sarjassa julkaistaan n\u00e4ytteit\u00e4 kev\u00e4\u00e4n 2020 Kulttuuriperinn\u00f6n toimijat et\u00e4kurssin harjoituksista, joissa tuotettiin kuvitteellisia henkil\u00f6haastatteluita Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seuran el\u00e4m\u00e4kerrallisten tietokantojen pohjalta. Beautiful sisters, come high up on to the strongest rocks,we are all warriors, heroines, horsewomen,eyes of innocence, heavenly foreheads, rose masks,heavy breakers and birds flown by,we are the least expected and the deepest red,stripes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21321,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1698","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","post-preview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogit.utu.fi\/ktmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1698","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogit.utu.fi\/ktmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogit.utu.fi\/ktmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogit.utu.fi\/ktmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21321"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogit.utu.fi\/ktmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1698"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogit.utu.fi\/ktmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1698\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1857,"href":"https:\/\/blogit.utu.fi\/ktmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1698\/revisions\/1857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogit.utu.fi\/ktmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogit.utu.fi\/ktmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogit.utu.fi\/ktmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}