Kalevala, The Land of the Heroes (Kirby translation): Free Audiobook and Listening Guide

Kalevala, The Land of the Heroes (Kirby translation), credited to Elias Lönnrot, is available as a LibriVox volunteer audiobook. This guide identifies the recording, its source summary and its audio tracks.

About the work

The LibriVox catalogue summary, preserved with the recording, reads:

LibriVox recording of Kalevala, The Land of the Heroes by Elias Lönnrot. Translated by William Forsell Kirby. Read in English by Expatriate. The Kalevala is a 19th-century work of epic poetry compiled by Elias Lönnrot from Karelian and Finnish oral folklore and mythology. It is regarded as the national epic of Karelia and Finland and is one of the most significant works of Finnish literature. The Kalevala played an instrumental role in the development of the Finnish national identity, the intensification of Finland's language strife and the growing sense of nationality that ultimately led to Finland's independence from Russia in 1917. The first version of The Kalevala (called The Old Kalevala) was published in 1835. The version most commonly known today was first published in 1849 and consists of 22,795 verses, divided into fifty songs. The title can be interpreted as "The Land of Kaleva" or "Kalevia." If the rhythm of the poetry sounds familiar to American readers, it is probably because Henry Wadsworth Longfellow borrowed its trochaic tetrameter form for his famous "Song of Hiawatha." Of the five complete translations of the Kalevala into English, it is only the older translations by John Martin Crawford (1888) and William Forsell Kirby (1907) which attempt strictly to follow the original rhythm (Kalevala meter) of the poems. Modern writers influenced by the Kalevala include J. R. R. Tolkien, whose epic "Lord of the Rings" trilogy make use of both style and content from the Finnish work. - Summary by Wikipedia (edited and supplemented by Expatriate).

Recording facts

• Recording title: Kalevala, The Land of the Heroes (Kirby translation)
• Author credits: Elias Lönnrot
• Language: English
• Original MP3 tracks: 50
• Listed recording duration: 15:37:54

Catalogue topics

• finnish literature
• epic literature

Opening tracks: first 24 of 50

1. 01 - Runo 01 — 14:53
2. 02 - Runo 02 — 17:17
3. 03 - Runo 03 — 23:56
4. 04 - Runo 04 — 21:04
5. 05 - Runo 05 — 10:06
6. 06 - Runo 06 — 10:00
7. 07 - Runo 07 — 15:24
8. 08 - Runo 08 — 12:03
9. 09 - Runo 09 — 23:12
10. 10 - Runo 10 — 20:51
11. 11 - Runo 11 — 16:03
12. 12 - Runo 12 — 19:44
13. 13 - Runo 13 — 11:00
14. 14 - Runo 14 — 18:12
15. 15 - Runo 15 — 24:56
16. 16 - Runo 16 — 17:27
17. 17 - Runo 17 — 25:12
18. 18 - Runo 18 — 27:20
19. 19 - Runo 19 — 20:50
20. 20 - Runo 20 — 23:25
21. 21 - Runo 21 — 17:19
22. 22 - Runo 22 — 20:17
23. 23 - Runo 23 — 33:40
24. 24 - Runo 24 — 23:44

Listen to this recording

Open the complete recording and player on Internet Archive. The player includes the full track list and available download formats.

Source and rights

This is a record from LibriVox's official Internet Archive collection, with a public-domain licence recorded in its metadata. LibriVox's policy includes its catalogue summaries as well as its recordings. Its public-domain assessment follows United States law; copyright status can differ elsewhere. The summary and track facts are reproduced and reformatted from that record. Dates attached to the archive upload are not treated as original book publication dates.