Poetry
Ode to the Moon
Kuu
Kristjan Jaak Peterson · 1922
Opening lines
Kas lauluallikas
külmas põhjatuules
minu rahva meelesse
oma kastet ei vala?
Will the spring of song
in the cold north wind
not pour its dew
into the mind of my people?
Translation by Erostrate
Text quoted from et.wikisource.org
Synopsis
The poet asks the source of song whether it will pour its dew on the spirit of his people. Here, in the snows of the North, in the cold, rocky valleys, the fragrant myrtle could never bloom. But the language of this land flows like a little stream unaware of its beauty, and on certain days roars like the sea without knowing its strength. Then comes the question that made the poem famous: could this language not, carried by the wind of songs, rise up to the sky to seek eternity there?
Context
The ode appears in one of the two notebooks of poems that Peterson compiled in Riga in 1818 and in Tartu in 1819. None of it was published in his lifetime: Masing and Rosenplänter, who could have printed it, did not think it worthwhile to do so, so far did these verses depart from the edifying writings of the time. Villem Reiman found the manuscripts in 1901 in the archives of the Learned Estonian Society, the Noor-Eesti albums published some of the poems, and the whole appeared in 1922 with the diary and the letters. The verse in it is free, something new in the language.
Who it is for
A short ode in Estonian, translated into French by Antoine Chalvin and into English by Hilary Bird. It is worth knowing that four of its lines are carved at the foot of the poet's statue in Tartu.
Prizes and reception
With “Laulja”, the best known of his odes, whose closing question is read as a claim for the rights of the Estonian language.