Yeah! The fascination of
Kalevala for Tolkien is one of the best-attested facts about the Professor's reading!
Vaïnamoïnen likely influenced Tolkien's presentation of Tom Bombadil as a power who can "sing" his enemies into defeat.
If anyone wants to dig into that great book, we have a thread --
Gollum suggested that a thread for discussion of the Kalevala would be a good idea. Väinämöinen Here are a few remarks from my experience, for what they may be worth: 1.The complete version that I've read is Keith Bosley's for Oxford World's Classics. I enjoyed it. There's also a fairly...
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