Villem Grünthal-Ridala, born Wilhelm Grünthal (30 May 1885 in

Kuivastu Kuivastu is a village on the eastern coast of the Estonian island Muhu. (retrieved 28 July 2021) Kuivastu Harbour is the primary gateway to the biggest Estonian island Saaremaa (Muhu and Saaremaa are distinct islands but since 1896, they have b ...

Muhu Muhu (also called Muhumaa in Estonian) is an island in the West Estonian archipelago of the Baltic Sea. With an area of , it is the third largest island belonging to Estonia, after Saaremaa and Hiiumaa. Together with neighbouring smaller i ...

, Kreis Ösel,

Governorate of Livonia The Governorate of Livonia, also known as the Livonia Governorate, was a province (''guberniya'') and one of the Baltic governorates of the Russian Empire, Baltic Governorate-General until 1876. Governorate of Livonia bordered Governorate of E ...

– 16 January 1942 in

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

) was an

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

n poet, translator, linguist and

folklorist Folklore studies (also known as folkloristics, tradition studies or folk life studies in the UK) is the academic discipline devoted to the study of folklore. This term, along with its synonyms, gained currency in the 1950s to distinguish the ac ...

.Toivo Miljan, ''Historical Dictionary of Estonia'', Scarecrow Press 2004

Life

Villem Grünthal-Ridala was the son of an inn keeper on the island of

. He first attended Hellamaa (Pühalepa) parish school, then Eisenschmidt private school, as well as the national

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

Kuressaare Kuressaare () is a populated places in Estonia, town on the island of Saaremaa in Estonia. It is the administrative centre of Saaremaa Municipality and the seat of Saare County. Kuressaare is the westernmost town in Estonia. The recorded popul ...

. Beginning in 1905, he studied Finnish Literature at the

University of Helsinki The University of Helsinki (, ; UH) is a public university in Helsinki, Finland. The university was founded in Turku in 1640 as the Royal Academy of Åbo under the Swedish Empire, and moved to Helsinki in 1828 under the sponsorship of Alexander ...

. In 1911, he completed his doctorate. From 1910 to 1919, Grünthal-Ridala was a professor at the

University of Tartu The University of Tartu (UT; ; ) is a public research university located in the city of Tartu, Estonia. It is the national university of Estonia. It is also the largest and oldest university in the country.

. From 1910 until 1914, he edited ''Estonian Literature'' magazine (Eesti Kirjandus), as well as ''Üliõpilaste leht'' from 1914 to 1916. From 1923 until his death, Grünthal-Ridala was professor of Estonian Language and Literature at the

. In 1941, he received a doctorate in Baltic-Finnic languages.

Lyrical poet

Villem Grünthal-Ridala had become renowned for his poems in the

Estonian language Estonian ( ) is a Finnic language and the official language of Estonia. It is written in the Latin script and is the first language of the majority of the country's population; it is also an official language of the European Union. Estonian is sp ...

. His epic ''Toomas ja Mai'' (1924), as well as a collection of ballads, ''Sinine kari'' (1930), served as a model for the Estonian poetry of the time. The poems are influenced by

Impressionism Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

, with the landscapes of his island homeland and life by the sea being the primary motifs. He belonged to the Estonian literary movement Young Estonia (Noor-Eesti), founded in 1905.

Selected Poems

* "Villem Grünthali laulud" (1908) * "Kauged rannad" (1914) * "Ungru krahv ehk Näckmansgrund" (1915) * "Merineitsit" (1918) * "Saarnak" (1918) * "Toomas ja Mai" (1924) * "Tuules ja tormis" (1927) * "Sinine kari" (1930) * "Meretäht" (1935) * "Laulud ja kauged rannad" (1938) * "Väike luuleraamat" (1969) * "Valitud värsid" (1986) * "Püha Rist" (2005; )

References

1885 births 1942 deaths People from Muhu Parish People from Kreis Ösel Estonian male poets 20th-century Estonian poets 20th-century Estonian translators 20th-century Estonian male writers Estonian magazine editors Young Estonia University of Helsinki alumni Academic staff of the University of Tartu Estonian emigrants to Finland Academic staff of the University of Helsinki Burials at Hietaniemi Cemetery {{Estonia-writer-stub