Villem Grünthal-Ridala, born Grünthal-Wilhelm (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 are connected by a caus ...

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 isl ...

Kreis Ösel Kreis Ösel ( et, Saaremaa kreis, russian: Эзельский уезд) was one of the nine subdivisions of the Governorate of Livonia of the Russian Empire. Its capital was Kuressaare (''Arensburg''). It was situated in the northwestern part of t ...

Governorate of Livonia The Governorate of Livonia, also known as the Livonia Governorate, was a Baltic governorate of the Russian Empire, now divided between Latvia and Estonia. Geography The shape of the province is a fairly rectangular in shape, with a maximum ...

- 16 January 1942 in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

) was an

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

n poet, translator, linguist and

folklorist Folklore studies, less often known as folkloristics, and occasionally tradition studies or folk life studies in the United Kingdom, is the branch of anthropology devoted to the study of folklore. This term, along with its synonyms, gained currenc ...

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

Life

Villem Grünthal-Ridala was the son of an

inn Inns are generally establishments or buildings where travelers can seek lodging, and usually, food and drink. Inns are typically located in the country or along a highway; before the advent of motorized transportation they also provided accommo ...

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 describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

Kuressaare Kuressaare () is a town on Saaremaa island in Estonia. It is the administrative centre of Saaremaa Parish and the capital of Saare County. Kuressaare is the westernmost town in Estonia. The recorded population on 1 January 2018 was 13,276. Th ...

. Beginning in 1905, he studied Finnish Literature at the

University of Helsinki The University of Helsinki ( fi, Helsingin yliopisto, sv, Helsingfors universitet, abbreviated UH) is a public research university located in Helsinki, Finland since 1829, but founded in the city of Turku (in Swedish ''Åbo'') in 1640 as the ...

. 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; et, Tartu Ülikool; la, Universitas Tartuensis) is a university in the city of Tartu in Estonia. It is the national university of Estonia. It is the only classical university in the country, and also its biggest ...

. 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, written in the Latin script. It is the official language of Estonia and one of the official languages of the European Union, spoken natively by about 1.1 million people; 922,000 people in Estonia and 160,0 ...

. 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 relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating ...

, 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 Young Estonia () was a neo-romantic literary group established around 1905 and led by the poet Gustav Suits and short story writer Friedebert Tuglas. Other members of the group included Villem Grünthal-Ridala and Johannes Aavik. Gustav Suits ar ...

(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 Estonian translators 20th-century Estonian poets 20th-century translators 20th-century male writers Estonian editors Magazine editors University of Helsinki alumni University of Tartu faculty Academic personnel of the University of Helsinki Burials at Hietaniemi Cemetery {{Estonia-writer-stub