Abstract This article examines Elias Lönnrot's usage of genres in the Kalevala. These usages are discussed as textualizing strategies and analyzed in conjunction with (1) Lönnrot's and his contemporaries’ writings on genre and (2) the system of genres characterizing the oral poetry (Finnish/Viena Karelian runosong or Kalevala-meter poetry) that Lönnrot used as his source. In the runosong tradition, the same meter is used for multiple genres, and epic poetry may contain motifs and episodes of incantation, lyric poetry, proverbial poems, ritual songs, and other genres. Lönnrot's preoccupation with genre was motivated by his intended audience's unawareness of the language and aesthetics of the vernacular poetic tradition. At the same time, he was building aesthetic norms and precepts for poetic genres in future vernacular literature. The analysis shows that the expressive functions, textual strategies, and ideological motives for Lönnrot's use of genres varied radically according to the genre inserted in the epic sequence. The discussion includes consideration of both the Old (1835) and New (1849) Kalevala, as well as Kanteletar and Lönnrot's anthology of proverbs Suomen Kansan Sananlaskuja.
Lotte Tarkka (2026) studied this question.