August Eelmäe

The portfolio collection called "Maast ja rahvast" (Of the Land and the People) contains 4 separate poetry folders in it called "Punased nelgid" (Red Carnations), "See maa" (This land), "Me hoiame nõnda ühte" (Thus We Cling Together) and "Tasakaal" (Balance).
The titles come from individual poems that are featured. "Maast ja rahvast" is a poem by Mart Raud. "Punased nelgid" is a poem by Johannes Semper, "See maa" is a poem by Ellen Niit, "Me hoiame nõnda ühte" is a poem by Paul-Eerik Rummo, and "Tasakaal" is a poem by Hando Runnel.
Overall this is a good collection of poetry from the Estonian Soviet era with all of the major figures from the 1940s to early 1980s being represented such as Hando Runnel, Jaan Kaplinski, Paul-Eerik Rummo, Ellen Niit, Jaan Kross (now known more as a novelist), the surrealist Artur Alliksaar, and the younger generation of Viivi Luik and Jüri Üdi (Juhan Viiding). Major figures from the earlier era (late 19th/early 20th century) of Estonian poetry such as Juhan Liiv and Lydia Koidula are excluded however, as are any emigre poets, such as Marie Under, who escaped the Russian Soviet occupation. So it is then more of a teaser and a sampler of Estonian poetry with a bit of a narrow focus. Still in hindsight one can easily pick out the strains of Estonian nationalism peeking through, even during the so-called stagnation period of the Brezhnev era when the collection was printed. The selection of something like Paul-Eerik Rummo's "Me hoiame nõnda ühte" with its opening lines of "Thus we keep together, as does a scattered hive of bees" can't help but remind us of the international struggle of Estonia and its emigres for a renewed independence that finally arrived in the late 1980's/early 1990's.
The format used seems very wasteful of paper with large folio pages containing large font printings of the individual poems. It is the sort of font size that they use for large print books these days. The format is however very conducive to a relaxed and leisurely reading, allowing time for thought as one turns the oversized pages, which isn't at all a bad thing for poetry.… (mais)