Further Runeberg Songs

In 1907, Sibelius returned to Runeberg’s 1845 cycle “A Little Fate,” which had inspired him twice before (I Have Since Stopped Asking and But my Bird Is Nowhere to Be Seen). He now picked the poem “Hundra vägar har min tanke” (A Hundred Ways My Thoughts Will Wander).

“Hundra vägar,” a poem of fourteen lines, is the sixth of ten poems in this Kalevala meter cycle. At this stage in the cycle the young, pious girl confesses that her prayers in church are constantly distracted by her warm feelings for her beloved. Being in love has opened her eyes to the beauty of creation and led her to more fully enjoy its wonders. The sun, the stars, the flowers, the trees – all are signposts showing the way to God, the wellspring of love. Near this source, she realizes the nearness of her lover, too. In Runeberg’s world there is no conflict between God’s love of mankind and worshipping nature, rather they intensify each other. Love is a divine gift, and the experience of love is directly connected to perceiving the beauty of creation (as also described in “Summer Night” later in this chapter). And, as we saw in “The First Kiss,” heaven meets earth in the blissful moment in which love is born.

It is impossible to interpret these lines without taking note of a remarkable literary polemic on religious issues in the newspaper Helsingfors Morgonblad, in 1837–38. Runeberg published in it three allegorical short stories, Den gamle trädgårdsmästarens brev (Letters from the Old Gardener), in which he described the work of a gardener and his young daughter Rosa, who enjoyed tending the garden as part of God’s creation. Having gone through a religious revival, she learned of her sinful character, lost interest in gardening and disrupted the cordial relationship she had had with her father. Concerned only about her salvation, she slowly withered and died. The allegory was directed against the life-changing attitude brought about by strict Pietism.

In a response to the published letters, Lars Stenback, an old friend of Runeberg and a gifted poet himself, vehemently attacked Runeberg. Stenback (see also chapter 4) accused the author of the letters of focusing only on the earthly, and, in his eyes, Runeberg’s pantheism was idolatry.