Anna Haava

Anna Haava was an active poet her entire adult life, from the age of 22 well into old age. She published her first poem in the newspaper Postimees after the notable Estonian poet Lydia Koidula died in the summer of 1886. Her tribute was titled To Koidula and was signed by "An Estonian Girl." This work would become only the first of many Haava poems to appear in print.[1][2]

Haava's first three collections, Luuletused I (Poems I) (1888), II (1890) and III (1897) contain romantic sentimental songs, the main theme of which is love. On publication, Haava's youthful poems got a warm public reception with all three volumes reprinted several times.[1]

Haava published stories in journals, made a collection of aphorisms, Peotäis tõtt (A Handful of Truth, 1900). She also wrote prose describing her childhood home in the book titled, Väikesed pildid Eestist (Little Pictures of Estonia, 1911).[1]

Beginning in 1906, she began releasing collections of works exhibiting a less joyful tone, starting with Lained (Waves). Haava wrote to condemn injustice, violence and ethnic discrimination, and her criticism only deepened in some poetry collections, Ristlained (Crosswaves, 1910) and Meie päevist (From Our Days, 1920). Haava's poetry became even more personal in the collections Põhjamaa lapsed (Children of the Nordic countries, 1913), Siiski on elu ilus (Still, Life is Beautiful), and Laulan oma eesti laulu (I Sing My Estonian Song, 1935). Her last original collection of poems appeared in 1954.[1]

Haava was one of the founding members of the Estonian Writers’ Union in 1922.[1]

In 2006, the long-unpublished manuscript Mälestusi Laanekivi Manni lapsepõlvest (Memories of Laanekivi Mann's Childhood) appeared, and in 2008 a book of her collected poetry, Luule (Poems), contained up to 700 poems.[1]

Haava, ca. 1885.

I can’t live without songs:

If I fall silent suddenly, - A

world without songs will become cramped,

Heart beat will break.

--Anna Haava (Translation by B. Kozhun)[2]

Haava infused many of her poems with a remarkable musicality that facilitated their adaptation as lyrics for music composed by then-contemporary artists.[1][4] As early as 1887, Miina Härma, a young organist studying in St. Petersburg, set her first songs to Haava's poems and more than 200 of Haava's poems have since been set to music by other composers. Some Haava-inspired songs went on to become familiar at regional festivals or transformed into folksy songs.[1]

Haava also wrote the libretto to Artur Lemba's opera Lembitu tütar (Lembitu's Daughter) in 1908.[1]

Her work still appears in print. In 2006, a German musical score was published, Kolm eesti laulu Anna Haava sõndele (1937-1940) = Drei Lieder für eine Singstimme mit Klavierbegleitung nach Gedichten von Anna Haava (Three songs for one voice with piano accompaniment based on poems by Anna Haava), and its authors are listed as, Gregor Heuer and Anna Haava.[5]

As a translator, Haava was able to earn income by making important foreign language literature available to Estonian readers, including J.W. Goethe's Egmont, F. Schiller's Wilhelm Tell, H. Hofmannstahl's King Oedipus, W. Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tales, among others. Haava also translated some ancient mythology such as I. C. Andrä's and R. Schneider's Greeka muinaskangelased (Ancient Greek Heroes) and G. Schalk's Rooma muinaskangelased (Ancient Roman Heroes).[1][2]

Her own poems were widely translated, including Russian, Finnish, Swedish, Hungarian, German, Italian, Esperanto, English and other languages as well.[2][6]