Romantiikka luonnon salatun kirjan tulkitsijana : romanttis-luonnonfilosofinen näkökulma Oehlenschlägerin, Atterbomin, Arvidssonin ja Runebergin runouteen

Abstract

The topic of the study is the influences transmitted to Romanticism by German idealism and transcendental philosophy, and their transference into the poetry of the Scandinavian poets mentioned in the heading. A particular concern of the study is the natural philosophical basis of Romanticism, which may be characterised by the views of several German idealist philosophers, especially of F. W. J .Schelling, on the secret code of nature. The concealed book of nature provided man with an avenue to divinity, and in this regard Romantic poetry has a central role: it is to be teacher to mankind and opener of the road of mystical knowledge, leading to eternl nature, to the world of the idea. These ways of thinking carne to Scandinavia by way of universal Romanticism, the pioneer of this style being Adam Oehlenschläger (1779-1850) in his poem Guldhornene.

The central figure in Swedish Romanticism, P. D. A. Atterbom (1790-1855), developed in his works the theme of the Golden Age, which he had adopted from German Romanticism. The climax to this trend was his main work Lycksalighetens ö, in which the concealed book of nature is opened to us in the universally romantic, orthodoxly allegorical manner.

The Romantic program was brought to Finland by Adolf Ivar Arwidsson (1791-1858). His eyes opened to the concealed, mythical world in a fashion which was to lead him to be the first national awakener of Finland. He was obliged to go into exile from his Czarist Russian-dominated homeland. The national poet of Finland, Johan Ludvig Runeberg (1804-1877) clearly surpases the preceding Scandinavian generation of Romantics as far as their speculative attachment to the ideals of Romanticism is concerned. The clarification of the Runebergian concept of nature shows us the way to the concealed world of nature in the form of the inner blossoming of the human mind.

The study analyses the works of the aforementioned Scandinavian poets in the light of Romanticism. Essential influences of Schelling were to be found in all the poets. From a research point of view, the most interesting work proved to be Runeberg's collection of poems Fänrik Ståls sãgner: the natural philosophical point of view opened up novel ways of interpreting this most significant work of his.