Runic song, also referred to as Rune song, Runo song, or Kalevala song, is a form of oral poetry and national epic historically practiced among the Baltic Finnic peoples. It includes the Finnish epic poems Kalevala and Kanteletar, as well as the Estonian Kalevipoeg. Estonian and Finnish researchers suggest the term runosong for English translation, or local terms, such as Estonian regilaul, Seto leelo or Finnish runolaulu when it is about regional tradition.
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⭐ Core Definition: Runic song
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Runic song in the context of Alliterative verse
In prosody, alliterative verse is a form of verse that uses alliteration as the principal device to indicate the underlying metrical structure, as opposed to other devices such as rhyme. The most commonly studied traditions of alliterative verse are those found in the oldest literature of the Germanic languages, where scholars use the term 'alliterative poetry' rather broadly to indicate a tradition which not only shares alliteration as its primary ornament but also certain metrical characteristics. The Old English epic Beowulf, as well as most other Old English poetry, the Old High German Muspilli, the Old Saxon Heliand, the Old Norse Poetic Edda, and many Middle English poems such as Piers Plowman, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Layamon's Brut and the Alliterative Morte Arthur all use alliterative verse.
While alliteration is common in many poetic traditions, it is 'relatively infrequent' as a structured characteristic of poetic form. However, structural alliteration appears in a variety of poetic traditions, including Old Irish, Welsh, Somali and Mongol poetry. The extensive use of alliteration in the so-called Kalevala meter, or runic song, of the Finnic languages provides a close comparison, and may derive directly from Germanic-language alliterative verse.
Runic song in the context of Sampo
In Finnish mythology, the Sampo (pronounced [ˈsɑmpo]) or Sammas (pronounced [ˈsɑmːɑs]) is a magical device or object described in many different ways, constructed by the blacksmith, inventor and originally the sky god Ilmarinen, and which brings riches and good fortune to its holder, akin to the horn of plenty (cornucopia) of Greek mythology. A central myth in Finnish mythology is the idea that the sampo was once in Pohjola but a group of heroes attempt to steal it. Sammas, as something at the center of the world, also exists in Estonian mythology.
The Sampo or Sammas has multiple other names in runic songs as well, including Samppu, Samppi and Kirjokansi (pronounced [ˈkirjoˌkɑnsi]).