This year marks 125 years since the birth of Finnish poet-writer V. A. Koskenniemi.
V.A. Koskenniemi (1885-1962) was a Finnish scholar, writer, critic and professor at the University of Turku. He was one of the most prominent figures in Finnish literature until the breakthrough of modernist writers in the 1950s.
Koskenniemi was a follower of modern French and Swedish literature, and translated into Finnish works from such writers as Goethe, Keller, and Balzac. In 1948 Koskenniemi became the first writer appointed to the Finnish Academy.
Koskenniemi's nationalism was reflected in his many poems and hymns, some of which were adapted into march songs. Among them are his lyrics for Sibelius's Finlandia hymn. "Finland, behold, thy daylight now is dawning, / the threat of night has now been driven away. / The skylark calls across the light of morning, / the blue of heaven lets it have its way, / and now the day of the powers of night is scorning: thy daylight dawns, O Finland of ours."
