Johan Ludvig Runeberg is justly celebrated both for his national romantic poetry and the eponymous 'torta' or 'torttu', a seasonal delicacy, which bears his name, as prepared according to his wife Fredrika’s recipe, or so the legend has it. His poetry lent strength to the Finnish sense of national identity. Notwithstanding his Swedish-speaking background, together with Elias Lönnrot, J.V. Snellman and many others he formed the cultural backbone for the rise of the Fennoman movement. Runeberg gained recognition as the nation’s poet laureate in his own lifetime, and it is for this that he is chiefly remembered. And yet his principal source of income came through teaching, first as a home tutor and later as a school 'lektor'.
Born February 5, 1804, Pietarsaari. Died May 6, 1877, Porvoo
Master of Philosophy 1827, Imperial Academy of Turku
Home tutor 1822–1826
Docent of Eloquence 1830, Imperial Alexander University
Teacher 1831–1836, the Swedish-language Helsingfors Lyceum
Lektor in Roman and Greek letters 1837–1857 and rector of the Gymnasium at Porvoo 1847–1850
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Written by Tero Juutilainen
Translated by John Calton
Johan Ludvig Runeberg enrolled for the Imperial Academy of Turku in 1822, at the same time as J.V. Snellman and Elias Lönnrot. The similarities between the three gentlemen did not end there. In fact, they later became firm friends. Runeberg came from a poor family in Jakobstad ( Fin. Pietarsaari) on the north-west coast of Finland, but he managed to fund his studies by taking on work as a private tutor in several places, including a place called Saarijärvi. And it was there that he first got to know the essentially Finnish manners and culture of the Finnish interior.
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Johan Ludvig Runeberg’s move to Porvoo (Sw. Borgå) in 1837 meant something like ostracism from the academic world. He was later offered a professorship in Greek letters but he didn’t take it up. Being shut out of academia was no impediment to his success as a poet however. In fact the education he had received at the University, together with his interest in classical literature and poetry, had a great influence on his own poetic output, according to the Finnish historian professor Matti Klinge.
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Johan Ludvig Runeberg taught in various places. Perhaps one of his best known pupils is the author Zachris Topelius, whom he helped to prepare for the matriculation examinations. In his capacity as lektor at the Porvoo Gymnasium, Runeberg was also a member of the chapter of the diocese of Eastern Finland, and was ordained as a priest. Many of the portraits of the poet show him in priestly garb.
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The cakes named after J.L. Runeberg were developed by a Porvoo baker and confectioner who lived during the national poet's lifetime, from cakes that the poet is said to have enjoyed for breakfast.
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