Juhan Liiv’s Comprehension of Poetry

Abstract

Juhan Liiv (1864–1913) is considered to be the first important innovator of Estonian poetry. So far, it has been underlined in Estonian culture that Liiv lacked any ties with world literature and thus world literature had no role to play in the birth of the innovation of Estonian poetry. In this article, I am showing that Liiv’s comprehension of poetry is closely tied to German poetic culture. These connections arise from Liiv’s essays, which have not been studied so far. I analyse Liiv’s essay Ääremärkused (Marginalia) and formulate the main theses in his comprehension of poetry.