Kalevalamitta

Kalevalamitta, or Kalevala meter, is the traditional prosodic form of Finnish epic poetry most closely associated with the Kalevala, the national epic compiled by Elias Lönnrot from Finnish and Karelian oral folklore in the 19th century. The meter is a form of trochaic tetrameter with alliteration, typically yielding lines of four metrical feet. Each line is commonly divided by a caesura in the middle, producing two halves that are linked through stressed-syllable alliteration and through recurrent formulaic phrases that aid oral performance.

Historically, Kalevalamitta arose in Finnic oral tradition and was codified by Lönnrot during the compilation of the Kalevala, first published in 1835 (with a major 1849 edition). The meter's rhythmic and sonic character has made it a defining feature of Finnish epic poetry and a powerful symbol of national romantic literature. It remains influential in Finnish poetry and has been adapted in various modern works, sometimes with renewed experimentation while preserving the cadence of traditional verse.

Technical features include four trochaic feet per line (tetrameter) with a caesura in the middle; alliteration on stressed syllables within and across line halves; and the frequent use of formulaic phrases and epithets derived from oral performance.