Poet and essayist Hando Runnel (born 1938) writes poetry which has a national tinge; a large part of his œuvre relates to the belief he always retained that one day the Soviet occupation of Estonia would end and the Estonian Republic restored. Right from his first collection of poetry "Children of the Land" (Maa lapsed) which appeared in 1965 has Runnel examined issues of ethical values and resistance.

Although Runnel is not an academic, instead an autodidact, he has a feel for the subtleties of his mother-tongue and in his poems he alludes to Estonian folk poetry and an earlier literary tradition. This is the main reason why his work has been so well received by Estonians at large and why he is regarded as a national author and why his song texts have enjoyed such success, although his texts have the anonymous look of folk poetry. His scale is a wide one, ranging from satirical epigrams written with great pathos to ribald ballads whereby he attempts to escape social and psychological strictures. On account of allusions and puns, his poetry has been considered by some as being untranslatable, but this quality helped, by way of ellipsis and subtexts, to evade the censor during Soviet times; Estonians were able to read between the lines. Those texts he was unable to publish because of censorship were handed on by word of mouth, or carbon copies were made.But Runnel has also written pastiches where he simply enjoys imitation and creation.

But Runnel has also written delicate poetry and sensitive love lyrics. What is on the surface deceptively simple does tackle profound issues, existential matters beyond the trivia of everyday existence. His collections of ceremoniously hymn-like poetry in praise of native-land and love, e.g. the collection "Beautiful Country" and his thoughts on artistic endeavour, e.g. "Heaven and Earth", have been influential.

One of Runnel's more recent masterpieces is the collection "Enigmas" (Mõistatused, 2000) in which he adds to the permanent theme of previous collections: the eternal woman. This collection contains somewhat ceremonious poems in Tagore style where Woman is mythologised, delicate hymns which are now subtly erotic, now more father-daughter in tone, then child-mother, man-woman. The central image here is the Motherland.

Text by Janika Kronberg