FINNISH LITERATURE

the body of writings in Finland in the Finnish, Swedish, and, in the Middle Ages, Latin languages. The oldest form, folk poetry in Finnish, was transmitted orally until its transcription in the late 18th century. From the mid-12th century until 1809, Finland was ruled by Sweden, and Swedish remained the language of the upper classes until the end of the 19th century, at which time a vigorous movement began to revive Finnish as a cultural medium. Additional reading Critical studies include Aleksis Rubulis, Baltic Literature: A Survey of Finnish, Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian Literatures (1970); and Jaakko Ahokas, A History of Finnish Literature (1973). Richard Dauenhauer and Philip Binham (eds.), Snow in May: An Anthology of Finnish Writing, 19451972 (1978); and Herbert Lomas (trans.), Territorial Song: Contemporary Writing from Finland (1981), are representative collections of translations.