Uuno Kailas Biography

Uuno Kailas was a Finnish poet, one of the most popular ones in the period between the two World Wars. Considered to be the archetypal tragic poet, he lived a short and sad life, never enjoying the popularity he deserved during his lifetime, and died in poverty, struggling with mental sickness and disease. Yet within the span of his tragically short life—he died days short of his 32nd birthday—he wrote such poignant poetry that he became immortal in the annals of the history of literature. Topics such as death, darkness, burden, and illness were recurring motifs in his poetry, a stark reminder of the era he lived in, which was marked by escalating political unrest, wars, mass destruction and loss of faith in humanity. The tragedies of his own sad life were also reflected in his poems. His childhood difficulties began when his mother died in childbirth when he was hardly two. His bohemian father was largely absent from his life and he was raised by his strict grandmother. He also suffered from mental illnesses and never enjoyed robust physical health. Always in a state of mental turmoil, writing poetry was the only respite in his lonely life. He was a prolific poet and several collections of his poetry were published both during his lifetime and posthumously.