Abstract
Focussing on two lyrical songs from Elias Lönnrot's The Kanteletar (1840), the chapter offers an analysis of The Kanteletar in the Czech rendering (1904-1905) by Josef Holeček (1853-1929) in contrast to his earlier translation into Czech (1894-1896) of Elias Lönnrot's The Kalevala (1849). The analysis centres on structural problems (such as differences between the agglutinating Finnish of the original and the inflectional Czech as the language of translation) as well as on issues determined by Holeček's chosen strategies (such as the replacement of the originals' alliterative patterns by rhyme).
Overall, the chapter presents a contribution to the study of the translation of early Finnish poetry (as well as alliterative poetry in general) into Czech and to the study of Holeček's work as translator and author.