Riga Personalities: Kristjan Jaak Peterson Kristjan Jaak Peterson, who was born in Riga on this day (14 March) 1801 to an Estonian father and Latvian mother, was especially gifted in languages and could speak German, Russian, Swedish, Finnish, English and Italian as well as Latin, Greek and Hebrew. In 1819, after finishing his studies in Riga, he moved to Tartu to study Philosophy. Proud of his Estonian ancestry, he spoke fluent Estonian and wore the Estonian national dress of a long black coat. By so doing he lost many friends for at this time Estonians, like Latvians, were believed to be and would remain only slaves. In his diary, he remarked that people often say: We do not take care of the coat but that man who is wearing it, they are thinking in their heart: Nice coat is just better than a ragged one. But be silent, Jaak! What are you saying? If they have their purse in their hand, they do not care about the money! Peterson started to write Estonian poetry in the style of ancient Greek literature, praising love to his mother tongue and paying honour to singers and friendship. He was not concerned about what people thought of him. He would not live in the conventional way, having no time to learn trifle manners as all he wanted to do was study. However, his Bohemian life style brought on tuberculosis and he was unable to pass his examinations and eventually sent down. Although Peterson died at the oh so early age of 21, his memory lives on and in 1922, the centenary of his death, his poems, diaries and letters were published for the first time - his contemporaries never knew about his poems.
Posted on: Fri, 14 Mar 2014 05:13:54 +0000