The great bear

These 450 poems, songs, charms, prayers and laments in the original languages and in English convey the worldview and an insight into the lives of pre-literate peoples in various stages of cultural and social development. The texts illustrate the beliefs, perceptions and artistic genius of fifteen peoples scattered across Northern Europe from Scandinavia, deep into Russia and beyond the Urals, and of the Hungarians in Central Europe.

The contents are arranged by theme to illustrate the evolving phase of man's symbiosis with the natural and spiritual world. Each section is introduced by a specialist essay. Detailed commentaries illuminate the context of each poem and explain the significance of specific local features.

In reading this poetry, we begin to grasp the frailty of human life in the face of natural forces, we gain some insight into the strategies that man developed for survival, and we share his respect and awe for the spiritual forces which shaped his destiny. The poems give us a hint of how thin and how recent is the shell of our own post-industrial cultures.

This book is a tribute to the poetic voice of past singers who, in many languages, gave form to fragile oral 'texts' and created a natural poetry based on tradition, human experience and sentiment.