Biography

Lydia Emilie Florentine Jannsen (December 24, [O.S. December 12,] 1843 – August 11, [O.S. July 30,] 1886), known by her pen name Koidula, was an Estonian poet. Her sobriquet means '(Lydia of) The Dawn' in Estonian. It was given to her by the writer Carl Robert Jakobson. She is also frequently referred to as Koidulaulik – 'Singer of the Dawn'. In Estonia, like elsewhere in Europe, writing was not considered a suitable career for a respectable young lady in the mid-19th century. Koidula's poetry and her newspaper work for her populist father, Johann Voldemar Jannsen (1819–1890) remained anonymous. In spite of this, she was a major literary fig...Read More