Eesti rahvaluule baltisaksa luule inspiratsiooniallikana
Estonian Folklore as a Source of Baltic-German Poetry

Summary/Abstract: Drawing on the Baltic German poetry available either as separate collections, or published in cultural magazines and literary alamanacs, all increasingly accessible online (http://www.utlib.ee/ekollekt/eeva), the article provides an overview of the history of folkloristic interests in the Baltic area, discusses the use of folklore in Baltic German poetry, and lists the most frequent folklore motifs occurring in that material, attempting an analysis of the possible reasons of their popularity, while the focus lies on Estonian folklore motifs. it is demonstrated that interest and knowledge of Estonian (or Latvian) folklore was not just a marginal phenomenon of specialist interest cultivated by philologists, but rather an essential element of the regional identity of Baltic Germans and a notable trend in Baltic German literature. Cultural exchange in the Baltic area has never been a one-way process from Germans to Estonians, but a both-way one. Thus the interrelations of Baltic German and Estonian literatures are closer than suggested by the respective literary histories.

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