has only increased as Finnish Universities became increasingly interested in ancient texts in a conscious and collective movement towards national identity. In the second half of the 19th century August Ahlqvist, known by his pseudonym Oksanen, also had a considerable influence on Finnish poetry providing strict rules about the forms of linguistic expression in an attempt to match if not rival the literary art of other European languages. These were attempts to abandon the ‘beauties’ of the old folk meter in favour of a more ‘elegant and precise’ form of meter well known to Europe. However, in subsequent years, during the 1920s and 30's, Ahlqvist's experimental form of poetry was attacked by many critics and writers because of its rhyme and fixed metric patterns despite Ahlqvist's experience writing poetry in the old folk meter. Alhqvist's reasoning for advocating the abandonment of the old folk meter came from a pre-emptive fear of Finnish writing sounding anachronistic. He also predicted the importance of stress in future Finnish poetry. Folk and oral poetry Finnish old folk poetry or oral poetry from the Middle Ages were epic sequences or short songs. They were composed in old Finnish meter, a trochaic tetrameter of eight syllables and their lines are identifiable by two types, a dipodic trochaic line and the broken line. These poems were originally written for Finnish Nobility of the Middle Ages and they reflect universal myths such as the creation of the world from an egg, the Milky Way as being depicted by a humungous tree, and deeds of heroes. However, folksingers had widely not known the meaning of these words until their transcription in the 19th Century. Seclusion from the Roman Empire allowed ancient beliefs and folk poetry to develop undisturbed. Early 12th century poems centre around a violence and action reminiscent of the last days of Rome. Folk epics tell of the expeditions of Vikings, marauding, plundering and abducting foreign women. Courtly ballads include The Song of Inkeri and Lalmanti, as well as Elina’s death. An interpretation of the Legend of Saint George titled The Song of the Virgin and the Dragon was an ‘attempt to combine old forms with new subjects’. Sampo is an early creation story about the adventures of the warrior Lemminkäinen, and the tragic hero Kullervo. These stories, belonging to the larger folk epic Kalevala, are mixed with historical as well as mystical themes which has caused