1. Lydia Koidula's sobriquet means ' The Dawn' in Estonian.
15 Facts About Lydia Koidula
1. 2.
The family moved to the nearby county town of Parnu in 1850 where, in 1857, her father Johann Voldemar Jannsen started the first local Estonian language newspaper and where Lydia Koidula attended the German-language grammar school.
3.
Lydia Koidula wrote for her father on both papers besides publishing her own work.
4.
Lydia Koidula lived in Kronstadt for 13 years and albeit during that time she would spend the summers in Estonia, she reportedly never stopped feeling inconsolably homesick.
5.
Lydia Koidula died from breast cancer on 11 August 1886.
6.
The themes of Lydia Koidula's early Vainulilled were certainly proto-Biedermeier, but her delicate, melodic treatment of them was in no way rustic or unsophisticated, as demonstrated in the unrestrained patriotic outpourings of Emajoe Oobik.
7.
Lydia Koidula reacted to the historical subjugation of the Estonian people as to a personal affront; she spoke of slavery and the yoke of subordination as if from personal experience.
8.
Lydia Koidula once wrote to a Finnish correspondent: "It is a sin, a great sin, to be little in great times when a person can actually make history".
9.
Lydia Koidula successfully used the vernacular language to express emotions that ranged from an affectionate poem about the family cat, in Meie kass and delicate love poetry, Head ood to a powerful cri de coeur and rallying call to an oppressed nation, Mu isamaa nad olid matnud.
10.
Lydia Koidula is considered the "founder of Estonian theatre" through her drama activities at the Vanemuine Society, a society started by the Jannsens in Tartu in 1865 to promote Estonian culture.
11.
Lydia Koidula was the first to write original plays in Estonian and to address the practicalities of stage direction and production.
12.
The characterisation was rudimentary and the plot was simple but it was popular and Lydia Koidula went on to write and direct Maret ja Miina, and her own creation, the first ever completely Estonian play, Saarane mulk.
13.
Lydia Koidula's plays were didactic and a vehicle for popular education.
14.
The Lydia Koidula museum is located in the Parnu Ulejoe schoolhouse.
15.
Jannsen's elder daughter, poet Lydia Koidula grew up in the house.