Milvi Seping
Milvi Seping (18 September 1929 – 19 August 2022) was a poet and short prose writer.
Seping was born in the family of a farmer at Paduvere village in Põltsamaa parish, Viljandi County. She attended Paduvere and Vitsjärve primary schools. Having completed studies at the school of general education, she entered Tartu Industrial School No. 12. From 1948–1971, Seping worked as an assembly locksmith at Tartu Control Apparatus Plant which produced components for Soviet military aircraft. Later, Seping worked in gardening and agriculture, thereafter, was a professional writer in Tartu. She was a member of the Estonian Writers’ Union from 1975 and participated in Tartu Young Authors’ Association.
Seping began to publish poems from 1951. Her first poetry collection Heliseval sillal (‘On a Jingling Bridge’) appeared in 1961. In this collection, work-related themes predominate.
In Milvi Seping’s later creation, factory motifs are replaced by country themes. People’s work on a Soviet collective farm village and their mindset are reflected in a cycle of 17 poems, Kivikorjaja laulud (‘Stone Gatherer’s Songs’) which received the third prize at the Writers Union competition of long poems in 1977 and appeared in the anthology Poeemipõimik (‘Entwined Long Poems’). In 1985, Seping published the short prose collection Värvilised linnud (‘Colourful Birds’). In this book, too, the author deals with the themes of vital importance for the working people, particularly for the elderly.
Milvi Seping’s poetic manner is simple and straightforward; in her verses, she uses end rhymes with different variations. Her lyrical hero loves her work at the factory, but nature is also indispensably close to her as a country child. The other circle of topics in her poems is nature and love.
L. P. (Translated by I. A.)
Books in Estonian
Poems
Milvi Sepping, Heliseval sillal. Tallinn: Eesti Riiklik Kirjastus, 1961, 64 lk.
Urvad üle müüride. Tallinn: Eesti Raamat, 1974, 84 lk.
Külmamailane. Tallinn: Eesti Raamat, 1981, 70 lk.
Short stories
Värvilised linnud. Tallinn: Eesti Raamat, 1985, 135 lk.