{"id":8330,"date":"2026-04-14T14:47:37","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T11:47:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sisu.ut.ee\/ewod\/?page_id=8330"},"modified":"2026-04-14T14:53:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T11:53:12","slug":"tuulse","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sisu.ut.ee\/ewod\/t\/tuulse\/","title":{"rendered":"Liidia Tuulse"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Liidia Tuulse (born Liidia Haas, 8. III 1912 \u2013 17. III 2012) was a poet residing in Sweden, who together with her art historian husband Armin Tuulse was one of the most important carriers and keepers of Estonian cultural memory in exile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Liidia Tuulse was born in Soe village, Hummuli parish, Viljandi county (later part of Valga county). From 1918-1929, she studied in Veister private primary school in Valga and in the humanities branch of the Valga Girls\u2019 Gymnasium. From 1918-1929, she studied Germanic languages, philosophy, and art history in the University of Tartu, graduating cum laude. In 1938, she defended her master\u2019s thesis entitled Eksperimentaalne uurimus eelkooliealiste laste musikaalsusest<\/em> (\u2018An Experimental Study on the Musical Talent of Preschool Children\u2019). She later continued her studies at the universities of K\u00f6nigsberg and Stockholm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1944, together with husband Armin Tuulse and son Tanel, she fled to Sweden. In Sweden, she first worked as an archivist (1950-1962) in the editor\u2019s office of the book series Sveriges Kyrkor (Swedish Churches), later as a German teacher. Her son Toomas Tuulse is an architect, composer, and the conductor of the Estonian Choir in Stockholm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Liidia Tuulse debuted by publishing travelogues, reviews, and short prose in journals in the late 1930s. She started writing poetry later in her life, at nearly 50 years old, inspired to do so chiefly by Bernard Kangro<\/a>. Marie Under<\/a> was also supportive of Tuulse\u2019s accomplishments. Her first poems were published in the magazine Tulimuld in 1961. Tuulse\u2019s first poetry collection Liiv ja lumi<\/em> (\u2018Sand and Snow\u2019, 1968) is thematically coherent. It features sensitively written mood portrayals of mostly nature, flowers, landscapes. The poems often end with unexpected turns of thought. Writing about nature remained characteristic to her poetry. In her second collection Linde pihlaka v\u00f5ras<\/em> (\u2018Birds in the Rowan\u2019s Crown\u2019, 1983) another person is added to the forefront: perpetually repeating miscommunications, dismissals, and small disappointments, which become fatefully significant, hidden moments of joy. An important part of Tuulse\u2019s writing are her impressions of vacations in Western Europe, and finally being reunited with the nature of her home country. For Tuulse, impressions of the nature of Finland, Sweden and Norway conjure up images of her youth in Estonia. Tuulse\u2019s first two poetry collections, that were published in Sweden, were designed by Arno Vihalemm<\/a>. The other four were published in Tallinn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tuulse\u2019s poems are mostly written in free verse, end rhymes are rarely used. Translations of her poems have been published in German, Swedish, and English.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tuulse has also translated poetry herself, mainly from German and Swedish, most of which were published in the magazine Tulimuld. Tuulse has translated the poetry of the following authors: Gottfried Benn, Bo Bergman, Magda Bergquist von Mirbach, Karin Boye, Gunnar Ekel\u00f6f, Hermann Hesse, Mare Kandre, Erik Lindegren, Octavio Paz, Rainer Maria Rilke, and Anders \u00d6sterling. Out of the aforementioned, Rilke\u2019s poetry had the strongest influence on Tuulse. Tuulse has given several lectures in Estonian and German on Estonian literature (namely on Lydia Koidula, Marie Under, and Betti Alver) in Sweden, Germany, the USA, Canada, and Switzerland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1968, Liidia Tuulse became a member the Estonian Writers\u2019 Union Abroad and the Academic Women\u2019s Society, the latter of which she also chaired from 1983; she was a member of the Estonian Scientific Society in Sweden, Estonian Cultural Society of Sweden, the Swedish Estonian Union, and from 1978, the Estonian PEN Club.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

L. P. (Translated by A. A.)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n


Books in Estonian<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Poems<\/em><\/strong>
Liiv ja lumi<\/strong>. Lund: Eesti Kirjanike Kooperatiiv, 1968. 80 lk.
Linde pihlaka v\u00f5ras<\/strong>: luuletusi 1963\u20131983. Lund: Eesti Kirjanike Kooperatiiv, 1983. 80 lk.
Tiival\u00f6\u00f6k<\/strong>: luulet, 1963\u20131983. Tallinn: Eesti Raamat, 1989. 69 lk.
Jahresringe: Gedichte= Arsringar: dikter= Annual rings: poems<\/strong>. Tallinn: Inreko Press, 1995. 73 lk. [Osa teksti eesti keeles.]
Muutuda s\u00f5naks<\/strong>. Tallinn: L. Tuulse, 1997. 159 lk.
Kogutud luuletused 1969\u20131997<\/strong>. Tallinn: Eesti Keele Sihtasutus, 2007. 363 lk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About Liidia Tuulse<\/em><\/strong>
Livia Viitol, Kaks muusat. V\u00e4liseesti luuletaja Liidia Tuulse (1912\u20132012) elulugu, 1960. aastate p\u00e4evik, kirjavahetused Bernard Kangro, \u00d5ie Fleigi ja Marie Underiga<\/strong>. Tallinn: T\u00e4nap\u00e4ev, 2025, 656 lk.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Liidia Tuulse (born Liidia Haas, 8. III 1912 \u2013 17. III 2012) was a poet residing in Sweden, who together with her art historian husband Armin Tuulse was one of the most important carriers and keepers of Estonian cultural memory …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":0,"parent":709,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-8330","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sisu.ut.ee\/ewod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sisu.ut.ee\/ewod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sisu.ut.ee\/ewod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sisu.ut.ee\/ewod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/43"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sisu.ut.ee\/ewod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8330"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sisu.ut.ee\/ewod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8330\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8335,"href":"https:\/\/sisu.ut.ee\/ewod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8330\/revisions\/8335"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sisu.ut.ee\/ewod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sisu.ut.ee\/ewod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}