Jaan Kärner
Jaan Kärner (27 May 1891 – 3 April 1958) was an Estonian poet and writer. He is known especially for his nature poetry. Many of his poems were set to music by Estonian composers of choral music.
Jaan Kärner

Unattributed · Eesti Kirjandusmuuseum: Kreutzwaldi sajand KM EKLA, B-100:16 · CC BY 3.0
- Name
- Jaan Kärner
- Born
- 27 May 1891
- Birthplace
- Käo, Kirepi Parish, Kreis Dorpat, Governorate of Livonia, Russian Empire
- Died
- 3 April 1958
- Place of death
- Tartu, Estonia
- Occupation
- Writer, poet
- Spouse
- * Ida Kull
- Nationality
- Russian Empire · Estonia · Soviet Union
- Education
- Moscow City People’s University
- Honours
- Honored Writer of the Estonian SSR · Order of the Badge of Honour
- Languages
- Estonian
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
VALÉORINE documentary reading
Documentary summary
Jaan Kärner (27 May 1891 – 3 April 1958) was an Estonian poet and writer. He is known especially for his nature poetry. Many of his poems were set to music by Estonian composers of choral music.
Admitted source layer · organised and presented by VALÉORINE
Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for Jaan Kärner. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
World of VALÉORINE
Documentary connections
Only confirmed graph relationships appear here. Images are shown only when their identity and reuse rights both pass the documentary gate.
Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q1676764 · wikipedia · Jaan Kärner
In this article
Biography
Biography
Kärner also wrote numerous novels, plays, works of literary criticism, and scientific literature and historical treatises. He translated works from German and Russian, most notably the poems of Heinrich Heine into Estonian in 1934.
Jaan Kärner studied at Moscow City People’s University. The recorded working language is Estonian. Positions recorded include Estonian Provincial Assembly and member of the Estonian Constituent Assembly. Distinctions recorded are Honored Writer of the Estonian SSR and Order of the Badge of Honour.
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Jaan Kärner • Born — 27 May 1891 • Birthplace — Käo, Kirepi Parish, Kreis Dorpat, Governorate of Livonia, Russian Empire • Died — 3 April 1958 • Place of death — Tartu, Estonia • Resting Place — Elva Cemetery • Occupation — Writer, poet • Years Active — 1915–1946 • Spouse — * Ida Kull • Hilda Luberg
Life and work
Life and work
Jaan Kärner was born the son of a farmer, Kaarel Kärner and his wife Liis Kärner (née Terav). He had one brother, Johannes, and five sisters: Anna Marie, Emilie, Pauline, Ida and Alma and two half-brothers Aleksander and August. He attended Uderna school from 1901 to 1906 (Rõngu). From 1910 Kärner worked in various magazines in Tallinn. 1911/12 and 1914 he studied at the City People's University "AL Schanjawski" in Moscow. From 1917 Kärner was also politically active (first in the Estonian Socialist Revolutionary Party, later in the Estonian Independent Socialist Workers' Party) and in 1919 became editor of the trade union newspaper Töö hääl (Labor Voice). In 1919 he was elected to the Estonian Constituent Assembly. Beginning in the early 1920s, Kärner worked as a freelance writer. From 1927 to 1929 he worked as an editor at the magazine Looming, and from 1936 to 1938 as an editor for the magazine Tänapäev. A left-winger, he supported the 1940 Communist seizure of power in Estonia. During the German occupation of Estonia during World War II Kärner lived in the Soviet Union. With the re-incorporation of Estonia into the Soviet Union in 1944, he returned to his homeland and worked in publishing as an editor at various newspapers and magazines. In 1946, Kärner descended into insanity and died in 1958 in Tartu. He had one son, Ülo Kärner (born 1915–1941), through the marriage of his first wife Ida Kärner (née Kull) and two daughters, Eha (1919–1976) and Elo (1925–1991), with his second wife Hilda Anna Luise Kärner (née Luberg).
Romantic verse
Romantic verse
• Bianka ja Ruth (1923)
Fiction
Fiction
• Naine vaesest maailmast (1930) • Soodoma kroonika (1934) • Tõusev rahvas (2 volumes, 1936/1937) • Pidu kestab (1938)
Identity
Identity
Jaan Kärner is recorded as having received Honored Writer of the Estonian SSR and Order of the Badge of Honour. Within the Encyclopedia. Connected to 1 other published record in the VALÉORINE Encyclopedia.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1891
Jaan Kärner born at Kirepi Rural Municipality.
1958
Jaan Kärner died at Tartu.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Kirepi Rural Municipality.
Birth place
Tartu.
Death place
Poetry collections
• Aja laulud (1921) • Lõikuskuu (1925) • Õitsev sügis (1926) • Inimene ristteel (1932) • Sõna-sütega (1936) • Käidud teedelt (1939) • Kodumaa käsk (1942) • Viha, ainult viha (1944)
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 20 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Books
38,991 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Jaakko Hämeen-AnttilaAuthor
- Jaan AnveltAuthor
- Jaan IsotammAuthor
- Jaan KaplinskiAuthor
- Jaan KrossAuthor
- Jaan LõoAuthor
- Jaan RannapAuthor
- Jaan TätteAuthor
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own a work by Jaan Kärner?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.