Evald Kruut
Evald Kruut (6 XIII 1927 – 26 III 2023) was an emigre Estonian poet who lived in the USA.
He was born at Valaste coastal village in Virumaa County. He began his education at Valaste primary school, from 1942 attended Jõhvi Secondary School. In 1944, he was mobilized into the auxiliary service of the German Air Force and was taken to Germany during the German retreat, where he graduated from the Lingen Estonian Gymnasium in 1949. He never met his family who remained in Estonia again.
In 1950, Kruut went to the US where he acquired higher education in the state of Minnesota. First, he studied languages and theology at Macalester College in St. Paul which he graduated in 1954. He was interested in Greek and Hebrew. In 1960, Kruut graduated from the University of Minnesota with a master’s degree. He studied linguistics and bibliography; during his studies he was interested in Anglo-Saxon and Sumerian languages. For thirteen years, Kruut worked for Dow Corning, a multinational corporation, where he founded a research library and information centre. From 1973–1991, Kruut worked as director of Veterans Memorial Library in Michingan. Before his death he lived in California.
Kruut self-published two collections of poetry: Arrival and Departure. Twenty poems (2005) and Elu see võrratu kangas. Poeesia läbi aegade (‘Life, This Incomparable Fabric. Poetry Throughout Times’, 2006). The characteristic features of his poems are soul searching and fear of the future. Elu see võrratu kangas consists of five cycles: Sõdur ja pagulane (‘Soldier and Refugee’), Kevadetunnetus (‘Springtime Feeling’), Afrodite tempel (‘Aphrodite’s Temple’), Mu Maarjamaa (‘My Land of St. Mary’) and Hümn Loojale (‘Hymn to the Creator’). His writing seems like pouring out the emotions burdening the soul, emancipation of the world of feelings from oppressive ballast. These are simple, understandable and honest thoughts arranged in verse. The collection contains two poems by other authors in Kruut’s translation: Edna St. Vincent Millay’s The Little Ghost has been translated from English and Mikhail Lermontov’s Angel from Russian.
Kruut’s collection in English, Arrival and Departure (2005), contains original poetry and translations from several languages. The translations were made in 1952–2004. One original poem has been written in German. The translated authors are M. Under, B. Alver, Fr. R. Kreutzwald, H. Hesse, H. Heine, V. Hugo, A. Akhmatova, V. Venevitinov.
L. P. (Translated by I. A.)
Poems in Estonian
Elu see võrratu kangas: poeesia läbi aegade. Mt. Pleasant (Mich.): E. Kruut, 2006. 66 lk.
Poems in English
Arrival and Departure. Twenty poems. Mt. Pleasant (Mich.): E. Kruut, 2005. 31 pp.
