Lydia Koidula

Lydia Koidula
Born	Lydia Emilie Florentine Jannsen (1843-12-24)24 December 1843 Vändra, Estonia (then Governorate of Livonia, Russian Empire)
Died	11 August 1886(1886-08-11) (aged 42) Kronstadt, Russian Empire
Occupations	Playwright poet
Spouse	Eduard Michelson ​ (m. 1873)​
Children	3
Family	Johann Voldemar Jannsen (father)

Lydia Emilie Florentine Jannsen (24 December [O.S. 12 December] 1843 – 11 August [O.S. 30 July] 1886), known by her pen name Lydia Koidula, was an Estonian poet. Her sobriquet means 'Lydia of the Dawn' in Estonian. It was given to her by the writer Carl Robert Jakobson. She is also frequently referred to as Koidulaulik – 'Singer of the Dawn'.

In Estonia, like elsewhere in Europe, writing was not considered a suitable career for a respectable young lady in the mid-19th century. Koidula's poetry and her newspaper work for her populist father, Johann Voldemar Jannsen (1819–1890) remained anonymous. In spite of this, she was a major literary figure, the founder of Estonian theatre, and closely allied to Carl Robert Jakobson (1841–1882), the influential radical and Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald (1803–1882), writer of the Estonian national epic, Kalevipoeg (The Son of Kalev). Over time, she has achieved the status of the national poet of Estonia.^[1]