Mats Traat

Estonian poet and author (1936–2022)

Mats Traat (23 November 1936 – 27 June 2022) was an Estonian poet, poetry translator, and author.

Traat was born in Arula, Otepää Parish. He debuted in 1962 with a collection of poetry. He published over 20 anthologies of poetry. His poetry frequently dealt with social commentary and society's adoration for science. His lyrics praised nature and his native country. He also translated poetry from Slavic languages (Polish, Macedonian, and Czech). Traat was also a singer and an actor. Traat wrote about the indigenous Estonian population. His central topics were the changes to and the developments of Estonian rural life over the course of the centuries, with an emphasis on people's ethical choices. In Trees Were, Trees Were Tender Brothers (1979), a young protagonist wages a struggle to keep a farm running, something he never desired to do. Pasqueflower, Antidote for Sadness (1982, uncensored version 1990) covered the fate of the ancient Livonians, who were conquered and formally aligned with the Christian invaders while maintaining pagan convictions, and the problems of rural life during the stagnation era of the Estonian SSR. Dance around the Steam Boiler (1971; originally a film script, which was finally completed in 1988) illustrated the changes in rural life over half a century with five "dances" with a portable engine. In the movie, which was filmed during the perestroika era, a sixth "dance" was added, showing the old age of the main characters against a background of the typical rural scenes of 1980s: industrial and technological developments combined with reckless destruction of the environment. Traat's short story "The Cross of Power" won the Friedebert Tuglas Award for Short Prose.