Viita was a verbally talented son of a carpenter who became a self-taught writer.

Viita's last creative years were shadowed by a mental illness, and he spent several periods in hospital.

[1] Viita wrote mainly traditional poetry with rhymes.

In 1950s, he was shadowed by emerging modernists such as Paavo Haavikko and Tuomas Anhava.

Viita died in a car accident in December 1965,[3] when the taxi he was in was struck by a truck driven by a drunk driver.