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What are the Rune Poems?

The rune poems are ancient texts which list the runes and their meanings. They were probably written in order to aid memorising the runes. There are three Rune Poems in existance, one in Icelandic, one in Norwegian and an Old English (Anglo-Saxon) one. The only poem which covers all the runes in the Elder Futhark is the Saxon version though the Saxon meanings are slightly different anyway. It is likely that a Rune Poem existed for the Elder Futhark at some time, but if this is the case it has sadly not survived.

Dating of the poems is an issue of debate amongst scholars but the Old English poem probably dates to around 800 CE, the Old Norwegian poem shows Christian influences and is probably from around 1200 CE with the Old Icelandic being the most recent at around 1500 CE. There are clear similiarities in the meanings of the runes in the different poems though it is not considered likely that they were a direct influence on each other.

Since the Rune Poems are the only surviving (comparatively) early text which describes the meanings of the runes, they are of considerable importance both for scholars and those seeking to understand them for magic or divination purposes.