# Rune poem

Rune poems are poems that list the letters of runic alphabets while providing an explanatory poetic stanza for each letter. Four different poems from before the mid-20th century have been preserved: the Anglo-Saxon Rune Poem, the Norwegian Rune Poem, the Icelandic Rune Poem and the Swedish Rune Poem.
The Icelandic and Norwegian poems list 16 Younger Futhark runes, while the Anglo-Saxon Rune Poem lists 29 Anglo-Saxon runes. Each poem differs in poetic verse, but they contain numerous parallels between one another. Further, the poems provide references to figures from Norse and Anglo-Saxon paganism, the latter included alongside Christian references. A list of rune names is also recorded in the Abecedarium Nordmannicum, a 9th-century manuscript, but whether this can be called a poem or not is a matter of some debate.
The rune poems have been theorized as having been mnemonic devices that allowed the user to remember the order and names of each letter of the alphabet and may have been a catalog of important cultural information, memorably arranged; comparable with the Old English sayings, Gnomic poetry, and Old Norse poetry of wisdom and learning.

## Rune poems
### English

The Old English Rune Poem as recorded was likely composed in the 7th century and was preserved in the 10th-century manuscript Cotton Otho B.x, fol. 165a – 165b, housed at the Cotton library in London, England. In 1731, the manuscript was lost with numerous other manuscripts in a fire at the Cotton library. However, the poem had been copied by George Hickes in 1705 and his copy has formed the basis of all later editions of the poems.
George Hickes' record of the poem may deviate from the original manuscript. Hickes recorded the poem in prose, divided the prose into 29 stanzas, and placed a copper plate engraved with runic characters on the left-hand margin so that each rune stands immediately in front of the stanza where it belongs. For five of the runes (wen, hægl, nyd, eoh, and Ing) Hickes gives variant forms and two more runes are given at the foot of the column; cweorð and an unnamed rune (calc) which are not handled in the poem itself. A second copper plate appears across the foot of the page and contains two more runes: stan and gar.
Van Kirk Dobbie states that this apparatus is not likely to have been present in the original text of the Cotton manuscript and states that it's possible that the original Anglo-Saxon rune poem manuscript would have appeared similar in arrangement of runes and texts to that of the Norwegian and Icelandic rune poems.

### Norwegian

The Norwegian Rune Poem was preserved in a 17th-century copy of a destroyed 13th-century manuscript. The Norwegian Rune Poem is preserved in skaldic metre, featuring the first line exhibiting a "(rune name)(copula) X" pattern, followed by a second rhyming line providing information somehow relating to its subject.

### Icelandic

The Icelandic Rune Poem is recorded in four Arnamagnæan manuscripts, the oldest of the four dating from the late 15th century. The Icelandic Rune Poem has been called the most systemized of the rune poems (including the Abecedarium Nordmannicum) and has been compared to the ljóðaháttr verse form.
The Icelandic rune poem is shown below with English translation side-by-side from Dickins:
| # | rune | name | Old Icelandic | English |
| 1 | ᚠ | Fé | Fé er frænda róg  ok flæðar viti  ok grafseiðs gata | Wealth = source of discord among kinsmen  and fire of the sea  and path of the serpent. |
| 2 | ᚢ | Úr | Úr er skýja grátr  ok skára þverrir  ok hirðis hatr. | Shower = lamentation of the clouds  and ruin of the hay-harvest  and abomination of the shepherd. |
| 3 | ᚦ | Þurs | Þurs er kvenna kvöl  ok kletta búi  ok varðrúnar verr. | Giant = torture of women  and cliff-dweller  and husband of a giantess. |
| 4 | ᚬ | Óss | Óss er aldingautr  ok ásgarðs jöfurr,  ok valhallar vísi. | God = aged Gautr  and prince of Ásgarðr  and lord of Valhalla. |
| 5 | ᚱ | Reið | Reið er sitjandi sæla  ok snúðig ferð  ok jórs erfiði. | Riding = joy of the horsemen  and speedy journey  and toil of the steed. |
| 6 | ᚴ | Kaun | Kaun er barna böl  ok bardaga [för]  ok holdfúa hús. | Ulcer = disease fatal to children  and painful spot  and abode of mortification. |
| 7 | ᚼ | Hagall | Hagall er kaldakorn  ok krapadrífa  ok snáka sótt. | Hail = cold grain  and shower of sleet  and sickness of serpents. |
| 8 | ᚾ | Nauð | Nauð er Þýjar þrá  ok þungr kostr  ok vássamlig verk. | Constraint = grief of the bond-maid  and state of oppression  and toilsome work. |
| 9 | ᛁ | Íss | Íss er árbörkr  ok unnar þak  ok feigra manna fár. | Ice = bark of rivers  and roof of the wave  and destruction of the doomed. |
| 10 | ᛅ | Ár | Ár er gumna góði  ok gott sumar  algróinn akr. | Plenty = boon to men  and good summer  and thriving crops. |
| 11 | ᛋ | Sól | Sól er skýja skjöldr  ok skínandi röðull  ok ísa aldrtregi. | Sun = shield of the clouds  and shining ray  and destroyer of ice. |
| 12 | ᛏ | Týr | Týr er einhendr áss  ok ulfs leifar  ok hofa hilmir. | Týr = god with one hand  and leavings of the wolf  and prince of temples. |
| 13 | ᛒ | Bjarkan | Bjarkan er laufgat lim  ok lítit tré  ok ungsamligr viðr. | Birch = leafy twig  and little tree  and fresh young shrub. |
| 14 | ᛘ | Maðr | Maðr er manns gaman  ok moldar auki  ok skipa skreytir. | Man = delight of man  and augmentation of the earth  and adorner of ships. |
| 15 | ᛚ | Lögr | Lögr er vellanda vatn  ok viðr ketill  ok glömmungr grund. | Water = eddying stream  and broad geysir  and land of the fish. |
| 16 | ᛦ | Ýr | Ýr er bendr bogi  ok brotgjarnt járn  ok fífu fárbauti. | Yew = bent bow  and brittle iron  and giant of the arrow. |

### Swedish

The Old Swedish rune poem is possibly the youngest of the four, first being recorded in a letter that was published in 1908. The text may be corrupt and it has received relatively little attention from runologists.

## Abecedarium Nordmannicum

Recorded in the 9th century, the Abecedarium Nordmannicum is the earliest known catalog of Norse rune names, though it does not contain definitions, is partly in Continental Germanic and also contains an amount of distinctive Anglo-Saxon rune types. The text is recorded in Codex Sangallensis 878, kept in the St. Gallen abbey, and may originate from Fulda, Germany.

## The Rune Poem Puzzle from the Old Bø Church

In the Old Bø Church in Telemark it is preserved a runic inscription, which uses lines, similar to Rune poems. By guessing the names of runes described in those lines, and reading the lines backwards, you get name of the woman, who the rune-rister fell in love with. The main lines of the puzzle are following:
Reading the lines from bottom upwards, reader gets following runes:
* ᚴ (sótt er barna)
* ᚢ (fjón svínkanda)
* ᚦ (fjalls íbúi)
* ᚱ (hests ærfaði)
* ᚢ (auk høys víti)
* ᚿ (þræls vansæla)
These runes together make the name Gudrun, who, according to the inscription, took the author′s sleep.