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The '''Dream of the Rood''' is one of the earliest Christian poems in the corpus of Anglo-Saxon literature and an intriguing example of the genre of dream poetry. Like all Old English poetry, it is written in alliterative verse. ''Rood'' is from the Anglo-Saxon ''rod'' "pole", specifically "crucifix". Preserved in the 10th century Vercelli Book, the poem may be considerably older, even one of the oldest works of Old English literature.

Contents

The subject-matter of the poem

Interpretation

The Ruthwell Cross inscription

External links

See also

The subject-matter of the poem

In the poem, the ''scop'' describes his dream of a conversation with the wood of the True Cross. Jesus is cast in the heroic model of a Germanic warrior, who faces his death unflinchingly and even eagerly. The Cross, speaking as if it were a member of Christ's band of retainers, accepts its fate as it watches its Creator die, and then explains that Christ's death was not a defeat but a victory.

Interpretation

Mary Dockray-Miller has asserted that the Cross is feminine, and shares a close, almost sexual relationship with the ultra-masculine Christ. The fact that the Cross asserts that the Romans tortured "unc butu ætgædere" (us both, together) would suggest a close personal relationship between the Cross and Christ. The poem concludes with the poet's prayer to the Rood that he might enter into the band of Christ's followers.

The Ruthwell Cross inscription

A short excerpt from the poem was claimed to be carved in Futhorc on the Ruthwell Cross, which dates from c. 750:

Krist wæs on rodi. Hweþræ

þer fusæ fearran kwomu

æþþilæ til anum.

''Christ was on the cross. Yet''

''the brave came there from afar''

''to their lord.''

A silver reliquary cross in Brussels contains a brief passage quite similar to the passage found on the Ruthwell cross, suggesting perhaps that the poem drew from a common Germanic motif.

External links

★ ''The Dream of the Rood'' Original text in Old English.

See also

★ Ruthwell Cross

★ Anglo-Saxon Futhorc

★ Brussels Cross

★ Christmas Tree

★ Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil