Dream of the Rood
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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.
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[edit] 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.
[edit] 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.
[edit] 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.
[edit] External links
- The Dream of the Rood Original text in Old English.
- The Dream of the Rood Modern English translation.
