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".
In the poem, the scop describes his dream of a conversation with the wood of the Christian 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. Still other scholars (most notably Mary Dockray-Miller) have 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.
Preserved in the 10th century Vercelli Book, the poem is considerably older, one of the oldest works of Old English literature. Excerpts [1] from it are carved on the mid-8th century high cross at Ruthwell, Scotland, in the futhorc alphabet. 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 myth now lost to us.
Transliteration:
- Krist wæs on rodi. Hweþræ
- þer fusæ fearran kwomu
- æþþilæ til anum.
Translation:
- Christ was on the cross. Yet
- the brave came there from afar
- to their lord.
External links
- The Dream of the Rood Original text in Old English.
- The Dream of the Rood Modern English translation.