The Dream
of the Rood
GROUP 6
HISTORICAL
BACKGROUND
One of the earliest works in the corpus of
English literature is ‘The Dream of the Rood.’ It
is the first great example of the Christian dream
poetry genre. This poem is preserved in the
Vercelli Book (in north Italy) and is considered
one of the earliest physical pieces of evidence of
Old English Literature.
The poem was first discovered on the Ruthwell
Cross, a large, stone carving dating to the early
eighth century. Eighteen verses of "The Dream
of the Rood" were carved into the cross in runic
lettering. This was all that was known of the
work to scholars until the complete poem was
discovered in 1822 in northern Italy in the 10thcentury "Vercelli Book.“
HISTORICAL
BACKGROUND
The poem has been the subject of literary
and historical study for generations and
has been interpreted in a variety of ways.
"The Dream of the Rood" also provides a
valuable window into early Christian
England.
The dream vision uses strong images of
Christ in order to reach members of the
Anglo-Saxon warrior culture, who valued
strength above humility. This may have
been a deliberate strategy to convert
pagans to Christianity. It also reflects how
the image of Jesus was adapted to suit
different cultures.
AUTHOR
In ‘The Dream of the Rood’ poem, the
narrator dreams about the Cross on which
Jesus was crucified. In his dream, the poet
narrates that at night, he saw the Cross was
“treasure adorned” for it was covered in
gems and gold, and the ‘Rood’ or the ‘cross’
was hovering in the air.
SUMMARY
The poet also described the Cross to have a
“wretched hostility” and on the right side a
little blood other than its golden beauty.
Later in the poem, the poet describes that
the appearance of the Cross changed with
passing time. The dreamer saw the welladorned ‘Rood’ transform into one filled with
blood.
In the second part of the poem, the dreamer
seems to be speaking himself but from the
perspective of the ‘Rood’ and in relation to
what the ‘cross’ had experienced prior. The
poem unveils the complete story of the
Cross, from how it was created and how it
became a symbol of humankind’s salvation.
SUMMARY
The Rood was carved out from a tree and
was put on a hill where Jesus was crucified
and pinned to the limbs of the Rood. In the
poem, the Rood also described that it fought
along with Jesus for the salvation of people
by not bending down and not fighting the
wicked ones.
After that, the Rood further narrated how
Christ’s lifeless body was detached from
him and later buried into the land. This
event was followed by the Rood’s ascend
into the heaven where he was all “treasure
adorned” for to be seen by everyone.
SUMMARY
The poet ends the narration by describing
how he is again back to the present time
and relayed what he saw in his dream in
detail. Lastly, he praised the Almighty and
his Son, Jesus Christ, and hoped for eternal
life.
CHARACTERS