Dream of the Rood
is one of the earliest Christian poems in Old English Literature, possibly even
predating the 10th century. Needless to say that the chances of my
being able to give you guys an author is slim to naught. It’s not the sort of
literature I usually go in for, for the reason that a) I’m not big on poetry,
it quite frankly angers me and b) I’m not into the whole religious thing. I’ll
be the first admit that some of the images from all those stories can be
beautiful, tragic, and horrifying, but I’m a contemporary reader: a cynic and
nowhere near as smart as I think I am, so shoot me! The only reason I read this
was because I had to for uni and I actually had to resort to looking it up on
Wikipedia to get the gist of what the hell was going on!
The poem is written in
Old English, complete with all the funny markings and Germanic pronunciation.
So literally we’re trying to read something in another language, fun times! As
I result, obviously, I really can’t comment on any of the techniques, motifs, imagery,
or indeed anything that fits within the realms of construction here; all I can
do is relay to you guys what the poem is about because when you think about it,
it’s actually kind of cool and fascinating.
An example of dream poetry, Dream of the Rood is divided into three
parts. The first begins it all with the narrator having a dream. In the dream
he’s speaking to the Cross that Christ was crucified on. He notes that it’s
covered with gems and how wretched he is in comparison to it and the tree from which
it was made. On closer inspection he sees that there’s blood on it.
The second
part is an account of the Crucifixion as told from the point of view of the
Cross. It begins with the enemy coming to cut down the tree and carry it away
to not bear a criminal, but Christ instead. Christ and the Cross become one and
both take the pains for the sake of mankind. Just as Jesus was, the Cross is
resurrected and adorned with gold and silver.
The Cross then charges the
dreamer to share with people all that he’s seen. In the last part, the dreamer
is left with his thoughts and is filled with hope for eternal life and a desire
to be near the glorious Cross again.
The poem is actually kind of cool in how it anthropomorphises the Cross
and has it tell such an epic story from its own perspective. I thought that was
pretty cool and quirky considering the times. I guess there are just some
literary techniques that don’t manifest themselves as frequently as others.
It’s a fascinating thought to end a review on no?
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