The Dream of the Rood
I was hoping to get to Beowulf too, but I have entirely too much reading. Depending on how much I get done tonight, tomorrow will be Beowulf, "The Wanderer," and "The Wife's Lament." I also need to brush up on my Greek/Roman mythology, so I'm going to read a couple sections of Edith Hamilton's Mythology everyday and write up brief summaries. At some point (maybe even tomorrow), I'll also do a literary term of the day. Anyway, it's back to Andreas Capellanus' The Art of Courtly Love for me!
The Dream of the Rood (i.e. of the Cross)
§ Author and date of composition is unknown.
§ Appears in a late 10th century manuscript located in Vercelli in northern Italy. The manuscript consists of Old English religious poems and sermons. The poem may predate the manuscript.
§ From the point of view of a dreamer character (plus rood monologue). His sense of isolation and melancholy was typical to exile figures in Old English poetry.
§ Speaker describes a tree (or cross) that, like Christ, begins to bleed from the right side.
“Wonderful was the triumph tree, and I stained with sins, wounded with wrongdoings…Yet through the gold I might perceive ancient agony of wretches, for now it began to bleed on the right side.”
§ The cross begins to speak and describe Christ’s experience.
Speaker: “Yet I, lying there a long while troubled, beheld the savior’s tree until I heard it give a voice: the best of trees began to speak words.”
Cross: “Then I saw the Lord of mankind hasten with stout heart, for he would climb upon me…I was raised up, a cross; I lifted up the Might King, Lord of the Heavens: I dared not bend…All creation wept bewailed the King’s fall; Christ was on Cross…On me God’s Son suffered awhile; therefore I tower now glorious under the heavens, and I may heal everyone of those whole hold me in awe…Now I command you, my beloved man, that you tell men of this vision…”
§ Christ’s triumph after suffering gives the speaker hope.
“Then I prayed to the tree, blithe-hearted, confident, there where I was alone with small company…Now is there hope of life for me…May the Lord be my friend, who once here on earth suffered on the gallows-tree for man’s sins…”