Anonymous, The Dream of the Rood

Elaine Treharne (Stanford University)

Ed. by Hugh Magennis, Queen's University Belfast
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.01: English Writing and Culture: Old English, 500-1066.
Vol. editors: Richard William Dance (University of Cambridge), Hugh Magennis (Queen's University Belfast)

Dates

First circulation or publication 700 - 970

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Poetry (any)

Resources

The Dream of the Rood is widely regarded as one of the finest short religious poems in the English literary canon. The poem relates the Crucifixion in the words of the Cross of Christ, an enormous and shifting beacon that appears as a perplexing symbol to a visionary in the night. The Crucifixion narrative is framed initially by the visionary's account of his or her astonishment and fear at seeing this celestial sign, at once lit by beams of light, bejewelled and glorious then shifting to a simultaneous sign of suffering—bleeding, oozing moisture, its size extending to the four corners of the earth. The Cross begins to speak of the moving events of the Crucifixion, and once the Cross has finished its narration, the visionary …

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1023 words

Citation: Treharne, Elaine. "The Dream of the Rood". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 23 March 2003 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=11676, accessed 27 November 2024.]

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