The Dream of the Rood
Poetry
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Anonymous
The Dream of the Rood Main Text
The Dream of the Rood
by Anonymous Poet
Translated by Roy M. Liuzza
Listen! I will speak of the sweetest dream,
what came to me in the middle of the night,
when speech-bearers slept in their rest.
It seemed that I saw a most wondrous tree
raised on high, wound round with light,
the brightest of beams. All that beacon was
covered in gold; gems stood
fair at the earth’s corners, and there were...
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The Dream of the Rood Themes
Here we have the major themes of the Old English religious poem The Dream of the Rood.
Sacrifice and Redemption
The poem emphasizes Christ’s crucifixion as a moment of profound sacrifice, both by Christ and the cross (rood). Christ willingly embraces His suffering to redeem humanity from sin, an act of selfless love and ultimate devotion. The rood, initially an ordinary tree, also endures g...
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The Dream of the Rood Key Facts
The Dream of the Rood Key Facts
Title: The Dream of the Rood
[In this poem, the narrator is having a dream. In this dream or vision he is speaking to the Cross on which Jesus was crucified.]
Author: Anonymous
Manuscript Source: The poem survives in the Vercelli Book, which is dated to the tenth century
Verse Form: Alliterative Verse
Genre: Christian Poem/Dream Poetry
“Rood” or...
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The Dream of the Rood Summary
The Dream of the Rood is a poem about a dream or vision where the narrator sees a magnificent tree, which turns out to be the cross (or "rood") on which Christ was crucified. The tree is decorated with gold and jewels, but it also bears the marks of blood and suffering.
In the dream, the tree begins to speak. It tells the story of how it was once a simple tree that was chosen to become the cross f...
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