The Dream of the Rood

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The Dream of the Rood
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The Dream of the Rood

• Introduction

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• The earliest dream-vision poem in the English
  language
• One of the central documents of Old English
  Literature
• The 8th century, the most probable date of
  composition
• The influence on later works in Old and Middle
  English

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• The most complete form in the Vercelli Book
• The monologues and subsequent dialogue between
  the Dreamer and the Rood
• Fresh words and phrases
• An inanimate object with personality and the
  power of speech
• Three parts

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• The Dreamers account of his vision of the Cross
• The Roods monologue describing the Crucifixion
• The Dreamers resolution to seek the salvation of
  the Cross

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The Vercelli Manuscript

• The Vercelli Book, old English manuscript written
  in the late 10th century. It is parchment and
  contains one hundred and thirty-six folios.
• The book is so named because it was found in the
  cathedral library at Vercelli, northwestern
  Italy, in 1822

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• Marginalia in the manuscript indicate that the
  manuscript was in English use in the 11th
  century. It was probably taken to Italy by one of
  the numerous Anglo-Saxon pilgrims on the way to
  Rome.
• Along with The Dream of the Rood, five other
  poems, Andreas, The Fates of the Apostles, Soul
  and Body I, Homiletic Fragment I, and Elene, are
  contained in the Vercelli Book.

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• Though the poems were not initially provided with
  titles in the manuscript, an English historian,
  John Mitchell Kemble, named the poems in 1835.
• The Vercelli Book provides a fascinating glimpse
  of Anglo-Saxon spirituality. Thorough a focus on
  and close examination of the Vercelli codex is
  a good way to study Anglo-Saxon literature and
  culture

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Vercelli Book Folio 104v          Vercelli Book
Folio 105r   
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Major Theme

• Some critics have contended that the poet had
  knowledge of the imagery of warfare.
• Others believe that the composer of the poem must
  have been well acquainted with religious and
  ecclesiastical.
• The diction in the poem is one of the most
  fascinating features of the text.

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Major Theme

• The representation of the Crucifixion as a
  battle.
• In the metaphoric battle within the poem, Christ
  and the Cross are warriors.
• whose deaths are victories, and whose burials
  are preludes to the triumph of their
  Resurrections.

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• 2. Some later critics called attention to a
  number of reasons for attributing the poem to
  Cynewulf (c. 770-840).
• The general feeling and vocabulary of the poem
  suggest affinities with the school of Cynewulf
  rather than that of Cadmon.
• Some supporters of the Cynewulfian theory were
  convinced that the ending lines of the poem were
  a personal signature of Cynewulf, while other
  supporters believed the third portion of the poem
  was a late addition created by Cynewulf.

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Authorship

• There is no known source or author of The Dream
  of the Rood.
• In the early days of Rood scholarship, a theory
  developed in which Cadmon was asserted to be the
  author of the poem.
• b. In 1866, the Runic Scholar, William Stevens
  claimed that the Ruthwell Cross was inscribed on
  the upper panel with the phrase Cadmon made me.
  This assertion, however, was soon called into
  question by others who were unable to find any
  convincing traces of cadmons name on the cross.

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• 3. But, contemporary critics remain unconvinced
  that Cynewulf was the author of any portion of
  the poem, because several other poems attributed
  to him are vastly different in technique from the
  long epic lines of The Dream of the Rood.

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Anglo-Saxon Societys Influence on the poem

• According to Robert E. Diamond, two types of
  societies in Pre-Conquest England have been
  established one steeped in the life of the great
  monasteries and the other a military society
  dependent on comitatus relationships.
• Though Christianity would have been in England
  for approximately 100 years prior to the
  composition of the poem, the blend of
  ecclesiastical and heroic elements in the piece
  reveals that the poet was well acquainted with
  both the pagan and Christian segments of
  Anglo-Saxon society.

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• Within the poem, there is a struggle between the
  heroic values and Christian ethics in which the
  poet serves as a mediator.
• By depicting Christ as warrior, and through use
  of both heroic and ecclesiastical diction, the
  poem serves as an instrument of mediation in the
  struggle between the two dominant segments of
  Anglo-Saxon society.
• As some scholars assert, heroic themes were
  sometimes of interest within ecclesiastical
  walls, and a common Anglo-Saxon convention was to
  treat Christian subject matter in terms of heroic
  themes

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• The Cross is a loyal retainer and Christ
  represents an earthly lord, the connection
  between the two major components of Anglo-Saxon
  society were obviously on the mind of the poet as
  he utilized the formulas of heroic poetry and
  applied them to Christian subjects.
• The veneration with which the Old English poet
  glorifies Christ as an earthly lord and warrior
  cannot be considered in itself a derivative
  solely of the poetic imagination, as the poet
  drew upon the two dominant segments of his
  society.
• Essentially, the poet did not rely on one part
  of Anglo-Saxon society or the other in composing
  the poem, rather, he skillfully borrowed from
  both worlds in order to strengthen the message of
  Salvation in The Dream of the Rood.

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Critical Reception

• Critical analysis of The Dream of the Road has
  been abundant for over 150years, and the final
  lines have prompted significant debate.
• Bruce Dickens Alan S.C Ross
• J.A Burrow

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Bruce Dickens Alan S.C Ross

• They supported that the last few lines of the
  poem were added by other person when the poem was
  transcribed for the Vercelli Book.
• They argue that the latter portion of the poem
  seems definitely inferior and it is significant
  that the passages found on the Ruthwell Cross all
  correspond to passages in the first half of the
  Vercelli text"

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J.A. Burrow

• J.A. Burrow have maintained that the lines are
  indeed a part of the original poem despite their
  simplicity.
• Burrow argues that it would be "natural to choose
  passages from the speech of the Cross for
  inscription on the Ruthwell Cross"
• He asserts that it is not difficult to see that
  the themes of the earlier part are developed
  consistently(??) and meaningfully (242).

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The Changes of The Phases of Road-criticism

• Scholars have managed to analyze the poem in
  light of (1) the author, (2) ecclesiastical and
  pagan influences,(3) diction, (4) structure, and
  (5) history.
• Early critics focused on the authorship, but
  modern scholars have concluded that there is not
  enough evidence to make a conclusion about the
  poems author.

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The Changes of The Phases of Road-criticism

• 1. In the 1940s scholars investigated the
  doctrinal influences of the poem.
• 2. Liturgical(?????) influence on the poem had
  been discussed by Howard Patch in early 20th
  century.

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The Changes of The Phases of Road-criticism

• 3. Rosemary Woolf, added valuable analyses about
  the history of the Church, early heretical(????)
  views, the impact heresies had on the Church in
  Anglo-Saxon England, and the Churchs overall
  influence on the poem.
• 4. The investigation of the religious aspects of
  the poem continued to flourish well into the late
  1960s with scholars like John V. Fleming, who
  explored the poem in relation to the monastic
  society of Anglo-Saxon England.

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• 5. In the 1960s, critics like Robert E. Diamond
  and Stanley B. Greenfield examined the heroic
  diction and images within The Dream of the Rood.
• 6. Diamond assert that the blend of Christian and
  military images and diction in Old English poetry
  was typical by the time of the composition of the
  Rood, so the poet was "in some sense a captive of
  traditional diction".

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• 7. In 1960s, Louis H. Leiter and Faith H
  introduced Structuralist readings to the poem,
  and they looked at the structural patterns and
  connections within the Rood and how such patterns
  work together.
• 8. Critics of The Dream of the Rood continued to
  examine the religious and heroic elements of the
  text during the 1970s and 80s.

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• 9. In 1980s, critics like Edward B. Irving and
  C.B. Pasternack analyzed the poets style in
  relation to the representation of the
  Crucifixion.
• 10. P. Clemoes introduced a fresh approach to the
  poem with a psychoanalysis of the Rood-poet, and
  an investigation of the connections between
  thought and language within the Rood.

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• 11. Pauline E. Head incorporated theories such as
  hermeneutics(????) into their examination of the
  text .

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• Despite the numerous ambiguities within the text,
  The Dream of the Rood is clearly one of the best
  poems of the Passion ever composed and "above all
  others, it relays the spirit of tender yet
  passionate veneration of awe and adoration for
  the wondrous cross on which the Prince of glory
  died"

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Conclusion
?As one of the first and most successful
treatment of the theme of crucifixion in the
English language, the blend of Christian and
Germanic elements gives The dream of the
Rood great depth and complexity. ?The layers of
themes and the clues that shed light on
Anglo-Saxon society make the poem not simply a
literary piece of historical importance, but
such layers within the text reveal the Old
English poets ability to compose with
stylistic grace and skill.
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?In the very process of depicting both the
Dreamer and the Cross with consciousness, the
poet attempts, through his art, to move his
audience to the same virtuous state as those
of the main character. ?With the
conscience-arousing experience that goes on
when reading the poem, readers see how The
Dream of the Rood superbly illustrates what
substance and efficacy an Anglo-Saxon poet
could give to an important Christian topic, such
as that of the Crucifixion.