The Dream of the Rood is an Anglo-Saxon poem written around the 8th century, which is of Christian value. Scholars are unaware of who the poet actually was, but due to other significant texts written at the time, it can be guessed to be written by poets such as Caedmon or Cynewulf, who have their names signed to other famous poems. The Dream of the Rood is one of the first Christian texts to be written in the English language as well as being one of the first to effectively portray a new genre of dream poetry. Rood meaning crucifix, so immediately when a reader translates the title into modern English, they will have a fair judgement on what this poem may entail. A single section of The Dream of the Rood was originally carved into a part of the Ruthwell cross, as an act of conversion to Christianity, but ultimately was destroyed during the protestant reformation. However, the poem was successfu
lly persevered in the Vercelli Book The poem has been granted its success and famous title due to the fact, it is the first of a dream genre but more importantly it brings the inanimate cross to life to tell its side of the story leading to the death of Jesus. The poet was able to dramatically convey that the crucifix was human like, and went step by step with Jesus, even before when the crucifix was merrily a tree about to be torn down and shaped to a cross. This poem would have been effective during the conversion of many people to Christians, as it helped the struggle to strip the image of the horrific death that Jesus died to, but instead stood as a symbol for faith, as it recognised the crucifix as something that held Jesus in his final minutes, therefore it is holy and almighty like him. This essay will therefore, analyse how the crucifix is characterised throughout The Dream of the Rood.