The Dream of the Rood is one of the earliest Christian poems in the corpus of Old English poetry and an intriguing example of the genre of dream poetry. Like all Old English poetry, it is written in alliterative verse.
Rood is the Anglo-Saxon word for "cross" (compare Holyrood Palace). In the poem, the scop describes his dream of a conversation with the wood of the Christian cross. Jesus is cast in the heroic model of a Germanic warrior, who faces his death unflinchingly and even eagerly. The Cross, speaking as if it were a member of Christ's band of retainers, accepts its fate as it watches its Creator die, and then explains that Christ's death was not a defeat but a victory. The poem concludes with the poet's prayer to the Rood that he might enter into the band of Christ's followers.
The poem is one of the oldest works of Old English literature. Excerpts [1] from it are carved on an elaborate high cross that stands at Ruthwell in Scotland, in the runic alphabet. The Ruthwell cross probably dates from around 750.
Runes on the Ruthwell Cross c. 750 AD
Reads:
- ᛣᚱᛁᛋᛏ ᚹᚫᛋ ᚩᚾ ᚱᚩᛞᛁ ᚻᚹᛖᚦᚱᚨ
- ᚦᛖᚱ ᚠᚳᛋᚨ ᚠᛠᚱᚱᚪᚾ ᛣᚹᚩᛗᚳ
- ᚨᚦᚦᛁᛚᚨ ᛏᛁᚱ ᚪᚾᚳᛗ
Transliteration:
- Krist wæs on rodi. Hweþræ
- þer fusæ fearran kwomu
- æþþilæ til anum.
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