Dream of the Rood

Question 1

courage
(‘with great zeal/courage’ occurs several times throughout)

Answer 1

2021

it was not always heroic just an ordinary tree - everyone can have courage to be heroic
‘I was hewn down from the edge of the forest’

‘I saw the lord of mankind hurry with great courage because he wished to climb up on me’
(not beat up Christ of gospel, he is brave along with the cross)

‘I did not dare to bend or break against the Lord’s word’

Question 2

Paul Tillich asserted that a genuine symbol participates in the reality to which it points
examine the cross as a symbol of the Redeemer and the redeemed

Answer 2

2017

‘all those fair by eternal decree beheld the angel of the lord there’ (those saved by predestination gathered at cross)

‘it first began to bleed on the right side’
cross bleeding like Jesus did from his five wounds (spear in side = 5th)
common trope that bleeding wounds like rubies

Question 3

Mitchell remarked on the central importance of the DoR ‘for understanding the resolution of competing cultures which was the presiding concern of the Christian Anglo Saxons’
to what extent does the poem itself bear witness to competing cultures

Answer 3

2019

Question 4

‘strong enemies seized me there, made me there int a spectacle for themselves’

Answer 4

public executions were an enjoyable day out

Question 5

discuss the duality of the cross and mankind

Answer 5

theological problem:
how can he tremble and suffer because God is omnipotent - can’t be vulnerable as that is imperfect

Christ is supposed to be fully man and fully God but AS split Christ in two for poetic purposes

‘they mocked us both together’

active cross/passive lord mirrors active god and passive son

Question 6

example of litotes

Answer 6

‘he himself rested, worn out after that great struggle’
rest = death
understatement

‘he rested there with a small company’
he was all alone - AS sarcasm

Question 7

‘somebody buried us in a deep pit’

Answer 7

somebody = impersonal figure of action used in OE to replace the passive construction ‘we were’

adds to the sense of isolation

Question 8

what is the poet good and bad at

Answer 8

good at writing narrative that creates visual impression/emotional connotation

bad at laying out argument

Question 9

‘now I command you my dear warrior that you go tell people of this vision, reveal in words that it is (a) wondrous tree which almighty God suffered on for mankind’s many sins’

‘listen, the prince of glory, honored me above the trees pf the forest, just as he almighty God honored his mother Mary before all people, above all womankind’

Answer 9

common to have preaching description at the end - same in the Seafarer

it gives it its poetical temperature - if you cut out all the preaching you miss the aesthetic that was appreciated by an AS audience

Question 10

‘almighty God will come into this world to seek out mankind on judgement day to judge each one as he will have earned for himself in this transitory life’

‘no one there can be afraid because of that word the Lord will say’

‘he will ask in front of the multitude where the man may be who would taste bitter death for the Lord’s name’

Answer 10

Message of the Sheep and Goats parable
‘no one there need be terrified who previously carries the best of beacons in his breast’

final paradox = death v salvation
need to be afraid on judgement day but not if you embraced meaning of the cross

Question 11

carries the best of beacons in his breast

Answer 11

neat ambiguity including the physicality of wearing a cross and as a token bearing it within you as a symbol of what it means

Question 12

what is the significance of the section that talks about Judgement day and not being terrified if you have held the best of beacons in your breast

Answer 12

the events of the death of the Cross and Christ is followed by preaching where the poetic temperature drops into more of a prose style

cross’ speech itself is like an instrument of salvation - guiding people to have faith in and carry God within them in order to be saved

MAKE SURE U TALK ABOUT THIS - ITS THE MAIN AESTHETIC OF THE POEM

Question 13

what is the main aesthetic style of the poem

Answer 13

preaching

Question 14

solace and consolation

Answer 14

idea that pain will pass = similar to Deor but with no refrain just the lines
‘Once I became the cruellest of tortures, Most hateful to all nations, till the time I opened the right way of life for men’
source of pain until he became complicit in allowing humanity to be removed of its original sin.

solace in the idea of the an afterlife in eternity with God

solace in worldly riches
‘decorated me with gold and silver’ - ‘worthily adorned’
similar to AS allusion of burials with riches

despair as poor companion - unwavering loyalty and duty to his lord pushes him through turmoil and despair

Question 15

idea of the transience of life

Answer 15

‘I wait each day for when the cross of God… may fetch me from this transitory life and carry me to where there is great bliss and joy in heaven’

the solace that comes in the life after death is a great comfort to many of the bereaved in AS society – think B and pushing bodies out to sea covered in riches

Question 16

what do we gain by seeing the DoR as an elegy

Answer 16

provides solace for the audience that they are not alone in pain

Question 17

what does the poem tell us of the social priorities of AS life

Answer 17

priorities of unwavering heroic loyalty of a retainer to their lord and the need to stand firm in support during battle

didactic purpose - all should have the unwavering loyalty of the cross

Question 18

what literary technique does the poet apply to the cross

Answer 18

prosopopoeia
suggests an inherent need for a retainer to share the story of one’s lord implying a sense of heroic duty in the lord retainer relationship

restless symbol speaks directly to the narrator

Question 19

define eschatology

Answer 19

the part of theology concerned with ‘the four last things: death, judgement, heaven, and hell

Question 20

navis crucis (cross ship)

Answer 20

the concept that the cross carries the saved to their salvation

Question 21

‘I saw that eager beacon change as to garments and colours’

Answer 21

alternates between rough wooden object stained with blood and this ornate bejeweled cross

Question 22

how does the cross portray itself

Answer 22

as a heroic retainer serving its lord

Question 23

what are there metaphorical allusions to

Answer 23

the concept of exile

‘warriors left me stood spattered with moisture’
important theme in AS poetry with cultural as well as biblical allusions

Question 24

how can the poem be seen in terms of its context of placement within the Vercelli Manuscript

Answer 24

see it as having devotional/eschatological themes and praising the aesthetic lifestyle which may have bearing on how we should interpret it e.g. didactically to have faith in God and prepare ourselves for judgement day

the Vercelli text also contains 23 prose homilies and 6 devotional poems

Question 25

what is the cross

Answer 25

a vehicle that carries humanity to salvation (metaphorically speaking)

Question 26

what dispute does the duality of the cross with Christ carry

Answer 26

iconological dispute about Christ as one nature or divided nature

poem plays a riddling game with its audience in terms of having a straightforward meaning about the crucifixion and then a second hidden meaning about the debate and the nature of Christ

Question 27

what does Christine Fell say about transience and quote from DoR to go with it

Answer 27

ephemeralness of earthly lord retainer relationship is seen with the

“poet longing for heaven because the friends he has lost have found new and imperishable relationships”

quote from text = his friends “now live in heaven with the high father”
rood waiting to be “fetched from this transitory life”
stronger relationship in spiritual realm/helplessness in lord retainer relationship on earth
lack of agency and self-sufficiency without a lord to serve once Christ has passed and been removed from the rood

Question 28

Marius Koelink on prosopopoeia

Answer 28

the anthropomorphizing of the cross “goes beyond making him a person - he is made a warrior”

Quote from text =
“I did not dare to bend or break”
“I had to stand firm”

no other choice but to serve one’s lord - duty that should not be questioned

Question 29

how do the rood’s decorative jewels link to AS culture

Answer 29

Jaqueline Condon = “treasure was another crucial aspect of the relationship between lord and thane in the pagan heroic culture and gift giving was a means for a lord to honor a valued subordinate”

Katherine O’Keefe = these riches are not merely decorative but symbolic of the Rood’s relationship with Christ

Text = adorned me with gold and silver
ennobled by its garments

Question 30

what is the didactic opening of the DoR

Answer 30

“Listen, I want to tell the best of dreams”

later speech includes “I heard that it, best of trees, spoke, began to speak these words”

Question 31

what does the rood say about faith

Answer 31

“I opened up for them the right way of life”

Question 32

passing on the message quote

Answer 32

“Now I command you my dear warrior that you tell people of this vision, reveal in words that it is the tree of glory which almighty God suffered on for mankind’s many sins and Adam’s deeds of old”