Please write 350 words in response to the following essay: The Dream of The Rood
This poem displays from the outset a unique and passionate tenderness, also a high degree of veneration for ‘the wondrous cross on which the Prince of Glory died'. But it is not Christ who speaks, in fact he recedes into the background of the poem, and although the hero and saviour, his message is brought forward by an intermediary in the form of the cross.
The themes of the early lines are developed with a great level of consistency and totally loaded with meaning, which allows the reader to roll through the lines with a form of ease and comfort that belies the almost graphic nature of the subject matter.Yet the first part which is the dreamer's realisation, the initial reaction to his version of the Cross, with the monologue of the Rood describing the crucifixion, then the dreamer's seeming conversion and determination to seek the salvation of the actual Cross.
This opening vision of the dreamer sets the scene for the rest of the poem, (line 27 - ‘The most excellent tree then began to speak the words') he watches as the Cross is being set up angels guarded it, and the tree was then changed in colour to be covered in jewels and painted gold, but the stain of bright red blood gives notice of its true purpose. That's when the Rood begins to speak and retells its experience as an instrument of death -the death of Christ.
How the Rood was brutally chopped down in the forest and stolen to then be the centralplayer in the killing of Christ, it's an emotional re telling and it becomes an almost bonding of the two- the human Christ and the non human Rood -they are in fact joined together both physically and emotionally.Both are pierced with nails and then finally killed and buried, and like Christ, the Rood is also resurrected and this time adorned with gold and silver. The Rood is in effect rewarded for its forbearance and its suffering and from then on is honoured above all other trees in the forests.
The end signals the need for voices to be raised, for the Dreamer to become a voice for the people, to tell others what he has seen and heard. In the end it is the Dreamer's hope that there is a heavenly home for him, one which includes the Rood, and as a cross, the poet seems to be saying that despite the radical change from tree to holy relic the Rood/ Cross will be for him the symbol of confidence in the human spirit.
The Cross is predicted to be ‘honoured me, then over holm-wood'reinforcing the iconic imagery of the cross which today, is an instantly recognisable symbol of Christianity.
There is therefore joy in the poet's belief in the story of crucifixion, death, and resurrection. He also moves from an almost festive appreciation at the beginning of the poem, a celebrationalmost, to then be plunged into the reality of the meaning of the dream, when the words of the Rood begin to take shape. Then there is fear and dread at the sight of blood on the cross moving towards, what all Christians were meant to believe in Saxon times, and that was the Bravery of Christ and his teaching, that there is always hope for salvation and resurrectionin all men.