The Dream Of The Rood Interpretation

Jesus Christ is the I AM, eternal, ridged, unchanging, and constant Word made flesh. He can never not be who He is, yet through different eyes, different perceptions of Him exist. To the believer He is Savior and King, but to the skeptic He was just a Jewish man who was crucified. To some religions, He was a good Teacher, and to others He didn’t even exist. In the poem The Dream of the Rood, a perception is described that comes from a unique source, that of the cross Christ was crucified upon. The Dream of the Rood uses particular language and imagery to convey to the audience that Christ wasn’t to be viewed as a victim in His Passion, but the hero of His own epic. The most reliable version of the poem The Dream of the Rood is found in the “Verceilli Book,” which is a compilation of Anglo-Saxon works, with the poem itself dating to about 750 A.D. (McGrath 139) Said poem takes the form of a dream which the narrator, an unnamed man, relates to the reader with the dream’s main focus being a tree that has been fashioned into the cross that will be used to crucify Christ. The cross is personified in the dream, giving its perspective …show more content…
While these acts are often regarded as symbols of weakness or failure in many narratives, one of the functions of the poem to impart a sense of glory and honor upon these types of acts. The poem simply substitutes the story of Christ’s Passion in place of traditional adventures. The Hero is now fighting on behalf of the sinners, rather than for a princess. While the concept of heroism is still existing, it has simply been transmuted into a form that is more acceptable who adhere to the Christian religion, where the heroism that occurs is in agreement to biblical doctrine, and a reward system has been set into place that guarantees glory and joy in Heaven, rather than treasure or spoils of war on