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] (http://www.flsouthern.edu/eng/abruce/rood/ROODTEXT/RUNE%7E1.HTM) from it are carved on an elaborate high cross that stands at Ruthwell in Scotland, in the runicalphabet. The Ruthwell cross probably dates from around 750.
"The Gospel of Nicodemus and The Dream of the Rood, 148b-156." Neuphilologische Mitteilungen 84 (1983): 338-43.
Fountain, Stephen J. "Ashes to Ashes: Kristeva's Jouissance, Altizer's Apocalypse, Byatt's Possession and The Dream of the Rood." Literature and Theology 8.2 (1994): 193-208.
"Stylistic Disjunctions in The Dream of the Rood." Anglo-Saxon England 13 (1984): 167-186.
The Dream of the Rood is one of the earliest Christian poems in the corpus of Anglo-Saxon literature and an intriguing example of the genre of dream poetry.
In the poem, the scop describes his dream of a conversation with the wood of the Christian cross.
Excerpts [1] from it are carved on the mid-8th century high cross at Ruthwell, Scotland, in the futhorc alphabet.
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