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The medieval manuscript of The Dream of the Rood. The Dream of the Rood is one of the Christian poems in the corpus of Old English literature and an example of the genre of dream poetry. Like most Old English poetry, it is written in alliterative verse. The word Rood is derived from the Old English word rōd 'pole', or more specifically 'crucifix'.
The Dream of the Rood [1] Dryhten [2] "Lord" ece Dryhten "eternal Lord" Cædmon's hymn [3] dryhntes dreamas "the joys of the Lord" The Seafarer [4] heofones Dryhten "heaven's Lord" The Dream of the Rood [5] Ealdor [6] "Prince" wuldres Ealdor "Prince of Glory" The Dream of the Rood [7] Fæder "Father" Heahfæder "Highfather" The Dream of the ...
An inscription around the edges reads: + Rod is min nama; geo ic ricne Cyning bær byfigynde, blod bestemed (‘Rood is my name. Trembling once, I bore a powerful king, made wet with blood’). These lines bear a close relationship to ll. 44 and 48 in the Old English poem, 'The Dream of the Rood'.
This form of Northumbrian Old English was first recorded in poetry; e.g. Cædmon's Hymn c. 658-680), writings of the Venerable Bede (c. 700 AD) and the Leiden Riddle. [9] The language is also attested in the Lindisfarne Gospels c. 970 AD, in modern Scotland as a carved runic text, the Dream of the Rood, and on the Ruthwell Cross, c. 750 AD.
The Legend of the Rood (Latin: De ligno sancte crucis) is a complex of medieval tales loosely derived from the Old Testament. In its fullest form, the narrative tells of how the dying Adam sends his son Seth back to Paradise to seek an elixir which will render him immortal.
More precisely, the Rood or Holyrood was the True Cross, the specific wooden cross used in Christ's crucifixion. The word remains in use in some names, such as Holyrood Palace and the Old English poem The Dream of the Rood. The phrase "by the rood" was used in swearing, e.g. "No, by the rood, not so" in Shakespeare's Hamlet (Act 3, Scene 4).
Old English poetry, even after the introduction of Christianity, was uniformly written in alliterative verse, and much of the literature written in Old English, such as the Dream of the Rood, is explicitly Christian, [80] though poems like Beowulf demonstrate continuing cultural memory for the pagan past. [81]
Cynewulf (/ ˈ k ɪ n i w ʊ l f /, Old English: [ˈkynewuɫf]; also spelled Cynwulf or Kynewulf) [1] [2] is one of twelve Old English poets known by name, and one of four whose work is known to survive today. [3] He presumably flourished in the 9th century, with possible dates extending into the late 8th and early 10th centuries.