The author is unknown, and it has been translated numerous times since its discovery and appeared in a 10 th century manuscript that was found in northern Italy. "The Dream of the Rood" is a religious poem dating back to the tenth century. Whereas the Beowulf poet shows how a pagan hero can reflect truths about Christ, the poet of “The Dream of the Rood” expresses the metaphor more directly, comparing Christ on the cross to a young warrior. The Dream of the Rood Listen! Presently the cross speaks and tells how it was hewn and set up on a mount. I will speak of the sweetest dream, what came to me in the middle of the night, when speech-bearers slept in their rest. It seemed to me that I beheld a beauteous The Dream of the Rood is a dream-vision in which the cross tells the story of the crucifixion. It was found in a manuscript in Northern Italy with a number of other Old English poems, although some of the passages are also found inscribed on a stone cross in Scotland which dates back to the eighth century. The Dream of the Rood and the Image of Christ in the Early Middle Ages Jeannette C Brock [23]Though the author of the book of Hebrews states that "Jesus is the same yesterday and today and forever" (1) it is clear that humankind's image of Christ has changed throughout the ages. Here Christ appears as a young hero-king, confident of victory as he rushes to mount the cross. The Dream of the Rood is one of the earliest Christian poems in the corpus of Old English literature and an example of the genre of dream poetry. Rood is from the Old English word rod ‘pole’, or more specifically ‘crucifix’. the dream of the rood Here is the Old English poem interlaced with a modern English translation: The Dream of the Rood . Like most Old English poetry, it is written in alliterative verse. The Dream of the Rood translated by Charles W. Kennedy In parentheses Publications Old English Series Cambridge, Ontario 2000. The Dream of the Rood is one of the earliest known Christian poems from the Middle Ages. “The Dream of the Rood” is the most widely studied Old English poem with the exception of Beowulf (first transcribed c. 1000 c.e.). The rood tells him its own story. In the middle of the night the writer beholds the vision of a cross decked with gold and jewels, but soiled with blood. It seemed that I saw a most wondrous tree raised on high, circled round with light, 5 the brightest of beams. Introduction by James M. Garnett, translator. In the poem, a personified cross (the “rood”) speaks about the man who climbs upon him as “the young warrior, God Almighty.” Almighty God ascended it … THE DREAM OF THE ROOD. 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