Response to The Dream of the Rood

Upon reading The Dream of the Rood, I first took note that the poem is written in three parts. The first section tells the story of the narrator meeting the tree and goes into detail how ornate it is while they are wretched. The second section shifts tones with the tree telling its story of how it was cut down, turned into a cross, and crucified with Christ. The tone shifts again in the final section with the narrator lamenting on their dream.

This poem uses a fair amount of pagan virtues, even though its intent is to convert Anglo-saxons. For instance, the narrator gave the tree a will of its own, even though this goes against christianity for something non-human to have such a thing. Clearly this was a well thought out tactic to appeal to their audience.

This poem was also written like an epic with Christ depicted as a warrior. In anglo-saxon culture and literature, warriors were heroes, thus another way to “market” christianity.