Paradox and Unity: An Exploration of The Dream of the Rood Felix Morrison College

The Dream of the Rood is a poem that deals in riddles and paradox, yet a sense of unity pervades the piece. It is iconic for its depiction of the actual crucifixion of Jesus, told by the crucifix itself through the poet’s use of prosopopoeia – the assignment of a voice to an inanimate object. The language of the piece draws from both a Christian and arguably “Heroic Code” lexicon, reflected in the relationship between Christ and the Cross as that of a retainer and lord. Moreover, the passive language used to describe the former and active language used to describe the latter, reflects a dichotomy of femininity and masculinity, possibly indicating sexual undertones within the piece. Nonetheless despite use of paradoxical language and binaries, an attempt to unify Cross and Christ with the external world pervades the passage, as the crucifixion and the natural world are shown to be linguistically and thematically linked.

Through use of language indicative of the heroic code, the poet links the relationship of Chirst and the Cross to that of a warrior and his retainer. Jesus is referred to both as “geong hæleð” (39) and “beorn” (42), common nouns used to describe Lords and heroes, yet this is juxtaposed with the Christian lexicon...