The Vercelli book counts as one of the four oldest written down examples of Old English. It contains several 23 homilies in prose and 6 poetic creations. The book is written in old English and various slightly different versions exist. All of these are stories of various saints and religious symbolism of the early Christian church in England. The following summary will focus on one of the main poems from the book, namely "The Dream of the Rood".
The poem starts out with the narrator introducing his vision to the audience. The poem is written like a verbal recount of events, a preach before a congregation. The narrator explains that he saw a tree being raised from the ground, bathed in light and jewels. He ensures the audience that this was clearly the work of God and not of some wicked other force, as he felt the holy spirit in the tree. Then, aware of his own unworthy body and soul, the narrator witnessed the tree switching between the bejeweled holy and a bloody mess, which he likens to the would the spear caused in Jesus's chest at the Crucifixion. This symbolizes that the tree the narrator saw was really the hole cross in different form.
The "tree of the lord" begins to speak. The cross tells the story of it being felled in the forest by evil man and being carried onto a hill (outside of Jerusalem). When it saw Jesus being brought up to it it stood strong, even though it could have killed everyone, not daring to go against the word of God. It felt bad as the lord was pinned against it, felled all the nails go through it's wood but it stood strong. It trembled when the evil soldiers touched it, but it stood strong.
The cross then goes on to explain what happened after the death of Jesus. It lamented the death and with it all of creation. It saw the brave men come to take him down of the cross and it saw them build a tomb for him. It was battered and bruised, but it felt that it had to be witness to all of this. After all of this, the cross got cut down, buried in the deep soil. However, it tells that it has been found, by friends of the lord and adorned with gold and silver.
The next part of the poem tells of the duty of men to honor the cross and what it stands for. It was the way the lord managed to save everyone, so through it everyone can be saved. The cross urges the narrator to go forth and spread the word about what happened on that cross, how Jesus saved the world. To tell the world that he will come again for the final judgement.
The final part of the poem concerns the final judgement. The narrator urges the audience through the words of the cross to rethink their lives. Those that would go and make the same sacrifice for Christ that Christ made for them will be save. The narrator explains that he felt invigorated by this vision and prayed to it. He vows to serve the cross every day, as his friends did who died already. He hopes to be reunited with them in the afterlife. The very last lines recount the deed Jesus did for this world again, as he opened the gates of heaven for everyone.
