Christ is on the Cross: Imaginative Literature, the Gospel, and 'The Dream of the Rood'

Malcom Guite suggests that through poetic and creative literature, one can “witness…the subtle transformation of a pagan inheritance through the power of the Christian story” and at the same time allow for the Christian story to open up to a “perspective that comes from the pagan past” (Guite, 36). In short, Guite is reminding the reader that all truth is God’s truth and we can appeal to these sources to understand how God has revealed that truth, and fulfilled it in Christ. Hence, in the analysis below we will focus on the Anglo-Saxon poem, “The Dream of the Rood,” which attempts to reveal the truth of the gospel and Christ’s sacrifice using pagan heroic ideals.

“The Dream of the Rood” is a work of Anglo-Saxon dream poetry written in the 7th or 8th century and is likely composed by Old English-speaking monks (Guite, 35). Kevin Crossley-Holland states that these monks “doubtless used these poems in their missionary work” suggesting the usage of imaginative literature for apologetics/evangelism as described above (Crossley-Holland, 194). In the dream-poem, Christ is presented to the reader as an epic hero, the cross is personified as a faithful follower, and the dreamer is the awestruck observer. The poet weaves Christian and pagan elements together so that his reader’s imagination will grasp the contextualized meaning as he receives the gospel message wherein the true warrior King who gave his life for sinful man can be understood and accepted.

An essential element is the nature of the tree (the rood) and the pagan and Christian allusions that help describe it. The dreamer first encounters the tree as a “beacon,” that is, as a sign in the sky surrounded by glorifying light and bedazzled with gems and gold; the dreamer also sees it stretched between heaven and earth “binding together men and angels, and indeed all of creation, in a sense of wonder” (Guite, 38). The tree fills the sky and stretches across the world. But the strangeness of the tree expands as the dreamer catches glimpses of the blood running down it, telling the story of its use in “some ancient agony” (Guite, 40). The tree is both a wonder to behold and a gruesome witness.

While the Christian elements of the cross are apparent, the modern reader might miss that the poet invokes an image of Norse mythology where an ash tree stretches from Asgard to the underworld and bridges all nine realms of that pagan cosmos. Furthermore, the same Norse tales describe Odin’s suffering and sacrifice by hanging upon that tree. Here in the poem is an intersection of pagan past and Christian reality. Whereas Odin (the highest God) hung on the tree and gained power over death, it is only in the Christian narrative that the Lord Most High sacrificed himself to defeat the power of death for others, namely, for lost human beings. The English-speaking Anglo-Saxons would recognize this allusion from their Germanic roots and could grasp how the cross of Christ is like the old tale but truly fulfilled and properly assessed by the Christian narrative.

The poem next takes a figurative turn to communicate the tensions of the Christian story by anthropomorphizing the cross. The cross speaks, communicating its purpose as an object of execution, and then beholds the coming of the King :

 I remember the morning a long time ago
 that I was felled at the edge of the forest
 and severed from my roots. Strong enemies seized me,
 bade me hold up their felons on high, …
  …I saw the Lord of Mankind
 hasten with courage to climb upon me.
  (Excerpt from: Crossley-Holland, trans., 201.)

Guite suggests that we can identify with the tree; that in our “woundedness, our rootlessness, the captivity and humiliation of our fallen nature” we too see the coming of the King and place our hope in Him (Guite, 41). Not only does hope emerge as the King comes, but the cross responds with simple obedience saying, “I dared not bow to the ground, fall to the earth” and “I dared not stoop” (Crossley-Holland, 201). Here the tree speaks of his purpose to bear the God-man, who is to die on a cross. To be obedient, the cross must become the means of death to the King. Again, the poet might have us identify with the cross and remember the dreamer’s words, “Wondrous was the tree of victory, and I was stained by sin, stricken by guilt” (C-H, 200).

Through the imaginative language of a speaking cross, the dreamer observes the gospel paradox of Christ as a conquering King who is also the innocent suffering servant enduring pain, suffering, and death by cruel hands. Using ordinary language, we may be able to communicate these two ideas separately. However, it is hard to describe how they are both true using syllogism or prose without bumping up to mystery and paradox. Guite states, that the “great task for any poet dealing with this matter is to do justice to both sides of the mystery in the combined action and passion of Christ”(G, 43). But the poet here weaves the truth together through the talking cross as a symbol of Christ’s passion, the cross who took the nails, so that an image of Christ as a conquering King may be properly emphasized as well.

The identity of the King at first remains a mystery and the poet once again evokes for his readers the memory of pagan tales. One commentator contends that Christ is presented “in Germanic heroic terms as the leader of a warrior band or comitatus;” the language used describes the King as a “young warrior,” “hero,” and “mighty King.” Furthermore, his actions are described as intentional. The King is not passively placed upon the cross to die; the cross sees the Lord “hasten with such courage to climb upon me.” (C-H,195, 201).

The reader may be reminded of the Epic, Beowulf. The connection between the two poems is not arbitrary, as the opening word, “listen!” (“Hwæt”) is the same in both to immediately grab the reader’s (or hearer’s) attention because some epic tale is about to unfold. Beowulf is a “man who fights against monsters, he is a dragon-slayer;” he is a warrior, and later, he is a king (C-H, 71). Both poems also straddle the line between pagan tale and Christian truth. Thus, it is likely that the hearers will know both and be drawn into the heroic ideal of their pagan past as it is manifest in Christ, the King, who willingly climbed on the tree to wage his battle for mankind’s salvation.

Another intersection between pagan myth and Christian witness occurs as the poet describes the death of Christ. Guite states that two pagan forms are presented to the reader to describe the event: “on the one hand elegy for the fallen hero, and on the other battle song of his triumph- since uniquely the crucifixion is an instance simultaneously of death and of triumphant victory” (Guite, 46). The two forms are both also present in Beowulf at his victory over the monsters and at his death upon his final battle with the dragon. The cross, as a personification of Christ’s passion, is put to death with the King, communicating the dual truth and paradox that Christ suffered for mankind’s sin but accomplished a great victory at the same time. All creation wept and Christ was on the cross, the battle was completed, and the deed was accomplished by the King and his loyal servant, the cross. These images would have stirred the emotions of its first readers, and reaching across time, stir ours as well.

In “The Dream of the Rood,” the poet-evangelist does not flatly deliver the gospel message as one might encounter in some of our modern contexts wherein the gospel is related in transactional terms. Instead, he reaches into the culture and evokes the imagination of the people of the time, stirring the memory of their legend-making pagan history to baptize their stories under Christ. The cross invites the dreamer into the story and then bids him tell it to others. Thus, the gospel spreads. Imaginative literature invites its recipients to participate in the story. “The Dream,” is inviting mankind to come and see the King who won his victory on the cross.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Crossley-Holland, Kevin, trans. The Anglo-Saxon World: An Anthology. 1st edition. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2009.

Guite, Malcolm. Faith, Hope and Poetry: Theology and the Poetic Imagination. 1st edition. Farnham: Routledge, 2017.