High Beneath Heaven’s Roof
The Cross of Christ speaks, and tells of the amazing transformation from sign of shame to sign of redemption.
800
Anglo-Saxon Britain 410-1066
The Cross of Christ speaks, and tells of the amazing transformation from sign of shame to sign of redemption.
800
Anglo-Saxon Britain 410-1066
‘The Dream of the Rood’ is an Anglo-Saxon poem, possibly composed by the 8th century bishop Cynewulf of Lindisfarne, in the Kingdom of Northumbria. The poet imagines what the Cross of Christ might say of that momentous Friday, when he who hung the earth upon the waters hung upon the cross.
freely translated from the Old English
“NOW the time has come for men far and wide upon this earth to have me in veneration, and for the whole, wonderful creation to make its prayers to this Standard.
“It was on me that the Son of God suffered for a time, so now I am lifted up on high beneath heaven’s roof, and may save the life of any man that stands in awe of me.* It was I who was the harshest of tortures and the most hateful of things to every nation, until I made the right Way of Life open to those who have the power of speech.
“And it was I whom the Prince of Glory, heaven’s Guardian, honoured above all the trees upon the hill,** just as he honoured his mother, Mary herself, above all women, for the sake of all the human race.”
freely translated from the Old English
‘hælan’ means heal or save the life of. In John 3:14-15 Jesus likens his crucifixion to Moses lifting up the brazen serpent in the wilderness to heal snake bites.
** ‘the hill’ could be any hill, or it could be Calvary, where three crosses stood on that day.
1. What is the author aiming to achieve in writing this?
2. Note any words, devices or turns of phrase that strike you. How do they help the author communicate his ideas more effectively?
3. What impression does this passage make on you? How might you put that impression into words?
Based on The English Critic (1939) by NL Clay, drawing on The New Criticism: A Lecture Delivered at Columbia University, March 9, 1910, by J. E. Spingarn, Professor of Comparative Literature in Columbia University, USA.