The Anglo-Saxon Transformations of the Biblical Themes in the Old English Poem The Dream Of The Rood

Abstract

The main aim of this article is to present the Old English poem The Dream of the Rood as a literary work successfully mingling Christian and Germanic traditions. The poet very skillfully applies the pattern of traditional secular heroic poetry to Christian subject-matter creating a coherent unity. The Biblical themes and motifs are shaped by the Germanic frame of mind because the addressees of the poem were a warrior society with a developed ethos of honour and courage, quite likely to identify with a god who professed the same values. Although the Christian story of the Passion is narrated from the Anglo-Saxon point of view, the most fundamental values coming from the suffering of Jesus and his key role in God’s plan to redeem mankind remain unchanged: the universal notions of Redemption, Salvation and Heavenly Kingdom do not lose their primary meaning.