Connections have sometimes been made or suggested between The Dream of the Rood and Germanic paganism. The following are extracts and information from "Myth and Religion of the North" by E.O.G. Turville-Petre. As discussed elsewhere, the "Germanic" influences on the poem and its treatment of the Crucifixion seem related to social and literary aspects rather than paganism.
Havamal (strs.138-45) records in the god's own words the account of how Oðinn hung for nine nights on a windswept tree. The lines are obscure and open to interpretation:
"S. Bugge and his followers have seen the hanging Oðinn as a pagan reflexion of Christ on the Cross. The similarities between the scene described here and that on Calvary are undeniable. Christ hung on the rood-tree, as an English poet of the Middle Ages said, 'in the wylde wynde'; he thirsted and they gave Him vinegar; like Oðinn, Christ was pierced with a spear. Before His death Christ cried out in a loud voice, just as Oðinn cried out as he grasped 'the runes'. The similarity does not end there. The rood-tree, on which Christ died had no roots; the tree on which Oðinn hung rose from unknown roots. If the myth of the hanging Oðinn did not derive from the legend of the dying Christ, the two scenes resembled each other so closely that they came to be confused in popular tradition. . . . . While we cannot preclude the possibility of Christian influence on the scene described in the 'Havamal', when we analyse the the lines, we realize that nearly every element in the Norse myth can be explained as a part of pagan tradition, and even of the cult of Oðinn." (pp. 42-3)
"The highest sacrifice to Oðinn of which we have read in this world was that of King Vikar, for not only was he hanged and pierced, but he was also a king. But a still higher sacrifice must be that of the king of the gods, swinging in the wind from a tree and gashed with a spear. Like King Vikar, Oðinn hung on a tree and not on a hand-made gibbet, as many unfortunate men were said to do. But the tree from which Oðinn swung was no ordinary tree. It can hardly be other than the World Tree, the holy Yggdrasill. 'Yggr' (the terrifier, awe-inspirer) is one of Oðinn's names, and 'drasill' is the common word in poetry for a horse. In spite of arguments to the contrary, the compound 'Yggdrasill' can hardly mean other than 'Oðinn's horse'. . . . The sacrifice of Oðinn to himself may thus be seen as the highest conceivable form of sacrifice, in fact so high that, like many a religious mystery, it surpasses our comprehension. It is the sacrifice, not of king to god, but of god to god, of such a kind as is related in Scripture of the sacrifice of Christ." (p.48)
"On these lines we can partly interpret the strange strophes of the 'Havamal'. Oðinn, swinging on the tree of the world, was in the company of the dead, sharing the wisdom which only they possess. But this is nearly the same as to say that the god was himself dead. If wisdom could be won from a dead delinquent swinging on the gallows, how much more could be gained from Oðinn after he had passed through the world of death. Like Christ, Oðinn rose from death, now fortified with the occult wisdom which he communicated to gods and men." (p.49)
"As was said at the beginning of this chapter, it is not impossible that the myth of Oðinn was influenced by that of Christ on the Cross. But if so, the Christian motives have been made to accord thoroughly with traditional pagan ones." (p.50)
In ll. 55b-60a "The Dream of the Rood" states that all creation wept and lamented the death of the king. A link has been suggested between this concept and the requirement that all creation weep to allow Baldr to return from death and the realm of Hel. The link is tenuous, however.
Baldr had been killed when his blind brother Hoð threw a dart of mistletoe at him which Loki had put into his hand. The mistletoe had not been required to swear an oath not to hurt him. Hel, the death-goddess agreed to respect the grief of the gods and allow Baldr to return to them if everything, animate and inanimate, would weep for Baldr but if anyone refused to weep, then Baldr must stay with Hel. All agreed to weep except an old giantess in a cave. She called herself Thokk but was, in fact Loki.
"According to Snorri, all things, animate and inanimate, wept for Baldr except the giantess Thokk (Loki), and he quoted a strophe which confirms the ogress's recalcitrance. The early sources known to us have little to say about the weeping of nature for the beloved god. The 'Voluspa' (33) mentions only the weeping of Baldr's mother Frigg, and some have seen an allusion to the weeping of the waves of the sea, the 'daughters of Ægir' in the obscure strophe of the 'Baldrs Draumar (12). But the story of the weeping nature was well known before Snorri wrote of it, and was popular enough to be the subject of a cruel joke" (in 1196). (p.111)
It is not certain that the story of nature weeping for Baldr was known in England at the time of the poem.