The poem known as The Dream of the Rood, and preserved in the tenth-century Vercelli Book, consists of four sections: a descriptive vision, a narrative vision, an address by the cross to the dreamer and the dreamer's reflections on what he has seen [See Barbara C. Raw, 'The dream of the rood and its connections with early Christian art', Medium Aevum 39 (1970), 239-256, The art and background of Old English poetry (London, 1978), 127-132, and 'Biblical literature: the New Testament', in The Cambridge Companion to Old English literature, ed. M. Godden and M. Lapidge (Cambridge, 1991), 228 and 239-241]. The passages inscribed in runes on the borders of the narrow sides of the lower section of the Ruthwell Cross (called 'The Ruthwell crucifixion poem' by Eamonn O Carragain) are close to parts of the second, narrative vision, but there is no evidence that the other three sections of the poem were known to the carvers of the text on the cross. It is important, therefore, to focus on the Ruthwell text rather than the Vercelli text when considering the relationship between the cross and the poem. [For a possible reconstruction of the missing parts of the Ruthwell text see D. Howlett, 'Inscriptions and design of the Ruthwell Cross' in The Ruthwell Cross, ed. B. Cassidy (Princeton, 1992) 71-93].
The Ruthwell crucifixion poem [See note on the two texts of the poem] comprises two contrasting parts: the passages on the east side of the cross focus on Christ's ascent of the cross; those on the west side allude to the deposition. The poem is not a simple retelling of part of the gospel story, however. Like most Old English New Testament poems, its main sources are not the gospels but the liturgy, together with the theological and devotional traditions of the church.The poem is an appropriate text for inscription on a cross, for it is imagined as spoken by the cross on which Christ died. Unlike the Latin inscriptions, which relate to individual scenes carved on the cross, the poem's meaning relates to the cross as a whole and to its theological and devotional significance. The carved stone cross, which speaks through its inscriptions, is identified with the cross of Christ's passion: like a relic or an icon, it makes present the gospel event for those separated from it by space or time. Its role is not merely that of an eye- witness of the events it describes: it shares Christ's sufferings and cooperates in his redemptive act; like Christ, it is mocked and covered with blood; it lifts Christ up, and then bows down to release his body to his followers; like Christ, it suffers and so enters into glory (Luke xxiv.26). The other important aspect of the Ruthwell poem is its presentation of Christ. He is no longer 'the young hero who was God' of the Vercelli text: he is Almighty God himself, the Lord of Heaven, who strips himself of his divine nature to climb the gallows. As St Paul says: 'His state was divine, yet he did not cling to his equality with God but emptied himself to assume the condition of a slave, and became as men are; and being as all men are, he was humbler yet, even to accepting death, death on a cross. But God raised him high and gave him the name which is above all other names so that all beings in the heavens, on earth and in the underworld, should bend the knee at the name of Jesus and that every tongue should acclaim Jesus Christ as Lord, to the glory of God the Father' (Phil. ii.6-11). For the poet, Christ's death is at the same time a revelation of the divine and a relinquishing of it. The same themes can be seen in the figure carvings on the cross. Christ's divine nature is shown in the carving of the beasts who recognise the saviour in the desert and probably in the original design of the cross-head, where the figures of the evangelists and their symbols must once have surrounded a representation of the glorified Christ; his self- emptying is seen in the carvings of the annunciation and the crucifixion, the two events which showed that he was truly man.
Written by Barbara Raw
June 1994