The comparison of the exaltation of the Cross and the exaltation of Mary is very appropriate in this poem which is stressing the function of the cross as intercessor and intermediary. For an introduction to the development of the cult of Mary see Marina Warner, Alone of All her Sex, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1976. Elene 1228b-1235 ends the main body of the text with a link between Mary and the Cross in heaven.