Dream of the Rood | Criticism

This literature criticism consists of approximately 10 pages of analysis & critique of Dream of the Rood.

Dream of the Rood | Criticism

This literature criticism consists of approximately 10 pages of analysis & critique of Dream of the Rood.
This section contains 2,707 words
(approx. 10 pages at 300 words per page)
Buy the Critical Essay by Charles W. Kennedy

SOURCE: "Poetry in the Cynewulfian Manner," in The Earliest English Poetry: A Critical Survey, Oxford University Press, Inc., 1943, pp. 235-66.

In the following excerpt, Kennedy discusses glorification of the Cross in The Dream of the Rood, attributing to the poem 'pre-eminent distinction as a superb lyric presentation of a religious adoration which finds its symbol in the Cross. '  

In three Old English poems veneration of the Cross receives stressed and memorable expression: the Elene, Christ III, and Dream of the Rood. Of these, Christ III and the Dream have most in common both in spirit and detail. Cynewulf 's Elene … is a narrative of the Invention of the Cross, which attains its greatest poetic distinction in two incidental passages, the descriptions of Constantine's battle against the Huns, and Elene's sea-journey. In the lines which deal with the Cross itself, the Elene makes little display of that...

(read more)

This section contains 2,707 words
(approx. 10 pages at 300 words per page)
Buy the Critical Essay by Charles W. Kennedy
Copyrights
Gale
Critical Essay by Charles W. Kennedy from Gale. ©2005-2006 Thomson Gale, a part of the Thomson Corporation. All rights reserved.