Be Sure to Answer All Questions Completely

The Dream of the Rood Name______Period____

Be sure to answer all questions completely

1)  Who are the main characters of the poem?

2)  How can you tell?

3)  Do you think of Christ as typically having any kind of relationship with the cross? What is his relationship with it here?

4)  What do we typically call it when an inanimate object is given human characteristics?

5)  Traditionally, in contemporary western society, what are some ways that you would describe the Christ figure of the Christian Religion? List a few adjectives. Think of what he did, how he did it and why.

6)  How is the Christ figure described in “The Dream of the Rood,” list a few of the descriptors from the poem. If you were to pick one word to categorize him, what would it be?

7)  In our contemporary view, how is the Christ figure traditionally described as approaching his crucifixion on the cross?

8)  What is absent from this poem that we usually associate with the crucifixion story? Hint, what does Mel Gibson’s Passion spend 9/10ths of the movie showing us?

9)  How does the author work around the “un-warrior” like quality of Christ not being able to carry his own cross? What is this like?

10)  Why do you think this early medieval poem is so different from typically biblical accounts and modern interpretations? What purpose might this serve to help the poems initial audience make sense of the religion?