The Anglo-Saxon Transformations of the Biblical Themes in the Old English Poem The Dream Of The Rood
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Aleksandra Mrówka, The Anglo-Saxon Transformations of the Biblical Themes in the Old English Poem The Dream Of The Rood.pdf (198.04 KB)
Authors
Date
2014
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Towarzystwo Doktorantów UJ
Abstract
The main aim of this article is to present the Old English poem The Dream of the Rood as a literary work successfully mingling Christian and Germanic traditions. The poet very skillfully applies the pattern of traditional secular heroic poetry to Christian subject-matter creating a coherent unity. The Biblical themes and motifs are shaped by the Germanic frame of mind because the addressees of the poem were a warrior society with a developed ethos of honour and courage, quite likely to identify with a god who professed the same values. Although the Christian story of the Passion is narrated from the Anglo-Saxon point of view, the most fundamental values coming from the suffering of Jesus and his key role in God’s plan to redeem mankind remain unchanged: the universal notions of Redemption, Salvation and Heavenly Kingdom do not lose their primary meaning.