The line "our enemies began to fell us" is one of several images evoking the fate of a contemporary war-band, like the "gaping gashes of malice" endured by the title object, a wondrous "tree of victory" which held "felons on high" before "all creation wept" as it "bore aloft the mighty King."
This poem's puzzling word holmwudu has been explained by analogy to the Pange Lingua of Venantius Fortunatus, or as an oblique reference to the placement of paradise in Genesis. Its complete text is preserved, along with the Andreas, in the Vercelli Book, but an earlier date is suggested by the runic version preserved on a vine-scroll on the west face of a sculpture at (*) Ruthwell in Dumfriesshire. The line "our enemies began to fell us" is one of several images evoking the fate of a contemporary war-band, like the "gaping gashes of malice" endured by the title object, a wondrous "tree of victory" which held "felons on high" before "all creation wept" as it "bore aloft the mighty King." For 10 points, name this Anglo-Saxon poem, which describes "the best of dreams" as a vision of the Cross.
This poem's puzzling word holmwudu has been explained by analogy to the Pange Lingua of Venantius Fortunatus, or as an oblique reference to the placement of paradise in Genesis.
The {Dream} of the {Rood}