The Dream of the Rood

Manuscript: The Vercelli Book (chapter library of the cathedral at Vercelli, Codex CXVII). Editions:Krapp, George Philip, ed. The Vercelli Book. ASPR 2. New York: Columbia UP, 1932; Dickens, Bruce, and Alan S. C. Ross, eds. The Dream of the Rood. Methuen’s Old English Library. New York: Appleton, 1966; Swanton, Michael, ed. The Dream of the Rood. Manchester Old and Middle English Texts. New York: Barnes (for Manchester UP), 1970. Pope, John C., ed. Seven Old English Poems. 2nd ed. New York: Norton, 1981. It will be obvious that I have relied heavily on Swanton’s edition in my notes (click on the hyperlinked superscripts in the text to go to the notes). A general observation should be made here: this poem is remarkable for its extensive use of hypermetric lines, “used contrapuntally to accommodate significantly more complex thematic material” (Swanton 61).