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Pagan and christianity essay
Pagan and christianity essay
The dream of the Rood as an old English charistion poem
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Over several centuries, the concept of religion has been incorporated into various forms of human creation, including architecture, art, music, and literature. Literature is one of the most impactful of all art forms because literature establishes a connection between people of different time periods through a recording of beliefs, values, thoughts, and experiences. These recordings allow future readers to have a broader understanding of the circumstances and principle codes of behavior surrounding the religion of the people of the past. Many works of Old English Literature demonstrate the concept of religion in British culture and society of the time; however, two of the more prominent examples are in the Anglo-Saxon poems “The Dream of the Rood” and “The Wanderer”. The poem “The Dream of the Rood” is believed to be written before the 10th century by either poets Caedmon or Cynewulf and combines both Germanic Pagan and Christian symbols, themes, and motifs. “The Dream of the Rood” begins with the narrator having a dream or vision where he is communicating with the Cross (or rood) that held Jesus as He was crucified. The narrator begins by stating he “beheld the Glory’s trunk
The poem demonstrates both Germanic Pagan and Christian influence throughout its entirety. Germanic Pagan influence is exhibited in the Crucifix’s anthropomorphism and the fact that the narrator could communicate with nature, specifically the tree that was cut to become the Jesus’ crucifix. Christian influence is signified in the fact that the story reflects on Jesus’ crucifixion and the constant references to God, Lord Almighty, Heaven, and Mankind’s Creator. “The Dream of the Rood” is a major example of the influence of religion in works of
Sund, Judy. "The Sower and the Sheaf: Biblical Metaphor in the Art of Vincent van
...ic meanings that still are puzzling art historians today. Some of the key symbols that Stokstad points out in the text is the dove, representing the Holy Spirit; the white lilies as a symbol of the Virgin Mary. She also points out, two rather unknown symbols to the sacrilegious, the date of the Annunciation in signs of the zodiac on the floor, as well as the lone stained glass window that is symbolizing God rising above the three windows that are placed in the background behind Mary. These three windows represent the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
The Raising of the Cross is an amazing piece of art and the depth of meaning contained in it is, likely, beyond my grasp. There appear to be many symbolisms in this painting and I have surely overlooked some. The style of this painting is clearly inspired by the Baroque masters of Rubens day and Ruben took the style to a new level that the world had not seen at that time. The other pieces in the series of Ruben’s paintings based around the crucifixion of Christ help to give this painting clarity and to give hints to the figures in the paintings.
Upon completion of this novel, a clearly prevalent and outstanding motif is that of religion and biblical reference. The frequent references to religion come in varied forms from that of biblical role-playing, to that of the fate of our current society. Another related argument that occurs can be the relationship of biblical role-playing and character domination. When all are combined appropriately, a very strong and prominent key motif in this novel is produced. Mary Shelley might have used religion reference as a method of showing us how something that happened during the creation of the earth can be related and brought to us via modern day fantasy creations. It is important for us to realize this connection because it will help us to understand an important deeper meaning of this work.
This course dove into medieval history and touched on all of the most critical elements of the period giving a well-rounded look into the lives and cultures of the middle ages. As the class moved forward it became evident that religion is central to understanding the people, advances, and set backs of this period. We learned how inseparable the middle ages and religion are due to how completely it consumed the people, affected the art, and furthered academics. Since, there is a tendency to teach about history and literature separately from religion and since religion possessed a dominant position in every aspect of a medieval person’s life, while many of us had already looked into the period we missed some crucial cultural context allowing
myth and a poem written in the 17th Century - goes to show that Holy
The crucifixion periscope is one of the most read and studied stories of the gospels, second only to the story of the resurrection. Luke’s presentation of the darkest day in Christianity is appropriately not as poetic and literary elegant as some of his other writings, yet dramatic. He stresses some common Lukan themes of forgiveness, prayer and universalism.
In The Dream of the Rood, the poet has added elements of the idealized heroic death (as exemplified in Beowulf and The Battle of Maldon) to the crucifixion. He has also eliminated details of the story that tend to render Christ as a figure of pathos, in order to further Christ's identification with the other glorious warriors Anglo-Saxon poems.
The Dream of the Rood there are three parts to the story: the Dreamer’s account of his dream of the Cross, the Rood’s monologue describing the Crucifixion, and the Dreamer’s determination to pursue the salvation of the Cross. The story begins with the narrator remembering a vision he received in a dream, where he comes across the rood on which Christ was crucified. “Attend to what I intend to tell you a marvelous dream that moved me at night when human voices are veiled in my sleep. In my dream I espied the most splendid tree. Looming aloft with light around, the most brilliant beam. That bright tree was covered with gold; gemstones gleamed fairly fashioned down to its foot, yet another five were standing.” (Lines 1-8) In the lines above, when the narrator first presents the rood he refers to it as though it were an icon. Later on, the rood (cross) will be presented as a loyal being to Christ. However, light was created for a purpose, to show the holiness of the tree. Correspondingly, “Yet another five were standing”, is referencing to the five wounds of Christ. The tree tells the story of the crucifixion to the dreamer. The reason the tree is telling the story is for originality purposes. The tree is conceivably the most common religion symbol in the spirituality of mankind. From the biblical custom and many others, the...
The Dream of the Rood is a poem that illustrates the crucifixion, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ from the perspective of the cross. The illustration comes together in a dream. The rood or the cross communicates with the Dreamer, to give him hope in the future return of Christ and eternal glory. Additionally, the rood encourages the Dreamer to share his dream with others and point them to the cross. This poem is meaningful to me because it prompted me to reflect on the cross and what it represents. It is a symbol of God’s love and what He did on the cross, so we could be saved from our sins.
Brown, Raymond. A Crucified Christ in Holy Week: Essays on the Four Gospel Passion Narratives. Collegeville, Minnesota: The Liturgical Press, 1986.
"Open Book Newsletter No. 1: The Bible and Western Literature by Peter J. Leithart January, 1991." Biblical Horizons » No. 1: The Bible and Western Literature. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Jan. 2014.
In British Literature religion plays a role in a vast majority of works. Even if the role is not explosively apparent, there are a generous amount of small inspirations and distortions in the texts. Some texts are theorized to have even been altered from their original state to reflect an amount of religion in them. Other texts are formatted as a result of religious influence. Religion has an elaborate and intricate influence in a variety of ways in many works throughout the development of British Literature.
Dockray-Miller, Mary. "The Feminized Cross of 'The Dream of the Rood.'" Philological Quarterly 76 (1997): 1-18.
If a class were given the assignment to read Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, they would discover how gifted Chaucer was in the art of social commenting. After reading the tales, the class would now have knowledge on the inner workings of a medieval society. However, if students were to read the Canterbury Tales just for pure entertainment, they would be neglecting to understand why Chaucer was imparting this knowledge through his texts. Literature, as a whole, is a main part of our cultural make up. Through literature we are able to view our customs and traditions in many different ways. Some words that can help emphasize the way in which literature shapes culture are words