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Two Ships Crossing: Hybrid Poetics inThe Dream of the RoodHeather MaringPublished online: 28 Apr 2010.

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Two Ships Crossing: Hybrid Poetics inThe Dream of the RoodHeather Maring

Although the theological and aesthetic relevance of the term holmwudu (‘‘sea-wood’’) inline 91 of The Dream of the Rood has been demonstrated, many editions and

pedagogical texts still insert the emendation holtwudu (‘‘forest-wood’’). I argue againstthe emendation because holmwudu belongs to an ongoing characterization of the Holy

Cross as a sea vessel that occurs throughout the body of the poem, not just after line 91.Moreover, I claim that The Dream of the Rood uses a modified version of the SeaVoyage type-scene in the talking cross’s tale of the crucifixion. My reading of The Dream

of the Rood shows the productive interplay of two poetic strategies: the literate and theoral traditional. The poem combines the Christian metaphor of navis crucis, drawn from

patristic theology, and an oral-related type-scene, both of which portray the rood as thevehicle by which one may reach heaven.

The compound word holmwudu in the following passage is a central crux in The

Dream of the Rood:

Hwæt, me þa geweorðode wuldres Ealdorofer holmwudu, heofonrices Weard,swylce swa he his modor eac, Marian sylfe,ælmihtig God, for ealle menngeweorðode ofer eall wifa cynn. (90–4)

[Listen, the Lord of glory, the Guardian of heaven’s realm, then honoured meabove sea-wood, just as he, the almighty God, also honoured before all people hismother, Mary herself, above all women-kind.]1

The seemingly unorthodox term holmwudu (‘‘sea-wood’’ or ‘‘ship’’) has been emendedwith holtwudu (‘‘forest-wood’’), but holtwudu forces us to interpret the cross as a

Heather Maring is affiliated with the Department of English, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Arizona State

University, USA.1I use Michael Swanton’s (ed.) edition of The Dream of the Rood (macrons omitted for the sake of consistency).

Old English translations are mine.

English StudiesVol. 91, No. 3, May 2010, 241–255

ISSN 0013-838X (print)/ISSN 1744-4217 (online) � 2010 Taylor & FrancisDOI: 10.1080/00138381003637583

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species of tree, rather than a type of vessel.2 In doing so, the association with the lignummaris concept elaborated by Augustine is lost. In fact, after Carl Berkhout’s 1974 article

‘‘The Problem of Holmwudu’’ demonstrated that it was both theologically appropriateand aesthetically meaningful to translate holmwudu as ‘‘sea-wood’’ or ‘‘ship’’,3 some

subsequent publications of the poem have returned to holmwudu.4 Berkhout calls theimplication that the Holy Cross is a navis a ‘‘fresh, sudden image, but repeatedly

implied throughout the poem, which helps to focus the eschatological meaning of theway of the Cross for both the dreamer and the reader’’.5 Nevertheless, despite the

evidence Berkhout draws from patristic sources and the poem itself, holtwudu stillappears in many present-day editions and Old English language manuals.6 I argue notonly that holmwudu should remain unamended because it resonates with patristic

imagery, but also that the epithet ‘‘sea-wood’’ arises because The Dream of the Roodemploys the Sea Voyage type-scene. The lignum maris concept and the Sea Voyage

type-scene complement each other, both supporting the idea that the Holy Crosstransports its hero (or Hero) and his followers from mortality to immortal life.

Before discussing the Sea Voyage type-scene, I first address the evidence for thelignum maris concept presented by Berkhout and others. Berkhout observes that

holmwudu alludes to the patristic lignum maris (or navis crucis) topos,7 a metaphordepicting the cross as a ship or the mast of a ship that guides Christian believers to

salvation. It is a patristic commonplace that a mast upon a ship may symbolize theHoly Cross of the Church, but evidence survives in Anglo-Saxon culture for the shipitself representing the cross. The image is linked to Noah’s ark, which was understood

to typologically precede the cross, both being wooden ‘‘vehicles’’ chosen by theChristian deity for the purpose of saving humankind. Berkhout cites Augustine’s

comparison of the Holy Cross with a ship and a similar image in one of his sermons.8

2See Carl Berkhout’s survey of critical responses to holmwudu (329–31). The many instances of holtwudu in

editions and anthologies reflect how broadly this emendation was once accepted. See, for instance, Dickins and

Ross, eds., 31; Lehnert, ed., 72; Kaiser, ed., 91; Fowler, ed., 100; and Whitelock, ed., 157.3Although ‘‘holm’’ may have several meanings, including ‘‘land rising from the water,’’ I focus here on its more

common denotation ‘‘wave, ocean, water, sea’’ (Bosworth and Toller, 551 and 550). Swanton notes that if

‘‘holm-wudu’’ in line 91a means ‘‘land rising from the water’’ or simply an area of raised land, it could portray

the image of the cross on Golgotha (132). In fact, there is no need to choose one interpretation over the other,

since both work productively together. In a somewhat different vein, T. E. Pickford suggests that holmwudu

could be a deliberate pun on helmwudu.4For example, Swanton (98), and Carole Hough and John Corbett (220), preserve the term represented in the

Vercelli Book (Vercelli, Cathedral Library, MS CXVII).5Berkhout, 433.6See, for instance, Mitchell and Robinson, 261; Pope, ed., 12; Baker, 242. Translations in the Norton, Longman, and

Broadview anthologies also represent the emendation (respectively, Greenblatt, ed.; Damrosch, ed.; and Black, ed.).7Kaske, 54, n. 33. See also Berkhout, 431–2; and McEntire, 397.8See Berkhout, 431–2: In Joannis Evangelium, II, i. 2–4 and Sermo 75, respectively. The following passage from

Augustine’s sermon on Matthew 24 (‘‘But the boat was now in the midst of the sea, distressed by the waves’’)

clearly equates the Holy Cross with a ship: ‘‘Quid significet transitus maris in navi. In omnibus tamen quae fecit

Dominus, admonet nos quemadmodum hic vivamus. Nemo quippe in hoc saeculo non peregrinus est: quamvis

non omnes ad patriam redire desiderent. Ex ipso autem itinere fluctus tempestatesque patimur: sed opus est vel

in navi simus. Nam si in navi pericula sunt, sine navi certus interitus. Quantasvis enim vires habeat lacertorum

qui natat in pelago, aliquando magnitudine maris victus absorbetur et mergitur. Opus est ergo ut in navi simus,

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Sandra McEntire has also shown that the association of the ark and the crossappealed to Anglo-Saxon ecclesiastical culture. She finds the lignum maris concept in

Genesis A, the iconography of both the Armagh Cross and the broken cross at Kells,and the illustration of a ship with the crucified Christ at its helm (rather than mast)

in an eighth-century manuscript illumination.9

The sea-vessel metaphor resonates with the ‘‘journey to the eternal homeland’’

imagery in the latter half of The Dream of the Rood. According to Berkhout, therepresentation of the cross as spiritual convoy, which one finds in Augustine’s

description of the via ad patriam, reoccurs several times: in the lifes weg passage(‘‘way of life’’; 87–9); in the rood’s final words to the dreamer, where it states thatæghwylc sawl (‘‘any soul’’) may reach heaven ðurh ða rode (‘‘through the rood’’; 119–

21); and in the dreamer’s impassioned plea that the Holy Cross transport him þær isblis mycel (‘‘where bliss is great’’; 124b–48a).10

I would add that another depiction of the cross as a lignum maris occurs when thedreamer speaks of his hopes that the rood will gefetige (‘‘fetch’’) him when he dies. In

this passage the poem uses the verb asettan to describe the act of conveyance, a verbthat may denote the action of crossing the sea:11

Ond ic wene medaga gehwylce hwænne me Dryhtnes rod,þe ic her on eorðan ær sceawode,on þysson lænan life gefetigeond me þonne gebringe þær is blis mycel,dream on heofonum, þær is Dryhtnes folcgeseted to symle, þær is singal blis;ond he þonne asette þær ic syþþan motwunian on wuldre, well mid þam halgumdreames brucan. (italics mine, 135b–44a)

[And I have hope each day for the time when the Lord’s rood, which I here on earthearlier examined, in this fleeting life will fetch me and then bring me where there isgreat bliss, communal joy in the heavens, where the Lord’s people are placed at afeast, where there is bliss everlasting; and then it will bear me, where afterwards I willbe allowed to dwell in glory, amid those holy ones, to partake fully of communal joy.]

With mesodiplosis, the dreamer’s prayer rhetorically dramatizes his desire to movefrom here (on þysson lænan life) to there (on heofonum): the recurring internal phrase

hoc est, ut in ligno portemur, ut mare hoc transire valeamus. Hoc autem lignum, quo infirmitas nostra portatur,

crux est Domini, in qua signamur, et ab hujus mundi submersionibus vindicamur’’ (Sermo 75, 2). By creating an

analogy between the cross and a ship, Augustine reworks the well-known comparison between the cross and a

boat’s mast in Hippolytus (De Anticristo, 59).9McEntire, 397–8. God closes the door of the ark in the Old English Genesis A by performing the sign of the cross

over it (398). See, for example, Noah’s Ark Panel, West Face of the Broken Cross at Kells (Documents of Ireland).

See also Bede’s exegesis of a passage from the Gospels comparing a literal ship to the cross, noted in Kaske, 54–6.10Berkhout, 431–2.11Dictionary of Old English, ‘‘asettan,’’ vb. 10.

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þær is culminates in þær ic. Similar recurrent phraseology arises in another genre thatplaces value on the performative properties of language—the Old English charm. In

the charms, as in The Dream of the Rood, the cross possesses apotropaic and sanativeproperties that influence the material world.12 The Dream of the Rood, however,

focuses upon the cross’s ability to serve as a spiritual vehicle between mortal andeternal life, a vehicle that will potentially bring the dreamer þær is singal blis.

Berkhout traces the manner in which the navis crucis concept resonates in the fewlines that precede the word holmwudu until the final lines of The Dream of the Rood

(87–156). This article suggests that the image of the cross as a spiritual vehicle arisesmuch earlier in the poem. Even before mentioning holmwudu or the dreamer’s desireto be borne away by the cross on his journey to heaven, the Rood-poet has already

linked cross and ship by depicting the crucifixion scene as a hero’s journey upon thewaves. The Dream of the Rood turns the cross into a metaphorical ship by employing

the Sea Voyage type-scene during Christ’s crucifixion (28–77). Furthermore, thepoem creates an extended analogy that depicts not only the rood as a ship but also

Christ as hero and treasure via the traditional implications of the type-scene. For thepurpose of this analysis, a type-scene is defined as a narrative sequence with idiomatic

force, occurring in oral verse and in literature that employs oral-traditional poeticstrategies.13

The Sea Voyage type-scene usually appears when a hero in Old English poetrynavigates the seas toward or away from a potentially mortal confrontation.14 Elene’spassage over the waters that bear her and her crew to Jerusalem and Beowulf’s swift

crossing on his ‘‘flota famiheals fugle gelicost’’ (‘‘foamy-necked ship, most like abird’’; 218) fit our expectations for this type-scene,15 which possesses the following

series of motifs:16

a. The hero leads men to the ship.b. The ship waits, moored.

c. Men board the ship, carrying treasure.d. Departure, voyage on the sea, arrival.e. They moor the ship and unload treasure and arms.

12See Jolly, esp. chap. 4.13For categories of oral-traditional media, including oral and written hybrids, see Foley, How to Read, 38–53.

Other type-scenes in Old English verse include Approach to Battle and Fight with the Monster, among others.

On the differentiation between theme and type-scene, see Fry; and Foley, Traditional Oral Epic, 333–54.14Robert E. Diamond, Lee C. Ramsey, and John Miles Foley (Traditional Oral Epic, 336–44) have examined the

Sea Voyage type-scene in Old English heroic narrative, noting the consistent narrative pattern that defines this

type-scene (explained in detail below). In the case of Beowulf, two occurrences of the scene share verbal

correspondences in the form of words and morphs bearing stress.15All quotations from Beowulf are cited from Fulk, Bjork, and Niles, eds.16Cf. Foley, Traditional Oral Epic, 338. My only major revision of the motif sequence, as Foley presents it, is

italicized. Other minor revisions, such as changing ‘‘Beowulf’’ to ‘‘the hero’’ and ‘‘his men’’ to ‘‘men,’’ genericize

the motifs and allow the hero to be male or female. Ramsey presents a final motif, (f) the hero and retinue

approach and enter a fortified city or great hall (55), which will be discussed later.

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The Sea Voyage type-scene reliably moves a hero from point A to point B. Itrepresents the crossing of a threshold between the mundane and an occasion for

winning dom (‘‘glory’’ or ‘‘noble repute’’). In verse with Christian subject matter, thetype-scene may perform a similar dramatic function. Using the Sea Voyage type-

scene, Elene depicts its heroine proceeding from the domestic sphere to the challengesthat she will face in Jerusalem, where Elene eventually achieves both earthly and

spiritual success.The type-scene unfolds according to a general principle in oral and oral-related

verse: ‘‘variation within limits’’.17 John Miles Foley describes the principle in thefollowing way: traditional phraseology and typical scenes work by ‘‘portraying thesame actions from instance to instance but shape-shifting to suit the particular

environment of the individual situation’’.18 The motifs typically occur in the sameorder in the Sea Voyage type-scene. However, a poet has the option of adding such

details as conversation with a shore-guardian, prayer, exchange of gifts, or even theconstruction of a sepulchre in order to adapt the type-scene to the narrative demands

of a specific poem.19 Furthermore, an Old English poem may apply the motif patternto circumstances other than hero and company traversing a body of water. Lee C.

Ramsey has discovered one such variant of the stock type-scene in Scyld Scefing’s seaburial at the beginning of Beowulf, which exactly replicates the motif pattern of the

Sea Voyage type-scene described above.20 Lending its traditional implications to adeath rite, the type-scene represents the king’s ritualistic passage from life to death asa hero’s voyage. By invoking the type-scene during Scyld’s sea burial, the Beowulf-

poet plays with the audience’s expectation that the scene will progress to the ship’smooring upon the sands of a far shore (motif E). However, the narrator subverts this

motif, saying:

Men ne cunnonsecgan to soðe, selerædende,hæleð under heofenum, hwa þæm hlæste onfeng. (50b–2)

[Men do not know, to say in truth, hall-counselors, warriors under the heavens,who received that cargo.]

Forestalling closure of the type-scene, the poem implies the limits of human

knowledge when faced with death.While no overt depiction of seafaring occurs in the Dream of the Rood, the

narrative of the crucifixion is joined to the progression of motifs in the Sea Voyage,

17Foley, in How To Read an Oral Poem, summarizes the principle of ‘‘variation within limits’’ in oral poetry in

general (18) and demonstrates that variation is a recognizable feature of textualized ancient and medieval verse

forms that employ an oral poetics (48).18Foley, How to Read, 111.19Foley, Traditional Oral Epic, 337–8.20Ramsey, 58.

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thereby implying that Christ’s mounting of the cross may be comparable to a herosetting a course across the seas. Via a metonymic mode of referentiality, which calls

into presence the instantiations of the type-scene in Old English verse tradition-wide,the immanent idiom of the Sea Voyage shapes and is shaped by the immediate

context of the crucifixion narrative, to great aesthetic effect.21 If we grant that the SeaVoyage type-scene may be moulded to different purposes in the hands of a skilful

poet, as it was for Scyld’s sea-burial, then we may more readily accept the possibilityof its presence in such an unusual context as the crucifixion narrative. Like the

Beowulf-poet, the Rood-poet asks us to imagine the Sea Voyage sequence from adifferent perspective. Instead of the hero approaching a ship, a ‘‘ship’’ (the cross)perceives its ‘‘hero’’ (Christ) arriving.

a. In place of the hero leading his or her men to the ship, Christ approaches the

rood.b. In place of the ship waiting moored, the rood waits as if moored.

c. In place of the hero boarding the ship with treasure, Christ mounts the rood.d. In place of the voyage proper, the rood raises Christ up.

e. In place of the hero and his retinue unloading treasure from the moored ship,Christ’s thanes lift the Saviour from the rood.

In The Dream of the Rood’s inflection of the Sea Voyage type-scene, the hero Christmounts the rood-as-ship, and upon this holmwudu Christ transcends the seas of

mortality. His journey is both intransitive and transitive: while upon the cross, hefrees mankind in this life; after leaving the cross, he will continue toward the heroic

task of Harrowing Hell.Ramsey notes in his seminal article on the Sea Voyages in Beowulf that ‘‘The

important similarities between the two sea-voyaging scenes are narrative: that is, theyare similarities in events and in the sequence of events.’’22 The idea that the type-

scene resides in narrative structure is applicable to comparisons between type-scenestradition-wide, rather than just the multiforms of a single poet’s idiolect. While themotif structure remains relatively fixed (admitting ‘‘variation within limits’’), lexical

irregularity predominates. On the subject of the Old English type-scene, Foleyconcludes, ‘‘we find the ‘deep structure’ of narrative pattern, to use Calvert Watkins’s

formulation, imaged in an unbound, non-specialized set of traditional phrases—thatis, in a surface structure of diction that can shift widely in its formulaic and

morphemic make-up while staying within the theme’s ideational boundaries’’.23

Because the Old English type-scene is not tied to particular lexical choices or to

21See an example of the interplay of immanent idiom and immediate context in Foley’s reading of the Joy in the

Hall theme in The Seafarer (Immanent Art, 36).22Ramsey, 54. Ramsey analyzes Beowulf’s two sea crossings, to and from the land of the Danes. Including Scyld

Scefing’s sea burial, the type-scene actually occurs three times in Beowulf.23Foley, Traditional Oral Epic, 357.

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formulaic phraseology, it possesses great pliability: the Sea Voyage may convey a heroacross the seas, a king through a death rite, or Christ toward the vanquishing of

death. Thus, by means of a pattern of motifs (and, as we will see later, synonyms forimages common to the scene), the Sea Voyage emerges as the structuring agent for

the manner in which the crucifixion narrative unfolds. The highlighted passages inTable 1 demonstrate how the Sea Voyage type-scene may be a template for the talking

rood’s narrative of Christ’s crucifixion. Underlined words and phrases will beexamined in greater detail.

Table 1 shows that there are close parallels between the motifs in the stock type-scene and the narrative progression of the talking cross’s story. In the first two motifsthe hero Christ approaches the vessel, which we see passively waiting (‘‘ic fæste

stod’’). In the next two motifs Christ climbs upon the vessel, which raises him up(‘‘Crist wæs on rode’’). Once the journey is completed a retinue of hilderincas

‘‘unloads’’ the vessel before abandoning it.Although the phraseology of the Old English type-scene demonstrates ‘‘general

correspondence without actual repetition’’,24 there are recurring synonyms thatreflect the subjects of each motif: boat, sea, hero, retinue, treasure/arms, the desire

to hasten to the ship or eagerness for the journey, the stillness of the mooredvessel, boarding, movement across the waters, and lyrical images of the voyage.

The type-scene does not require the appearance of all these subjects, but manyarise in every instance. The first Sea Voyage type-scene in Elene contains thefollowing examples:25 Fearoðhengestas (‘‘sea-horses’’; 226b) for ‘‘ships’’; sunde

(‘‘sound’’; 228b) for ‘‘sea’’; wigena þreate (‘‘host of warriors’’; 217a) for the hero’sretainers; bordum ond ordum (‘‘with shields and spears’’; 235a) for arms; for

Elene’s eagerness, ‘‘Elene ne wolde / þæs siðfates sæne weorðan’’ (‘‘Elene didnot wish to be slow with respect to that voyage’’; 219b–20); for the stillness of the

moored vessel, ‘‘Fearoðhengestas / ymb geofenes stæð gearwe stodon’’ (‘‘sea-horses stood ready upon the shore of the ocean’’; 226b–7); for passage across the

water, ‘‘Leton þa ofer fifelwæg famige scriðan / bronte brimþisan’’ (‘‘then theyallowed the tall sea-ship to glide foamy upon the path of sea-monsters’’; 237–8a);and for the lyrical images of voyage, an extended description of the impressive

ships upon the sea (238b–46a). Although the preceding list does not pretend to becomprehensive, it does stress that the cumulative presence of these images acts as

a cue to the presence of the traditional scene and supports its progression ofmotifs. Both Ramsey and Foley demonstrate that even a single poet’s development

of the Sea Voyage type-scene may result in strong lexical differences from instanceto instance.26 What matters is that a set of traditional motifs has recourse to a

variety of synonyms for expressing the same idea, whether literal or not.

24Ramsey, 56.25Quotations of Elene are cited from Krapp, ed.26Responsion, the repetition of particular lexemes, also may occur within a single type-scene (see Foley,

Traditional Oral Epic, 340–2). For example, in Elene the term hengest (‘‘horse’’) for ship recurs frequently. The

verbs (ge)gyrwan and (ge)stigan recur in The Dream of the Rood (see below).

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Table 1 Motif Sequence of the Sea Voyage in The Dream of the Rood

a. Christ approaches the rood.

Geseah ic þa Frean mancynnesefstan elne mycle þæt he me wolde on gestigan. (33b–4)

[I saw the Lord of mankind hastening with great courage when he wished to mount me.]

b. The rood waits as if moored.

Þær ic þa ne dorste ofer Dryhtnes wordbugan oððe berstan.. . . . . . .

Ealle ic mihtefeondas gefyllan, hwæðre ic fæste stod. (35–6a, 37b–8)

[There I did not dare, against the Lord’s word, to bow or break. . . . I was able tofell the enemies entirely, yet I stood fast.]

c. Christ mounts the rood.

Ongyrede hine þa geong hæleð.gestah he on gealgan heanne,

modig on manigra gesyhðe, þa he wolde mancyn lysan. (39a, 40b–1)

[The young hero then unarmed (or ‘‘undressed’’) himself. . . . He mounted onto thehigh gallows, mighty in the sight of many, when he wished to free mankind.]

d. The rood raises Christ up. Christ is on the rood.

Rod wæs ic aræred. Ahof ic ricne Cyning,heofona Hlaford.. . . . . .

sceadu forð eode,wann under wolcnum.

Crist wæs on rode. (44–5a, 54b–5a, 56b)

[I, the rood, was raised up. I lifted the powerful King, the Lord of heavens. . . . Shadows wentforth, dark under the clouds. . . . Christ was on the rood.]

e. Christ’s thanes lift him from the rood, leaving it behind.

Hwæðere þær fuse feorran cwomanto þam æðelinge. Ic þæt eall beheold.Sare ic wæs mid [sorgum] gedrefed, hnag ic hwæðre þam secgum to handa,eaðmod elne mycle. Genamon hie þær ælmihtigne God,ahofon hine of ðam hefian wite. Forleton me þa hilderincasstandan steame bedrifenne. (57–62a)

[Yet there they eagerly came from afar to that prince. I beheld all that. Bitterly, I wasstirred up with (sorrows), yet I, humble-minded with great courage, bowed to thehands of men. They took there the almighty God, and raised him off of that heavypunishment. The battle-warriors then left me standing covered with blood.]

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In The Dream of the Rood there is a similar concatenation of terms related to themotifs of the Sea Voyage type-scene. Christ’s epithets represent him as both hero and

Miles Christus: geong hæleð (39a), ricne Cyning (44b), heofona Hlaford (45a), werudaGod (51b), and heofenes Dryhten (64a).27 His followers twice receive the name

hilderincas (‘‘battle-warriors’’; 61b and 72 in the genitive plural). Arms are referencedobliquely when we hear that Christ ongyrede, disrobed or unarmed himself, before

leaping upon the rood (39a). The phrase ‘‘efstan elne mycle’’ (‘‘hastening with greatcourage’’; 34a) represents the desire of the hero to hasten toward conflict. The Holy

Cross—which later calls itself a species of holmwudu (91a)—says ‘‘ic fæste stod’’,recalling the stillness of a moored sea vessel (38b). For a moment, the illusion ofmovement is created when shadows traverse the sky above Christ upon the rood:

‘‘sceadu forð eode, / wann under wolcnum’’ (‘‘shadows went forth, dark under theclouds’’; 54b–5a).28 These lyrical images resonate with the often fleeting fragments of

natural beauty that adorn the hours of voyage in the stock type-scene.Special attention ought to be granted to the verb (ge)stigan, which is employed

twice to depict Christ leaping upon the navis crucis. Several times in the poetic corpusthis verb portrays a hero mounting a waiting vessel (see examples one to three

below). Even though Old English poetics encourages the use of synonyms for motifs,not identical repetition, and even though (ge)stigan has many applications, it is worth

noting that a strong affinity between ships and (ge)stigan may be found throughoutthe corpus in both poetry and prose. In every example that follows (ge)stigandescribes embarking upon or disembarking from a ship. In addition, the subject of

the verb is either a figure or a group of heroic dimensions.29

(1) ‘‘. . . flota wæs on yðum,bat under beorge. Beornas gearwe

on stefn stigon. Streamas,wundon sund wið sande.’’ (Beowulf 210b–13a)

[‘‘A floater was on the waves, a boat under the hill. Men readily climbed ontothe stern; currents twisted, sound against sand.’’]

(2) ‘‘Scealtu æninga mid ærdæge,

emne to morgene, æt meres endeceol gestigan ond on cald wæter

brecan ofer bæðweg.’’ (Andreas 220–3b)

27‘‘Young hero,’’ ‘‘powerful King,’’ ‘‘Lord of heavens,’’ ‘‘God of hosts,’’ and ‘‘heaven’s Chieftan.’’ Readers are

familiar with the ‘‘heroic sheen’’ that adorns Christ in this poem. Carol Jean Wolf succinctly analyzes the heroic

epithets and actions associated with both Christ and the rood. See also Cherniss.28‘‘X under wolcnum’’ is an instance of traditional phraseology. Cf. Foley, Traditional Oral Epic, 220–1.29The examples derive from searches in the Dictionary of Old English Corpus, 20 July 2008. A title followed by a

comma indicates a page number; a title with no comma indicates a line number or chapter and verse.

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[‘‘Straightaway at dawn, just as morning arrives, you must mount the keel at thesea’s strand and press onto the cold water upon the ocean’s course.’’]

(3) ‘‘Nu ic, god dryhten, ongiten hæbbe

þæt ðu on faroðstræte feor ne wære,cyninga wuldur, þa ic on ceol gestah,’’ (Andreas 897–9)

[‘‘I now have realized, Lord God, that you were not distant on the sea-path,

glory of kings, when I climbed on the boat . . .’’]

(4) ‘‘Se halga Andreas astah on þæt scip and he gesæt beforan þam steorreþran þæt

wæs Drihten Hælend Crist.’’ (Saint Andrew, 72)

[‘‘The holy Andrew climbed on that ship and he sat before that steersman whowas Lord Christ the Healer.’’]

(5) ‘‘Ða cwæð ic to him, Broðor, soðlice næbbe ic nan færeht to syllanne, ac ic wille

faran and an þæra scypa astigan.’’ (‘‘Mary of Egypt’’ 396)

[‘‘Then I said to him, ‘Brother, in truth I do not have any passage-money togive, but I wish to travel and to climb upon that ship.’’’]

(6) ‘‘Ða sona he nydde his leorningcnihtas on scyp stigan,’’ (Gospel of Mark 6.45)

[‘‘Right away he urged his disciples to climb onto the ship.’’]

(7) ‘‘Ure drihten astah on scip. and him filigdon his leorningcnihtas;’’ (Ælfric’sCatholic Homilies: The Second Series, Third Sunday after Pentecost)

[‘‘Our Lord climbed upon the ship and his disciples followed him.’’]

The first three examples, from Andreas and Beowulf, are associated with journeys by seain their respective poetic narratives. Examples four to seven show that the verb is also

typical in Christian prose narratives. So strong is the association between (ge)stigan andclimbing upon a ship that the verb crosses the lexical boundaries that sometimes arise

between poetry and prose and between heroic and Christian narratives. Thus, it maynot be too far-fetched to argue that the first two uses of (ge)stigan in The Dream of the

Rood, in concert with a progression of motifs parallel to the stock Sea Voyage type-scene, invoke motif C: ‘‘His or her men board the ship, carrying treasure.’’ Of course,

the verb (ge)stigan alone does not imply the boarding of a ship. When, however, aprogression of motifs cues the Sea Voyage type-scene in The Dream of the Rood, theconcurrent employment of (ge)stigan strengthens the metaphorical relationship

between cross and ship and between Christ’s crucifixion and a threshold to dom.

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While (ge)stigan may imply that a hero mounts a ship, thereby summoning thetraditional associations inherent to the Sea Voyage type-scene, from a theological

perspective this verb also precisely links Christ’s crucifixion and his later ascension. Ihope to show in the following analysis that the theological implications of (ge)stigan

intersect productively with the Sea Voyage type-scene. Forms of (ge)stigan occurthree times in The Dream of the Rood: the uninflected gestigan (34) when Christ and

the rood face each other, before any action has occurred; gestah (40) when Christleaps upon the cross, in the perfective completion of the task before him; and astag

(103) when Christ ascends to heaven. James W. Marchand has focused upon the firsttwo instances of this verb, which he argues actively portray the crucifixion as one ofthe Leaps of Christ. Although (ge)stigan generally means ‘‘to climb’’ or ‘‘to mount’’,

Marchand argues: ‘‘Given the commonplace nature of the Leaps of Christ, ‘leap’seems the best translation. Christ leapt upon the Cross and embraced it, for he wished

to save mankind.’’30 To Marchand’s observations, it should be added that theAscension to heaven is the final Leap that Christ undertakes, which perhaps accounts

for the replacement of the perfective prefix ge- with the intensive prefix a- in the thirdand last variant of (ge)stigan.

(Ge)stigan, again in its more general sense, may signify both ‘‘ascend’’ and‘‘descend’’, a bidirectionality that proves useful when representing Christ’s Leaps.

George Hardin Brown has discussed how Christ’s Leaps may move upward ordownward or in both directions simultaneously.31 We may hear both of thesedenotations when Christ gestah in line 40b: as Christ ascends the Holy Cross on a

trajectory that will eventually culminate in the Ascension, the son of God descends tothe most wretched of positions, a tortured figure in the company of thieves. In the

very same line in which gestah occurs, the epithet gealgan heanne refers to the cross, aphrase which may be translated as either ‘‘high gallows’’ or ‘‘base gallows’’. The

double entendre of ‘‘gestah he on gealgan heanne’’ throws into relief how the verb(ge)stigan, with its potential for either upward or downward motion, participates in

both the theology of glory and the theology of humiliation. As the poem unfolds,(ge)stigan aurally links the transitions from Advent to gallows to heaven.32

30Marchand, 86. The Leaps of Christ, a medieval commonplace, correspond to Christ’s movement into Mary’s

womb, his birth, being raised upon the cross, transition to the sepulchre, the harrowing of hell, and ascension to

heaven. Part of James W. Marchand’s argument for translating forms of (ge)stigan in lines 34 and 40 with ‘‘leap’’

depends upon his analysis of the ge- prefix: ‘‘The ge-prefix shows that this must be a perfective (or, if one prefers,

‘complexive’) verb. Perphaps ‘mount,’ also used, will work, or ‘ascend,’ the ascendere of Latin hymnology; but I

must insist on the aspectual force of the prefix, and the best translation, it seems to me, is ‘leap.’ Christ does not

intend to climb the tree, he intends to leap upon it, to embrace it’’ (85).31Brown, 135.32While (ge)stigan may be employed in other contexts, in the majority of instances it is linked to either travel

upon the seas or movement across the skies. Both actions appear in the Old English prose Saint Andrew, where

the hero ‘‘astah on þæt scip’’ (‘‘climbed on that ship’’; 72) and Christ ‘‘astah on heofonas’’ (‘‘climbed unto the

heavens’’) on four different occasions. Not surprisingly, a cursory search within the Dictionary of Old English

Corpus will demonstrate that the phrase to heofenum (and to a lesser extent on heofenum) paired with a form of

(ge)stigan arises with great frequency in the Old English corpus.

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The Ascension topos of the theology of glory bears mentioning because of themanner in which it interacts with the Sea Voyage. The Ascension topos includes,

among other features, the presence of angelic hosts, the image of Jesus enthroned(Majestus Domini), a challenge at the gates of heaven, and Christ’s bestowal of gifts.33

The final six lines of the poem, which portray Christ’s return to heaven amid a greatmultitude, allude to the Ascension topos. These lines also represent the conclusion of

the Sea Voyage type-scene, which usually culminates in a sixth motif that I have saveduntil now because of the extraordinary manner in which it dovetails with the

Ascension topos:

f. the hero and retinue approach and enter a fortified city or great hall.

The presence of this motif is apparent in other versions of the multiform: after his

first sea crossing, Beowulf and his men proceed to Heorot; on the second occasionthey immediately report to Hygelac and Hygd; after Elene and her army traverse the

ocean, they enter Jerusalem. In The Dream of the Rood the final motif is deferred untilthe end of the poem:

‘‘Se Sunu wæs sigorfæst on þam siðfate,mihtig ond spedig, þa he mid manigeo com,gasta weorode, on Godes rice,’’ (150–2)

[‘‘The Son was firm in victory on that journey, powerful and successful, when hecame amid a multitude, an army of souls, into God’s kingdom,’’]

Christ’s arrival at his heofonlicne ham (‘‘heavenly home’’; 148a) with a gasta weorodefulfils on a cosmic scale the expectations engendered by the Sea Voyage type-scene.

The Sea Voyage type-scene serves the Christian narrative, underscoring the siðfate(150) or great journey that Christ is undertaking, and depicting Christ as both hero

and treasure. We are told that at the end of the crucifixion the hands of Christ’shilderincas reach onto the cross, where, in terms applicable to unloading a ship, theygenamon and ahofon (‘‘took’’ and ‘‘lifted up’’ or ‘‘took away’’; 60b, 61a) the Lord. The

next lines, ‘‘Forleton me þa hilderincas / standan steame bedrifenne’’ (‘‘The battle-warriors left me / standing drenched in moisture’’; 61b–2a), reinforce the image of a

cross-as-ship that upon the completion of its duty is left abandoned upon the marge.Further internal evidence supports the image of the Lord’s retinue receiving from the

dripping cross a great treasure. The poem announces four times that the rood hasbeen adorned with jewels or treasure: ‘‘begoten mid golde; gimmas stodon’’ (‘‘all

covered with gold; gems stood’’; 7); ‘‘gegyred mid golde; gimmas hæfdon’’(‘‘clothed with gold; gems had’’; 16); ‘‘Hwilum mid since gegyrwed’’ (‘‘At times

clothed with treasure’’; 23b); and ‘‘gyredon me golde ond seolfre’’ (‘‘clothed mewith gold and silver’’; 77). The first two phrases strongly echo each other, employing

33Brown, 137–41.

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similar lexical choices and syntactical structures, while the last three are linked bytheir use of the verb gegyrwan. It is a commonplace that medieval crosses (and many

present-day ones) were adorned with five gems representing the five wounds ofChrist, a notion alluded to very early in The Dream of the Rood: ‘‘þær fife wæron’’

(‘‘there were five’’ [jewels]; 8b). The cross poem is studded with four references togems, perhaps leaving an audience to conclude that the fifth (and ultimate) gem is

Christ. Christ is linked to three of the four other descriptions of treasure by the wordgegyrwan in the versicle ‘‘Ongyrede hine þa geong hæleð’’ (‘‘The young warrior then

stripped [or ‘disarmed’] himself’’; 39a). The inversion of the word (from gyrede toongyrede, a kind of kenosis) sets Christ far beyond comparison with ordinarytreasure. In concert, then, with the implication that Christ is the poem’s fifth jewel,

the Sea Voyage type-scene metonymically implies that Christ is a type of treasure.Using the lignum maris concept, the Ascension topos, and the Sea Voyage type-

scene, The Dream of the Rood fuses learned Christian sources and an Anglo-Saxonoral-traditional poetic inheritance. In medieval verse we have come to expect the

hybridity of literary and oral-traditional strategies. Hybrid compositional strategiesinterweave metaphor and oral-related metonym: the navis crucis concept and the

traditional implications of the Sea Voyage type-scene, in the case of The Dream of theRood. For this discussion of hybrid representational choices, it is worth mentioning

the unusual layering of pre-Christian and Christian symbolism in the Sutton Hooship burial, where, according to Frands Herschend, ‘‘the equipment shows clear signsof Christian influence’’.34 Herschend, who briefly notes similar forms of cultural

hybridity in The Dream of the Rood and Sutton Hoo,35 finds a strong predilection forlayers of symbolism in Northern European ship burials. The pagan versions of ship

burials in Scandinavia at Valsgarde and Oseberg possess instalments thatsimultaneously represent a wooden vessel as a boat, a terrestrial hall, and a grave.

While the symbolism in the pre-Christian ship burials occupies a purely horizontalplane of space, the symbolism of Sutton Hoo adds vertical space, which leads to

different implications for the dead: ‘‘Returning is a vertical concept in Christianity,but a horizontal one in the pre-Christian Late Iron Age. We see a sign ofacculturation in this difference, in the way the architects of Sutton Hoo have mixed

or, in the mind of the beholder, perhaps corrupted the concept of return by adding toit that of resurrection.’’36 Herschend argues that ‘‘the verticality in Sutton Hoo’’

transforms a terrestrial into a celestial hall, ‘‘a symbol of Heaven, a hall in the idealworld above’’.37 The layout of the Sutton Hoo installation encourages such a reading

by shifting those artefacts that occupied the aft and prow of the Scandinavian ships tothe centre of the Sutton Hoo grave and by incorporating representations of the hall

on the lid. The Sutton Hoo ship burial, like The Dream of the Rood, forges

34Herschend, 85.35Ibid., 88.36Ibid.37Ibid., 89; see also Carver.

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unorthodox Christian significance with the material of pagan or pre-Christiansymbolism. In The Dream of the Rood we find a holmwudu that is also the Holy Cross.

In Christ’s embrace the rood transforms from ordinary instrument of torture, aprecursor to the grave, into the great vehicle—the navis crucis, the hero’s ship, the

sign of the Lord.

Acknowledgements

I am grateful to Professors Robert Bjork, John Miles Foley, and John McKinnell fortheir valuable comments on earlier versions of this essay.

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