SOURCE: "The Crucifixion and the Second Coming in The Dream of the Rood," in Modern Philology, Vol. 66, No. 4, May, 1969, pp. 293-97.

In the following essay, Canuteson compares the Crucifixion as portrayed in The Dream of the Rood with the Biblical descriptions of Christ's second coming.

Praise for The Dream of the Rood has been uniformly generous. Charles W. Kennedy [The Earliest English Poetry, 1943] declares that it deserves "pre-eminent distinction as a superb lyric presentation of a religious adoration which finds its symbol in the Cross." In discussing possible sources for the poem, [Bruce] Dickins and [Alan S.C.] Ross mention [in The Dream of the Rood, 1966] the beautiful imagery, and Margaret Schlauch has pointed out [in "The Dream of the Rood as Prosopopoeia," in Essays and Studies in Honor of Carleton Brown, 1940] the uniqueness in Old English literature of The Dream of the Rood by virtue of the...