Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-vdxz6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T04:35:54.810Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Vestigial Signs: Inscription, Performance, and The Dream of the Rood

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 October 2020

Seeta Chaganti
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Anglo‐Saxonists often explore connections between The Dream of the Rood and two ritual objects, the silver Brussels cross and the sandstone Ruthwell monument, inscribed with verses related to the poem. This essay offers a new perspective on these artifacts, elucidating not a historical narrative linking them but rather an Anglo‐Saxon poetics made visible in their juxtaposition. It argues that these three manifestations reveal a dialectic of inscription and performance in Anglo‐Saxon poetics. Reading the familiar Old English text through J. H. Prynne's “A Note on Metal” (1968), which imagines dialectics both of metal and stone and of inscription and performance, the essay also interrogates certain divisions between premodern and modern aesthetic traditions. Theories of media, performance, and inscriptionality help to stage an interdisciplinary analysis of The Dream of the Rood and to show that its poetics originate in the formal frameworks of Anglo‐Saxon material culture. (SC)

Type
Cluster on Textual Materialism
Information
PMLA , Volume 125 , Issue 1 , January 2010 , pp. 48 - 72
Copyright
Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Works Cited

Adorno, Theodor W. Negative Dialectics. Trans. Ashton, E. B. New York: Seabury, 1973. Print.Google Scholar
Amodio, Mark C. Writing the Oral Tradition: Oral Poetics and Literate Culture in Medieval England. Notre Dame: U of Notre Dame P, 2004. Print.Google Scholar
Anderson, Earl R. “Liturgical Influence in The Dream of the Rood.” Neophilologus 73.2 (1989): 293–304. Print.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baird, Joseph L. “Natura Plangens, the Ruthwell Cross, and The Dream of the Rood.” Studies in Iconography 10 (1984): 37–51. Print.Google Scholar
Baker, Peter S. An Introduction to Old English. Malden: Blackwell, 2003. Print.Google Scholar
Bevington, David, ed. Medieval Drama. Boston: Houghton, 1975. Print.Google Scholar
Blanton, C. D. “Nominal Devolutions: Poetic Substance and the Critique of Political Economy.” Yale Journal of Criticism 13.1 (2000): 129–51. Print.Google Scholar
Bolter, Jay David, and Grusin, Richard. Remediation: Understanding New Media. Cambridge: MIT P, 1999. Print.Google Scholar
Boniface, Saint [Vynfreth]. Ars grammatica. Ed. Gebauer, George John and Löfstedt, Bengt. Turnhout: Brepols, 1980. Print.Google Scholar
Brown, Peter. The Cult of the Saints: Its Rise and Function in Latin Christianity. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1981. Print.Google Scholar
Burlin, Robert B. “The Ruthwell Cross, The Dream of the Rood, and the Vita Contemplativa.” Studies in Philology 65.1 (1968): 23–43. Print.Google Scholar
Burrow, J. A. “An Approach to The Dream of the Rood.” Neophilologus 43.1 (1959): 123–33. Print.Google Scholar
Chaganti, Seeta. The Medieval Poetics of the Reliquary: Enshrinement, Inscription, Performance. New York: Palgrave, 2008. Print.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chappell, Virginia A. “Reordberendra Gesyhthe and Christian Mystery: Narrative Frames in The Dream of the Rood.” Comitatus: A Journal of Medieval and Renaissance Studies 18 (1987): 1–20. Print.Google Scholar
Chase, Christopher L. “Christ III, The Dream of the Rood, and Early Christian Passion Piety.” Viator: Medieval and Renaissance Studies 11 (1980): 11–33. Print.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chazelle, Celia. The Crucified God in the Carolingian Era: Theology and Art of Christ's Passion. New York: Cambridge UP, 2001. Print.Google Scholar
Cook, Elizabeth. “Figured Poetry.” Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes 42 (1979): 1–15. Print.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cramp, Rosemary. “The Anglian Sculptured Crosses of Dumfriesshire.” Transactions of the Dumfriesshire and Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian Society 3.38 (1959-60): 9–20. Print.Google Scholar
Dagenais, John. “That Bothersome Residue: Toward a Theory of the Physical Text.” Vox Intexta: Orality and Textuality in the Middle Ages. Ed. Doane, A. N. and Pasternack, Carol Braun. Madison: U of Wisconsin P, 1991. 244–57. Print.Google Scholar
Derrida, Jacques. Archive Fever: A Freudian Impression. Trans. Prenowitz, Eric. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1996. Print.Google Scholar
Derrida, Jacques. “Différance.” Margins of Philosophy. Trans. Bass, Alan. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1982. 1–28. Print.Google Scholar
Fell, C. E. “Runes and Semantics.” Old English Runes and Their Continental Background. Ed. Bammes-berger, Alfred. Heidelberg: Winter, 1991. 195–229. Print.Google Scholar
Fleming, John V. “The Dream of the Rood and Anglo-Saxon Monasticism.” Traditio: Studies in Ancient and Medieval History, Thought, and Religion 22 (1966): 43–72. Print.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Foys, Martin K. Virtually Anglo-Saxon: Old Media, New Media, and Early Medieval Studies in the Late Age of Print. Gainesville: UP of Florida, 2007. Print.Google Scholar
Franko, Mark. “Given Movement: Dance and the Event.” Ritual and Event: Interdisciplinary Perspectives. Ed. Franko, . New York: Routledge, 2007. 125–36. Print.Google Scholar
Hartman, Geoffrey. The Unremarkable Wordsworth. Minneapolis: U of Minnesota P, 1987. Print.Google Scholar
Hawkes, Jane. “Reading Stone.” Karkov and Orton 5–30.Google Scholar
Hieatt, Constance B. “Dream Frame and Verbal Echo in The Dream of the Rood.” Neuphilologische Mitteilungen 72.2 (1971): 251–63. Print.Google Scholar
Holdsworth, Carolyn. “Frames: Time Level and Variation in The Dream of the Rood.'” Neophilologus 66.4 (1982): 622–28. Print.Google Scholar
Holloway, Julia Bolton. “The Dream of the Rood and Liturgical Drama.” Comparative Drama 18.1 (1984): 19–37. Print.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Howlett, David. “Inscriptions and Design of the Ruthwell Cross.” The Ruthwell Cross: Papers from the Colloquium Sponsored by the Index of Christian Art. Ed. Cassidy, Brendan. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1992. 71–93. Print.Google Scholar
Huppé, Bernard F. The Web of Words: Structural Analyses of the Old English Poems Vainglory, The Wonder of Creation, The Dream of the Rood, and Judith. Albany: State U of New York P, 1979. Print.Google Scholar
Irvine, Martin. The Making of Textual Culture: “Grammatica” and Literary Theory, 350-1100. New York: Cambridge UP, 1994. Print.Google Scholar
Jay, Martin. The Dialectical Imagination: A History of the Frankfurt School and the Institute of Social Research, 1923-1950. Berkeley: U of California P, 1996. Print.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jennings, Margaret. “Rood and Ruthwell: The Power of Paradox.” English Language Notes 31.3 (1994): 6–12. Print.Google Scholar
Kabakov, Ilya, and Kabakov, Emilia. The Palace of Projects, 1995-1998. Trans. Martin, Cynthia and Almodóvar, Torres. London: Artangel, 1998. Print.Google Scholar
Karkov, Catherine E. “Naming and Renaming: The Inscription of Gender in Anglo-Saxon Sculpture.” Karkov and Orton 31–64.Google Scholar
Karkov, Catherine E., and Orton, Fred, eds. Theorizing Anglo-Saxon Stone Sculpture. Morgantown: West Virginia UP, 2003. Print.Google Scholar
Keefer, Sarah Larratt. “‘Either/And’ as ‘Style’ in Anglo-Saxon Christian Poetry.” Anglo-Saxon Styles. Ed. Karkov, Catherine E. and Brown, George Hardin. Albany: State U of New York P, 2003. 179–200. Print.Google Scholar
Keefer, Sarah Larratt. “Respect for the Book: A Reconsideration of ‘Form,’ ‘Content,’ and ‘Context’ in Two Vernacular Poems.” New Approaches to Editing Old English Verse. Ed. Keefer, and O'Keeffe, Katherine O'Brien. Cambridge: Brewer, 1998. 21–44. Print.Google Scholar
Kemble, John M. “Additional Observations on the Runic Obelisk at Ruthwell; the Poem The Dream of the Holy Rood; and a Runic Copper Dish Found at Chertsey.” Archaeologia 30 (1844): 31–46. Print.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kendall, Calvin B. “The Gate of Heaven and the Fountain of Life: Speech-Act Theory and Portal Inscriptions.” Essays in Medieval Studies 10 (1993): 111–25. Print.Google Scholar
Kilpiö, Matti. “Hrabanus' De Laudibus Sanctae Crucis and The Dream of the Rood.” Neophilologica Fennica. Ed. Kahlas-Tarkka, Leena. Helsinki: Société Néophilologique, 1987. 177–91. Print.Google Scholar
Kittler, Friedrich A. Discourse Networks 1800/1900. Trans. Mettler, Michael and Cullens, Chris. Stanford: Stanford UP, 1990. Print.Google Scholar
Krapp, George Philip, ed. The Dream of the Rood. The Vercelli Book. New York: Columbia UP, 1932. 61–65. Print. Vol. 2 of The Anglo-Saxon Poetic Records: A Collective Edition. 6 vols. 1931–53.Google Scholar
Lerer, Seth. Literacy and Power in Anglo-Saxon Literature. Lincoln: U of Nebraska P, 1991. Print.Google Scholar
MacKay, John. Inscription and Modernity: From Wordsworth to Mandelstam. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 2006. Print.Google Scholar
MacLean, Douglas. “The Date of the Ruthwell Cross.” The Ruthwell Cross: Papers from the Colloquium Sponsored by the Index of Christian Art. Ed. Cassidy, Brendan. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1992. 49–70. Print.Google Scholar
Mahler, Annemarie E. “Lignum Domini and the Opening Vision of The Dream of the Rood: A Viable Hypothesis?” Speculum: A Journal of Medieval Studies 53.3 (1978): 441–59. Print.Google Scholar
McEntire, Sandra. “The Devotional Context of the Cross before A.D. 1000.” Old English Literature. Ed. Liuzza, R. M. New Haven: Yale UP, 2002. 392–403. Print.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McGillivray, Murray. “Dream of the Rood 9-12 and the Christmas Liturgy.” Notes and Queries 52.1 (2005): 1–2. Print.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McLuhan, Marshall. Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man. Critical ed. Ed. W. Terrence Gordon. Corte Madera: Gingko, 2003. Print.Google Scholar
Meyvaert, Paul. “An Apocalypse Panel on the Ruthwell Cross.” Medieval and Renaissance Studies 9: Proceedings of the Southeastern Institute of Medieval and Renaissance Studies. Ed. Tirro, Frank. Durham: Duke UP, 1978. 3–32. Print.Google Scholar
Michelet, Fabienne L. Creation, Migration, and Conquest: Imaginary Geography and Sense of Space in Old English Literature. New York: Oxford UP, 2006. Print.Google Scholar
Mitchell, Bruce. An Invitation to Old English and Anglo-Saxon England. Cambridge: Blackwell. 1995. Print.Google Scholar
Mitchell, Bruce, and Robinson, Fred C. A Guide to Old English. 5th ed. Cambridge: Blackwell, 1992. Print.Google Scholar
Nolan, Maura B. “Making the Aesthetic Turn: Adorno, the Medieval, and the Future of the Past.” Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies 34.3 (2004): 549–75. Print.Google Scholar
Ó Carragáin, Éamonn. “Between Annunciation and Visitation: Spiritual Birth and the Cycles of the Sun on the Ruthwell Cross: A Response to Fred Orton.” Karkov and Orton 131–87.Google Scholar
Ó Carragáin, Éamonn. “Crucifixion as Annunciation: The Relation of The Dream of the Rood to the Liturgy Reconsidered.” English Studies 63.6 (1982): 487–505. Print.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ó Carragáin, Éamonn. Ritual and the Rood: Liturgical Images and the Old English Poems of the Dream of the Rood Tradition. Buffalo: U of Toronto P, 2005. Print.Google Scholar
Ogden, Dunbar H. The Staging of Drama in the Medieval Church. Newark: U of Delaware P, 2002. Print.Google Scholar
Okasha, Elisabeth. “‘Beacen’ in Old English Poetry.” Notes and Queries 23.5-6 (1976): 200–07. Print.Google Scholar
O'Keeffe, Katherine O'Brien. Visible Song: Transitional Literacy in Old English Verse. New York: Cambridge UP, 1990. Print.Google Scholar
Orton, Fred. “Northumbrian Identity in the Eighth Century: The Ruthwell and Bewcastle Monuments: Style, Classification, Class, and the Form of Ideology.” Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies 34.1 (2004): 95–145. Print.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Orton, Fred. “Rethinking the Ruthwell Monument: Fragments and Critique; Tradition and History; Tongues and Sockets.” Art History 21.1 (1998): 65–106. Print.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Orton, Fred, Wood, Ian, and Lees, Clare A. Fragments of History: Rethinking the Ruthwell and Bewcastle Monuments. Manchester: Manchester UP, 2007. Print.Google Scholar
Page, R. I. An Introduction to English Runes. 2nd ed. Woodbridge: Boydell, 1999. Print.Google Scholar
Page, R. I. Runes and Runic Inscriptions: Collected Essays on Anglo-Saxon and Viking Runes. Woodbridge: Boydell, 1995. Print.Google Scholar
Pasternack, Carol Braun. “Stylistic Disjunctions in The Dream of the Rood.” Old English Literature. Ed. Liuzza, R. M. New Haven: Yale UP, 2002. 404–24. Print.Google Scholar
Prynne, J. H. “A Note on Metal.” 1968. Poems. Edinburgh: Agneau 2, 1982. 126-30. Print.Google Scholar
Roberts, Jane. “Some Relationships between The Dream of the Rood and the Cross at Ruthwell.” Studies in Medieval English Language and Literature 15 (2000): 1–25. Print.Google Scholar
Rollason, David W. Northumbria, 500-1100: Creation and Destruction of a Kingdom. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2003. Print.Google Scholar
Samuels, Peggy. “The Audience Written into the Script of The Dream of the Rood.” Modern Language Quarterly 49.4 (1988): 311–20. Print.Google Scholar
Schapiro, Meyer. “The Religious Meaning of the Ruthwell Cross.” Art Bulletin 26.4 (1944): 232–45. Print.Google Scholar
Schlauch, Margaret. “The Dream of the Rood as Prosopopoeia.” Essays and Studies in Honor of Carleton Brown. New York: New York UP, 1949. 23–34. Print.Google Scholar
Scragg, Donald G. Introduction. The Vercelli Homilies and Related Texts. Ed. Scragg, . Oxford: Oxford UP, 1992. xix-lxxxii. Print. Early English Text Soc. Orig. Ser. 300.Google Scholar
Sears, Elizabeth. “Word and Image in Carolingian Carmina Figurata.” World Art: Themes of Unity in Diversity. Ed. Lavin, Irving. Vol. 2. University Park: Penn State UP, 1989. 341–48. Print.Google Scholar
Sisam, Kenneth. Studies in the History of Old English Literature. Oxford: Clarendon, 1962. Print.Google Scholar
Szarmach, Paul E. “The Dream of the Rood as Ekphrasis.” Text, Image, Interpretation: Studies in Anglo-Saxon Literature and Its Insular Context in Honor of Éamonn Ó Carragáin. Ed. Alastair Minnis and Jane Roberts.Google Scholar
Turnhout: Brepols, 2007. 267–88. Print.Google Scholar
Tate, George S. “Chiasmus as Metaphor: The Figura Crucis Tradition and The Dream of the Rood.” Neuphilologische Mitteilungen 79.2 (1978): 114–25. Print.Google Scholar
Teviotdale, E. C. “Latin Verse Inscriptions in Anglo-Saxon Art.” Gesta 35.2 (1996): 99–110. Print.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Treharne, Elaine. “The Form and Function of the Vercelli Book.” Text, Image, Interpretation: Studies in Anglo-Saxon Literature and Its Insular Context in Honor of Éamonn Ó Carragáin. Ed. Minnis, Alastair and Roberts, Jane. Turnhout: Brepols, 2007. 253–66. Print.Google Scholar
Wilcox, Jonathan. “Transmission of Literature and Learning: Anglo-Saxon Scribal Culture.” A Companion to Anglo-Saxon Literature. Ed. Pulsiano, Phillip and Treharne, Elaine. Malden: Blackwell, 2001. 50–70. Print.Google Scholar
Wood, Ian. “Ruthwell: Contextual Searches.” Karkov and Orton 104–30.Google Scholar