The Dream of the Rood is one of the earliest Christian poems in the corpus of Anglo-Saxon literature and an intriguing example of the genre of dream poetry. Like all Old English poetry, it is written in alliterative verse. Rood is from the Anglo-Saxon rod "pole", specifically "crucifix". Preserved in the 10th century Vercelli Book, the poem may be considerably older, even one of the oldest works of Old English literature.
One common interpretation amongst scholars is that the Cross in Dream of the Rood possesses feminine entities. For example, Mary Dockray-Miller has asserted that the Cross is feminine, and shares a close, almost sexual relationship with the ultra-masculine Christ. She argues that "the performances of Christ in the text of The Dream of the Rood construct a masculinity for Christ that is majestic, martial, and specifically heterosexual and that relies on a fragile opposition with a femininity defined as dominated Other" (2.) The fact that the Cross asserts that the Romans tortured "unc butu ætgædere" (us both, together) would suggest a close personal relationship between the Cross and Christ. The poem concludes with the poet's prayer to the Rood that he might enter into the band of Christ's followers. In John Canuteson's text, The Crucifixion and the Second Coming, he interprets the cross to be "angry and afraid-- it wants to fell Christ's enemies, and it shakes when Christ mounts it-- but in everything it exhibits a feminine submission" (295). Further along in his text, Canteson states that the personality of the Cross may be compared to that of the Virgin Mary. The Cross' passive nature toward the will of God further resembles feminine behavior (Canuteson, 294.)