The Dream of the Rood is a tale that begins with the account of the anonymous author's dream. Within, he beholds a tree – the cross or rood - on which Christ died; then the rood describes Christ's Passion from its point of view. It becomes the central speaker of the story. This implies personification as a literary source, i.e., a feature in which life is given to inanimate objects. The story could be divided into three parts: the vision of the cross, its speech, and the concluding reflections of the dreamer. The author accounts its vision of an extraordinary tree, an enormous and shifting beacon that appears as a perplexing symbol to a visionary in the night. Up to there, the author uses superlatives ("the best of dreams, "brightest of beams") perhaps to try to awe listeners. On the other hand, it is notable the presence of a paradox in the part of the description of the cross because it alternates between being covered with gold and gems and attended by angels (as the Tree of Victory should be) and being covered with blood (as it was an instrument of torture and death). But the blood not only flows over the cross but also out of it, for the Rood itself feels wounded. The Rood tells the story of Christ's Passion from its perspective. The Rood first describes being cut out of the forest by "strong enemies" and raised as gallows. The role of the Cross formulates another interesting paradox: the Cross serves as a faithful retainer, but to obey its Lord, it has to become his slayer. Christ is called a "hero," He wants to enter "that battle," and He anxiously climbs upon the Rood. The Rood trembles but accepts its role in the Crucifixion, doing what is demanded of it despite its inner agony. One more time, the Rood speaks, and now about the pain, it felt from the nails driven into it and of the mocking both it and Christ received. Then Christ dies, though the Rood recognizes that He only "rested there"; the Rood knows (perhaps, though, o...