| This dissertation examines five major works in Anglo-Saxon literature dealing with a visionary experience: Bede's presentation of Caedmon's Hymn, Daniel, Elene, Genesis B, and The Dream of the Rood. Each work presents a visionary experience as resulting in an inner change through the transcendent knowledge gained in the dream or vision. Also, that inner change is manifested in a new use of language. As such, the nature, limits, and potential of language are called into consideration, and such issues are expressed in the poetics of each work.;After an introduction outlining the problems and potentials of a dream or vision in Anglo-Saxon England, the first three chapters examine Bede's presentation of Caedmon's Hymn, Daniel, and Elene individually. The three are linked by a common belief in the efficacy of a dream or vision to produce greater Christian belief, and also by the faith that the inner state generated by the visionary experience finds trustworthy expression in language. However, the three works also show increasing tension about how the unity of inner belief and its outer expression in language may be achieved. An increasing level of self-consciousness about the act of composing poetry is thereby made visible in the three works.;In Genesis B and The Dream of the Rood, faith in reconciling an inner vision with its expression in language comes under question in the disparity between knowing through a vision and knowing through language. In Genesis B, the poet expresses Augustinian and Gregorian notions of the Fall in Adam and Eve, respectively. Moreover, Adam's fall is rooted in the devilish Tempter's giving Eve a deceptive vision. Adam's fall occurs through the problems raised when Eve must communicate the vision through language to Adam. In The Dream of the Rood, knowing through language and knowing through a vision are put into conflict in the opening Vision of the poem. Over the course of the poem, the Cross's own language is used to bring the two into harmony through its speech, which culminates in the Dreamer's faith in the coming Judgement Day. |
