Old English manuscript poetry, including the text that we now callThe Wanderer, remains close to its oral roots in its reliance on audible structures and traditional expressions, in its fluid relationship to other compositions and in its anonymity. It is not oral, however, and its existence in a manuscript is more than a physical fact. This change in medium has begun to affect the poetry's semiotics. Having lost the social context of oral performance, the poet attempts to provide a viewpoint in other ways. But this manuscript presentation does not share all the workings of a modern printed composition.
The stylistic disjunctions in The Dream of the Rood are not a new topic. They have been treated explicitly and implicitly for many years from several different points of view. The most frequently noted disjunction occurs at line 78 where the cross, having completed its eye-witness account of the crucifixion, commences a homily explaining the significance of its experience. But there are others as well: at 27 where the poet switches personae from dreamer to cross, at 121 where the dreamer again becomes the speaker to describe his personal reaction to his vision and at 147 where the poet begins an impersonal magnification of Christ which concludes the poem.
interpretations that would more fully acknowledge the importance of literary works that document repeatedly and across a number of genres how disguise allows a displacement of the woman's body, a temporary wandering out of its assigned cultural context, which might significantly alter the parameters of that mold. As it stands, Clothes Make theMan provides a useful point of departure for readers wishing to think further about the substantial implications that female cross dressing holds for feminist medieval studies.
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