EMULATION OF THE DIVINE IN DREAM VISION POETRY: THE DREAM OF THE ROOD ȘI A SAYINGE OF THE NYGHTYNGALE
EMULATION OF THE DIVINE IN DREAM VISION POETRY: THE DREAM OF THE ROOD ȘI A SAYINGE OF THE NYGHTYNGALE

Summary/Abstract: The mark of dream vision literature is the interiorisation of the knowledge disclosed by revelation through the direct experience of the dreamer. And when the epiphany is a religious one, this experience gains the sense of „devout imagination‖. Given the privilege to witness fabulous places or events occulted to other mortals and to gain access to divine knowledge, the receiver of religious revelation emerges from the dream radically transformed by this empathetic interation with divinity, captured by reverence before the outstanding example of Christ, inspired to introspection and self-improvement and fueled by the desire to share the knowledge and imprint the same sentiments upon his audiences. This study analyses the theme of emulation of the divine in two medieval dream vision poems – the anonymous The Dream of the Roodand John Lydgate'sA Sayinge of the Nyghtyngale, representative in English literature for the contemplation of the pivotal Christian myth of Jesus's crucifixion - through the relation between dreamer and reader.

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