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The article offers poetry criticism of the unfinished poem "The Fall of Hyperion: A Dream," by John Keats, focusing on his use of the term wild Indian leaf. It is said that tree leaves were used as paper in India and that Keats would likely have used the word savage to refer to East Indians rather than to Native Americans.

The article discusses the inscriptions on the Ruthwell Cross, which forms part of what has come to be called "The Ruthwell Crucifixion Poem," which was the subject of research by scholar John M. Kemble. The similarities between this poem and "The Dream of the Rood." It is noted that in a paper written in 1840, Kemble failed to identify the speaker of the Ruthwell poem as the Cross. Scholar Pamela O'Neill and her rejection of the idea that the Cross speaks to the dreamer in the Ruthwell poem is discussed.