Numerological and Structural Symbolism in the Auchinleck Stanzaic Guy of Warwick

Abstract

Although numerical symbolism has been recognized as a rich and sophisticated poetic system in the “high” literature of the middle ages, such as Pearl and The Divine Comedy, its use in the Middle English romances is usually misrecognized as evincing formulaic or sub-standard writing. Yet numbers are used in the romances to subtly underscore or evoke deeper meanings, typically binary twos, triplets or other philosophically or theologically meaningful numbers such as five, seven, fifteen or forty. The Auchinleck Stanzaic Guy of Warwick (c. 1330) emphasizes the number three in its tripartite battle sequence and manuscript formatting, and equally uses seven and fifteen as a leitmotif to underscore significant events of trial or joy. Although Guy is meant to suggest the pattern of Christ and not serve as a literary representation, such number patterns are not random or metrical tags but thematically reinforce the poem's homiletic aims.