Note to Anon Lil 99VII
[All]: Vb and 41 8°ˣ conclude the drápa with the first helmingr of this st. followed by the two stef (‘Æfinliga . . . þinni’ and ‘Sé þér dýrð . . . aldri’). Hill 1970 detects a triangular pattern within the circular structure of the poem: Christ is born in st. 33, the Atonement is completed in st. 66, and the poem ends in st. 99. The naming of the poem in st. 98 highlights this triple-duple, triangular-circular pattern (see Note to st. 98/8). Hill sees in the conflation of the two numerical patterns (a circular one based on 100 and a triangular one based on ninety-nine), ‘the emblem of the circular triangle ... frequently used as an emblem of the Trinity’ (1970, 564-5). He cites as analogues a passage from the Roman de la Rose (de Lorris and de Meun 1914-25, ll. 19124-45; de Lorris and de Meun 1962, 405-6) and a Nativity hymn attributed to Philippe de Grꜵves (AH 20, 88) in support of this view.
References
- Bibliography
- AH = Dreves, G. M., C. Blume and H. M. Bannister, eds. 1886-1922. Analecta hymnica medii aeui. 55 vols. Leipzig: Reisland. Rpt. 1961. New York: Johnson.
- Hill, Thomas D. 1970. ‘Number and patterns in Lilja’. JEGP 69, 516-7.
- de Lorris, Guillaume, and Jean de Meun. 1962. The Romance of the Rose. Trans. Harry W. Robbins. Ed. Charles W. Dunn. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press.