Category:Diptychs in Medieval Literature

In literary terms, a diptych is a single work made into multiple parts which, although penned by the same author, are written distinctly enough so that they appear as though they could have been written by multiple authors. Often, this refers to the tone of the work. In the case of poetry, the number of stanzas and where they break are almost always the determining factors.

Although a diptych is also a physical object, the literary term diptych has been used to describe multiple medieval poems and literary works since it was popularized by A.C. Spearing in his 1981 critique the Awntyrs Off Arthure.

A year after Spearing first suggested that the was comparable to a diptych, he revisited this idea in Central and Displaced Sovereignty in Three Medieval Poems. In this critique, Spearing restates his initial view that The Awntyrs off Arthure was  comparable to a diptych. He further states that he believes Golagros and Gawane to also be written in the same diptych style. This is not surprising as it later came to be believed that these two works could have been written by the same hand. Spearing goes on to to say “I also suggest that such diptych structures are not uncommon in medieval narratives.” Spearing takes a step outside of Arthurian legend and states that he believes the story of Ceyx and Alcyone from Chaucer's Book of the Duchess as well as the biblical poem Patience were written as diptychs. Mainly, this is to support his argument that Awntyrs Off Arthure and Golagros and Gawane were both intentionally written in the diptych style. Spearing also hints, but does not specifically state, that Sir Gawain and the Green Knight also written as a diptych.



In 1991, Dr. Britton J. Harwood wrote an article entitled Pearl as Diptych in support of the idea that Pearl was written in the diptych style and also discussed the possible influence that other diptych style narrative may have had on Pearl.



According to Colin Wilcockson, in the Opening of Chaucer's General Prologue to The Canterbury Tales: A Diptych, “St. Erkenwald is a classic diptych poem” as is the opening of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.

Wilcockson goes so far as to point out the equal division of the poem as denoted by the fact that there are only two words with large capital letters and they are the first word in the poem and the first word in the line at the very center of the poem.



In Dr. Elisa M. Narin van Court's entry on Cliges in the Encyclopedia of Medieval Literature she said she believes that diptychs became common among 13th century romances. Furthermore, she states that Cliges, for it's part, “suggests a tripart or triptych structure.” Before any of these opinions can be fairly analyzed it is imperative to step back and take a look at who the sources are. At the time of both of Spearing's articles were written, he had already been an English professor at Cambridge University for over 20 years. Carol Fewster wrote her book Traditionality and Genre in Middle English Romance while at Cambridge University. Her book has become a solid resource for many dissertations on Medieval Literature. Dr. Britton J. Harwood was a professor at Oxford University when he wrote Pearl as Diptych. Colin Wilcockson was initially educated at Oxford and had attained a Fellowship at Cambridge 15 years before he wrote Opening of Chaucer's General Prologue to The Canterbury Tales: A Diptych. Concerning Dr. Elisa Narin van Court, she was educated at Berkeley and had taught and Stanford for years prior to writing her portion of the Encylopedia of Medieval Literature in 2006.

Each of these scholars has a solid background, and is well qualified to offer an opinion on diptych in Medieval Literature. Most assuredly, this is not a complete list scholars who have adopted this idea (at least to some degree. However, it bears noting that most of the scholars referenced here are from Oxford or Cambridge, and one of them is from both. It is quite possible that despite it's growing popularity, the idea that some medieval works were intentionally created to resemble diptychs is a still not widely accepted.

Now that the sources have been covered, it is time to examine the works themselves, starting with the Arthurian legends. First, by rights, is the Awntyrs Off Arthure. The author (or perhaps even authors) is unknown. This poem is comprised of 55 thirteen-line stanzas. The story of the apparition is contained in 26 stanzas, and the story of Sir Galeron is contained in 27. If one excluded the last two stanzas from the count (as they are merely a description of the outcomes of the two stories) one will notice that the Awntyrs Off Arthure evenly (or as evenly as an odd number can be split.) Also worthy of note, is the change between the foreboding tone of the story of the apparition and the slightly more upbeat story of adventure regarding Sir Gawain and Sir Galeron.

The next work, Golagros and Gawane, is similarly split into two parts. The first part being King Arthur's adventures on his way to the Holy Land while accompanied by all of his knights. Mostly this part of the story is about Sir Kay's failure to obtain provisions for King Arthur's men by use of force, and Sir Gawain's ability to use diplomacy to smooth other Sir Kay's indiscretion and even allow for days of feasting for King Arthur and his men. The second part of the story consists of King Arthur's return from the holy Land in which he stops at Sir Golagros' castle and besiege. He does this because it is well know that Sir Golgaros pays homage to no one, and King Arthur has determined Sir Golgaros should pay homage to him.



A very classic Arthurian myth is the tale of ''Sir Gwain and the Green Knight. ''This story could be divided into two sections, with the first being before Sir Gawain leaves King Arthur's court to find the Green Knight at the Green Chapel, and the second part being after Sir Gawain leaves and the adventures that follow.



Chrétien's Cligès is the last distinctly Arthurian tale mentioned here. Most commonly, this work is seen to be divided between the story of Alexander's adventures (Alexander is Cligès father) and the story of Cligès' adventures. Despite the fact that Cligès comes from seven manuscripts, as well as bits and fragments from other sources, it is believed to be composed of 6664 octosyllables in rhymed couplets. Although, the stories are not split evenly among these lines, there is a definitive change in the work between Alexander being the main character and the switch to Cligès. Although Squyr of Lowe Degre is not an Arthurian legend, it is still a medieval romance filled with kings, knights, and courtly behavior, and thus can easily be likened to Arthurian Legend. The first part of this triptych revolves around a squire and his falling in love with a princess and her him. She expressed to him that he needs to go on a journey to get the king's permission for them to wed (lines 1-488). The second section is when the squire suffers imprisonment for false accusations over the death of a steward (lines 489-858). The poem ends with the final component of the squire being released by the king and being allowed to undertake his journey. The king also tests his daughter's love for the squire and in the end, after the squire's seven year journey, they are finally wed (lines 859-1132).

As for the Canterbury Tales, the Book of the Duchess, St. Erkenwald, Pearl, and Patience, these are not Arthurian Legend and will not be delved into in any great detail other than to say that given they too are medieval works, and they may have had some influence on the Arthurian literature mention previously.

Some historians believe that the Awntyrs Off Arthure and  Golagros and Gawane were written by the same person. It is known that Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Pearl, and Patience were written by the same person who is known as the Pearl Poet. It is argued by some that the Pearl Poet also wrote St. Erkenwald. Like many others, original author of the Squyr of Lowe Degre is completely anonymous. It is very well known that Geoffrey Chaucer wrote the Canterbury Tales and the Book of the Duchess. And Chrétien is the definitive author of Cligès.

Speaking solely in terms of the medieval works mentioned here (and assuming all of them are intentionally written in the diptych style), there are at most seven authors who adopted this concept at some time and perhaps as little as four. Certainly, many of the pieces referenced here are definitive works of medieval literature, and they must have had some influence on other people's work at the time. However, without knowing for sure how many authors we are discussing, not to mention not knowing how many authors of this kind there were total back in those days, it is nearly impossible to define the diptych structure as an actual trend in medieval literature.