Northrop Frye

An

Anatomy

of

Criticism

Reading the poetry of William Blake, I

realized that there was a basic

mythology and set of symbols that

supports all Western literature.

A Bit of Background

This theory is presented in Frye’sBook A Fearful Symetry

Four Types of Criticism

Rhetorical

Archetypal

Ethical

Historical

C

Correspondence

Historical

Ethical

Archetypal

Rhetorical

Symbol

Myth

Mode

Genre

Type of Criticism Theory of Literature

HistoricalCriticism:

The Modes of

Literature

PART ONE

Three Aspects of

Mode

A. Elevation of Character (superior, equal, inferior)

B. Historical Period (classical, medieval, renaissance,

modern, contemporary)

C. Content of Narrative (comedy, tragedy, theme)

A. Elevation of Character (superior, equal, inferior)

B. Historical Period (classical, medieval, renaissance,

modern, contemporary)

C. Content of Narrative (comedy, tragedy, theme)

A. Mode as

Elevation of Characterin relation to audience

1. Superior 2. Equal3. Inferior

From Aristotle

B. Mode in Historical Period

Historical

Period

Corresponding

Literary Mode

Primitive, Ancient, Classical

Mythic: creation stories; stories about gods and forces of nature

Medieval Romantic: legend, folklore; epic quests; beast tales; founding of societies

Renaissance High Mimetic: elevated emotional dramas of great people

Modern Low Mimetic: realistic dramas of common people

Contemporary Ironic: narrations of bondage, frustration, and absurdity

General Historical PeriodsPeriod Name

Time Frame

Historical & Literary Exemplars

Ancient to 500 BC Development of the Fertile Crescent; the myths of Egypt, Israel, & Greece (Homer & Hesiod, The Bible)

Classical 500 BC to 400 AD

Athenian City State, The Greek and Roman Empires; Greek Drama (Aeschylus, Sophocles) & Philosophy (Plato); Aesop; Sappho; Roman Poetry (Virgil, Ovid), Neo-Platonic Allegory & Christian Apologetic & Apocalyptic (The Gospels, Plotinus, Boethius, Augustine)

Dark Ages 400 to 800

Medieval 800 to 1400

Feudalism & Christendom; Charlemagne’s Frankish Kingdom; Epic and Lyrical Poetry; Beowulf, The Song of Roland, Troubadour Poems; Grail Legends, Celtic Folklore; Norse epic The Nibelungenlied; Dante, Divine Comedy; Chaucer, Canterbury Tales

Renaissance 1400 to 1650

Formation of European Nation States; Neo-Classicism; Drama and Poetry (Spencer, Shakespeare, Cervantes, Ronsard, Racine, Moliere, Petrarch, Boccacio, Milton)

Modern 1650 to 1900

Revolution; Literary Movements; Romantic Poetry & the Rise of the Novel; Romantic (Blake, Byron, Chateaubriand, Goethe, Hawthorne, Poe); Victorian (Dickens, Austen); Realist (Hardy, Flaubert, Melville); Russian (Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky)

Contemporary – Post Modern

1900 to Present

The World Wars; Decadence, Symbolism, Existentialism, Deconstruction (Huysmans, Rimbaud, Wilde, Eliot, Pound, Joyce, Proust, Mann, Camus, Faulkner, Hemingway, Kerouac, Pynchon)

C. Mode as

Content of Narrative

1. TRAGEDY2. COMEDY3. THEME

ModeHistorical Period

crossed with Elevation of Character

Historical Mode

Character Relative Power of Character

Mythic God superior in kind to persons and nature

Romantic Hero/King superior in degree to persons and nature

High Mimetic King/Leader superior in degree to persons but not nature

Low Mimetic Person powers common to humanity

Ironic Non-Person excluded from human society

ModeHistorical Period Crossed with Content of

Narrative

Historical Mode

Tragic Form

Comic Form

Thematic Form

Mythic Dionysian

Apollonian

Romantic Elegian Idyllic

High Mimetic

Cathartic Cathartic

Low Mimetic

PatheticNew

Comedy

Ironic Tragic Isolation

Ironic Comedy

The Tragic Modes Defined

Modal Category

TYPE of TRAGEDY

Description/

Feeling Communicated

Mythical Dionysiac death agony of a god; passing of spirit out of nature

Romantic Elegiac melancholy; passing of time of heroes

High Mimetic Cathartic purgation of union of pity & fear

Low Mimetic Pathetic(domestic tragedy)

pity & fear communicated externally; sentimental sadness; reaction to injustice

Ironic Tragic Isolation

pity without moralizations; sadness without identification

The Comic Modes DefinedModal

CategoryType of Comedy

Description/ Feeling

Communicated

Myth Apollonian Hero accepted by a society of gods

Romance Idyllic Hero realizes an idealized life in the country

High Mimetic

Cathartic (social comedy)

Hero constructs his own society in the face of adversity

Low

Mimetic

New Comedy (domestic comedy)

A new society forms around an ostracized poor man or degraded woman

Ironic Ironic Comedy Play at human sacrifice (inversion of the pharmakos)

The Continuum of Ironic Comedy

• Recognition of the absurdity of Melodrama• Sentimental comedy without humor

• Parody of Melodrama• Defines the enemy as a spirit within the society

• Attack on Melodrama• Scold audiences for desire for sentiment

• Melodramatic• Hissing at an unbelievable villain• Regularizing of mob violence• Propagandistic

Satire

Comedy of Manners

PART TWO

Ethical Criticism:

The Theory

of Symbols

The Theory of Symbols

Kind of Writing (Phase)

Kind of Symbol

1 Literal/Descriptive Motif & Sign

2 Formal Image

3 Mythical Archetype

4 Anagogic Monad

Mimesis:The Imitation of Nature

In the Formal Phase

In the Mythical Phase

Nature Represented

as a

Structure

Nature Represented

as a

Process

Notes on Formal Criticism

• FC begins with distinctive patterns of repeated images

• Writers imitate the use of images in their predecessors

• FC identifies conventions – the repetition of kinds of images

PART THREE

Archetypal Criticism

Theory of Myths

WINTER

FALL

SUMMER

SPRING

Mythical Narrative:Two Movements

CyclicalAscending

• From Nature •to the Apocalyptic World

• Within Nature • Demonic

Types of Mythical Imagery

Apocalyptic Demonic

UNDISPLACED

DISPLACED

Analogy of Innocence

Analogy of Nature and Reason

Analogyof Experience

Concrete Universals

Objects that structure identities among categories and between all things within a category

Apocalyptic Imagery

Images of Heaven in Literature

• categories of reality

• as of objects of desire

• in a form they take under the work of human civilization

Patterns of Identity in Apocalyptic Imagery

WORLD SOCIETY INDIVIDUAL

DIVINE Pantheon One god

HUMAN Community One person

ANIMAL Flock One lamb

VEGATABLE Garden, Farm or Park

One tree

MINERAL City One building or one stone

PART FOUR

Rhetorical Criticism

Theory of Genres

Structural Definition of Rhetoric

Rhetoric is the middle term …

between

LogicGrammar

• Syntax• Form• Physical medium

• Semantics/ Meaning• Theme• Idea

&

Per se Definition of Rhetoric

The Aesthetic Quality of Language• The look and sound of language

• The non-cognitive affect of language

The Radical of Representation

The radical of representation is the idealized relation between author and audience.

Difference in genre relies not on topical considerations (science fiction, romance, mystery), nor in length (e.g. epics are long, lyrics are short), but in the radical of representation.

Dual Purpose of Rhetoric

Relation to Literary Purpose

1. Ornamental Language

Fiction – the creation of a hypothetical verbal structure; the for its own sake of literature

2. Persuasive Language

Applied Literature -- The use of literary art to reenforce the power of argument

The Four Genres

1. Epos - Author speaks directly to audience (e.g. story telling, formal speech).

2. Fiction - Author and audience are hidden from each other (e.g. most novels).

3. Drama - Author is hidden from the audience; audience experiences content directly.

4. Lyric - Audience is "hidden" from author; that is, the speaker is "overheard" by hearers.