For Educational Purpose

1. The Cyclical Pattern of
the Four Mythos of
Northrop Frye

2. Prepared by Gayatri Nimavat
Roll no. : 6
M.A semester 2 Batch : 2022-24
Paper 109: Literary Theory and Criticism and
Indian Aesthetics
Email id: gayatrinimavat128@gmail.com
Enrollment no. : 4069206420220019
Submitted to Department of English,MKBU

3. Road Map of Presentation
Introduction
About Author
The Methos of
Archetypal
Imagery Structure of
Methos
Spring
Summer
Autumn
winter
Answer by
ChatGPT
Conclusion
Work Citation
1
2 3 4
5

4. Introduction
Mythos is the Greek word (Aristotle’s favored word) for “story” or “plot.”
Frye divides stories into four categories or parts of the Cycle of Mythoi: comedy (the
mythos of spring), romance (the mythos of summer), tragedy (the mythos of autumn),
and irony/satire (the mythos of winter).
The third essay "Archetypal Criticism: A Theory of Myths" is devoted to myths or, as Frye
says, mythoi, to remind you especially of Aristotle's first element, mythos or plot. This
essay traces out four easily typical, opposing myths, tragic and comical, romantic and
ironic, which, when Frye is finished, may have exhausted the enter possible plots of
literature. The structure when of this essay is also the most elaborate in , and the
book.(Rockas)

5. About Author
Herman Northrop Frye was born in July 14, 1912, Sherbrook,
Canada, and died in Jan. 23, 1991, Toronto. He was a
Canadian educator and literary critic who wrote much on
Canadian literature and culture and became best known as one
of the most important literary theorists of the 20th century.
He is famous for his masterpiece “Anatomy of Criticism: Four
Essays” This four essays are titled "Historical Criticism: Theory of
Modes", "Ethical Criticism: Theory of Symbols", "Archetypal
Criticism: A Theory of Myths", and "Rhetorical Criticism: Theory
of Genres."
Notable Works:
“Anatomy of Criticism: Four Essays”
“Fearful Symmetry: A Study of William Blake”

6. The Mythos of Archetypal Imagery
Frye’s major concern here is to make explicit the structures of archetypal imagery
from the perspective of mythos.
within the several cycles, Frye observes four main phases: (Denham)
Seasons of the year: Spring Summer Fall Winter
Periods of the day: Morning Noon Evening Night
Aspects of water: Rains Fountains Rivers Sea, snow
Periods of life: Youth Maturity Old age Death

7. The fourfold division has important consequences for the subsequent structure of
Frye’s argument. Schematically, the cyclical paradigm is located within the order of
nature, whereas the dialectical one moves from the order of nature toward or into the
higher apocalyptic realm.
The existence of these broad cyclical and dialectical movements within mythos leads
Frye to conclude that there are “narrative categories of literature broader than, or
logically prior to, the ordinary literary genres” (Frye: “Anatomy of Criticism”).
He calls these pregeneric elements mythoi, another fundamental distinction in Frye’s
master design, for the cyclical and dialectical movements of mythoi underlie the
entire second half of Anatomy of Criticism. In terms of the origin of his most basic
categories, mythoi derive ultimately from poetic imagery or, more accurately, from
the movement of poetic imagery which is a part of our experience of literature.
Frye’s method of argument at this point is based upon the similarities of “movement”
between the seven categories of reality and the cyclical and dialectical processes of
archetypes. Cyclically, the analogy produces four mythoi: comedy, romance,
tragedy, and irony or satire (this latter also called “realism”). Dialectically, it produces
an upward and downward movement between innocence and experience,
apocalypse and nature, the ideal and the actual, the comic and the tragic. (Denham)

8. The quadrantal and cyclic pattern of the four mythoi and the dialectical arrangement of the
mythical and realistic worlds, provides only the skeletal outline for Frye’s taxonomy. The
mythos of archetypes is a complex theory, the fullest and most elaborately conceived section
of the Anatomy. While it accounts for but one-half of Frye’s theory of archetypes, it comprises
practically one-fourth of the entire book. The elaborateness of its design results chiefly from
the theory of phases, the word referring in this context to the variety of literary structures
which can be isolated in any one mythos. Frye is able to discover six phases for each of the
pregeneric mythoi; this yields, of course, twenty-four separate structures.
The argument is made more complex, however, by the fact that adjacent mythoi tend to
merge. “If we think of our experience of these mythoi,” Frye says, “we shall realize that they
form two opposed pairs. Tragedy and comedy contrast rather than blend, and so do romance
and irony, the champions respectively of the ideal and actual. On the other hand, comedy
blends insensibly into satire at one extreme and into romance at the other; romance maybe
comic or tragic; tragic extends from high romance to bitter and ironic realism” (Frye:
“Anatomy of Criticism”).
To this should be added the fourth possible relation, namely, that irony merges insensibly into
tragedy and comedy. (Denham)

9. The procedure used to define each of the mythoi—comedy, romance, tragedy, and irony and satire, follows
a similar pattern throughout and derives from Frye’s attempt to answer three questions:
1. What is the structure of each mythos?
2. What are the typical characters of each?
3. What are the six phases within each category? (Denham)
“In drama, characterization depends on function; what a character is follows from what he has to do in
the play. Dramatic function in its turn depends on the structure of the play; the character has certain
things to do because the play has such and such a shape. The structure of the play in its turn depends on
the category of the play; if it is a comedy, its structure will require a comic resolution and a prevailing
comic mood.” (Frye: “Anatomy of Criticism”).
The main presupposition in this passage is that pregeneric categories like comedy and tragedy do exist,
their existence depending, as we have observed, on Frye’s analogical and dialectical arguments. The next
assumption is that this general category will determine the resolution and mood of a given work. Together
these constitute its structure, which is the central concept Frye uses to discuss the typical form of each
mythos. Character, finally, in Frye’s Aristotelian argument, does not determine structure but is determined
by it. (Denham)

10. Structure of Mythos
The analysis of the archetypal structure of the mythoi is based on two of the four typical
patterns that Frye isolates: his treatment of comedy and romance. The normal pattern for
comedy, he says, comes from the “plot structure of Greek New Comedy, as transmitted by
Plautus and Terence. . . . What normally happens is that a young man wants a young woman,
that his desire is resisted by some opposition, usually paternal, and that near the end of the
play some twist in the plot enables the hero to have his will” (Frye: “Anatomy of
Criticism”).
The top half of the natural cycle is the world of romance and the analogy of innocence; the
lower half is the world of "realism" and the analogy of experience. There are thus four main
types of mythical movement: within romance, within experience, down, and up. The
downward movement is the tragic movement, the wheel of fortune falling from innocence
toward hamartia, and from hamartia to catastrophe. The upward movement is the comic
movement, from threatening complications to a happy ending and a general assumption of
post-dated innocence in which everyone lives happily ever after. In Dante the upward
movement is through purgatory. (Frye: “Anatomy of Criticism”)

11. Cyclical and dialectical pattern of the four mythoi.

12. Spring (Comedy)
The dawn, spring, and birth phase. Myths of the birth of the hero, of revival and
resurrection, of creation and (because the four phases are a cycle) of the defeat of the
powers of darkness, winter and death. Subordinate characters: the father and the
mother. The archetype of romance and of most dithyrambic and rhapsodic poetry.
(Frye:”The Archetypes of Literature”).
“It will be most convenient to work out the theory of comic construction from drama,
using illustrations from fiction only incidentally. What normally happens is that a young
man wants a young woman, that his desire is resisted by some opposition, usually
paternal, and that near the end of the play some twist in the plot enables the hero to
have his will. In this simple pattern there are several complex elements. In the first
place, the movement of comedy is usually a movement from one kind of society to
another. At the beginning of the play the obstructing characters are in charge of the
play's society, and the audience recognizes that they are usurpers. At the end of the
play the device in the plot that brings hero and heroine together causes a new society
to crystallize around the hero, and the moment when this crystallization occurs is the
point of resolution in the action, the comic discovery, anagnorisis or cognitio.”(Frye:
“Anatomy of Criticism”)

13. Summer (Romance)
The zenith, summer, and marriage or triumph phase. Myths of apotheosis, of the sacred
marriage, and of entering into Paradise. Subordinate characters: the companion and the
bride. The archetype of comedy, pastoral, and idyll. (Frye:”The Archetypes of Literature”)
Frye gives literary form to the romance, the quest. The complete form of the romance is
clearly the successful quest, and such a completed form has three main stages: the stage
of the perilous journey and the preliminary minor adventures; the crucial struggle, usually
some kind of battle in which either the hero or his foe, or both, must die; and the
exaltation of the hero. We may call these three stages respectively, using Greek terms,
the agon or conflict, the pathos or death-struggle, and the anagnorisis or discovery, the
recognition of the hero, who has clearly proved himself to be a hero even if he does not
survive the conflict. The story of Adam and Eve in Eden has thus a canonical position for
poets in our tradition whether they believe in its historicity or not. The reason for the
greater profundity of canonical myth is not solely tradition, but the result of the greater
degree of metaphorical identification that is possible is myth. In literary criticism the myth
is normally the metaphorical key to the displacements of romance, hence the importance
of the quest-myth of the Bible in what follows. (Frye: “Anatomy of Criticism”)

14. Autumn (Tragedy)
The sunset, autumn, and death phase. Myths of fall, of the dying god, of violent
death and sacrifice and of the isolation of the hero. Subordinate characters: the
traitor and the siren. The archetype of tragedy and elegy. (Frye:”The Archetypes
of Literature”)
Thanks as usual to Aristotle, the theory of tragedy is in considerably better shape
than the other three mythoi, and we can deal with it more briefly, as the ground is
more familiar. Like comedy, tragedy is best and most easily studied in drama, but it is
not confined to drama, nor to actions that end in disaster. Plays that are usually
called or classified with tragedies end in serenity, like Cymbeline, or even joy, like
Alcestis or Racine's Esther, or in an ambiguous mood that is hard to define, like
Philoctetes. On the other hand, while a predominantly sombre mood forms part of the
unity of the tragic structure, concentrating on mood does not intensify the tragic
effect: if it did, Titus Andronicus might well be the most powerful of Shakespeare's
tragedies. The source of tragic effect must be sought, as Aristotle pointed out, in the
tragic mythos or plot-structure. (Frye: “Anatomy of Criticism”)

15. Winter (Irony and Satire)
The darkness, winter, and dissolution phase. Myths of the triumph of these powers;
myths of floods and the return of chaos, of the defeat of the hero. Subordinate
characters: the ogre and the witch. The archetype of satire (the conclusion of The
Dunciad).(Frye:”The Archetypes of Literature”)
The chief distinction between irony and satire is that satire is militant irony: its moral norms
are relatively clear, and it assumes standards against which the grotesque and absurd are
measured. Sheer invective or name-calling ("flyting") is satire in which there is relatively little
irony: on the other hand, whenever a reader is not sure what the author's attitude is or what
his own is supposed to be, we have irony with relatively little satire. Fielding's Jonathan Wild
is satiric irony: certain flat moral judgements made by the narrator (as in the description of
Bagshot in chapter twelve) are in accord with the decorum of the work, but would be out of
key in, say. Madame Bovary. Irony is consistent both with complete realism of content and
with the suppression of attitude on the part of the author. Satire demands at least a token
fantasy, a content which the reader recognizes as grotesque, and at least an implicit moral
standard, the latter being essential in a militant attitude to experience. Some phenomena,
such as the ravages of disease, may be called grotesque, but to make fun of them would not
be very effective satire. (Frye: “Anatomy of Criticism”)

16. The Cyclical Pattern of the Four Mythos of Northrop Frye - ChatGPT
Northrop Frye, a Canadian literary critic, identified four mythoi or narrative archetypes that he believed to be
the basis of all literature. These mythoi are:
1. The Mythos of Spring: The mythos of spring is associated with rebirth, new beginnings, and the
restoration of life. This mythos is often represented through stories of resurrection, such as the
Christian story of Easter or the myth of Persephone.
2. The Mythos of Summer: The mythos of summer is associated with growth, abundance, and the
fulfillment of potential. This mythos is often represented through stories of heroism and achievement,
such as the stories of Hercules or King Arthur.
3. The Mythos of Autumn: The mythos of autumn is associated with decline, loss, and the passage of
time. This mythos is often represented through stories of tragedy and the inevitability of death, such
as the Shakespearean play Macbeth.
4. The Mythos of Winter: The mythos of winter is associated with darkness, chaos, and the unknown.
This mythos is often represented through stories of mystery and transformation, such as the story of
Snow White.

17. According to Frye, these four mythoi form a cyclical pattern, with each mythos transitioning
into the next in a repeating sequence. The mythos of spring represents the beginning of the
cycle, with new life emerging from the darkness of winter. The mythos of summer represents
the fullness of life, with heroes achieving greatness and fulfilling their potential. The mythos
of autumn represents the decline of life, with tragic endings and the inevitability of death.
Finally, the mythos of winter represents a return to darkness and chaos, as the cycle begins
anew.
Frye believed that these mythoi were not only present in literature, but were also
fundamental to human psychology and the way we understand the world around us. By
understanding these archetypes and the cyclical pattern they form, Frye believed that we

18. Conclusion
Literature is viewed as emerging out of a core of myth,
and as a “system” based on “recurrent patterns”.
These parameters were also reflected in other
contemporary movements such as Structuralism and
Jungian concept of the “collective unconscious”. Frye
argued that literature drew upon genres such as
romance (summer), tragedy (autumn), irony/satire
(winter) and comedy (spring).

19. Works Cited
Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Northrop Frye". Encyclopedia Britannica, 19 Jan. 2023,
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Northrop-Frye. Accessed 10 March 2023.
Denham, Robert D. “Northrop Frye and Critical Method: Theory of Myths.” macblog,
https://macblog.mcmaster.ca/fryeblog/critical-method/theory-of-myths.html. Accessed 14 March
2023.
Frye, Northrop. Anatomy of Criticism: Four Essays. Princeton University Press, 2000.
Frye, Northrop. “The Archetypes of Literature.” The Kenyon Review, vol. 13, no. 1, 1951, pp. 92–110. JSTOR,
http://www.jstor.org/stable/4333216. Accessed 14 Mar. 2023.
Rockas, Leo. “The Structure of Frye’s Anatomy.” College English, vol. 28, no. 7, 1967, pp. 501–07. JSTOR,
https://doi.org/10.2307/374433. Accessed 13 Mar. 2023.

20. Thank You