Knowra Northrop Frye Northrop Frye Northrop Frye was a Canadian literary critic whose theories connected literary genres, recurring myths, and archetypes in a systematic account of literature.
Anatomy of Criticism : Northrop Frye’s 1957 book presents a systematic theory of literary criticism organized around modes, symbols, myths, and genres. This is Frye’s central work and the fullest statement of his critical system.
Theory of modes : Frye’s account of literary heroes, classified by their power in relation to ordinary people and their environment. The modes show how Frye distinguishes kinds of literary action by a hero’s capacity.
Edwin Muir : A Scottish poet, translator, and critic whose writings on myth and literature influenced twentieth-century criticism. Muir’s account of myth helped shape Frye’s early thinking about literary patterns.
William Blake: A Study : Northrop Frye’s 1947 study of William Blake, presenting Blake’s writings as a unified imaginative system. The book launched Frye’s reputation and developed methods later expanded in his general theory.
New Criticism : A twentieth-century approach that analyzes literary works through close attention to their language, structure, and internal tensions. Frye sought a general theory of literature, while New Critics typically centered interpretation on individual works.
Literary archetype : A recurring character, image, plot, or situation that carries recognizable meaning across literary works. Frye treated recurring archetypes as evidence of literature’s shared symbolic patterns.
Theory of symbols : Frye’s account of how words and images function as symbols at different levels of literary interpretation. This part of his system traces how literary images acquire meaning within works and conventions.
William Blake : An English poet and artist whose visionary works combine symbolic mythology, political ideas, and religious imagery. Frye’s first major study established Blake as a coherent poet with an organized mythic vision.
Harold Bloom : An American literary critic known for theories of poetic influence and a wide-ranging canon of literature. Bloom admired Frye’s systematic criticism while developing a contrasting theory centered on poetic rivalry.
Marxist literary criticism : An approach that studies literature in relation to class, material conditions, and social power. Frye’s emphasis on literary conventions differs from Marxist criticism’s focus on social and economic forces.
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