Wednesday, December 10, 2008

A more detailed Frye diagram

Tragic Myth: mythic tragedy relates to the death of a god (The Bible or the Crucifixion of Achilles)

Comic Myth: Mythic comedy shows a hero's struggle into world, society, or realm of the gods (Hercules)

Thematic Myth: literature that contains and claims divine word and inspiration (The Bible, The Koran)

Tragic Romance: romantic tragedy can be seen in elegies for the death of heroes ("Elegy on the death of Gen Montgomery" by Ann Eliza Bleecker)

Comic Romance: romantic comedy is placed within a pastoral or idyllic setting and shows an integration of the hero with a romaniticized form of nature (Pride and Prejudice, William Wordsworth's "The Solitary Reaper"

Thematic Romance: literature that focused on deeds, charms, proverbs,... of the gods that is left up to a nomadic society to chronicle

High Mimetic Tragedy:High Mimetic Tragedy focuses on the death of someone who is noble (Oedipus Rex)

High Mimetic Comedy: High Mimetic Comedy shows a strong central figure who gains riches and honer through force (Knight stories, The Hobbit)

High Mimetic Thematic: literature dealing with a society that is built around epic events in a nation as well as being centered around a capital city (stories about Troy and Trojan War)

Low Mimetic Tragedy: Low Mimetic Tragedy reveals the death of a "common man" while appealing to people's emotions (obituaries, Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman."

Low Mimetic Comedy: Low Mimetic Comedy follows a hero/heroine on their path to social elevation and often ends in marriage. (any boy meets girl movie...)

Low Mimetic Thematic: literature that tends toward individualism and romanticism and is written based on the writer's thoughts and ideas as well as their experiences (today's poems, Psalm 23)

Ironic Tragedy: Ironic Tragedy shows the suffering or death of one who is considered low and pathetic in society (Macbeth, Don Quixote)

Ironic Comedy: Ironic Comedy often reveals the plight of a helpless victim inflicted with pain by others who watch with pleasure *catharsis* (John Coffey in the Green Mile, Don Quixote)

Thematic Irony: this is where the poet is more of an observer rather than an authority and the writing tends to emphasize discontinuity and anti-epiphany ("The Waste Land" by T.S. Eliot)

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