Frye Chapter 2 Flashcards
As soon as we cease to believe in myths, what do they become?
• They become “purely metaphors” part of the language of poetry after they cease to be beliefs
What is the role of literary convention?
• A convention is an accepted way of writing. • Every piece of lit is derived from another piece of lit, not from “nothing” and can be told through a way that is recognizable
What does Frye say about characterization?
- It is highly conventionalized.
* Most characters, places, and personalities can be placed into category
What is Frye trying to convey overall?
• All stories told by humans are generally the same and retold in different times in different settings
What belongs to “one big interlocking family”
• All themes and characters and stories have been told before.
Frye compares Lit to the cycle of nature. Describe this.
- Lit has a lot to do with identifying human world with natural world and finding analogies. = cycles in nature, seasons, night and day, is like human life itself.
- Stories and myths attach themselves to this cycle,
- backbone through human and natural life
What does “hero with a thousand faces” mean?
Every hero goes through the same trials throughout their arch/story and generally always arrives at same place
• loss + regaining of identity
• old myths fade and give place to people like ourselves the same struggle
