Northrop Frye (1912-1991) was an influential twentieth-century literary critic and literary theorist. His first book, Fearful Symmetry (1947) led to the reinterpretation of William Blake’s Poetry. His later work, Anatomy of Criticism (1957), was one of the most significant works of literary theory published in the twentieth century.
Nonfiction
Autumn 1951
A Conspectus of Dramatic Genres
The opening words of Aristotle’s Poetics, in the Bywater translation, are as follows: “Our subject being poetry, I propose to speak not only of the art in general but also […]
My Credo: A Symposium of Critics (Continued)
Winter 1951
VII. The Archetypes of Literature
I Every organized body of knowledge can be learned progressively; and experience shows that there is also something progressive about the learning of literature. Our opening sentence has already got […]
Nonfiction
Spring 1950
Levels of Meaning in Literature
The longer one has been familiar with a great work of literature, the more one’s understanding of it grows. It would be hard to formulate a more elementary principle of […]
The Kenyon Review Credos
The Archetypes of Literature
From The Kenyon Review, Winter 1951, Vol. XIII, No. 1 Every organized body of knowledge can be learned progressively; and experience shows that there is also something progressive about the […]