Frye views literature as an ongoing conversation; writers respond to each other. Richter explains that for Frye: "Each generation rewrites the stories of the past in ways that make sense for it, recycling a vast tradition over the ages" (641).

In Anatomy of Criticism deals with
modes (myth, legend, mimetic, ironic)
symbols (literal, descriptive, formal)
myths (the quest as it relates to comedy, romance, tragedy, and irony)
genres (lyric, drama, epos, and fiction.

The Archetypes of Literature
Section I.
action    art                wisdom
history    humanities    philosophy
events    criticism        ideas

art---->criticism; this should be a science

nature---->physics, etc.; this is a science

Criticism should have the appearance of a science; right now there is too much junk in literary analysis--to much opinion based on issues of taste rather than some organizing principle of evaluation.
We need principles to distinguish the significant from the meaningless; we need to keep the text/literature in the center.

We can't rely on value judgments that are casual--this is chitchat and pseudo criticism.  We need a systematic approach and we need to consider the reader in a rhetorical sense, but we also have to undertake a structural analysis that assumes an overarching coherence.

Literary criticism can rely on patterns

Section II
A critic's role is to look for connection between the poet and the poem, but there are also unconscious influences and their are myths and symbols that have been inherited.

Two ways to proceed: inductive and deductive

Inductive--look for patterns, make educated guesses
Deductve--look for consequences, look for coherence and try to categorize

There are two ways of thinking about genre:
1) that there is a platonic, pre-existing form
Note: there are archetypes of genres as well as of images

2) that the social conditions produced the work (Gothic, Baroque, etc.).
Literary criticism is the history of ideas; it moves from the analysis of the primitive to the analysis of the sophisticated

Perspective is gained by approaching the text closely and then backing up for perspective; this is induction.

Section III.
This section deals with deductive reasoning, the principle of recurrence
Examination of time and space, narrative and meaning
rhythm=narrative
pattern=meaning

Myths:
dawn, spring
zenith, summer
sunset, autumn,
darkness, winter

Structural approach based on archetypes: flood, sea, etc.
Epiphanies give meaning to these archetypes and wed the dream world and the hero

Visions:
comic
tragic