A literary cycle is a group of stories focused on common figures, often (though not necessarily) based on mythical figures or loosely on historical ones. Cycles which deal with an entire country are sometimes referred to as matters. A fictional cycle is often referred to as a
mythos
Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narrati ...
.
Examples from folk and classical literature
* The
Anansi
Anansi ( ; literally translates to ''spider'') is an Akan folktale character and the Akan God of Stories, Wisdom, Knowledge, and possibly creation. The form of a spider is the most common depiction of Anansi. He is also, sometimes considered t ...
tales, which center on the Ashanti of Ghana trickster spider-spirit Anansi, and its variations in the Americas as
Ti Malice and Bouki
Ti Malice is a trickster character and nemesis of Tonton (Uncle) Bouki in Haitian folklore. While Ti Malice is smart and guileful, Uncle Bouki is hardworking but is also very greedy. It is the manipulation of this greed that allows Ti Malice to of ...
in Haiti,
Br'er Rabbit
Br'er Rabbit (an abbreviation of ''Brother Rabbit'', also spelled Brer Rabbit) is a central figure in an oral tradition passed down by African-Americans of the Southern United States and African descendants in the Caribbean, notably Afro-Bahami ...
or John and Old Master in the
Southern United States
The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...
.
* The tales of the
One Thousand and One Nights, brought together by the
frame story of the tale of
Scheherazade
Scheherazade () is a major female character and the storyteller in the frame narrative of the Middle Eastern collection of tales known as the '' One Thousand and One Nights''.
Name
According to modern scholarship, the name ''Scheherazade'' de ...
and
Shahryār
This is a list of characters in ''One Thousand and One Nights'' ( ''The Arabian Nights''), the classic, medieval collection of Middle-Eastern folk tales.
Characters in the frame story Scheherazade
Scheherazade or Shahrazad ( fa, شهرزاد} ...
.
* The four
troubadour
A troubadour (, ; oc, trobador ) was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages (1100–1350). Since the word ''troubadour'' is etymologically masculine, a female troubadour is usually called a ''trobairi ...
s
Bernart d'Auriac Bernat or Bernart d'Auriac was a minor troubadour notable mainly for initiating a cycle of five short ''sirventes'' in the summer of 1285. According to a rubric of the chansonnier in which the cycle is preserved, Bernart was a ''mayestre de Bezers' ...
,
Pere Salvatge,
Roger Bernard III of Foix
Roger-Bernard III (1243 – 3 March 1302) was the Count of Foix from 1265 to his death. He was the son of Roger IV of Foix and Brunissende of Cardona. He entered into conflicts with both Philip III of France and Peter III of Aragon, who held ...
, and
Peter III of Aragon composed a cycle of four ''
sirventes
The ''sirventes'' or ''serventes'' (), sometimes translated as "service song", was a genre of Old Occitan lyric poetry practiced by the troubadours.
The name comes from ''sirvent'' ('serviceman'), from whose perspective the song is allegedly wr ...
'' in the summer of 1285 concerning the
Aragonese Crusade
The Aragonese Crusade or Crusade of Aragon, a part of the larger War of the Sicilian Vespers, was declared by Pope Martin IV against King Peter III of Aragon in 1284 and 1285. Because of the recent conquest of Sicily by Peter, Martin declared ...
.
* The
Matter of Britain
The Matter of Britain is the body of medieval literature and legendary material associated with Great Britain and Brittany and the legendary kings and heroes associated with it, particularly King Arthur. It was one of the three great Wester ...
(or the "Arthurian cycle"), which centers on
King Arthur and the
Knights of the Round Table
**
The Vulgate cycle (also known as the Lancelot-Grail)
**
The Post-Vulgate cycle
* The
Matter of France (or the "Carolingian cycle"), which centers on
Charlemagne
Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first ...
and the
Twelve Peers
The Paladins, also called the Twelve Peers, are twelve legendary knights, the foremost members of Charlemagne's court in the 8th century. They first appear in the medieval (12th century) ''chanson de geste'' cycle of the Matter of France, where ...
**
Chanson de Geste
The ''chanson de geste'' (, from Latin 'deeds, actions accomplished') is a medieval narrative, a type of epic poem that appears at the dawn of French literature. The earliest known poems of this genre date from the late 11th and early 12th c ...
***
La Geste de Garin de Monglane
''La Geste de Garin de Monglane'' is the second cycle of the three great cycles of ''chansons de geste'' created in the early days of the genre. It centres on Garin de Monglane. One of its main characters is William of Gellone.
The cycle
The cy ...
***
Doon de Mayence
Doon de Mayence also known as Doolin de Maience, Doon de Maience or Doolin de Mayence was a fictional hero of the Old French ''chansons de geste'', who gives his name to the third cycle of the Charlemagne romances dealing with the feudal revol ...
***
Garin le Loherain
The 12th-century ''chanson de geste'' of ''Garin le Loherain'' ('Garin the Lotharingian'), together with the slightly later ''Girbert de Metz'', form the core and initial parts of the so-called ''Lorraine cycle'', which was expanded in the 13th ...
***
Crusade cycle
The Crusade cycle is an Old French literary cycle of ''chansons de geste'' concerning the First Crusade and its aftermath.
History
The cycle contains a number of initially unrelated texts, collated into interconnected narratives by later redacto ...
* The
Henriad
In Shakespearean scholarship, Henriad refers to a group of William Shakespeare's history plays. It is sometimes used to refer to a group of four plays (a tetralogy), but some sources and scholars use the term to refer to eight plays. In the ...
, the four plays of Shakespeare centered on Henry V.
* Two examples of Japanese cycles are: the
Matter of Japan
In classical physics and general chemistry, matter is any substance that has mass and takes up space by having volume. All everyday objects that can be touched are ultimately composed of atoms, which are made up of interacting subatomic par ...
(''
Kojiki'', ''
Nihon Shoki'', etc.) and the Genji-Heike Cycle (''
The Tale of the Heike
is an epic account compiled prior to 1330 of the struggle between the Taira clan and Minamoto clan for control of Japan at the end of the 12th century in the Genpei War (1180–1185). Heike () refers to the Taira (), ''hei'' being the ''on'yo ...
'', ''
Gikeiki
The , "The Chronicle of Yoshitsune", is a Japanese gunki monogatari ("war-tale") that focuses on the legends of Minamoto no Yoshitsune and his followers. Thought to have been written during the Nanboku-chō period, it has provided inspiration to ...
'' about
Minamoto no Yoshitsune
was a military commander of the Minamoto clan of Japan in the late Heian and early Kamakura periods. During the Genpei War, he led a series of battles which toppled the Ise-Heishi branch of the Taira clan, helping his half-brother Yoritomo conso ...
, etc.). Also popular are the
Soga Brothers and
Forty-Seven Ronin
47 (forty-seven) is the natural number following 46 and preceding 48. It is a prime number.
In mathematics
Forty-seven is the fifteenth prime number, a safe prime, the thirteenth supersingular prime, the fourth isolated prime, and the sixth L ...
cycles.
* The
Matter of Rome
According to the medieval poet Jean Bodel, the Matter of Rome is the literary cycle of Greek and Roman mythology, together with episodes from the history of classical antiquity, focusing on military heroes like Alexander the Great and Julius Cae ...
(or the "cycle of Rome"), which centers on
Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, ...
and
Alexander the Great
Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip II to ...
* The
Shahnameh
The ''Shahnameh'' or ''Shahnama'' ( fa, شاهنامه, Šāhnāme, lit=The Book of Kings, ) is a long epic poem written by the Persian poet Ferdowsi between c. 977 and 1010 CE and is the national epic of Greater Iran. Consisting of some 50 ...
(or “The Book of Kings” ) and the legend of
Arash the Archer as well as
Avesta
The Avesta () is the primary collection of religious texts of Zoroastrianism, composed in the Avestan language.
The Avesta texts fall into several different categories, arranged either by dialect, or by usage. The principal text in the lit ...
that make up most of the
Persian Mythology
Persian mythology or Iranian mythology ( Persian:اساطیرشناسی ایرانی) is the body of the myths originally told by ancient Persians and other Iranian peoples, and a genre of Ancient Persian folklore. These stories concern the ori ...
, namely, tales of heroes like
Rostam
use both this parameter and , birth_date to display the person's date of birth, date of death, and age at death) -->
, death_place = Kabulistan
, death_cause = With the conspiracy of his half-brother Shaghad, he fell into a w ...
and
Esfandyar
* The
Mythological Cycle
Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narrati ...
, which centers on the
Celtic pantheon
The gods and goddesses of the pre-Christian Celtic peoples are known from a variety of sources, including ancient places of worship, statues, engravings, cult objects and place or personal names. The ancient Celts appear to have had a pantheon ...
* The
Fenian Cycle
The Fenian Cycle (), Fianna Cycle or Finn Cycle ( ga, an Fhiannaíocht) is a body of early Irish literature focusing on the exploits of the mythical hero Finn or Fionn mac Cumhaill and his warrior band the Fianna. Sometimes called the Ossi ...
, which centers on
Fionn mac Cumhaill
Fionn mac Cumhaill ( ; Old and mga, Find or ''mac Cumail'' or ''mac Umaill''), often anglicized Finn McCool or MacCool, is a hero in Irish mythology, as well as in later Scottish and Manx folklore. He is leader of the ''Fianna'' bands of y ...
and the
Fianna
''Fianna'' ( , ; singular ''Fian''; gd, Fèinne ) were small warrior-hunter bands in Gaelic Ireland during the Iron Age and early Middle Ages. A ''fian'' was made up of freeborn young males, often aristocrats, "who had left fosterage but had ...
* The
Cycle of the Kings
The Cycles of the Kings or Kings' Cycles, sometimes called the Historical Cycle, are a body of Old and Middle Irish literature. They comprise legends about historical and semi-historical kings of Ireland (such as ''Buile Shuibhne'', "The Madness ...
, which centers on the
monarchy of Ireland
* The
Reynard cycle
Reynard the Fox is a literary cycle of medieval allegorical Dutch, English, French and German fables. The first extant versions of the cycle date from the second half of the 12th century. The genre was popular throughout the Late Middle Ages, as ...
, which centers on the fabular fox
Reynard
Reynard the Fox is a literary cycle of medieval allegorical Dutch, English, French and German fables. The first extant versions of the cycle date from the second half of the 12th century. The genre was popular throughout the Late Middle Ages, a ...
*
Der Ring des Nibelungen
(''The Ring of the Nibelung''), WWV 86, is a cycle of four German-language epic music dramas composed by Richard Wagner. The works are based loosely on characters from Germanic heroic legend, namely Norse legendary sagas and the '' Nibe ...
(or the "Ring cycle"), which centers on the Ring and the
Norse pantheon
In Germanic paganism, the indigenous religion of the ancient Germanic peoples who inhabited Germanic Europe, there were a number of different gods and goddesses. Germanic deities are attested from numerous sources, including works of literature ...
* The voyages of
Sinbad the sailor
Sinbad the Sailor (; ar, سندباد البحري, Sindibādu al-Bahriyy; fa, سُنباد بحری, Sonbād-e Bahri or Sindbad) is a fictional mariner and the hero of a story-cycle of Persian origin. He is described as hailing from Baghdad ...
, the hero of a cycle of tales of monsters, magical places, and supernatural phenomena met on his successive voyages.
* The
epic cycle centering on the
Trojan War
In Greek mythology, the Trojan War was waged against the city of Troy by the Achaeans (Greeks) after Paris of Troy took Helen from her husband Menelaus, king of Sparta. The war is one of the most important events in Greek mythology and ...
* The
Ulster Cycle
The Ulster Cycle ( ga, an Rúraíocht), formerly known as the Red Branch Cycle, is a body of medieval Irish heroic legends and sagas of the Ulaid. It is set far in the past, in what is now eastern Ulster and northern Leinster, particularly coun ...
, which centers on
Cú Chulainn
Cú Chulainn ( ), called the Hound of Ulster ( Irish: ''Cú Uladh''), is a warrior hero and demigod in the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology, as well as in Scottish and Manx folklore. He is believed to be an incarnation of the Irish god L ...
and the
Kingdom of Ulster
The King of Ulster (Old Irish: ''Rí Ulad'', Modern Irish: ''Rí Uladh'') also known as the King of Ulaid and King of the Ulaid, was any of the kings of the Provinces of Ireland, Irish provincial over-kingdom of Ulaid. The title rí in Chóicid, ...
Cycles
{{Lit-stub