Literary cycle

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Literary cycles are groups of stories grouped around common figures, often (though not necessarily) based on mythical figures or loosely on historic ones.

[edit] Examples of Literary Cycles

• One well known such cycle is the Arthurian cycle, the stories of King Arthur, Lancelot and the Knights of the Round Table.

• Another cycle that is frequently drawn upon is centered on the Trojan War; the Iliad, the Odyssey, the Aeneid, and countless other epic poetry that draws on this body of tales.

• There is a Charlemagne cycle, also known as the Matter of France; a Robin Hood cycle featuring Robin Hood; there are many more.

• Irish literature includes four cycles: the Fenian Cycle (the tales of Fionn mac Cumhaill and the Fianna); the Mythological Cycle; the Historical Cycle; and the Ulster Cycle (the tales of Cúchulainn).

• The four troubadours Bernart d'Auriac, Pere Salvatge, Roger Bernard III of Foix, and Peter III of Aragon composed a cycle of four sirventes in the summer of 1285 concerning the Aragonese Crusade.

• The York cycle of mystery plays described the entire history of salvation in 47 plays that were developed in York in the 14th through 16th centuries.

• The Ring of the Nibelung is a cycle of four operas, all by Richard Wagner, describing the events surrounding a magical gold ring and often referred to as "the Ring Cycle".

• The Cthulhu Mythos, sometimes known as the Cthulhu Cycle^{[citation needed]} is composed of stories written by the originator H. P. Lovecraft as well as those written by other authors inspired by him.

• The Japanese literary concept of sekai (世界, lit. "world") bears strong similarities to that of a cycle. Those surrounding Minamoto no Yoshitsune and the Soga brothers are likely the most popularly reproduced.