Chain of Being

Archetypal Criticism
("Theory of Myths", From _Anatomy of Criticism_, Norton Frye, 1959. pp 131-239))

Chain of Being              
		APOCALYPTIC	DEMONIC			ANALOGICAL
                -----------     -------                 ---------
Divine		God		powers of nature	Wise old man (magician)
Spirit		Angel		devil		        his servents
Human		Man		diminished man          children 
Animal		Lamb		monsters/beasts		sheeps and lambs
Vegetable	Tree of Life	sinister forest         magic wand
			        tree of knowledge
				  of good and evil		
Mineral		Temple/Chapel	prison/wasteland	pastoral castle



	Contrasts Among the Elements
        ----------------------------

FIRE: hell fire / cleansing fire
WATER: water of life / water that drowns
AIR/WIND: breath of life / destruction by a wind
EARTH: as giver of life / death


Romantic: birth of a hero
	  innocence of youth
	  quest
	  innoncence vs. experience
	  reflective
	  knowledge is gained, but innocence is lost


	In the Grail legends, the impotent king has to be saved
by an innocent youth. Robert Bly adds that this is the ritualistic
killing of the father in which the young boy becomes a man. In _The
Wasteland_, the land itself is serile as are the people on it.
They go through life detatched from salvation. One could
consider this a comment on modern society.