Literary cycle

Examples from folk and classical literature

Western Europe

The three great western cycles

Source:

• The Matter of Britain (or the "Arthurian cycle"), which centers on King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table
  • Historia Regum Britanniae
  • 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 and the Twelve Peers
  • Chanson de Geste
    • La Geste de Garin de Monglane
    • Doon de Mayence
    • Garin le Loherain
    • Crusade cycle
      • Knight of the Swan
• The Matter of Rome (or the "cycle of Rome"), which centers on Julius Caesar and Alexander the Great
  • Alexander Romance
    • Roman d'Alixandre
  • Classical mythology
    • The Epic Cycle centering on the Trojan War
      • Roman de Troie
      • Aeneid (Roman d'Enéas)

France

• 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 Reynard cycle, which centers on the fabular fox Reynard

Britain

• The Henriad, the four plays of Shakespeare centered on Henry V.
• The Nine Worthies
• Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales

Germany

• Der Ring des Nibelungen (or the "Ring cycle", adapted from the Nibelungenlied), which centers on the Ring and the Norse pantheon

Ireland

• The Mythological Cycle, also known as the Cycle of the Gods, which centers on the Celtic pantheon in Irish mythology, the Tuatha Dé Danann
• The Fenian Cycle, which centers on Fionn mac Cumhaill and the Fianna
• The Cycle of the Kings, which centers on the monarchy of Ireland
• The Ulster Cycle, which centers on Cú Chulainn and the Kingdom of Ulster

Africa

• The Anansi tales, which center on the Ashanti of Ghana trickster spider-spirit Anansi, and its variations in the Americas as Ti Malice and Bouki in Haiti, Br'er Rabbit or John and Old Master in the Southern United States.

Asia

Japan

• Two examples of Japanese cycles are: the Matter of Japan (Kojiki, Nihon Shoki, etc.) and the Genji-Heike Cycle (The Tale of the Heike, Gikeiki about Minamoto no Yoshitsune, etc.).
• Also popular are the Soga Brothers and Forty-Seven Ronin cycles.

India

• The Mahabharata, the world's longest epic poem, many of whose stories deal with the lives of Indian mythological characters, most notably Krishna

Middle East

• The Epic of Gilgamesh, centering upon the demigod king Gilgamesh and Enkidu
• The Baal Cycle, which centers on the battle of Ba'al Hadad against Yam and Mawat

• The tales of the One Thousand and One Nights, brought together by the frame story of the tale of Scheherazade and Shahryār.
• Nasreddin (1208-1285) is a character in the folklore of the Muslim world from the Balkans to China, and a hero of humorous short stories and satirical anecdotes.
• The Shahnameh (or “The Book of Kings” ) and the legend of Arash the Archer as well as Avesta that make up most of the Persian Mythology, namely, tales of heroes like Rostam and Esfandyar
• The voyages of Sinbad the Sailor, the hero of a cycle of tales of monsters, magical places, and supernatural phenomena met on his successive voyages.
• The Seven Wise Masters