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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.

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Examples of Literary Cycles

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 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 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.
Folklorists collect jokes into cycles.