Frye Fries my Brain

I must remind myself that unlike Frye, I have not read every piece of literature known to man; I do not have his extensive knowledge on...well, everything; I am not a literary genius. I must accept these harsh facts and take what I can from this frighteningly intelligent man who seems to be an encyclopedia for all knowledge pertaining to literature. I must get something from the Theory of Modes chapter in Anatomy of Criticism. Here is my feeble attempt...

"Me with a head full of words but not one useful expression." - The Wailin' Jennys - I am listening to them right now and they are fabulous. I also thought that this line from their lyrics was quite appropriate with how I'm feeling right now. Here is a link (or two):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00dWtcTds24
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bx9VTFXMsRg

1. Myth - the hero is superior in kind to other men and superior to the environment of other men; the hero is a divine being; the hero is a god or godlike; myths live in the realm outside of "normal literary categories" (33).

2. Romance - the hero is superior in degree to other men, to his environment; his actions are marvelous, but is identified as a human; prodigies of courage and endurance unnatural to us are quite natural to him - enchanted weapons, talking animals, witches, etc; also called a legend or folk tale.

3. High Mimetic - the hero is superior in degree to other men but not his natural environment; the hero is a leader; what he does is subject to both social criticism and the order of nature; epic and tragic.

4. Low Mimetic - the hero is superior neither to men or his environment - the hero is one of us; readers respond to his sense of common humanity and "demand from the poet the same canons of probability that we find in our own experience" (34); constitutes most comedy and realistic fiction. The film Imaginary Heroes reminds me of an example that would constitute the low mimetic mode. If you haven't seen it, you should. These characters are us; a major theme in the film is having realistic expectations of what a hero should be - wonderful movie. Here is the trailer because I couldn't find the clip I wanted: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uUgMUYD8olU

5. Ironic - the hero has inferior power or intelligence to us, so that we, as readers, look down upon the character who finds himself in some form of bondage, frustration or absurdity; readers may feel as if they too could be in the character's situation that is being judged by the "norms of greater freedom" (34).

There seem to be so many different elements to each of these modes, leaving me unable to differentiate the characteristics of each from another. Frye admits that they blend and blur together and at times may be difficult to comprehend which mode a piece of literature constitutes, which makes me feel a wee bit better - not so stupid. He says, "...it is hardly possible to separate the mythical, romantic and high mimetic strands completely" (35); this tells me that he indeed does not know absolutely everything, which brings a :) to my still-confused face. Dammit, I'm an intelligent woman; why am I struggling so with this old dead bastard who liked to flaunt his literary genius?
Let us face it: despite each of the modes' rank or status in literature (#1 being myth, #2 being romance, etc), the modes are all connected. There is no piece of literature that can fall easily and completely into one of these categories - the lines will blur - confusion will rear it's ugly head. And even Frye says, "Irony descends from the low mimetic: it begins in realism and dispassionate observation. But as it does so, it moves steadily toward myth, and dim outlines of sacrificial rituals and dying gods begin to reappear in it. Our five modes evidently go round in a circle" (42). Each mode descends from another; each mode is connected to another; each mode blurs into another; they are all intertwined. Finally. I have made sense of something.