As the old Monty Python guys used to say, "And now for something completely different..."
It has been some time since I wrote about classical education or homeschooling, likely because I am on sabbatical: that is, because I have two weddings coming (one this December, and one next September) I decided not to teach any classes to the home schoolers in our town this year. Except for chorus, of course.. but that hardly counts. At any rate, while I enjoy choosing music and approaching chorus from a Christian and classical perspective, I've already written about that. And chorus doesn't tend to spawn any deep thoughts on the nature of education or anything.
I have been asked, however, to prepare a little talk on the progymnasmata for Monday evening's classical home school support group. It is a very basic beginner's group, and so I am trying to give a very basic introduction to these classical writing exercises. I am printing the text of my notes below, in case anyone wants to know what the progymnasmata are, and why they are an excellent training ground for the craft of writing.
Introduction to the progymnasmata:
In classical education, writing is about learning a craft. It is a set of tools put in the toolbox of the apprentice that he will be trained in using, and will one day use in growing measure on his own. In Christian education, writing is about dying to self and learning to communicate to others. So in classical Christian education, we want to train our children in the craft of writing well to enable them to communicate that which is good, true and beautiful to a lost and broken world that needs that truth, beauty and goodness.
Rhetoric and Poetics:
All writing is either persuasive or imaginative, and these are the two main divisions of classical upper-level writing instruction. Rhetoric focuses on persuasion, and is really not simply writing instruction, but the end result of good writing, good analysis, good reading and good logic. It is the practical application of both reading and logic.
Rhetoric itself is traditionally organized into 5 canons: invention, arrangement, style, memory, and delivery. In the current day, because we use largely written communication, memory and delivery are less emphasized. Basically:
· Invention: what ideas are we going to talk about
· Arrangement: how we arrange those ideas
· Style: how we word our ideas
Progymnasmata:
These are writing exercises that prepare the student for rhetoric. Different teachers present the exercises in different order, but most contain these exercises:
· Narrative: story telling. Includes:
o Condensing
o Expanding
o Changing voice/point of view
o Differing modes of narration (direct declarative, indirect declarative, interrogative, and comparative)
o Narrative elements: action, agent, time, place, manner, cause (what, who, when, where, how, why)
o Attributes of an excellent narrative are brevity, clarity and credibility
· Description: the verbal representation of people. Places and things that exist in time and space.
o Learn how to detail persons, places, actions, things, and time
o Learn to order the details by special, temporal or order of impressions
o The attributes of an excellent description are clarity and vividness.
· Fable: a fictional illustration,
o Primary purpose of a fable is to illustrate a point in order to give advice. This lends emotional impact to an argument.
o In a fable, there is a single incident that illustrates the point at hand, and can be summed up in a pithy statement.
o We retell, condense, expand and invent fables.
o We write moral tags for fables
o We adapt the structure of a fable by introducing it with its moral tag, then telling the fable itself, then drawing an analogy from the fable to real life. We can turn that order around, too. Then we are ready to use a fable in the midst of a longer piece of persuasive writing.
· The Proverb: a short, pithy saying that is true from common experience
o 3 kinds of proverbs:
§ those that exhort to action
§ those that dissuade from action
§ those that instruct or enlighten moral understanding
o We learn how to amplify proverbs or write a fable for them as an illustration
o We learn a pattern for writing a deliberative essay around the proverb (Cite the saying; praise its wisdom; define its key terms; paraphrase or explain its meaning; give reasons to support it; draw a conclusion)
· The Anecdote: a wise saying or short exposition that gives moral instruction
o This is also known as chreia.
o There are verbal anecdotes (similar to the proverb), or action anecdotes, where the short account of an action speaks for itself, or a combination of these.
o We amplify anecdotes, and practice fitting them into larger deliberative essays (Introduction, Narration, proposition, confirmation, refutation, conclusion)
· Refutation/Confirmation: supporting or attacking a position
o This prepares writers to meet public controversy with persuasion.
o We identify the type of question being raised: is it a question of:
§ Fact (conjecture)
§ Definition
§ Qualitative (value, quality or nature)
§ Jurisdiction (who decides)
o We use some of the sub-topics of invention to help us discover ways to refute or confirm our topic:
§ Is it probable/improbable?
§ Is it clear /obscure?
§ Is it possible or impossible?
§ Is it consistent or inconsistent?
· The Commonplace: an amplification of a good or evil that is self-evident.
o This is directed against a deed (as opposed to a person)
o The sub-topics of invention that can be used well to amplify a commonplace are:
§ Contrast (e.g. a good act with a wrongful one)
§ Comparison (a wrong with something worse)
§ Intention (accidental or intentional)
§ Past life of person (how personal background affected the act)
§ Rejection or appeal to pity
§ Question of legality
§ Question of expediency
§ Question of honorableness
§ Question of practicality
§ Question of immediate result
· Praising/Blaming: an amplification of the virtues or vices of a person
o This is also known as encomium and invective
o Again, we will use some of the sub-topics of Invention to discover ideas for our amplification:
§ Background
§ Education
§ Virtues/Vices
§ Achievements/Crimes
· The Comparison: a double composition of praising and/or blaming.
o We will talk about two persons or things in one of the following relationships:
§ Similar things: the good beside the excellent/the mean beside the base
§ Different things: the good and the evil
§ Greater and lesser things
o We’ll use the same sub-topics of invention we used when we talked about encomium and invective (background, education, virtues, achievements) and compare and contrast them in the two things being compared.
o We’ll practice different patterns of arrangement we can use in presenting these comparisons.
· The Speech-in-Character: the imitation of a person’s character, habits and feelings.
o The student here is asked to put him/herself into someone else’s place and express that person’s thoughts and feelings.
o This is related to both soliloquy (a speech in which a character talks to him or herself as though alone) and monologue (a speech in which a character speaks to an implied or real audience).
o We talk about these speeches as being either pathetic (depicting the emotions and feelings) or ethical (depicting the moral character) or both.
o The character can be a specific, definite person (like Hamlet), or an indefinite one who has the features of a class of people (like a soldier).
o Often the arrangement of this exercise involves structuring around time: a statement from the character about the present, followed by one about the past, and ending with one about the future.
· The Thesis: a reasoned inquiry into a yes-or-no proposition.
o The purpose of the thesis is to deliberate on practical and philosophical questions, and the exercise is structured to provide experience arguing both sides of an issue.
o The thesis seeks to persuade or dissuade an audience concerning the advantage or disadvantage of something for the future.
o The topics of a thesis can be dividing into:
§ The definite (specific time/place) or indefinite
§ The practical (political or social) or theoretical (philosophical or speculative)
o The sub-topics of invention we will use for thesis are:
§ Necessary/unnecessary
§ Possible/impossible
§ Advantageous/disadvantageous
§ Easy/hard
§ Fitting/unfitting
§ Lawful/unlawful
§ Customary/uncustomary
§ Just/unjust
o We will again practice this in a specified deliberative essay arrangement (Introduction, narrative, proposition, confirmation/refutation, conclusion) and in others, such as an alternating confirmation/refutation pattern.)
· For and Against Laws: the exercise in legislation.
o This exercise focuses on enabling students to argue for and against laws, ordinances, regulations and rules. It gives them practice again in arguing both sides of topic.
o We will practice using the same topics we used in the thesis to help us discover ideas, and arrange our ideas in the same deliberative essay arrangement.
By the time we have worked through these exercises, you can see that many tools needed for every kind of persuasive essay has been practiced. By the time we are arguing for or against a law, we are narrating, describing, using fables, anecdotes or proverbs, making comparisons, praising or blaming, etc.
As each exercise is introduced, I recommend using imitation and analysis from the ancient and great authors as a starting place. Copy and analyze what they have done. Then imitate it. Write and rewrite. You can see how I have applied this to high school students in my composition classes in my notebooks: feel free to take a look at them.
Some suggested resources:
· Books for the teacher:
o Classical Rhetoric for the Modern Student, E.P.J. Corbett and R.J. Connors, Oxford University Press
o Composition in the Classical Tradition, F. J. D’Angelo, Allyn and Bacon
o Imitation and Analysis (aka Model English I) & Model English II & Persuasive Speech by Francis P. Donnelly (out of print, Allyn and Bacon)
· Internet Resources:
o http://rhetoric.byu.edu/ {A great rhetoric resource}
o http://www.leeds.ac.uk/classics/resources/rhetoric/prog-aph.htm {A translation of THE early medieval text for teaching the progymnasmata by Aphthonius)
o http://hobbits8.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=28&Itemid=97 {a .pdf document of Francis Donnelly’s out of print masterpiece, Imitation and Analysis}
o http://members.aol.com/cmarsch786/ {Writing Assesment Services, a variety of online writing services by classical educator and homeschooler Cindy Marsch, including her progymnasmata tutorials}
o http://home.att.net/~mikejaqua/may-june-00.html {a good beginner’s reference on the progymnasmata)
