Writing II: Progymnasmata

OFFERED 2025-2026

  • 2025-2026 Time: Wednesdays, 12:30-2:00 pm Eastern
  • 2025-2026 Tuition: Seminar with writing tutorial: $90 per month (10 months, August through May)
  • Location: Signal Mountain, Tennessee
  • Grades: 6th grade and up
  • Prerequisites: Writing I: Grammar, or equivalent writing skills; Students are expected to have strong reading, spelling, and grammar skills and to be able to write narrations independently using page numbers as references.
  • Description: This is a new course for the 2025-26 school year – it will cover the chreia, refutation/confirmation, commonplace, encomium/vituperation, and comparison levels of the progymnasmata in preparation for thesis/law. Elements of the classical rhetorical structure will be introduced, along with the disputation structure as used by Aquinas. These skills lay further foundation for Writing III: Logic (old Writing II).
  • Assessment: Assignments will be based on classic literature, particularly works from and about the medieval era, including Shakespeare plays. Students complete readings and daily-work/commonplacing. They also make weekly progress on various written pieces throughout the year. Students continue developing their skills in grammar, vocabulary, and style initially studied in Writing I. In December and May, students present their best papers at Defense Day.
  • FINAL BOOK LIST for 2025-2026 Academic Year:
    • Gwynne’s Grammar – ISBN: 9781984897961 – Re-use from Writing I if you have taken it
    • Helen A. Guerber, Tales of Norse Mythology, Barnes and Noble Press, ISBN: 978-1435164987 (While there is a paperback version by another publisher, the Barnes and Noble edition is recommended.) <= Needed for first week of class
    • Beowulf, Tolkien translation, ISBN: 9780544442788
    • Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring, Two Towers, Return of the King, HarperCollins, any edition. We will read the whole thing! Note: If you purchase each book separately, Fellowship of the Ring will be needed for the first week’s assignment
    • Scott’s Ivanhoe, Penguin Classics, ISBN: 978-0140436587
    • Poetry study
      • Shakespeare’s Henry IV Part 1 – Any Folger edition <= Needed for first week of class
      • Shakespeare’s Henry IV Part 2 – Any Folger edition
      • Shakespeare’s Henry V – Any Folger edition