Poetics & Progym
Language Lessons for Upper School
Literature-based Composition
Poetics & Progym I reviews and expands on the fable and narrative exercises taught in Bards & Poets, and introduces the anecdote and proverb exercises; Homer’s Odyssey is the primary literature selection.
Poetics & Progym II begins with the Progym twin exercises confirmation and refutation, then teaches the common-place exercise, and finishes with triplet exercises encomium, invective, and comparison; Virgil’s Aeneid, Shakespeare’s Macbeth, and a few of Plutarch’s Lives are the primary literature selections.
Poetics & Progym III completes the progym with the description, speech-in-character, thesis, and law exercises; Dante’s Divine Comedy is the primary literature selection.
Flexible Schedule
The timing of the lessons is flexible to suit a variety of student and classroom needs. The twenty-eight lessons are subdivided into five sessions. Each level of Poetics & Progym could be completed in as little as twenty-eight weeks or it could be stretched to twice that or more, depending on the needs of the student, classroom, or co-op.
Features of Every Lesson
Prose & Poetry—literary analysis: reading and comprehending the elements of a story or poem, including genre, characters, setting, plot, sequence, rhetorical situation, literary context, poetic form & meter (scansion)
Language Logic—grammar and word usage: grammar lessons, vocabulary study, parsing the parts of speech, and sentence diagramming
Eloquent Expression—style development: building copia (abundant and ready supply) of words and construction, paraphrasing, figures of speech, figures of description
Classical Composition—imitation-based composition assignments guide students to develop proficiency in invention, arrangement, and style as they follow the writing sequence (plan, write, revise)
Commonplace Book—a time-honored practice for writers of all ages: collecting and copying worthy literary selections
Complete grammar, parsing, and sentence diagramming handbook and exercises keyed to Harvey’s Practical Grammar (or Harvey’s Revised Grammar) to accompany all levels of Poetics & Progym.
Sentence Sense
The Book of Centuries
Blank timeline book for students to record the major events and people they encounter in their study of History, Literature, Science, Art, Music, and more.