ENGL 353 History of Rhetoric
ENGL 353 History of Rhetoric

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Course Schedule

How To Read This Schedule: All readings will be completed before class on the date on which they are assigned. Anything in bold is work to be completed before class and brought with you on the day listed. Paper due dates, also in bold, indicate that the completed manuscript of your paper must be in the correct dropbox on eCampus before class starts on the day indicated.

Week 1 Introduction + Sophists

Tue 01/17

  • Course Overview

Thu 01/19

  • Gorgias, “Encomium for Helen”

Week 2 The Sophists

Tue 01/24

  • Anonymous, Dissoi Logoi

Thu 01/26

Week 3 Beyond Oral Speech

Tue 01/31

Thu 02/02

Week 4 Platonic Rhetoric I

Tue 02/07

  • Plato, Phaedrus
    • pp. 1-49 (end of Socrates’s long speech)
  • Office Hours Rescheduled to 02.06

Thu 02/09

  • Plato, Phaedrus
    • rest

Week 5 Platonic Rhetoric II

Tue 02/14

  • Plato, Gorgias
    • pp. 1-50

Thu 02/16

  • Plato, Gorgias
    • rest

Week 6 Rhetoric's First System

Tue 02/21

Thu 02/23

Week 7 Roman Rhetoric I

Tue 02/28

  • Cicero, From De Oratore, Book I

Thu 03/02

  • Cicero, From De Oratore, Book II
  • Writing Assignment #1 Due 03/03

Week 9 Spring Break

Tue 03/14

No Class

Spring Break

Thu 03/16

No Class

Spring Break

Week 10 Early Christian Rhetoric

Tue 03/21

Thu 03/23

  • Alberic of Monte Cassino, The Flowers of Rhetoric

Week 11 Medieval Adaptations

Tue 03/28

  • Christine de Pizan, From The Treasure of the City of Ladies

Thu 03/30

  • Castiglione, From The Book of the Courtier

Week 12 Eloquence

Tue 04/04

  • Erasmus, From De Copia, Read 295-355 in PDF

Thu 04/06

  • Erasmus, From De Copia, Rest

Week 13 Attacks From Reason

Thu 04/13

  • John Locke, From An Essay Concerning Human Understanding

Week 14 Women and Rhetoric

Tue 04/18

  • Margaret Fell, Women’s Speaking Justified

Thu 04/20

  • Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, From La Respuesta
    • Read from pages 77 to 93
  • Assignment #2 Due 04/21

Week 15 Rhetoric's Afterlife

Tue 04/25

  • Maria Edgeworth, From “An Essay on the Noble Science of Self-Justification”

Thu 04/27

  • Giambattista Vico, From On the Study of Methods of Our Time
  • Assignment #3 Due 05/05

Week 16

Tue 05/02

No Class

Redefined Day (Go To Friday Classes)