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.
Reading Locations: All readings will be found in The Rhetorical Tradition, unless otherwise noted.
Unit 1: Classical Rhetoric
Analyzing the roots of the rhetorical tradition in Greece and Rome.
Week 1
Tue 01/19
- Course Overview
Thu 01/21
- C. Jan Swearingen, “Literate Rhetors and Their Illiterate Audiences: the Orality of Early Literacy”
- “Sophist” from Wikipedia
Week 2
Tue 01/26
- Gorgias, “Encomium for Helen”
Thu 01/28
- Anonymous, Dissoi Logoi
Week 4
Tue 02/09
- Plato, Phaedrus
- pp. 1-49 (end of Socrates’s long speech)
Thu 02/11
- Plato, Phaedrus
- rest
Week 5
Tue 02/16
- Plato, Gorgias
- pp. 1-50
Thu 02/18
- Plato, Gorgias
- rest
Week 6
Tue 02/23
- Aristotle, The Rhetoric
Thu 02/25
- Aristotle, From The Rhetoric
Week 7
Tue 03/01
- Cicero, From De Oratore, Book I
Thu 03/03
- Cicero, From De Oratore, Book II
- Writing Assignment #1 Due 03/04
Week 8
Tue 03/08
- Quintilian, Book II from Institutes of Oratory
Thu 03/10
- Quintilian, Book X, Ch. 2-6 from Institutes of Oratory
- Quintilian, Book XII, Introduction, Ch. 1-9 from Institutes of Oratory
Week 9
Tue 03/15
No Class
Spring Break
Thu 03/17
No Class
Spring Break
Unit 2: Medieval Rhetoric
Week 10
Tue 03/22
- St. Augustine, On Christian Teaching
Thu 03/24
- Robert of Basevorn, From The Forms of Preaching
Week 11
Tue 03/29
- Alberic of Monte Cassino, The Flowers of Rhetoric
Thu 03/31
- Anonymous, The Principles of Letter Writing
Unit 3: Renaissance and Enlightenment Rhetoric
Week 12
Tue 04/05
- Erasmus, From De Copia
Thu 04/07
Week 13
Tue 04/12
- Thomas Wilson, From The Arte of Rhetorique (transcription)
- Thomas Wilson, From The Arte of Rhetorique (facsimile)
Thu 04/14
- Madeline de Scudéry, Conversations
- Writing Assignment #2 Due 04/15
Week 14
Tue 04/19
- Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, From La Respuesta
- Read from pages 77 to 93
Thu 04/21
- John Locke, From An Essay Concerning Human Understanding
Week 15
Tue 04/26
- Giambattista Vico, From On the Study of Methods of Our Time
Thu 04/28
- George Campbell, From The Philosophy of Rhetoric
- Writing Assignment #3 Due 05/04
Week 16
Tue 05/03
No Class
Redefined Day (Go To Friday Classes)