ENGL 353 History of Rhetoric

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Old 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

Mon 01/13

  • Course Overview

Wed 01/15

  • Gorgias, “Encomium for Helen”

Fri 01/17

  • Finish Gorgias
  • Anonymous, Dissoi Logoi

Week 2 Beyond Oral Speech

Mon 01/20

No Class

MLK Day

Wed 01/22

Fri 01/24

  • Finish Euthyphro

Week 3 Platonic Rhetoric I

Mon 01/27

  • Plato, Gorgias
    • Read to 474a

Wed 01/29

  • Plato, Gorgias
    • Read to 501a

Fri 01/31

  • Plato, Gorgias
    • Finish

Week 4 Rhetoric Responds

Mon 02/03

Wed 02/05

  • No Class

Fri 02/07

Week 5 Platonic Rhetoric II

Mon 02/10

  • Finish Alcidamas

Wed 02/12

  • Plato, Phaedrus
    • 227a-243e

Fri 02/14

  • Plato, Phaedrus
    • 244a-261d

Week 6 Rhetoric's First System

Mon 02/17

  • Plato, Phaedrus
    • Rest

Fri 02/21

Week 7 Roman Rhetoric I

Wed 02/26

  • Cicero, From De Oratore, Book I

Fri 02/28

  • Cicero, From De Oratore, Book II

Week 8 Roman Rhetoric II

Mon 03/02

  • Finish Cicero

Wed 03/04

Week 9 Spring Break

Mon 03/09

No Class

Spring Break

Wed 03/11

No Class

Spring Break

Fri 03/13

No Class

Spring Break

Week 10 Early Christian Rhetoric

Mon 03/16

  • No Class

Wed 03/18

  • No Class

Fri 03/20

  • No Class

Week 11 Medieval Adaptations

Mon 03/23

Wed 03/25

  • Alberic of Monte Cassino, The Flowers of Rhetoric

Fri 03/27

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

Week 12 Eloquence

Mon 03/30

  • Finish de Pizan
  • Castiglione, From The Book of the Courtier

Wed 04/01

  • Finish Castiglione

Fri 04/03

  • No Class

Week 13 Attacks From Reason

Mon 04/06

  • Erasmus, From De Copia

Wed 04/08

  • Erasmus, From De Copia
  • Short Paper 2 Due, 11:59PM

Fri 04/10

No Class

Reading Day

Week 14 Women and Rhetoric

Mon 04/13

  • Erasmus, From De Copia

Fri 04/17

  • Finish Ramus
  • John Locke, From An Essay Concerning Human Understanding

Week 15 Rhetoric's Afterlife

Mon 04/20

  • Margaret Fell, Women’s Speaking Justified

Wed 04/22

Fri 04/24

  • Finish Sor Juana

Week 16

Mon 04/27

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

Tue 04/28

  • Finish Edgeworrth
  • Giambattista Vico, From On the Study of Methods of Our Time