What are the Progymnasmata?

As we look to a new year of the Classical education renewal in Australia, I thought I would revise some principles of the Classical approach to the language arts, composition and rhetoric. Whilst there are a number of highly regarded writing programs used by Classical homeschoolers and school settings in the US which I will gradually review over the year, I will here discuss the Writing and Rhetoric program written by Paul Kortepeter and published by Classical Academic Press. In this program, Kortepeter worked to revive the progymnasmata a set of writing tools that were the mainstay of educators for 2000 years and as such are worthy of rediscovering.

What are the Progymnasmata?

'Progymnasmata' or 'progym' for short, are a set of language tools that were used as early as 4th century BC from Hellenistic period to early modern times. The curriculum was used to develop oral and written language skills but also inculcated cultural values and an understanding of literary forms such as– fable, narrative, chreia, refutation and so on. They were the building blocks for the great literature of the Western canon. The habits of thinking and writing learned using the progym shaped both secular and early Christian writing and were only abandoned in the last couple of hundred years.

There are a few important principles that characterise the progym approach to writing and rhetoric. One is that of imitation or mimetic learning. In contrast to the modern classroom where children are often instructed to write a story, description or exposition based on only a few lessons of instruction, the progym leans on exemplary models, rather than beginning with independently creating texts. This is arguably a foundational principle of the Classical education tradition, imitation until understanding. One can clearly understand the logic behind such an approach if we think of music instruction. We would never suggest a student, after a few lessons, is asked to reproduce great works of composition, rather they would first learn to imitate works of the Masters such as Mozart, Bach or Beethoven.

Related to the mimetic approach is the skill of Narration. Popularised through the work of Charlotte Mason and familiar to many homeschoolers, narration, or telling back, is a powerful tool that can be used to simultaneously solidify understanding, encode text into students' long-term memory (as opposed to the 'cram and forget' mode) by requiring students to retell passages in detail. This develops a range of student skills, active listening, concentration, attention and memorisation. Counter-intuitively, narration, gives students the opportunity to engage creatively with language. The act of rephrasing and making a passage their own develops flexibility and independence with language that may not be immediately obvious if we think of it as merely copying.

Once a text is remembered through retelling, the progymencourages critical thinking and analysis through discussion of the text to deepen understanding. Understanding is followed by language play a feature of ancient language skills. Copiousness in vocabulary is encouraged, changing nouns, verbs, endings, beginnings, first person to thirdA person and back again. Students in this way can experience language as flexible and creative experience, to be moulded and shaped as artwork. Such pre-writing skills provide a proper foundation on which the student can then write their own version of an exemplary text, initially a fable later refutation, disputations and theses. In contemporary English studies, writing tasks are divided according to form; narrative, descriptive, expository or persuasive. Thus, language skills became compartmentalised according to different disciplines. However, Kortepeter argues that all writing is persuasive, descriptive and arguably needs to tell a story.

The Writing and Rhetoric program from Classical Academic Press (CAP), is founded on the progym, revitalised and brought to a contemporary audience. Its workbooks integrate Classical texts; fables, Ancient, Medieval and early modern works developing language skills and moral formation simultaneously. Students read, remember, recreate, understand, speak and then revise exemplary works. Gradually developing their own understanding of the craft in an coherent and enjoyable manner.