Progymnasmata for the High School Student – Year One, Week One

Background Reading for Parents (and interested students)

“A Short History of the Aesopic Fable” in The Fables of Aesop (1894)

Introduction to the section on “Fables and Symbolic Stories” in Children’s Literature: A Textbook of Sources for Teachers and Teacher-Training Classes (1921).

“Introduction” to The Talking Beasts: A Book of Fable Wisdom (1922).

Instruction for Students

Day 1 – Read the following fables.

The Dog and the Shadow

The Lion’s Share

The Ass and the Lapdog

The Woodman and the Serpent

The Fox and the Mosquitos

Create a list of elements common to all the fables. Write a paragraph explaining the purpose of a fable and how that purpose is achieved. Finally, the last fable lacks a moral lesson at its end; what should its moral lesson be?

Day 2 – Rewrite this fable in your own words and without direct speech (speech presented in quotations).

The Man, The Boy, and His Donkey

Day 3 – Rewrite this fable with direct speech.

The Man and the Wood

Day 4 – Over the next several weeks, you will write a fable in a style of your choosing with the same moral lesson as “The Hare with Many Friends.” This week, decide whether you will write a story about animals, humans, or human(s) and animal(s). Brainstorm the types of humans and/or animals you will include in your story, the characteristics of each, where the fable will take place, and a basic outline of the story.

The Hare with Many Friends

Progymnasmata for the High School Student

The draft of this writing curriculum will appear here, in regular installments, as it is pulled together, beginning in summer 2023.

Year One, for 9th graders, will cover Fable, Narrative, Anecdote, and Maxim over thirty-six weeks, nine weeks per “exercise” (type of writing); Year Two, Refutation, Confirmation, Commonplace, and Encomium; Year Three, Invective, Comparison, Personification, and Description; and, Year Four will conclude the exercises with Argument and Introduction to Law, at which point, the curriculum will culminate in a study of Rhetoric.

The pace may quicken, but will certainly not slacken. Analysis of exemplary writings of each type will inform and inspire student writing.

Designing a Catholic High School History Curriculum – Cycle Length

With thirteen years, maximum, of elementary and secondary education, several possibilities present themselves for determining the pace at which to move through the study of the past. The conventional kindergarten year, from age 5 to 6, is best removed from the sequence, (and indeed from all efforts of formal learning),* leaving only twelves years of elementary and secondary education, which may be evenly divided into two cycles of six years, three cycles of four years, or four cycles of three years. Cycles need not be equal in length, but moving through the past at a steady and even pace will cultivate a keener sense of chronology and periodization.

Ambleside Online follows two six year cycles, which really can only work optimally – that is to say, from my vantage point, covering all the periods equally – if you begin homeschooling from either the first or the seventh year. Even if you begin at the optimal years, with such long cycles, the capacity for historical understanding will develop at a faster pace than the chronological progression, so that engagement with the earliest periods in years 1 and 7 will not be equal to engagement with the latest periods in years 6 and 12, hence unequal with regard to understanding. And while the second encounter with the earliest periods in year 7 will be similar to the first encounter with the latest periods in year 6, the earliest periods will never be approached with the same maturity as the latest periods in year 12, and I believe that to be a profound loss of learning.

I have taught one year of history in a program that follows a three-year cycle, and while the six-year cycle is too long, the three-year cycle is too short. To cover all the periods of the past in only three years demands a pace that is rushed and encounters that are shallow. And three years, I believe, is too soon to return to previously studied material; a process of at least partial forgetting is good for a renewal interest.

Cycling through the past over four years, even at the greater depth that high school should encourage, is reasonable, and the three resulting cycles generally correspond to three developmental stages (as conceived within a variety of pedagogical systems) – 1st through 4th grade (ages 6 to 10), 5th to 8th grade (ages 10 to 14), and 9th to 12th grade (ages 14 to 18).

Although I will begin by focusing on the third cycle for high school students, the lower-years cycle from 1st to 4th grade would well move slowly through American history using stories of great men and women (16th & 17th century in the 1st grade; 18th century in the 2nd grade; 19th century in the 3rd grade; and 20th century in the 4th grade) . The middle-years cycle could expand to two streams – one devoted to American joined with contemporary British history using spines such as Henrietta Marshall’s This Country of Ours and Our Island Story, and progressing through centuries at the same pace as in the lower-years cycle; and the second adding ancient Greek and Roman history using stories of great men and women alongside mythology. The upper-years cycle would expand the modern stream to a more global approach, extend the ancient stream to the beginning of recorded time and also from a more global perspective, and add in a third, medieval stream. I will write more on the upper-years’ streams in my next post.

* Kindergarteners may be read legends or folk tales from their country as well as from countries from which they may claim heritage, whether through their Faith, their, nation, or their ancestry.

Story of Nations Library

The Holy Land

The Jews, Ancient, Mediaeval and Modern by James Kendall Hosmer.

The Jews under Roman Rule by William Douglas Morrison.

Phoenicia by George Rawlinson.

The Crusades: The Story of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem by T. A. Archer &
Charles Lethbridge Kingsford.

Africa

Ancient Egypt by George Rawlinson.

Carthage; or the Empire of Africa by Alfred John Church.

The Barbary Corsairs by Stanley Lane-Poole.

South Africa (The Cape Colony, Natal, Orange Free State, South African Republic, Rhodesia) and all other territories south of the Zambesi by George McCall Theal.

Greece

Greece: From the Coming of the Hellenes to A.D. 14 by Evelyn Shirley Shuckburgh.

Alexander’s Empire by John Pentland Mahaffy.

Byzantine Empire by Charles Oman.

Italy

Rome: From the Earliest Times to the End of the Republic by Arthur Gilman.

The Roman Empire, B.C. 29–A.D. 476 by Henry Stuart Jones.

Sicily: Phoenician, Greek and Roman by Edward A. Freeman.

The Goths: From the Earliest Times to the End of the Gothic Dominion in Spain by Henry Bradley.

The Papal Monarchy: From St. Gregory the Great to Boniface VIII (590-1303) by William Francis Barry (Catholic priest).

Mediaeval Rome: From Hildebrand to Clement VIII, 1073-1600 by William Miller.

The Tuscan Republics (Florence, Siena, Pisa and Lucca) with Genoa by Bella Duffy.

Modern Italy 1748-1898 by Pietro Orsi.

Venice by Alethea Wiel.

Spain

The Goths: From the Earliest Times to the End of the Gothic Dominion in Spain by Henry Bradley.

The Moors in Spain by Stanley Lane-Poole.

Spain: Being a Summary of Spanish History from the Moorish Conquest to the Fall of Granada by Henry Edward Watts.

Modern Spain 1788–1898 by Martin A. S. Hume.

Portugal by Henry Morse Stephens.

France

The Franks: From their Origin as a Confederacy to the Establishment of the Kingdom of France and the German Empire by Lewis Sergeant.

Mediaeval France: From the Reign of Hugues Capet to the Beginning of the Sixteenth Century by Gustave Masson.

Modern France 1789-1895 by André Lebon.

Central Europe

Switzerland by Lina Hug & Richard Stead.

Austria by Sidney Whitman.

Germany by Sabine Baring-Gould.

The Hansa Towns by Helen Zimmern.

Eastern Europe

The Goths: From the Earliest Times to the End of the Gothic Dominion in Spain by Henry Bradley.

Hungary in Ancient, Mediaeval, and Modern Times by Ármin Vámbéry.

Russia by William Richard Morfill.

Poland by William Richard Morfill.

The Balkans: Roumania, Bulgaria, Servia, and Montenegro by William Miller.

Bohemia: From the Earliest Times to the Fall of National Independence in 1620, with a short summary of later events by C. Edmund Maurice.

Middle East

Chaldea: From the Earliest Times to the Rise of Assyria by Zenaide Ragozin.

Assyria: From the Rise of the Empire to the Fall of Nineveh by Zenaide Ragozin.

Media, Babylon and Persia. Including a Study of the Zend-Avesta or Religion of Zoroasta, from the Fall of Nineveh to the Persian War by Zenaide Ragozin.

Persia by S. G. W. Benjamin.

Parthia by George Rawlinson.

The Saracens: From the Earliest Times to the Fall of Bagdad by Arthur Gilman.

Turkey by Stanley Lane-Poole.

British Isles

Early Britain by Alfred John Church.

The Normans: Told Chiefly in Relation to their Conquest of England by Sarah Orne Jewett.

Mediaeval England 1066-1350 by Mary Bateson.

The Coming of Parliament: England from 1350-1660 by L. Cecil Jane.

Parliamentary England: The Evolution of the Cabinet System by Edward Jenks.

Modern England before the Reform Bill by Justin McCarthy.

Modern England from the Reform Bill to the Present Time by Justin McCarthy.

Scotland: From the Earliest Times to the Present Century by John Mackintosh.

Ireland by Emily Lawless.

Wales by Owen Morgan Edwards.

Northern Europe

Holland by James E. Thorold Rogers.

A History of Norway from the Earliest Times by Hjalmar Hjorth Boyesen.

North America

Canada by John George Bourinot.

Mexico by Susan Hale.

West Indies and the Spanish Main by James Rodway.

India

Vedic India; As Embodied Principally in the Rig-Veda by Zenaide Ragozin.

Buddhist India by Thomas William Rhys Davids.

Mediaeval India under Mohammedan Rule (A.D. 712-1764) by Stanley Lane-Poole.

British India by R. W. Frazer.

Asia

China by Robert K. Douglas.

Japan by David Murray.

The Story of Australasia by Greville Tregarthen.

Fourth Sunday in Lent

Galatians 4.22-31

John 6.1-15

The Liturgical Year by Dom Guéranger

Homilies Of Feasts And Sundays By Catholic Church Fathers by D. G. Hubert (Washbourne, 1901).

Explanation of the Epistles and Gospels for the Sundays, holydays and festivals throughout the ecclesiastical year, to which are added the lives of many saints by Leonard Goffiné (Pustet, 1880).

Goffine’s Devout Instructions on the Epistles and Gospels for the Sundays and Holydays (Benziger, 1896).

Abridged Sermons for all the Sundays of the Year by Saint Alphonsus Liguori.

The Catholic Pulpit: Containing a Sermon for Every Sunday and Holiday in the Year and for Good Friday (Murphy, 1851).

Readings for the Sundays and Holy Days of the Church’s Year (Bosworth, 1881).

Original, Short and Practical Sermons for Every Feast of the Ecclesiastical Year : Three Sermons for Every Feast by Francis Weninger (Lowen, 1882).

Analysis of the Gospels of the Sundays of the Year by Angelo Cagnolo (Benziger, 1892).

Sermons for Children’s Masses, Accorading to the Sundays and Principal Festivals of the Year by Raphael Frassinetti (Benziger, 1900).

Sermons from the Latins by James J. Baxter (Benziger, 1902).

Short Discourses for all the Sundays in the Year According to the Mind & Method of the Catechism of the Council of Trent by John McQuirk (St. Paul’s Library, 1908).

Meditations for the Use of the Secular Clergy by Pierre Chaignon (Benziger, 1907).

Music

Medieval Music Database

Station Church

Santa Croce in Gerusalemme

Customs

Feast Day Cookbook

Saturday in the Third Week of Lent

The Monastery of Saint John in Müstair (CH)
The Adulterous Woman Alone with Jesus

Daniel 13.1-62

John 8.1-11

The Liturgical Year by Dom Guéranger

Explanation of the Epistles and Gospels for the Sundays, holydays and festivals throughout the ecclesiastical year, to which are added the lives of many saints by Leonard Goffiné (Pustet, 1880).

Goffine’s Devout Instructions on the Epistles and Gospels for the Sundays and Holydays (Benziger, 1896).

Music

Medieval Music Database

Station Church

Santa Susanna

Art

Susanna and the Elders

Fresco Painting in the Catacomb of Priscilla

4C Sarcphagus

4C Reliquary of San Nazaro in Milan

9C Lothair Crystal

11C Relief on the Column of Bishop Bernward

14C Manuscript Illumination

15C Painting by Pinturicchio

15C Italian Painting

15C Italian Painting

16C Painting by Lorenzo Lotto

16C Painting by Tintoretto

16C Painting by Veronese

16C Painting by Palma il Giovane

16C Painting by Jacopo Bassano

16C Italian Painting

16C French Bronze Relief

16C Painting by Albrecht Altdorfer

16C German Stone Relief

17C Painting by Guide Reni

17C Painting by Guercino, and another

17C Painting by Artemesia Gentileschi, and another

17C Italian Painting

17C Italian Painting

17C Painting by Jacob Jordaens

17C Painting by Rembrandt

17C German Oil on Copper

17C Ivory Carving

17C Gobelin Embroidery

17C English Embroidery

18C Italian Painting

18C Italian Painting

18C Gobelins Tapestry

18C English Cushion Cover

19C Polish Painting

19C Painting by Arnold Böcklin

Gustave Doré’s illustrations for La Grande Bible de ToursSusanna in the Bath & the Justification of Susanna

Warburg Institute Iconographic Database

Scholarly Article on Iconography of Susanna in Early Christian Art

Christ and the Adulterous Woman

15C Spanish Painting

15C Manuscript Illumination

15C Manuscript Illumination

16C Painting by Lorenzo Lotto

16C Painting by Titian

16C Painting by Tintoretto

16C Italian Painting

16C Painting by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

16C Oval Dish

16C Bronze Relief

16C French Wood Relief

17 Painting by Guercino

17C Italian Painting

17C French Painting

17C French Engraving by Callot

17C Painting by Rembrandt

17C Mughal Miniature Illustrating Jesuit text Mir’at al-quds

18C Painting by Boucher

18C Painting by Tiepolo

18C Italian Painting

Warburg Institute Iconographic Database

The History of Our Lord as Exemplified in Works of Art

Iconography of Christian Art

Friday in the Third Week of Lent

16C Painting by Agnolo Bronzino in the Chapel of Eleanor of Toledo in the Palazzo Vecchio

Numbers 20.2-13

John 4.5-42

The Liturgical Year by Dom Guéranger

Explanation of the Epistles and Gospels for the Sundays, holydays and festivals throughout the ecclesiastical year, to which are added the lives of many saints by Leonard Goffiné (Pustet, 1880).

Goffine’s Devout Instructions on the Epistles and Gospels for the Sundays and Holydays (Benziger, 1896).

Music

Medieval Music Database

Art

Waters of Meribah / Moses Striking Water from the Rock

Visual Commentary on Scripture Online Exhibition

3C Catacomb of Commodilla

3C Catacombs of Petro e Marcellino

Another 3C Catacomb Painting

3C Jonah Sarcophagus, see also

13C Manscript

14C Fresco by Giotto in the Arena Chapel

15C Manuscript

16C Painting by Agnolo Bronzino in the Chapel of Eleanor of Toledo in the Palazzo Vecchio – the Chapel & the Painting & more about the Chapel

16C Painting by Tintoretto in the Scuola di San Rocco

16C Painting by Jacopo Bassano

16C Painting by Francesco Bassano

16C Painting by Leandro Bassano

17C Painting by Jacob Jordaens

17C Italian Painting

17C Painting

late 17 / early 18C Painting

Warburg Institute Iconographic Database

Christ and the Samaritan Woman at the Well

3C Painting in the Catacomb of Praetextatus

4C Painting in the Via Latina Catacomb

6C Mosaic at Sant’Apollinare Nuovo

6C Ivory Pyxis

11C Column of Bernward

14C Painting by Duccio (also)

15C German Painted Etching on Glass

15C Woodcut

ca. 1500 Jerusalem Triptych in Gdańsk

16C Painting by Annibale Carracci

16C Painting

16C Italian Painting

16C Italian Relief

16C Italian Terracotta Relief

16C Engraving by Léonard Gaultier

17C Painting by Guercino, and another

18C Italian Painting

19C Etching by Rodolphe Bresdin

19C Gustave Doré’s illustrations for La Grande Bible de Tours

Warburg Institute Iconographic Database

History of Our Lord as Exemplified in Works of Art

Iconography of Christian Art

See also 20 March – Saint Photina

Thursday in the Third Week of Lent

The Codex Egberti
Christ Heals Peter’s Mother-in-Law in James Tissot’s series of watercolors, La Vie de Notre-Seigneur Jésus-Christ at the Brooklyn Museum

Jeremiah 7.1-7

Luke 4.38-44

The Liturgical Year by Dom Guéranger

Explanation of the Epistles and Gospels for the Sundays, holydays and festivals throughout the ecclesiastical year, to which are added the lives of many saints by Leonard Goffiné (Pustet, 1880).

Goffine’s Devout Instructions on the Epistles and Gospels for the Sundays and Holydays (Benziger, 1896).

Music

Medieval Music Database

Station Church

Santi Cosma e Damiano

Art

Christ Heals Peter’s Mother in Law

Mosaic in Monreale Cathedral

Mosaic in Kariye Camii

Painting in Monastery Dečani

Iconography of Christian Art, Figures

Wednesday in the Third Week of Lent

The Blind in the Ditch in the La Vie de Notre-Seigneur Jésus-Christ watercolor series by James Tissot (19C) at the Brooklyn Museum of Art

Exodus 20.12-24

Matthew 15.1-20

The Liturgical Year by Dom Guéranger

Explanation of the Epistles and Gospels for the Sundays, holydays and festivals throughout the ecclesiastical year, to which are added the lives of many saints by Leonard Goffiné (Pustet, 1880).

Goffine’s Devout Instructions on the Epistles and Gospels for the Sundays and Holydays (Benziger, 1896).

Music

Medieval Music Database

Station Church

San Sisto Vecchio

Art

The Giving of the Law on Sinai

Sarcophagus of Adelphia

Miniature in the De la Twyere Psalter (about)

Portal at the Cathedral of St. Peter, Regensburg, Germany

19C Altarpiece in the Church of San Moise, Venice, Italy, see also

Warburg Institute Iconographic Database

“And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit.”

16C Bruegel Painting, another

17C Teniers Painting

Warburg Institute Iconographic Database

Tuesday in the Third Week of Lent

2 Kings 4.1-7

Matthew 18.15-22

The Liturgical Year by Dom Guéranger

Explanation of the Epistles and Gospels for the Sundays, holydays and festivals throughout the ecclesiastical year, to which are added the lives of many saints by Leonard Goffiné (Pustet, 1880).

Goffine’s Devout Instructions on the Epistles and Gospels for the Sundays and Holydays (Benziger, 1896).

Music

Medieval Music Database

Art

The Multiplication of Oil

16C Painting

17C Painting

17C Print, Another 17C Print

Warburg Institute Iconographic Database

Christ Tells Peter to Forgive Seventy-Seven Times

Warburg Institute Iconographic Database

Station Church

Santa Pudenziana