You are here:About>Education>Grammar & Composition> Grammar & Rhetoric Glossary> Palindrome - Quotation Mark> progymnasmata - definition and examples of progymnasmata
About.comGrammar & Composition
Newsletters & RSSEmail to a friendSubmit to Digg
Rhetorical Exercises

FableEncomiumChreia

"progymnasmata"

From Richard Nordquist,
Your Guide to Grammar & Composition.
FREE Newsletter. Sign Up Now!
Definition:

Preliminary rhetorical exercises that introduce students to basic rhetorical concepts and strategies. In classical rhetorical training, the progymnasmata were "structured so that the student moved from strict imitation to a more artistic melding of the often disparate concerns of speaker, subject, and audience" (O'Rourke, "Progymnasmata," in Encyclopedia of Rhetoric and Composition, 1996). See "What Are the Progymnasmata?

Etymology:

From the Greek, "before + exercises"

The Exercises

This list of 14 exercises is drawn from the progymnasmata handbook written by Aphthonius of Antioch, a fourth century rhetorician.
  1. fable
  2. narrative
  3. anecdote (chreia)
  4. proverb (maxim)
  5. refutation
  6. confirmation
  7. commonplace
  8. encomium
  9. invective
  10. comparison
  11. characterization (impersonation)
  12. description
  13. thesis (theme)
  14. defend/attack a law (deliberation)
Pronunciation: pro gim NAHS ma ta
 All Topics | Email Article | | |
Advertising Info | News & Events | Work at About | SiteMap | Reprints | HelpOur Story | Be a Guide
User Agreement | Ethics Policy | Patent Info. | Privacy Policy©2008 About, Inc., A part of The New York Times Company. All rights reserved.