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.
- fable
- narrative
- anecdote (chreia)
- proverb (maxim)
- refutation
- confirmation
- commonplace
- encomium
- invective
- comparison
- characterization (impersonation)
- description
- thesis (theme)
- defend/attack a law (deliberation)
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