In the Phaedrus, Plato defines rhetoric as “the art of enchanting the soul.” I wonder if Edgar Allen Poe draws from this in his essay The Poetic Principle. There he writes, “I need scarcely observe that a poem deserves its title only inasmuch as it excites, by elevating the soul.” Poe, very clearly, argues that […]
The ability to speak exactly is intimately related to the ability to know exactly. Wendell Berry, “Imagination in Place” This is why I believe thinking is a practice in rhetoric, if not the first stage in a complete exercise of this art.
Image via Wikipedia “Mr. Holler, Mr. Holler, what did you get for Christmas?” I had already seen new coats, shoes, watches, a kindle, and a nook. The gleeful look on my student’s faces impatiently begged for someone to ask them the same question. I proudly but softly responded, “I got an antique iron.” And I
Image via Wikipedia I am homeschooling my 3 daughters, and my oldest (12) went with me to Yoder’s to pick up some hay for the rabbits. Now, I would rather say, “hay for our horses,” but I must sadly set my masculinity aside and confess that it was for bunnies. After we sung Alabama’s Walking
I am only 10 chapters into Hemingway’s Farewell to Arms, and I am wondering why I am reading this book. Actually, I was asking myself this question after chapter 2. It may be due in part to my blasé attitude toward modern 20th century history and the World Wars, for which I have never displayed
Image via Wikipedia My wife recently wrote an essay for her college English class comparing Disney’s 1950 film Cinderella to the literary version told by the Grimm brothers. The contrast was revealing. Whether deliberate or incidental, the Disney version seems to effortlessly recast the story within a fantasy world of dreams without consideration or reference
Recently, I have been thinking about a poem by Coleridge titled A Sunset. Upon the mountain’s edge with light touch resting, There a brief while the globe of splendour sits And seems a creature of the earth, but soon, More changeful than the Moon, To wane fantastic his great orb submits, Or cone or mow
A number of people have asked me how my garden did this summer. For the most part, quite well, although I had a very unfortunate invasion upon my winter squash. If it had been my summer squash, I could live with it. But my family and I love butternut and acorn squash. The pumpkin patch
Image via Wikipedia I wanted to teach my class of 7th graders the very simple and basic difference between a common and proper noun. They should already know this, so I considered the lesson largely to be review. I drew a line down the middle of the board and asked the students to name nouns
I read this from the introduction this morning of Everett Dean Martin’s book The Meaning of a Liberal Education, copywritten 1926. But something of the shoddiness enters into the minds and hearts of men, when shortcuts are sought in matters of mental growth which are essentially processes of slow maturing. Education requires time. The only
How do you teach a group of 7th grade students the meaning of “firstfruits” in relation to the resurrection? At the beginning of each year I like to take my students through a simple overview of the biblical narrative with something I have put together under the title of “God’s Redemptive Story.” Outlined in this
