Rhetoric Literature Modules

 Minimum age 14. Recommended for 9th graders - 12th graders. ​

These a la carte classes are offered throughout the year. Ranging from 2 week to 12 weeks in length, our mod courses allow you to customize your school year to fit your schedule and interests. Literature students complete their work before class, then meet once per week in our live online classrooms at the scheduled times to discuss their work. 

These modules are based on the award-winning Tapestry of Grace homeschool curriculum, but you do not need to own or be studying Tapestry of Grace at home to join one of our mods. We have scheduled these mod courses to coincide with our year-long classes to insure that, as long as we have a full-year class in session, all registered mod students have a class to join. If interest in a module is high enough to host a separate class, we'll open a second section. Some light reading (provided by your teacher) might be required beforehand to provide you with background information.

NOTE: teachers do NOT provide grades for module courses.

2022-2023 School Year

The Ancients

Ancient Egyptian Literature
​​​Students read various ancient Egyptian poems and explore concepts such as artistry, content and form, topic and theme, frameworks, and plot devices. They also delve into a biblical understanding of mythology and the Egyptian gods.
​
​​Required Resources:  
  • Ancient Egyptian Literature: an Anthology, by John L. Foster​ 
  • Christina Somerville's Poetics
2 Weeks
90 Minutes
Fall
$40
The Iliad, by Homer
Students read selections Homer's Iliad and explore concepts such as the physical, temporal, and cultural setting; texture and style; character foils; tragic heroes; and epics. We evaluate the Greek worldview and compare it with a Biblical worldview.
​
​Required Resources:  
  • Robert Fitzgerald's translation of The Iliad 
  • Christina Somerville's Poetics
4 Weeks
90 Minutes
Fall
$80 Total
The Odyssey, by Homer
Students read Homer's Odyssey and explore concepts such as the physical, temporal, and cultural setting; texture and style; imagery; diction; and character foils. We evaluate the Greek worldview and its similarities and differences with a Biblical worldview.
​​
​Required Resources:  
  • Robert Fitzgerald's translation of The Odyssey 
  • Christina Somerville's Poetics
6 Weeks
90 Minutes
Fall/Winter
$120 Total
The Bible as Literature: Psalms, Proverbs & the Prophets
Students read selections from Psalms, Proverbs, Kings, Chronicles, and the Prophets and explore the historical context of these writings, biblical parallelism, lyric poetry, lament, and nature psalms, all while appreciating the literary beauty of God's Word and how an understanding of its literary devices enhances our understanding of its meaning.
​
​Required Resources:  
  • The Bible (translation of your choice)
  • Words of Delight, by Leland Ryken
  • Christina Somerville's Poetics
4 Weeks
90 Minutes
Winter
$80 Total
The Aeneid, by Virgil
Students read Virgil's Aeneid and explore concepts such as the characterization, character foils, cultural setting, enameled imagery, omniscient point of view, basic elements of narration, and comic and epic heroes. We evaluate the Greek worldview and its similarities and differences with a Biblical worldview.
​​
​Required Resources:  
  • Robert Fitzgerald's translation of The Aeneid 
  • Christina Somerville's Poetics
4 Weeks
90 Minutes
Spring
$80 Total

Medieval to Modern

Dante's The Divine Comedy
Students will read Dante’s The Divine Comedy and explore concepts such as temporal, cultural and physical setting; tragic, comic and tragicomic heroes; symbolism, symbolic characters, a character’s experiment in living; pattern plot; texture; imagery; artistry; and the various genres that apply to this work—observing how Dante uses all of these to convey his themes. Students will also examine the medieval worldview and evaluate its similarities and differences with a Biblical worldview.

Required Resources: 
  • John Ciardi’s translation of The Divine Comedy
  • Poetics, by Christina Somerville
3 Weeks
90 Minutes
Fall
$60 Total
A Sampling of William Shakespeare
Students will get an overview of the subgenres of poetry and then learn the history and characteristics of sonnets, reading a sampling of sonnets by various authors, analyzing one by William Shakespeare.  They will then read two of his plays, Much Ado About Nothing and King Lear. Students will explore concepts such as character foils, character function, comic heroes, progression plot, comic plot, suspense, symmetry, dialogue, habitual character behaviors, literary touchstone, comic mode, and the genres of comedy and tragedy—observing how Shakespeare uses all of these to convey his themes. Students will also examine the Renaissance worldview including Humanism and Scholasticism, evaluating its similarities and differences with a Biblical worldview.

Required Resources:
  • Year 2 Shorter Works Anthology by Tapestry of Grace
  • Folger’s Shakespeare Library editions of Much Ado About Nothing and King Lear by William Shakespeare
  • Poetics, by Christina Somerville
3 Weeks
90 Minutes
Fall
$60 Total
John Milton's Paradise Lost
Students will read Milton’s Paradise Lost and explore concepts such as temporal, cultural and physical setting; plot devices, pattern plot, a character’s experiment in living; imagery; the genre of an epic poem; and various aspects of artistry—observing how Milton uses all of these to convey his themes. Students will also examine Milton’s worldview and evaluate its similarities and differences with a Biblical worldview.

Required Resources:
  • Oxford World Classics edition of The Paradise Lost by John Milton
  • Poetics, by Christina Somerville
5 Weeks
90 Minutes
Winter
$100 Total

The Nineteenth Century

English Romantic Poets
Students will read a selection of poetry by the English Romantic poets Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Shelley, and Keats and explore concepts such as rhyme, meter, diction, poetic structure, setting, symbol, simile, metaphor, archetype, Byronic hero, artistic elements, and the genres of narrative poem, ballad, ode, and closet drama—observing how the poets use all of these to convey their themes.

​Required Resources:
  • Year 3 Shorter Works Anthology by Tapestry of Grace
  • Poetics, by Christina Somerville
4 Weeks
90 Minutes
Fall
$80 Total
Victor Hugo's Les Misérables 
Students will read Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables and explore concepts such as direct and indirect characterization, the genres of the novel and social novel, pattern plot, the plot devices of irony, poetic justice, suspense, and foreshadowing; settings, style, omniscient point of view, figures of speech, character types, and various artistic elements—observing how Hugo uses all of these to convey his themes. Students will also examine the shift from Neoclassicism to Romanticism and Hugo’s worldview, evaluating its similarities and differences with a Biblical worldview.

Required Resources:
  • Simon & Schuster’s Enriched Classic edition of Les Misérables
  • Poetics, by Christina Somerville
5 Weeks
90 Minutes
Fall
$100 Total
Fyodor Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment
Students will read Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment and explore concepts such as setting, direct and indirect characterization, various aspects of texture including style and limited omniscient point of view; tragic, comic, and tragicomic heroes; symbolic characters, character foils plot, progression plot, pattern plot artistic elements, and the genres of psychological realism and the philosophical novel. Students will also examine Naturalism and its corollary philosophies of Utilitarianism, Nihilism, and Existentialism, along with Dostoevsky’s worldview, evaluating their similarities and differences with a Biblical worldview.

Required Resources:
  • Oxford World Classic’s edition of Crime and Punishment
  • Poetics, by Christina Somerville
6 Weeks
90 Minutes
Spring
$120 Total

The Twentieth Century

George Orwell's Animal Farm
Students will read George Orwell's Animal Farm and discuss it as a satire on Stalinist totalitarianism. In analyzing, students will explore concepts such as the form and content of allegories and symbolic characters. Students will also examine Orwell’s worldview, evaluating their similarities and differences with a Biblical worldview.

Required Resources: 
  • Orwell's Animal Farm 
  • Poetics, by Christina Somerville
2 Weeks
90 Minutes
Fall
$40 Total
Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451
Students will read Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 and explore concepts such as the genre of science fiction, dystopia, philosophical novel, and texture. Students will also examine Bradbury’s worldview, evaluating the similarities and differences with a Biblical worldview.

Required Resources: 
  • Fahrenheit 451 
  • Poetics, by Christina Somerville
2 Weeks
90 Minutes
Winter
$40 Total
J.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit
Students will read J.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit and explore concepts such as the four basic elements of narration, fairy tales, fantasy, and tragicomic plot. Students will also examine Tolkien’s worldview, evaluating the similarities and differences with a Biblical worldview.

Required Resources: 
  • The Hobbit 
  • Poetics, by Christina Somerville
3 Weeks
90 Minutes
Spring
$60 Total

    Wish we offered other book studies?

    Let us know! You are welcome to join us for any of the books we study in any of our Tapestry of Grace literature book studies.