Prerequisite: Completion of LTW Level 1 (Essays 1-8)

Course Description

Students in this course will have the opportunity to mature in their understanding and mastery of the foundational concepts in the art of rhetoric. Throughout the fall semester, we will review all of the tools of Invention, all parts of a persuasive essay, and all of the schemes and tropes students encountered in Lost Tools Level 1. During the spring semester, students will grow in their ability to perceive truth as they seek understanding through the topic of comparison. With the LTW Comparison Essay, students will deepen their critical thinking skills, learn a new essay form, and develop their analogical thinking through composing multiple types of metaphors.

Our literature discussions will take us to Middle-earth as we join Frodo and Sam, Merry and Pippin, Aragorn and Gandalf, Legolas and Gimli, in the fight to save their world from the destructive forces of Mordor.


Please note: this course is a 28-week course rather than Kepler's standard 32-week course. Additional live sessions will be held on the 4th Friday of August, September, October, January, February, and April to satisfy credit requirements for diploma track students.


Course Objectives

Students will be able to:

• Gather facts about an Issue using the Five Common Topics.
• Consider an Issue from both the Affirmative and Negative positions.
• Perceive the truth about an Issue.
• Develop and outline a persuasive essay with Exordium, Narratio, Division, Thesis, Proofs, Refutation, and Amplification.
• Express ideas with beauty and clarity using parallelism, antithesis, alliteration, assonance, simile, and metaphor.
• Internalize the thinking skill of comparison.
• Develop and outline two different forms of a comparison essay.
• Compose advanced and extended metaphors.
• Delight in literature through annotation and discussion.

Weekly Time Commitment
1.5 hours participating in a live-interactive class
1-2 hours completing LTW assignments
1-1.5 hours reading and annotating the assigned text
1 hour revising assignments as requested