God is a storyteller. As his image-bearers, we are designed to be the same. He reveals his truth through both scientific and poetic knowledge. We understand him through the measurable, testable, and observable analysis of his creation as well as its metaphorical, poetic, linguistic experience. God himself suggests a poetic approach to thinking about him. He is variously described as the Door, the Way, the Light, the Bread, the Vine, the Alpha and Omega, and, perhaps most importantly to the point, the Word. The great narrative of redemption is not merely a list of propositions, but a story arc, with its own definable rising action, climax, characters and obstacles. Literature and Composition class trains the students in this type of “poetic knowledge," a knowledge no more important, but certainly not less than, a scientific understanding of Creation.

Poetic knowledge is trained through reading stories and poetry, and writing compositions. This course focuses on recognizing those elements common to all great literature, by which the students can be accurate judges of what is true, good, and beautiful in any work of literature. We teach poetry because we believe that God takes words seriously. And poetry is the most concentrated form of verbal expression. It requires the greatest amount of mastery over a language to express the most profound meaning in the most condensed form, all while taking mind of such things as rhyme, meter, etc., The great poets truly represent those who have taken dominion over the gift of verbal expression.

And so the “humane letters,” is training both in taking dominion over the world that God has provided as well as exercising the very image within us of a God who describes himself in poetic terms. And, in doing so, it invariably provides the added benefit of making for better spoken, clearer thinking citizens, students, and Christians.

Each class day is dedicated to a particular approach to language and literature. One day is for novel and short story discussion. On these days, the students are trained to ask interpretive questions of a text and to understand the elements of effective storytelling.
One day is devoted to understanding literary devices and grammar topics, often through poetry analysis. This approach also helps to develop the student’s ear for poetic language.