Lost Tools of Writing 2 with Beowulf, Sir Gawain, & Shakespeare

Prerequisite: One full year of Lost Tools Level 1

Students in this course will build on the skills mastered in LTW Level 1 by learning to compose a new kind of composition, the Judicial Address. In LTW Level 2, students will learn to use the Special Topics of the Judicial Address to gather evidence, evaluate laws, and determine motivations. In the Canon of Arrangement, students will encounter new ways to develop Narratio, Amplification, and Refutation. Elocution lessons will allow students to practice nine new literary devices, provide instruction on citations, and much more! Our literature discussions will introduce students to four great works from the Western literary canon: Beowulf, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Twelfth Night, and Hamlet.

Students in this course will gather for a live class twice per week. On Day 1, students will participate in an interactive Lost Tools of Writing lesson, while Day 2 will be reserved primarily for literature discussion. Attendance at both sessions is critical for the successful completion of this course.

Course Objectives

Students will grow in judgment by:

• Identifying character bias.
• Learning how to address a hostile audience.
• Determining appropriate support for proofs and sub-proofs.
• Considering the effects of justice, evidence, and law on a case.
• Employing schemes and tropes from Level 1 with greater wisdom and discernment.
• Composing examples of personification, apostrophe, anaphora, epistrophe, synecdoche, hyperbole, litotes, erotema, and hypophora.
• Delighting in great literature through annotation and discussion.

Required Texts

• Lost Tools of Writing Level 2 Student Book
• Beowulf, translated by Burton Raffel ISBN ‎978-0451530967
• Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, translated by Burton Raffel ISBN 978-0451531193
• Hamlet, Folger Shakespeare Library Edition ISBN 1451669410
• Twelfth Night, Folger Shakespeare Library Edition ISBN 1982122498