Dispelling historical narratives in composition and rhetoric that largely depict nineteenth-century student compositions as "vacuous" themes, this archival study examines women's compositions at Mount Holyoke Female Seminary as complex generic hybrids, in which the composition is fused with common social and dialogic forms. By focusing…

This historical exploration tracks changes in rules concerning figurative language in nineteenth-century composition-rhetoric textbooks. The century's lessening of millennium-long restriction of the poetic allowed not only creative writing into academia but composition as well, as composition at its beginning was intertwined with creative writing.…

Distinguishes between factual-ideative and emotional kinds of writing. (DD)

Describes how a "style analysis" sheet may be used in helping students to develop a more concrete and vigorous prose style. (DD)

Author discusses the merits and drawbacks of the mimetic principle in the teaching of composition. (SP)

Argues that style is rhetoric and that a writer's style is the product of his or her choices of ways to arrange and express ideas within and between sentences. Shows how the concept of style as option offers value as a classroom tool. (FL)

A study of 100 books, 50 by women and 50 by men, provided clear evidence of a feminine style of writing which is conservative, structurally sound, logical, and balanced. (DD)

Analysis of several translations of a single passage in the New Testament can teach students a great deal about style. (DD)

Explores the use of metaphor and personification in the "classics" of scientific and technical writing, and the current resistance to creativity in scientific writing. Suggests familiarizing students with the role of metaphor in scientific creativity. (HTH)

Submits that Martin Luther King's persuasiveness in his writings may be attributed not only to his structure, logic, and ethos, but even more to his creative, eloquent, and commanding use of the English language. Supports this argument with examples from King's "Letter from Birmingham Jail." (RL)

An assignment to write a comment in less than fifty words encourages conciseness and precision. (JH)

Argues that Holden Caulfield was the comedian Lenny Bruce in this satire of life and literature. (RB)

Teachers should instruct students to seek truth in spite of opposition. Henry D. Thoreau is cited as the model for this life-long artistic endeavor. (RB)

Analyzes in depth Joseph M. Williams'"Style: Ten Lessons in Clarity and Grace." Discusses the distinction between learning and acquiring a skill, and questions whether literary style can be learned as Williams claims or whether it can only be acquired. (HTH)