Composition in the Classical Tradition borrows from late antiquity a series of composition exercises called the progymnasmata to teach contemporary students the art of persuasion. The exercises enable students to apply an understanding of the invention and composition of arguments from ancient rhetoric to their own forms of persuasive communication.

This brief text is structured to provide an effectively graded sequence of exercises, manageable at each step, from the simple to the more difficult and from the concrete to the abstract, within an explicit rhetorical framework. Students learn how to compose an essay or a speech by first becoming proficient in its parts. Composition in the Classical Tradition features a variety of ancient forms — myths, historical episodes, descriptions, fables, proverbs, anecdotes, speeches — for students to enjoy while learning how to write and speak persuasively.