Who sets language policy today? Who made whom the grammar doctor? Lacking the equivalent of l'Académie française, we English speakers must find our own way looking for guidance or vindication in source after source. McGuffey's Readers introduced nineteenth-century students to "correct" English. Strunk and White's Elements of Style and William Safire's column, "On Language," provide help on diction and syntax to contemporary writers and speakers. Sister Miriam Joseph's book, The Trivium: The Liberal Arts of Logic, Grammar, and Rhetoric, invites the reader into a deeper understanding—one that includes rules, definitions, and guidelines, but whose ultimate end is to transform the reader into a liberal artist.
A liberal artist seeks the perfection of the human faculties. The liberal artist begins with the language arts, the trivium, which is the basis of all learning because it teaches the tools for reading, writing, speaking, and listening. Thinking underlies all these activities. Many readers will recognize elements of this book: parts of speech, syntax, propositions, syllogisms, enthymemes, logical fallacies, scientific method, figures of speech, rhetorical technique, and poetics. The Trivium, however, presents these elements within a philosophy of language that connects thought, expression, and reality.
"Trivium" means the crossroads where the three branches of language meet. In the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, students studied and mastered this integrated view of language. Regrettably, modern language teaching keeps the parts without the vision of the whole. Inspired by the possibility of helping students "acquire mastery over the tools of learning" Sister Miriam Joseph and other teachers at Saint Mary's College designed and taught a course on the trivium for all first year students. The Trivium resulted from that noble endeavor.
The liberal artist travels in good company. Sister Miriam Joseph frequently cites passages from William Shakespeare, John Milton, Plato, the Bible, Homer, and other great writers. The Paul Dry Books edition of The Trivium provides new graphics and notes to make the book accessible to today's readers. Sister Miriam Joseph told her first audience that "the function of the trivium is the training of the mind for the study of matter and spirit, which constitute the sum of reality. The fruit of education is culture, which Mathew Arnold defined as 'the knowledge of ourselves and the world.'" May this noble endeavor lead many to that end.
"Is the trivium, then, a sufficient education for life? Properly taught, I believe that it should be."—Dorothy L. Sayers
"The Trivium is a highly recommended and welcome contribution to any serious and dedicated writer's reference collection."—Midwest Book Review

The Trivium: The Liberal Arts of Logic, Grammar, and Rhetoric

Politics & Social Sciences

Joseph, Sister Miriam

McGlinn, Marguerite

Philosophy

Paul Dry Books

Grammar-school students in Shakespeare’s time were taught to recognize the two hundred figures of speech that Renaissance scholars had derived from Latin and Greek sources (from amphibologia through onomatopoeia to zeugma). This knowledge was one element in their thorough grounding in the liberal arts of logic, grammar, and rhetoric, known as the trivium. In Shakespeare’s Use of the Arts of Language Sister Miriam Joseph writes: “The extraordinary power, vitality, and richness of Shakespeare’s language are due in part to his genius, in part to the fact that the unsettled linguistic forms of his age promoted to an unusual degree the spirit of creativeness, and in part to the theory of composition then prevailing . . . The purpose of this study is to present to the modern reader the general theory of composition current in Shakespeare’s England.” The author then lays out those figures of speech in simple, understandable patterns and explains each one with examples from Shakespeare. Her analysis of his plays and poems illustrates that the Bard knew more about rhetoric than perhaps anyone else! Originally published in 1947, this book is a classic. “Sister Miriam Joseph’s Shakespeare’s Use of the Arts of Language remains, after more than half a century, an immensely valuable aid to serious students of the greatest of all writers. The book manifests enormous learning and real wisdom in applying that erudition to the needs of contemporary readers.”—Harold Bloom

Shakespeare's Use of the Arts of Language

Literature & Fiction

History & Criticism

Paul Dry Books' edition of this 1947 classic has been produced with the highest publishing standards as a companion to our edition of The Trivium
Sister Miriam Joseph’s Shakespeare’s Use of the Arts of Language remains, after more than half a century, an immensely valuable aid to serious students of the greatest of all writers. The book manifests enormous learning and real wisdom in applying that erudition to the needs of contemporary readers.”Harold Bloom
The importance of this book is that it makes clear what we ought to mean when we call Shakespeare an artist in languageThe average person today knows two figures of speech if he knows anyShakespeare knew two hundred.”Mark Van Doren, New York Herald Tribune
As part of their education in the trivium (the liberal arts of logic, grammar, and rhetoric), grammar school students in Shakespeare’s time were taught to recognize the two hundred figures of speech that Renaissance scholars had derived from Latin and Greek sources. Sister Miriam Joseph views this theory of composition as integral to Shakespeare’s mastery of language. In her classic 1947 book, she lays out these figures of speech in simple, understandable patterns and explains each one with examples from Shakespeare. Her analysis of his plays and poems illustrates that the Bard knew more about rhetoric than perhaps anyone else.
Sister Miriam Joseph (18981982) earned her doctorate from Columbia University. A member of the Sisters of the Holy Cross, Sister Miriam was professor of English at Saint Mary’s College from 1931 to 1960.

British & Irish

2013 Reprint of 1947 Edition. Full facsimile of the original edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. This was the first book which presented, in a complete manner, a general theory of composition then current in Renaissance England. Its particular contribution is the reorganization of the two hundred figures of speech, distinguished by Renaissance rhetoricians, into a simple, understandable pattern basic in Aristotle's Rhetoric: grammar logos, pathos and ethos. The purpose of the book is to provide a handbook of the theory of composition then current during the English Renaissance and to show Shakespeare's use of this theory by simple illustration from his plays and poems. The book is addressed to the wide audience of teachers of English and Renaissance literature, the philologist, the Shakespearian scholar, and to students and teachers of all Romance languages.

Dramas & Plays

Martino Fine Books

2014 Reprint of 1948 Third Edition. Full facsimile of the original edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. The "Trivium" is a systematic method of critical thinking for deriving certainty from any information coming into the mind via the five senses. In medieval universities, the Trivium comprised the three subjects that were taught first, specifically in this order: grammar, logic and rhetoric. While most textbooks are lucky to enjoy a shelf life of three or four years, "The Trivium" followed a different path. In 1947, when Columbia University Press published her celebrated dissertation, "Shakespeare's Use of the Arts of Language," Sister Miriam Joseph's previously published textbook gained wider notice. And since then, The "Trivium" continues to be rediscovered by new generations of writers and teachers. This dense, authoritative textbook takes all of Aristotle's teachings on logic, grammar, and rhetoric, and some of his teachings of poetics, adds some of the insights gained in the subsequent centuries, and presents it in a well-organized flow.

The Trivium in College Composition and Reading

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Books by Joseph, Sister Miriam

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Joseph, Sister Miriam. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Trivium: The Liberal Arts of Logic, Grammar, and Rhetoric

Shakespeare's Use of the Arts of Language

Shakespeare's Use of the Arts of Language

Shakespeare's Use of the Arts of Language

The Trivium in College Composition and Reading