Six points appear prominently in modern theory of composition: theory basks in the shadow of literary criticism and scholarship; writing is an act involving creativity, of which theory should take account; creativity depends upon the primacy of personal insight, which is also the basis of intellectual development; the grapholect of standard edited American English is the suitable literary medium for a creatively discovered personal point of view; the grapholect is the suitable literary medium for all discourse of disinterested inquiry; and freshman English is an initiation into the liberal arts or at least to the trivium. As these points imply, the primary purpose of theory of composition is to provide a rationale for the composition instructor as a defender and a promoter of the grapholect and all it stands for and belongs to. The difficulty for the theorist and practitioner is to define the defense and the promotion of literary culture. What most theoretical work demonstrates is that accomplished writing is not an arcane art but a skill rather like that of any complex craft. (TJ)