Although my formal studies were in English language and literature, I became interested along with many other scholars and teachers in the relationship between linguistic studies and composition theory.  This interest seemed to peak in the 1960's and 1970's.  I became convinced that text must have structure just as the sentence does.  To find that structure I believed that text linguists would provide the answer. Unfortunately, most seemed to look for the answer in the sentence writ large. 

Then I read Kenneth Burke's "The Rhetoric of Religion" in which he saw text as having a different structure from sentence.  Instead of the binary subject and predicate of the sentence, he saw text as also binary but between problem and resolution.  He looked for the structure through sacred writings since he believed that sacred writers had dealt with language most extensively throughout the history of civilization.  He sees in the structure of the Bible a paradigm for all texts.  Thus, the problem as presented in the Garden of Eden account is brought to resolution by the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus.  It should be noted here that Burke's interest is not primarily religious. 

I also have been influenced by Noam Chomsky, who believed that all language is generated by formulas in the mind.  If there's a formula for sentence then it seems logical there would be a formula for text.  Later I will show how this theory works with a text like the Gettysburg Address.