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TPCASTT

Poetry Analysis

+Title

Examine the LITERAL meaning of the title before reading the poem.

There are two kinds of titles.

Interactive Titles – have some sort of interplay with the poem itself and can affect its meaning.

Naming Titles – may give less crucial information

If a poem lacks a title you can do this step with the first line of the poem

+Paraphrase

Translate the poem line by line into your own words.

AND I MEAN TRANSLATE…WORD FOR WORD!!!

Find SYNONYMS for every word.

Resist jumping into interpretation; you are looking at LITERAL meaning.

Summarizing is NOT paraphrasing

+ Connotation

Examine the poem for meaning beyond the literal translation. Identify and figure out the figurative language.

Look for: Diction: word choice Imagery: word pictures (5 senses) Figures of Speech: metaphor, simile, personification, allusion,

etc. Musical Devices: alliteration, onomatopoeia, rhythm, rhyme

scheme, etc. Irony: surprising, interesting, or amusing contradictions Symbolism: word, phrase, or other object that stands for

something else

+Attitude

After identifying a subject/topic of a poem then you identify how the speaker or poet feels about it.

Tone-- look for the speaker’s tone and the author’s tone. What are his or her attitudes toward the audience and his or her subject matter?

+Shifts

Note transitions/shifts in the speaker or attitude Occasion: time and place Key words: “but,” “yet,” etc. Punctuation: dashes, periods, colons Stanza length/change in foot: notice when the poem seems

to speed up or slow down Also look for shifts in subject, attitude, mood, and motif.

+Title

Look at the title on an INTERPRETIVE level.

Examine the title again. Figure out how the title illuminates the poem. Remember a naming title may not mean much. Remember you can do this with the first line of a poem if it lacks a title.

+Theme

First list what the poem is about (subjects) then determine what the poet is saying about each of these subjects.

Express the theme as a complete sentence.

With this step, you are determining what the poet thinks about the subject, what insight or message about life is the poet revealing to the reader.