Process to organize an explication of poetry

Explication: an interpretive process; a line-by-line analysis of poem in order to make clear its

meaning

TP-CASTT

Create your own sheet for analysis

T is for TITLE•Analyze the title first.•What do you predict this poem will be about?•Write down your predictions.•What feelings can you connect to the poem’s title?•The next step is often omitted, but it is the most important!

READ THE POEM

P IS FOR PARAPHRASE

•Analyze all figures of speech and sound effects of poem.

• i.e. The poetry vocabulary

•These elements add to the meaning.

C IS FOR CONNOTATION

Tone is the attitude of the

speaker toward the

subject of the poem.

A is for ATTITUDE

Language/word choices writer uses reveals tone

Positive or negative

Declaration of tone must be supported by descriptive words/phrases

Click here to see words used to describe tone.

•If there is a change in…–Time–Tone–SpeakerThis should always be noted as this will also affect the meaning.

S IS FOR SHIFT

1. Key words (but, however, although, yet)2. Punctuation3. Stanza division4. Changes in stanza/line length or both5. Irony (sometimes irony hides shifts)6. Effect of structure on meaning7. Changes in sound (rhyme) may indicate

changes in meaning.8. Changes in diction (slang->formal lang.)

•At this time, you should reconsider the title.•Were you right in your predictions?•What other meanings might the title have in light of your analysis?•Next, the biggie….

T IS FOR TITLE - AGAIN

•As you already know, theme is the general insight into life conveyed by the author through his/her work.

•It does not make a judgment.example: “Don’t do drugs” is not a theme.

•It merely states something that is generally true of life and the human condition.

T is for THEME

Estimate: no more than 30 main themes explored in literature

MOST COMMON Loss of innocence Love (good, bad, ugly) Fate (capriciousness) Revenge Celebration of beauty Nature (celebration, dangers, seasons) Death

•Look at the other parts of TPCASTT.

•What insight are all of these working together to convey?

•What is the poet trying to say about life?

How do I find the THEME?

Earth has not anything to show more fair:Dull would he be of soul who could pass byA sight so touching in its majesty:This City now doth, like a garment, wearThe beauty of the morning; silent, bare,Ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples lieOpen unto the fields, and to the sky;All bright and glittering in the smokeless air.Never did sun more beautifully steepIn his first splendour, valley, rock, or hill;Ne'er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep!The river glideth at his own sweet will:Dear God! the very houses seem asleep;And all that mighty heart is lying still! 

- William Wordsworth