Poetry Analysis Using TPCASTT

English I Pre-AP

Getting Started…

• This is a process to help you organize your analysis of poetry.

• We have already learned the vocabulary, now it’s time to put it into practice!

• Together, we are going to analyze poetry using TPCASTT.

• You have a note sheet that looks like this…

You will write down everything that is…

bolded and underlined

Nothing else…

“T” is for TITLE

• Analyze the title first.• What do you predict this poem will be

about?• Write down your predictions about the

poem based off the title.• We will reflect on the title again after we

have read the poem.• The next step is often omitted, but it is the

most important!!!!

READ THE

POEM!!!!

“P” is for PARAPHRASE

• Paraphrasing is putting something in your own words.

• After reading the poem, rewrite it in your own words.

• Keep it short and sweet.

“C” is for CONNOTATION

• Identify the figures of speech and sound effects of the poem.

• These are the poetry vocabulary we have already studied.

• These elements add to the meaning.

“A” is for ATTITUDE• Tone is the

attitude of the speaker toward the subject of the poem.

• What type of tone/attitude does the author have?

TONE WORDS

• Positive Tone– emotions that evokes good feelings.

• Neutral Tone– emotions that can either good or bad depending

on the situation.

• Negative Tone – emotions that evoke BAD feelings

NOTE: If you don’t know what the word means USE YOUR DICTIONARY!!!

“S” is for SHIFT

• If there is a change in time, tone, or speaker MARK IT!!!!!

• This should always be noted as this will also affect the meaning.

“T” is for TITLE (again)

• 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 THEME

• As you already know, theme is the message or main idea the author wants you to get from the work.

• It does not make a judgment.

example: “Don’t do drugs” is not a theme.

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

How do I find the THEME?

• 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?

Woman with FlowerI wouldn’t coax the plant if I were you.

Such watchful nurturing may do it harm.

Let the soil rest from so much digging

And wait until it’s dry before you water it.

The leaf’s inclined to find it own direction;

Give it a chance to seek the sunlight

for itself.

Much growth is stunted by too careful prodding,

Too eager tenderness.

The things we love we have to learn to

leave alone.

Identity by Julio Noboa Polanco

Let them be as flowers,

always watered, fed, guarded, admired,

but harnessed to a pot of dirt.

I’d rather be a tall, ugly weed,

clinging on cliffs, like an eagle

wind-wavering above high, jagged rocks.

To have broken through the surface of stone,

to live, to feel exposed to the madness

of the vast, eternal sky.

To be swayed by the breezes of an ancient sea,

Carrying my soul, my seed.

Beyond the mountains of time or into the abyss of the bizarre.

I’d rather be unseen, and ifthen shunned by everyone,than to be a pleasant-smelling flower,growing in clusters in the fertile valley,where they’re praised handled, and pluckedby greedy, human hands

I’d rather smell a musty, green stenchThan of sweet fragrant lilac.If I could stand alone, strong and free,I’d rather be a tall, ugly weed.Lack of seeds, bits of night glistening on the grass.