TPCASTT Plus: Unlocking the Secrets of Poetry Jean Kanzinger, mrskanzinger@gmail.com

@jzkTeach www.writerslocker.com

TPCASTT is an acronym to prompt students to systematically examine a poem by attending to different features.

Title Consider the title and make a prediction about what the poem is about.

Paraphrase Translate the poem line by line into your own words on a literal level. Look for complete thoughts (sentences may be inverted) and look up unfamiliar words.

Connotation Examine the poem for meaning beyond the literal. Look for figurative language, imagery, and sound elements. Annotate!

Attitude Notice the speaker’s tone and attitude. Humor? Sarcasm? Awe?

Shift Note any shifts or changes in speaker or attitude. Look for key words, time change, and punctuation.

Title Examine the title again – this time on an interpretive level.

Theme Briefly state in your own words what the poem is about (subject), then what the poet is saying about the subject (theme).

Individually, most of these elements can be taught before students reach high school; some as early as Kindergarten!

Plus What? (Dictation, Performance, Writing, and Author/Occasion)

Dictation: Students LISTEN as the poem is read to them. They copy the poem on notebook paper.

Performance: Students rehearse the poem to SPEAK live to an audience, or may record a performance of the

poem using an app such as Voice Thread.

Writing: Students should use the poem as a prompt to WRITE a poem of their own.

Author/Occasion: Students RESEARCH relevant portions of a poet’s life experiences including the conditions under

which the poem was written.

Research to Support Poetry Instruction Scholarly journals and successful classroom practice all point to the benefits of poetry

instruction. The LiveBinder at the QR code includes 35+ scholarly and popular articles on the

benefits of poetry instruction.

My Favorite Books on Teaching Poetry All books listed are written by poets who teach!

Behn, R., & Twichell, C. (1992). The Practice of poetry: Writing exercises from poets who teach. New York, NY:

HarperPerennial.

Guernsey, B. (Ed.), (2013). Mapping the line: Poets on teaching. Baltimore: Penyeach Press.

Lasky, D., Luxford, D., & Nathan, J. (2013). Open the door: How to excite young people about poetry. San

Francisco: McSweeney's Books.

Lockward, D. (2013). The crafty poet: A portable workshop. Nicholasville, KY: Wind Publications.

Potter, D. (2013). A poet's sourcebook: Writings about poetry, from the ancient world to the present. Pittsburgh:

Autumn House Press.

Wormser, B., & Cappella, D. (2000). Teaching the art of poetry: The moves. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum

Assoc.

Wormser, B., & Cappella, D. (2004). A surge of language: Teaching poetry day by day. Portsmouth, NH:

Heinemann.

http://goo.gl/kQtSYC

Poetry by Sharon Bryan

It’s like tuning slowly around our Zenith radio’s glowing shortwave dial

as I did as a child, listening for voices from Madagascar, Fiji, and Canary Islands,

I could spend hours like this, eyes closed, ear pressed to the speakers to catch

snatches of language between high-pitched squeals and long patches of static,

and though I can’t understand most of the words that do come through, it’s clear

what they say is urgent – someone’s in love, someone’s at war, no one’s at peace –

so I do my best to get it down, just in case I can see one day, how- ever belatedly, what it all means.

Crayons: A Rainbow Poem by Jane Yolen

This box contains the wash of blue sky, Spikes of green spring, A circle of yellow sun, Triangle flames of orange and red.

It has the lime caterpillar Inching on a brown branch, The shadow black in the center Of a grove of trees.

It holds my pink and your chocolate And her burnt sienna And his ivory skin.

In it are all the colors of the world. All the colors of the world.

November 22, 1983 by Sherman Alexie

“we were doing laundry when we heard it on the radio & your father changed

the channel to some station still playing music & he asked me to dance & we two-stepped

my heart beating Dallas Dallas your father held me

against his thin chest for twenty years whispering ‘ain’t no Indian loves Marilyn Monroe’ ”

Because You Asked about the Line Between Prose and Poetry Howard Nemerov

Sparrows were feeding in a freezing drizzle That while you watched turned to pieces of snow Riding a gradient invisible From silver aslant to random, white, and slow.

There came a moment that you couldn’t tell. And then they clearly flew instead of fell.

The Hand Mary Ruefle

The teacher asks a question. You know the answer, you suspect you are the only one in the classroom who knows the answer, because the person in question is yourself, and on that you are the greatest living authority, but you don’t raise your hand. You raise the top of your desk and take out an apple. You look out the window. You don’t raise your hand and there is some essential beauty in your fingers, which aren’t even drumming, but lie flat and peaceful. The teacher repeats the question. Outside the window, on an overhanging branch, a robin is ruffling its feathers and spring is in the air.

PARAPHRASING -- A WRITING/READING/STUDY STRATEGY

• Paraphrase - n. a restatement of a passage giving the meaning in another form, as forclearness

Paraphrasing is a way of "writing to learn." Think about what you are reading, and write it down to understand it better. Because it often includes your interpretation, a paraphrase can actually be longer than the original.

Skim Skim the entire selection. Read Read the selection carefully, noting key words and ideas. (Check the

meaning of any words you don't know.) To paraphrase well, you must understand what you have read. THIS MAY REQUIRE A SECOND OR EVEN A THIRD READING.

List Try to list the main ideas of the selection WITHOUT LOOKING AT THE SELECTION!

Reread Now go back and reread each line. Summarize Summarize each idea (line by line if necessary) in a clear statement.

How to Paraphrase a Poem

Nothing Gold Can Stay

Nature's first green is gold,

Her hardest hue to hold.

Her early leaf's a flower;

But only so an hour.

Then leaf subsides to leaf,

So Eden sank to grief,

So dawn goes down to day.

Nothing gold can stay.

--Robert Frost

The first growth of spring is more yellowish green, or "gold," than it is really green. But this golden shade of green doesn't last very long.

The first "leaf" in spring is actually a blossom or flower,

but it remains for only a very short time.

Then the buds and blossoms fall off, and full, green leaves take their places. In the same way, the Garden of Eden was taken away,

just like dawn disappears when the light of day comes.

Nothing that's beautiful or perfect can last forever.

Uses of Alliteration

Alliteration draws attention to a particular line of text, such as with the repetition of the "r" and "s" sounds in this

sentence: "She relaxed in the restoring beams of regal sun rays." The appearance of repeated letters signifies that

these words are important, or that an important message is being conveyed beyond simply the dictionary meanings

of the individuals words themselves. Alliteration is commonly viewed as a trope of literature, but we see alliteration all

around us every day in a variety of textual media where a writer tries to get the reader's attention, from newspaper

headlines proclaiming a "Mysterious Murder" to advertisements promising "Moonlight Madness."

Mood The repetition of "b," "j," "ch," "tch" and both hard and soft "g's" -- all harsh, jarring sounds -- create a discordant, chilling

effect in the nonsensical poem "Jabberwocky," by Lewis Carroll. Many of the words in the poem are made up, but the poet's

use of alliteration is so effective that a reader can still apply meaning, even without knowing the definition of the words, and

almost hear the terrible "Jabberwock" come stomping and snorting to meet his death.

Rhythm Gwendolyn Brooks' simple poem "We Real Cool" uses alliteration to help establish a firm beat. "Lurk late," "Sing sin," and

"Jazz June" are all alliterative phrases that make the poem sound like rap and aid in creating the identities of the pool players,

who think they are "Real Cool." Unfortunately for them, their "cool" lives end quickly and on a non-alliterative note, "We

Die soon," suggesting the insignificance of their brief and trivial lives.

Humor Every child laughs at the silly alliterative nursery rhyme "Peter Piper Picked a Pack of Pickled Peppers." TV and film titles

and characters often use alliteration for a comical effect, such as "Beavis and Butthead," "SpongeBob SquarePants," "Woody

Woodpecker," "Betty Boop," and "Mini Me." Names like these signal to the viewer that the show or movie is a comedy.

"Pooper-Scooper" is a humorous brand name that employs alliteration -- and rhyme to boot -- to add a light touch to an

otherwise gross product, enhancing its appeal.

Mnemonic Many idiomatic expression that we remember have an alliterative spelling, such as "dull as dirt" or "the bigger the better."

Famous terms that journalists first use also often catch on because of their alliterative effect, such as "baby boomer" and

"Nascar nation." Companies choose alliterative business and brand names so consumers won't forget them, such as "Google,"

"Twitter," "Burt's Bees" and "Tater Tots." Children also remember alliterative phrases easily, so entertainment geared toward

them makes creative use of names like "Bob the Builder" and "Mickey Mouse."

http://classroom.synonym.com/reasons-use-alliteration-22227.html

A R E T H A D R O P S H E R F U R C O A T T O T H E S T A G E

B Y L I Z A H L

as if it is the whole fallen world sliding

from her shoulders of grace

as if she has known this world

as broken and holy and shown us so

as if she has been coated

in golden promises but refuses

to let them keep her from praising

to the rafters with her joyful arms

as if she decided to sprout wings

from the gilt cap-sleeves of her gown

as if she decided to sprout wings

from the rich glory of her vibrato

as if she's showing the ghost of James Brown

how it's done — a simple drop, no melodrama

as if it really does make her feel

like a natural woman

as if that's her president up there

in the balcony catching some spirit

as if the whole world is sliding

from her shoulders

puny you and me clinging to the soft scruff of it

as we slide down together

dissolving into a pool of gold at her feet

where we belong

Inspired by this event: https://youtu.be/XHsnZT7Z2yQ

Two Different Ways To Think About THEME

"Bumper Sticker" Themes TOPICAL Themes

-Slow and steady wins the race -Good always triumphs over evil -What goes around, comes around -Honesty is the best policy

-friendship -courage -equality -fairness -acceptance -respect -compassion

TONE WHEEL

Tim Kendall on Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken”

“The Road Not Taken,” printed in italics at the start of Mountain Interval, has probably caused

more confusion, despite or because of its apparent simplicity, than any other of Frost’s poems. Some of the

author’s comments about its making and meaning have been usefully preserved by Lawrence Thompson

(Thompson 1970, 545-548). What they reveal is a poet frustrated by readers who, interpreting the poem as

the expression of a timeless human truth, have failed to notice the author’s distanced and ironic portrayal

of his speaker. A dramatic monologue, Frost seems to protest, has been a misread as a lyric.

That misreading, if such it is, began in April or May 1915, when Frost sent a version of the newly

finished poem, then titled “Two Roads,” to his closest friend, the English poet Edward Thomas. Thomas’

perplexity throughout the ensuing correspondence marks the most awkward episode in an otherwise

remarkably untroubled and mutually enriching relationship. Perhaps hearing a distant echo of the opening

of Dante’s Divine Comedy (with its reference to journeys, paths, and forests), Thomas read the poem as

autobiographical, and solicitously expressed the hope that Frost had not made a decision he had regretted

lately. (He may have been thinking of Frost’s decision to return to the States from England several months

previously.) By way of reply, Frost explained that his friend “had failed to see that the sigh [in “The Road

Not Taken”] was a mock sigh, hypo-critical for the fun of the thing. I don’t suppose I was ever sorry for

anything I ever did except by assumption to see how it would feel” (Spencer, 70). Frost had been seeing how

it would feel to be Thomas, who would often sigh during their walks together and wish that they had taken a

different and better direction. Playfully mocking a facet of his friend’s personality, Frost found it

disconcerting to be attributed with it himself by his friend; and no matter how many times he explained his

intention to audiences subsequently, even going so far as to call “The Road Not Taken” a war poem about

Thomas, the sigh is still usually interpreted – as Thomas interpreted it – as sincere. The poem often taken

to be most representatively Frostian is, Frost insists, a teasing portrayal of the manner of Edward Thomas.

Acknowledging in later life that his poems had sometimes meant more, or other, than he had

intended, Frost nevertheless remained firm in his attitude that the speaker of “The Road Not Taken” should

not be viewed entirely seriously. Several contextual clues support his insistence. For example, having

decided between roads, the speaker tried to persuade himself that the road chosen had a “better claim,/

Because it was grassy and wanted wear.” That desire to be characterized as someone who deviates from the

beaten track, who refuses to follow the herd, is immediately exposed by stubborn facts: the roads were worn

“really about the same” (an equivocation which joins company with “as just as fair” and “perhaps the

better”), and both are covered in untrodden leaves. The final stanza, supported by the title’s regretful focus,

leaves little doubt the speaker panders to his own sense of melancholia. He mournfully remembers a

decision taken in the past, while acting out in the present the very grief which he imagines himself

inevitably repeating like some cursed Ancient Mariner in the future:

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence;

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I –

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

From the repetition of the first-person pronoun, to the inflationary phrase “ages and ages hence” with its

hint of childish or childlike self-indulgence, to the rhyme “sign/I,” revealing a melancholic identity, to the

formal rhythms of the final line, the anticipation of remembrance has become high-flown and

ostentatiously performative. This is a poem which eschews any opportunity for elision: “could not,” “I

should,” “I shall,” and “that has” together prove that Frost is making no attempt to capture the rhythms of

speech. It is fitting, then, that the poem’s final word, “difference,” should be stretched beyond the natural

pronunciation into three syllables through the rhyme with “hence” and the need for a stress on the last

syllable. (Contrast, in the opening stanza, they rhyme “both”/”undergrowth,” which more appropriately

sustains the rhythms of pronunciation.) Particular to the point of stuffiness, the language of “The Road Not

Taken” has many of the qualities of fine writing which Frost affected to loathe.

Whether these factors should be sufficient to alert the more attentive readers to Frost’s intended

ironies is questionable. “There’s a hint intended there,” Frost said of “The Road Not Taken,” and he firmly

imposed the responsibility for taking it on his audience. “But you ought to know that yourself...I can’t mark

[the hints] — there’s no way of marking them” (Thompson 1970, 547). The speaking of “The Road Not

Taken” claims to know the “difference” between his options; but as Frost’s audience has mostly ignored or

failed to share that knowledge, the poem constitutes something of a crisis in his poetics. Its popularity

becomes an affront, attracting admiration for the very characteristics which the poet had tried to mock. The

strain inherent in Frost’s ambition to write for general and learned audiences alike was already clear in

another of his italicized introductory poems, “The Pasture”; but the reception of “The Road Not Taken”

fully exposes the contradictions. Frost believed that readers had ignored the poem’s signposts and chosen

the wrong and more commonly trodden road.

Source: Kendall, Tim. The Art of Robert Frost. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2012. Print. pp. 179-182. Reproduced by permission of Yale University Press.

Honors English 11 TP-CASTT Rubric

T TITLE speculate meaning

predict

4

Complete; accurate; detailed;

specific; depth of response; shows

mastery of poetry concept with very

specific evidence or response

3

Accurate; detailed; accounts for

all lines individually or

chunked in small sections;

shows mastery of concept

2

Section is attempted and partially

correct; details may need elaboration,

or other lines and phrases may need to

be addressed in greater detail

1

Section is incomplete,

inaccurate, or lacks detail

and proof of mastery for

poetry concept

P PARAPHRASE literal summary or

paraphrase

4

Complete; accurate; detailed;

specific; depth of response; shows

mastery of poetry concept with very

specific evidence or response

3

Accurate; detailed; accounts for

all lines individually or

chunked in small sections;

shows mastery of concept

2

Section is attempted and partially

correct; details may need elaboration,

or other lines and phrases may need to

be addressed in greater detail

1

Section is incomplete,

inaccurate, or lacks detail

and proof of mastery for

poetry concept

C CONNOTATION emotions

literary terms

word choices

4

Complete; accurate; detailed;

specific; depth of response; shows

mastery of poetry concept with very

specific evidence or response

3

Accurate; detailed; accounts for

all lines individually or

chunked in small sections;

shows mastery of concept

2

Section is attempted and partially

correct; details may need elaboration,

or other lines and phrases may need to

be addressed in greater detail

1

Section is incomplete,

inaccurate, or lacks detail

and proof of mastery for

poetry concept

A ATTITUDE images

point of view

diction

4

Complete; accurate; detailed;

specific; depth of response; shows

mastery of poetry concept with very

specific evidence or response

3

Accurate; detailed; accounts for

all lines individually or

chunked in small sections;

shows mastery of concept

2

Section is attempted and partially

correct; details may need elaboration,

or other lines and phrases may need to

be addressed in greater detail

1

Section is incomplete,

inaccurate, or lacks detail

and proof of mastery for

poetry concept

S SHIFTS

way to show

change through

structure or words

4

Complete; accurate; detailed;

specific; depth of response; shows

mastery of poetry concept with very

specific evidence or response

3

Accurate; detailed; accounts for

all lines individually or

chunked in small sections;

shows mastery of concept

2

Section is attempted and partially

correct; details may need elaboration,

or other lines and phrases may need to

be addressed in greater detail

1

Section is incomplete,

inaccurate, or lacks detail

and proof of mastery for

poetry concept

T TITLE

revisit with details

find insight, theme

4

Complete; accurate; detailed;

specific; depth of response; shows

mastery of poetry concept with very

specific evidence or response

3

Accurate; detailed; accounts for

all lines individually or

chunked in small sections;

shows mastery of concept

2

Section is attempted and partially

correct; details may need elaboration,

or other lines and phrases may need to

be addressed in greater detail

1

Section is incomplete,

inaccurate, or lacks detail

and proof of mastery for

poetry concept

T THEME human experience

take away points

4

Complete; accurate; detailed;

specific; depth of response; shows

mastery of poetry concept with very

specific evidence or response

3

Accurate; detailed; accounts for

all lines individually or

chunked in small sections;

shows mastery of concept

2

Section is attempted and partially

correct; details may need elaboration,

or other lines and phrases may need to

be addressed in greater detail

1

Section is incomplete,

inaccurate, or lacks detail

and proof of mastery for

poetry concept

B

I

O

AUTHOR BIO 4

Lifespan, region, education, careers,

honors, interesting facts.

3

One required element missing 2

Two required elements missing 1

Three or more required

elements missing

Honors English 11 TP-CASTT Rubric M

L

A

MLA

Format of Paper

4

Margins, Font, 4-Line Heading,

Last name & Page Number in top

margin, Double-Spaced

3

Accurate; detailed; accounts for

all lines individually or

chunked in small sections;

shows mastery of concept

2

Section is attempted and partially

correct; details may need elaboration,

or other lines and phrases may need to

be addressed in greater detail

1

Section is incomplete,

inaccurate, or lacks detail

and proof of mastery for

poetry concept

M

L

A

MLA

Citation of Lines

4

Complete; accurate; detailed;

specific;

3

Accurate; detailed 2

Partially correct 1

Incomplete; inaccurate;

or, without detail

A

U

D

I

O

AUDIO

Recording of Poem

in Student’s Voice

4

Complete; accurate; expressive;

appropriate rate, volume and

enunciation.

3

Good reading, with one

weakness

2

Poor reading with two weaknesses 1

Inadequate reading

D

I

C

T

DICTATION

Handwritten Copy

of Poem in

Student’s Writing

4

Complete; accurate; perfectly

legible, title and author included

3

Complete with one missing part 2

Two missing parts 1

Three or more missing

parts

A

N

N

O

T

A

ANNOTATION

Poem Annotated

Extensively on

Printed Copy of

Poem

7-8

Complete; accurate; detailed;

specific; depth of response; shows

mastery of poetry concept with very

specific evidence or response; wide

variety of devices or poetic

“noticings” annotated.

5-6

Accurate; detailed; accounts for

all lines individually or

chunked in small sections;

shows mastery of concept

3-4

Section is attempted and partially

correct; details may need elaboration,

or other lines and phrases may need to

be addressed in greater detail

0-2

Section is incomplete,

inaccurate, or lacks detail

and proof of mastery for

poetry concept

W

R

I

T

I

N

G

CONVENTIONS

Grammar, spelling,

punctuation,

sentence variety,

etc.

Total Points of

64 possible

7-8

Writing is polished with either no

errors or just a few errors that do

not affect the overall impact of the

analysis.

5-6

A few major errors (run-ons,

fragments, punctuation, etc.)

detract in a minor way.

3-4

Frequent errors of varying types

detract in a major way.

0-2

Grammatical, spelling or

punctuation errors

significantly impact the

analysis