What to study: Know the correct order of the acronym: TPCASTT
Know what each letter stands for – review the sheet I
handed out. Lost it? Print another from my JMHS site.
Review our practice poems and the samples of my own
TPCASTT work.
Review the category of connotation -- copy the “Literary Devices” from my front board and know what
they are.
Review: What is TPCASTT?1. Define it: a strategy used to analyze poetry 2. Identify what each letter stands for:
T=TitleP=ParaphraseC=ConnotationA=AttitudeS=ShiftT=Title (revisited)T=Theme
3. Explain what each letter asks you to do:
The tide rises, the tide falls,The twilight darkens, the curlew calls;Along the sea-sands damp and brownThe traveler hastens toward the town,And the tide rises, the tide falls.
Darkness settles on roofs and walls,But the sea, the sea in darkness calls;The little waves, with their soft, white handsEfface the footprints in the sands,And the tide rises, the tide falls.
The morning breaks; the steeds in their stallsStamp and neigh, as the hostler calls;The day returns, but nevermoreReturns the traveler to the shore.And the tide rises, the tide falls.
“The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls”
By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Analysis “The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls” TITLE? About the sea...the motion of the sea? PARAPHRASED EXAMPLES FROM YOU: CONNOTATIONS: Rhyme scheme: aabba
aacca aadda
repetition / anaphora, imagery , meter to mimic the wave movement SHIFT? Line #11 “The morning…” since rest of poem is in almost dark to darkness/ night
time TITLE REVISITED? Yup! It’s about the sea! It is unceasing, constantly moving day & night THEME? The sea is timeless / eternal ebbing and flowing regardless of what happens
around it– nature is power eternal / man goes about his business but nature just keeps on “keeping on”
Analysis #2
TITLE? Implies something of solid, un-breachable strength PARAPHRASED EXAMPLES FROM YOU: CONNOTATIONS:
Rhyme scheme: abcbade defefghih -gives flow and a rhythm, wave-like feeling Personification: “…her ensign down” / “…eye danced” Imagery: “Her deck, once red with hereos’ blood” Alliteration: “When winds…and waves were white…” / “…or know the conquered
knee” [ “K” sound, even with the “q” in the word “conquered”]
SHIFT? Line #17 “Oh , better that her shattered hulk” -- He gives a better suggestion: let
nature rather than man destroy her as that would be more honorable. “Bury her at sea—don’t tear her up for scraps”
“burial” also implies a person, so he’s using personification again, too.
TITLE REVISITED? Feels more personal now - a ship as seen by those who loved her or her sailed her
THEME? Respect and honor [ of national treasures]
2nd TPCASTT Analysis Practice
The First SnowfallTHE snow had begun in the gloaming, And busily all the night Had been heaping field and highway With a silence deep and white.
Every pine and fir and hemlock Wore ermine too dear for an earl, And the poorest twig on the elm-tree Was ridged inch deep with pearl.
From sheds new-roofed with Carrara Came Chanticleer's muffled crow, The stiff rails were softened to swan's-down, And still fluttered down the snow.
I stood and watched by the window The noiseless work of the sky, And the sudden flurries of snow-birds, Like brown leaves whirling by.
I thought of a mound in sweet Auburn Where a little headstone stood; How the flakes were folding it gently, As did robins the babes in the wood.
Up spoke our own little Mabel, Saying, 'Father, who makes it snow?' And I told of the good All-father Who cares for us here below.
Again I looked at the snowfall, And thought of the leaden sky That arched o'er our first great sorrow, When that mound was heaped so high.
I remembered the gradual patience That fell from that cloud like snow, Flake by flake, healing and hiding The scar of our deep-plunged woe.
And again to the child I whispered, 'The snow that husheth all, Darling, the merciful Father Alone can make it fall! '
Then, with eyes that saw not, I kissed her; And she, kissing back, could not know That my kiss was given to her sister, Folded close under deepening snow.
Analysis #2
TITLE? Implies the first snowfall of a season PARAPHRASED EXAMPLES FROM YOU: CONNOTATIONS: Rhyme scheme: abcb defe ghih Personification and metaphor:: “…pine and fir and hemlock wore
ermine [snow]”– there is also a metaphor: ermine=snow Imagery and “sound” : Stanza #1 sets the stage or story by describing
snow coming down and covering everything in “…silence and white” Simile: “ [birds] …like brown leaves whirling by” Anaphora/Alliteration: “Flake by flake, healing and hiding…” SHIFT? Line #21 “Up spoke our own little Mabel…” TITLE REVISITED? The first time snow fell on his daughter’s newly dug grave THEME? Sadness and loss
3rd TPCASTT Analysis Practice
Literary Terms for Analysis of Lit
• DEFINE EACH OF THESE LITERARY TERMS:
• Voice
Voice is an author’s distinctive writing style, unique to them.• Tone
Tone is an author’s attitude toward their topic• Mood
Mood is the atmosphere created by the author’s word choices in a literary passage for the reader