1. Elements of TPCASTT

2.  A poem of fourteen lines  Can use different rhyme schemes  In English, typically has ten syllables per line

3.  T-Title: Write down the title of the poem  P-Paraphrase: In your own words, write down the meaning of each line (or groups of lines).

4.  Words and phrases that provoke emotional reactions- both positive and negative

6.  In poetry, connotation can also refer to poetic devices:  Imagery: a representation of a sense, a feeling or an idea  Figures of Speech : simile, metaphor, personification  Allusion: a reference to something well known or famous (Taylor Swift song, “Romeo & Juliet”)

7.  Look at line 6  Everyone in this time period would have understood that the husband controls the marriage Therefore: And husband nature’s riches from expense Could mean: this person is married to their good looks and wealth and so they are controlled by vanity and riches

8.  Diction : word choice- authors use specific words for a reason  For example: using “power to hurt” is stronger than “mean people”  Sound Devices: Alliteration, onomatopoeia, consonance, assonance, rhythm, rhyme, etc.  Consonance = repetition of consonant sounds two or more times in a row  Assonance = repetition of vowel sounds creating rhyme within words (internal rhyme) I Like Ike

9. 1. Underline words that have emotional meaning attached to them. 2. Next, try to find an example of three different figures of speech; underline them and name them in the margin.

11.  When the authors begin to write, they choose words that reflect their beliefs about the topic at hand.  Is the speaker in love? Is he/she angry about something? Depressed?  Give details or reasons as to why:  The speaker is sad because he uses words like sorrow, pity and wretch. These words have depressing connotations.

12. What is the speaker’s attitude? How can you tell?

13. Turn of mood

14.  Rarely does a poet begin and end the poetic experience in the same place  Poems usually express the speaker’s gradual realization of something

15.  To discover shifts, watch for the following:  key words: but, yet, however, although  punctuation: dashes, periods, colons, ellipsis (…)  stanza and/or line divisions: change in line or stanza length

16. Where is the shift? What was the clue that helped you find it? What is the change in attitude there?

17.  Examine the title again, this time on an interpretive level  In other words, explain how the title is meaningful to the poem  Remember, for many poems, the title is the first line

18. The first line is the title. Examine the line. What possible meaning could it have with relation to the main idea of the poem?

19.  In poetry, the theme is not a moral. It should describe the overall feeling or main idea.  It can sometimes be suggested by the title or the first line in the poem.

20. Read lines 13 and 14. With a partner, figure out the theme (or main idea) expressed in these two lines.