Comp. Lit. 405 TP-CASTT Analysis: A Handy Dandy Technique for Analyzing and Annotating Poetry Prezi: http://prezi.

com/rbtruqehvuey/tp-castt-analysis/ One of the most difficult things when analyzing poetry is knowing where to begin. By following this technique for reading a poem, you will not only know how to annotate (make notes on) a poem, but you will be left with quite a bit to say about a poem. As I play the Prezi, please fill in the appropriate terms. ____________________________________ _______
Consider the title before reading the poem. What questions does the title raise?

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Translate the poem into your own words. Who is the speaker? What is the subject of the song? Whom is the speaker addressing? What questions do you need answered to understand the deeper meaning? Contemplate the poem for meaning beyond the literal (what emotions are attached to the words, are there multiple meanings, what figurative language is at work, etc.) Where are the emotional words in this poem? What are unusual phrasings, repeated lines, etc? Where is the figurative language employed? Observe both the speakers and the poets attitude (tone- how the speaker feels about his/her subject). What seems to be the attitude of the speaker in regards to the subject? Note shifts in speakers and attitudes (rarely is the same emotion carried through the entire poem) How to discover shifts: Key words (but, yet, however, although) Punctuation (dashes, periods, colons, ellipsis) Stanza divisions Changes in line or stanza length, or both Irony (sometimes irony masks a shift) Structure Changes in sound or rhythm Changes in diction (ex. slang to formal language) At what points do the emotions shift?

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Examine the title again, this time on an interpretive level. After reading the lyrics, does the title reveal anything more? What new information can you bring to the title? Determine what the poet is saying. All thesis statement should include the poets name, the title of the poem, the theme, and how the specific TP-CASTT elements contribute to the theme. A good thesis looks something like this: Emily Dickinsons poem, The Last night she lived, shows the speakers grief and gratitude through its contrasting images of light and dark. What do you think this song means? What deeper meaning seems to underlie the surface?

Lets look at the following song, which is full of imagery. Follow the above techniques and focus on imagery. Our goal is to be able to clearly articulate a theme and a tone by the time we are finished with the poem.

Title: What questions does the title raise?

The House Is Not for Sale, by Ryan Adams Tell 'em that the house is not for sale. We're still livin' here, how come nobody can tell? They're takin' all the furniture, movin' our things. Come on little honey, put your head on my knee. Tell 'em that the house is not for sale. And calm down, calm down, calm down Calm down, calm down, calm down Do you remember when we even bought this thing? I danced you across the wooden floor and you signed the lease. What happened in the car that night? What happened in the car that night? Tell 'em that the house is not for sale. And calm down, calm down, calm down Calm down, calm down, calm down Calm down Tell 'em that the house is not for sale. We could grab a couple sheets, yeah, give 'em quite a scare. I remember lyin' on the bedroom floor, You were holding me, little honey, kissin' my soul. Tell 'em that the house is not for sale. And calm down, calm down, calm down Calm down, calm down, calm down Calm down Calm down

Paraphrase: Translate the song into your own words. Who is

the speaker? What is the subject of the song? Whom is the speaker addressing? What questions do you need answered to understand the deeper meaning?

Connotation: Where are the emotional words in this song?

What are unusual phrasings, repeated lines, etc? Where is the figurative language?

Attitude: What seems to be the attitude of the speaker in

regards to the subject?

Shifts: At what points do the emotions shift in the song?

Title (again): After reading the lyrics, does the title reveal
anything more? What new information can you bring to the title?

Thesis: What do you think this song means? What deeper meaning seems to underlie the surface? Include

the poets name, the title of the poem, the theme, and how the specific TP-CASTT elements contribute to the theme.

Literary Terms to Know

Alliteration Allusion Anaphora The repetition of identical consonant sounds, most often the sounds beginning words, in close proximity. Example: pensive poets, nattering nabobs of negativism. reference to something with which the reader is expected to be familiar. Allusions are usually literary, historical, Biblical, or mythological. repetition of a word, phrase, or clause at the beginning of two or more sentences in a row. This device is a deliberate form of repetition and helps make the writer's point more coherent. The repetition of identical vowel sounds in different words in close proximity. Example: deep green sea. The method an author uses to develop characters in a work. In direct characterization, the author straightforwardly states the characters traits. With indirect characterization, those traits are implied through what the character says, does, how the character dresses, interacts with other characters, etc. a conceit is an extended metaphor with a complex logic that governs a poetic passage or entire poem. For example, William Shakespeare spends the entirety of Sonnet 18 comparing his love to a summers day. A line having no end punctuation but running over to the next line. conscious exaggeration used to heighten effect; not intended literally.. Example: "And fired the shot heard round the world." the use of images, especially in a pattern of related images, often figurative, to create a strong unified sensory impression. A comparison of two things, often unrelated. A figurative verbal equation results where both "parts" illuminate one another. Metaphors may occur: in a single sentence "Talent is a cistern; genius is a fountain;" as obvious ("His fist was a knotty hammer.") or implied (But O beware the middle mind that purrs and never shows a tooth."). A rhetorical figure embodying a seeming contradiction that is nonetheless true. inanimate objects, animals, ideas, or abstractions are endowed with human traits or human forme.g. "When Duty whispers repeated word or series of words in response or counterpoint to the main verse, as in a ballad. A group of poetic lines corresponding to paragraphs in prose; the meters and rhymes are usually repeating or systematic. a symbol is a word or object that stands for another word or object, usually to make it more concrete. For example a dove stands for Peace Peace is an abstract, intangible thing, while a dove concrete. A rhetorical figure that describes one sensory impression in terms of a different sense, or one perception in terms of a totally different or even opposite feeling. Example: "darkness visible" "green thought"

Assonance Characteriza tion

Conceit

Enjambment Hyperbole Imagery Metaphor

Paradox Personificati on Refrain Stanza Symbol

Synaesthesia

Syntax

Word order and sentence structure.

Tone Words