TPCASTT Group Breakdown
Egg Horror Poem
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Title
Paraphrase
Connotation
Attitude
Shift
Title
Theme
Paraphrase, Title (2)
• Summarize the literal meaning of the poem in
one sentence- (What happened in the poem,
and where?)
• Follow the directions under I – Visualize, and
tell the events.
• Reevaluate the meaning of the title. What
insight does it provide to the meaning of the
poem (what does it tell you about the poem)?
Connotation- Going beyond literal meaning
• Remember that we said connotations are the feelings
attached to words, not what they literally mean. (Smell
and stench have a similar dictionary definition, but one
is more positive, and one more negative)
• Look in the poem to try to find some “strong” words
that jump out at you, that seem either positive or
negative. (at least 5). Then, write the feeling that goes
with those words
• Poetic devices: Things like imagery, personification,
figurative language, mood, conflict
Shift
• Where does the reader experience a change in
tone, or setting, or in what is happening?
(Look for time and place keywords,
punctuation, and stanza breaks. Why did the
author put them there?)
• If your job was to break the poem into stanzas
differently (at least 6 breaks), where would
you put the breaks? Why?
Attitude, Theme
• What is the attitude of the speaker or author?
How does she feel about the characters? How
does she set the mood of the poem?
• Is there a lesson or a message to the poem? Is
the author trying to tell us something?
(If you’re stuck, try listing the characters in the poem, what
happens to them, and how they probably feel. Think about
different points of view. Also, think about why the author picked
this subject for the poem)