One way out of a million…
 THEME
 What is the Big Issue of life that the author is
addressing?
 What is his or her specific statement about this issue?
 To find the theme, dissect the fiction and/or poetic
elements the author uses…
 I’m Nobody! Who are you?
 Are you – Nobody – too?
 Then there’s a pair of us!
 Don’t tell! they’d banish us – you know!
 How dreary – to be – Somebody!
 How public – like a Frog –
 To tell your name – the livelong June –
 To an admiring Bog!
 Character: what are the major facets of a certain
character?: actions, speech, physical appearance,
name, reactions of other characters to the character
 Setting: how does the location affect the story?:
regional influences, historical aspect, props,
probability, topographical features
 Symbolism: what are the significant props or repeated
images and ideas?: function for the characters
(secondary function), function in the larger world
(usual function), color, actions or occurrences
surrounding
 I’m Nobody! Who are you?
 Are you – Nobody – too?
 Then there’s a pair of us!
 Don’t tell! they’d banish us – you know!
 How dreary – to be – Somebody!
 How public – like a Frog –
 To tell your name – the livelong June –
 To an admiring Bog!
 Point of View: who is telling the story and why?; 1st,
2nd, 3rd person, major/minor/innocent eyes, shifts in
POV
 Tone: why are these specific words chosen and how are
they used?; overall mood, connotation and denotation,
repetition, dialect
 Structure: what particular parts and pieces is the story
assembled from and why?; chapters/acts/stanzas –
how do these pieces compare?
 Plot: what are the driving forces of the story; conflicts,
character motivations, forces impacting the result
 I’m Nobody! Who are you?
 Are you – Nobody – too?
 Then there’s a pair of us!
 Don’t tell! they’d banish us – you know!
 How dreary – to be – Somebody!
 How public – like a Frog –
 To tell your name – the livelong June –
 To an admiring Bog!
 Rhythm/Meter: patterns of syllables and emphasis
 Iambic: one unstressed followed by one stressed syllable
 Trochaic: one stressed syllable followed by one




unstressed syllable
Anapestic: two unstressed syllables followed by one
stressed syllable
Dactylic: one stressed syllable followed by two
unstressed syllables
Meter: number of stressed/unstressed sets in a line
Therefore, iambic pentameter =
5 sets of unstressed then stressed syllables per line
 I’m Nobody! Who are you?
 Are you – Nobody – too?
 Then there’s a pair of us!
 Don’t tell! they’d banish us – you know!
 How dreary – to be – Somebody!
 How public – like a Frog –
 To tell your name – the livelong June –
 To an admiring Bog!
 Sound: patterns of repeated sounds or words with
unusual sounds
 Rhyme
 Alliteration
 Assonance
 Consonance
 Onomatopoeia
 I’m Nobody! Who are you?
 Are you – Nobody – too?
 Then there’s a pair of us!
 Don’t tell! they’d banish us – you know!
 How dreary – to be – Somebody!
 How public – like a Frog –
 To tell your name – the livelong June –
 To an admiring Bog!
 Figures of Speech: comparing two unlike things
 Simile
 Metaphor
 Apostrophe
 Metonymy: substituting the name of something for
another thing to which it has some relationship (“I am
reading Joyce)
 Synecdoche: using an essential part of something to
represent the whole (“this rhyme” to refer to a whole
poem or song)
 I’m Nobody! Who are you?
 Are you – Nobody – too?
 Then there’s a pair of us!
 Don’t tell! they’d banish us – you know!
 How dreary – to be – Somebody!
 How public – like a Frog –
 To tell your name – the livelong June –
 To an admiring Bog!
 Personification
 Imagery- description using the five senses
 Capitalization- calling attention to specific words
 Shape- words shaped on a page
 Read to figure out the SO WHAT of the figurative
language and the poem as a whole (synthesize).
 What does the poet “mean” by these words?
Annotating all the while….
Background Knowledge
Literary Terms
Overview
Theme
Understanding/Interpretation