TPCASTT Template
TPCASTT: Poem Analysis Method: title, paraphrase, connotation, diction, attitude, tone, shift(s), title revisited
and theme
Title Before you even think about reading the poetry or
“Nothing Gold Can Stay” by Robert Frost
When I look at this title, I think of a gold ring. When
trying to analyze it, speculate on what you think the
you first buy it, it is beautiful and shiny. Over time, the
poem might be about based upon the title. Often time
shine begins to fade and the ring looks less beautiful then
authors conceal meaning in the title and give clues in
it did at the beginning.
the title. Jot down what you think this poem will be
about…
Paraphrase Before you begin thinking about meaning
 Nature’s first green is gold - The 1st growth of
or tying to analyze the poem, don't overlook the literal
spring is more gold in color than green.
meaning of the poem. One of the biggest problems that
 Her hardest hue to hold - This beautiful gold
students often make
doesn’t last long.
in poetry analysis is jumping to conclusions before
 Her early leaf’s a flower - The 1st “leaf” of
understanding what is taking place in the poem. When
spring is actually a blossom or flower.
you paraphrase a poem, write in your own words
 But only so an hour - It remains only a short
exactly what happens in the poem. Look at the number
time.
of sentences in the poem—your paraphrase should have
 Then leaf subsides to leaf - The buds and
exactly the same number. This technique is especially
blossoms turn to full, green leaves.
helpful for poems written in the 17th and 19th centuries.
 So Eden sank to grief- In the same way the
Sometimes your teacher may allow you to summarize
garden of Eden was taken away (the beauty and
what happens in the poem. Make sure that you
innocence gone – Eve eats the forbidden apple).
understand the difference between a paraphrase and a
 So dawn goes down to day - The glow of the
summary.
dawn turns to darkness.
 Nothing gold can stay - Nothing in nature,
especially what is beautiful, lasts forever.
Connotation Although this term usually refers solely to Nature’s first green is gold = metaphor
Her hardest hue to hold = Her refers to nature and “she”
the emotional overtones of word choice, for
is being personified
this approach the term refers to any and all poetic
So Eden sank to grief = this is an allusion to the biblical
devices, focusing on how such devices contribute to the
reference “Garden of Eden”; not understanding this
meaning, the effect, or both of a poem. You may
reference may make it difficult to understand the poem
consider imagery, figures of speech (simile, metaphor,
End Rhyme AABBCCDD
personification, symbolism, etc), diction, point of view,
Imagery = nature
and sound devices (alliteration, onomatopoeia, rhythm,
Repetition of the title and the last line of the poem.
and rhyme). It is not necessary that you identify all the
poetic devices within the poem. The ones you do
identify should be seen as a way of supporting the
conclusions you are going to draw about the poem.
Attitude Having examined the poem's devices and
This poem makes one visualize the start of spring. When
clues closely, you are now ready to explore the multiple
plants first bloom, it is beautiful, but it only lasts for so
attitudes that may be present in the poem. Examination
long. Her is mother nature – the changes in nature can
of diction, images, and details suggests the speaker's
lead to changes in one’s mood or how one views
attitude and contributes to understanding. You may
something. The tone that develops through the poem is
refer to the list of words on Tone that will help you.
that of melancholy. The speaker talks about the beauty
Remember that usually the tone or attitude cannot be
and then how it goes away. The last line of the poem
named with a single word Think complexity.
shows the disappointment of the speaker.
Shift Rarely does a poem begin and end the poetic
experience in the same place. As is true of most us, the
poet's understanding of an experience is a gradual
realization, and the poem is a reflection of that
understanding or insight. Watch for the following keys
to shifts:
• key words, (but, yet, however, although)
• punctuation (dashes, periods, colons, ellipsis)
• stanza divisions
• changes in line or stanza length or both
• irony
• changes in sound that may indicate changes in
meaning
• changes in diction
Title revisited Now look at the title again, but this time
on an interpretive level. What new insight does the title
provide in understanding the poem.
Theme What is the poem saying about the human
experience, motivation, or condition? What subject or
subjects does the poem address? What do you learn
about those subjects? What idea does the poet want you
take away with you concerning these subjects?
Remember that the theme of any work of literature is
stated in a complete sentence.
The words But and So (2X) indicate a shift in the tone of
the poem. It’s like when someone gives you good news
and then there’s a “but”. The speaker is trying to express
how beauty fades and is not eternal.
Now that I’ve read the poem, the title refers to the colors
of spring and how they do not last, how everything
changes in time. After reading The Outsiders by S.E.
Hinton, I have another perspective on the poem; In the
novel “stay gold” refers to innocence. When you’re
young, you’re gold. When you have interests that no one
else seems to have, that’s gold.
The theme of the poem relates to the circle of life. The
poem relates it to nature: flower, leaf, bud, and fruit, into
the full life that includes loss, grief, and change. Nature
is like life. Beauty exists but declines in time.